 "DirectX 11.2 will run only on Windows 8.1 and next-gen consoles")
I bet almost everyone who has used a computer for more than five years now has heard of DirectX—the piece of software you either needed to install or upgrade every time you wanted to play a game. Well, Microsoft has announced the newest version of the API, DirectX 11.2, and it comes with some cool new features that will improve graphics and performance.
However, it seems not everyone will be able to take advantage of the new features as DirectX 11.2 will only be compatible with Windows 8.1 and next-gen consoles. Microsoft revealed the details at its BUILD conference last week and stated that DirectX 11.2 will be released around the same time the Xbox One and Windows 8.1 will be launched.
1: Launch DirectX only for Win 8.1. 2: Strongarm users into upgrading. 3: ??? 4: Profit!!!
One of DirectX 11.2’s major features is a new Direct3D feature called tiled resources. This feature lets games and graphics software store graphics data and textures in both the system RAM and the graphics RAM, letting developers channel high-resolution textures into scenes and improve performance without making the graphics processing unit do all the work. Essentially, you’ll be able to view high-res textures even if you zoom in a lot. Microsoft says this will be especially useful for rendering terrain in games, or a software’s user interface.
DirectX 11.2 also brings a new low-latency API for Direct3D that lets frames load quickly with lower latencies, allowing the user interface to respond faster.
These features are definitely improvements game developers (and hence gamers) are bound to take advantage of, but the fact that Windows 8.1 will be the only OS to get it is telling that Microsoft wants users of its older operating systems to upgrade. A lot of gamers still prefer Windows 7 owing in part to its successor’s tiled interface and initial lack of driver support, in spite of Windows 8 being a tad better at managing loads. It remains to be seen how much better Windows 8.1 is than its predecessor at graphics and the overall performance.
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