Microsoft Game Stack Live [2021-04-20 and 21]

[BRiT]

https://developer.microsoft.com/en-us/games/events/game-stack-live/

Game Stack Live is returning in 2021
April 20-21 starting at 8am PDT

Miss conferences? We do too. We’re bringing back Game Stack Live – two days of all things game dev from Microsoft.

Game Stack Live is open to game developers around the world. The 24 hour event kicks off in The Americas at 8:00am PDT (UTC-7) on April 20, moves to Asia Pacific at 8:00am JST (UTC+9) on April 21 and finishes up in Europe, Middle-East, Africa at 9:00am CEST (UTC+2) on April 21.

What to expect

Basically, everything you love about IRL events from the comfort of your battle station: talks, networking, and a splash of education on the Microsoft platforms, tools and services empowering game developers.

• Deep dives & technical content across six dedicated tracks
• Meet with partners showcasing tools, middleware, audio solutions, and more
• Connect with industry and Microsoft technical experts
• Join a community event and conversation hosted by Xbox employee groups

Here are some of the sessions we'll be presenting

Graphics
Achieve amazing visuals and performance on next-gen Windows and Xbox graphics hardware with the latest DirectX Tools and features.

System & Tools
Learn how to take advantage of features on Windows and Xbox Series Consoles for improving development, performance, load times, engine integration and more.

Production & Publishing
Ship your games on Xbox faster using tips and tricks from our experts on release management, publishing, certification, QA, and production.

Accessibility & Inclusion
Reach more gamers and develop for inclusivity with accessibility tools and partnerships shared through the Gaming for Everyone initiative.

Audio
Develop more immersive, dynamic, and optimized game audio using the Microsoft Spatial Sound platform, Project Acoustics, and Xbox Series console hardware.

Multiplayer
Build next-gen cross-network multiplayer games with server hosting, player communication, matchmaking, and more powered by Azure and PlayFab.

Community Connections *The Americas Only
Don't miss these exciting events hosted by the Xbox Employee Communities in the Americas time zone. They include a mix of content including Panels, Group Mentoring, and Community Connection social hours for you to participate in, learn more, and make new connections!

 

[matthias]

speaking of Game Stack, their next online event is in April

https://developer.microsoft.com/en-us/games/events/game-stack-live/

registration is live

 

[liams]

speaking of Game Stack, their next online event is in April

https://developer.microsoft.com/en-us/games/events/game-stack-live/

registration is live

(from your linked page)





I wonder what the DirectX team have been cooking up? Maybe a DLSS type system that is implemented at the dx12U level, thats graphics vendor agnostic?

All that talk about DirectML and they dont have (yet anyway) an example of something from microsoft that demonstrates its benefits.

 

[BRiT]

Any word on what's different on HLSL 6.6?

HLSL Shader Model 6.6
Introducing HLSL Shader Model 6.6: granting shader developers increased flexibility to enhance and expand existing rendering approaches and devise all new ones!

 

[iroboto]

Any word on what's different on HLSL 6.6?

In the works: HLSL Shader Model 6.6 | DirectX Developer Blog (microsoft.com)
Shader Model 6.6 will grant shader developers increased flexibility to enhance and expand existing rendering approaches and devise all new ones. New features include expanded atomic operations, dynamic resource binding, derivatives and samples in compute shaders, packed 8-bit computations, and wave size.

Shader Model 6.6 will introduce the ability to perform atomic arithmetic, bitwise, and exchange/store operations on 64-bit values.
All the following atomic intrinsic functions and methods will take 64-bit values when used on RWByteAddressBuffer and RWStructuredBuffer types in all shader stages:

Integer Atomics on Float-Typed Resources
Shader Model 6.6 will introduce support for using floating point values in the existing integer compare and exchange intrinsic functions. The functions that use compares use bitwise compares and not true floating point compares


Dynamic Resource Binding
Shader Model 6.6 will introduce the ability to create resources from descriptors by directly indexing into the CBV_SRV_UAV heap or the Sampler heap. This resource creation method eliminates the need for root signature descriptor table mapping but requires new global root signature flags to indicate the use of each heap.

Compute Shader Derivatives and Samples
Shader Model 6.6 will introduce derivative and sample intrinsic functions to compute shaders. Previous shader models restricted these functions to pixel shaders.

Derivative operations depend on 2×2 quads. Compute shaders don’t have quads. So in order to map these functions to a compute shader which views data as a serial sequence, we’ve defined the quads these functions operate on according to the compute shader lane index. One quad consists of the first four elements in the land index sequence in left-to-right and then top-to-bottom order. Another quad similarly consists of the next four and so on. This gives the 2×2 quads that the following intrinsic functions operate on.

Packed 8-Bit Operations
Shader Model 6.6 will add a new set of intrinsic functions for processing packed 8-bit data. These are useful to reduce bandwidth usage where lower precision calculations are acceptable.

These are the new data types representing a vector of packed 8-bit values:
These new types can be cast to and from uint32_t values without a change in the bitwise representation.

The pack intrinsic functions allow packing a vector of 4 signed or unsigned values into a packed 32-bit value represented by the new packed data types. One version performs a datatype clamp and the other simply drops the unused bits.

Wave Size
Shader Model 6.6 will introduce a new compute shader attribute that allows the shader author to specify a wave size that the compute shader is compatible with.

This feature allows the application to guarantee that a shader will be run at the required wave size. With this attribute, DirectX 12 runtime validation will fail if shaders in a pipeline state object have a required wave size that is not in the range reported by the driver. Because use of this feature limits shader flexibility, we only recommended it for shaders compatible with only one wave size.

The required wave size is specified by an attribute before the entry function. The allowed wave sizes that an HLSL shader may specify are the powers of 2 between 4 and 128, inclusive. In other words, the set: [4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128].

 

[iroboto]

(from your linked page)
View attachment 5300




I wonder what the DirectX team have been cooking up? Maybe a DLSS type system that is implemented at the dx12U level, thats graphics vendor agnostic?

All that talk about DirectML and they dont have (yet anyway) an example of something from microsoft that demonstrates its benefits.

Curious to see this as well considering they just finished announcing DX12U

 

[DmitryKo]

I definitely look forward to watching the sessions below:

Graphics​

Graphics Keynote: Delivering the New Generation of Gaming Graphics
New consoles and graphics cards usher in a new wave of more immersive video games. In this session, we will cover the latest innovations to our graphics platform, making it easier for game developers to push the limits of graphics on both PC and Xbox with DirectX, HLSL, PIX, HDR, and more.

Accelerating DirectX Innovation
The DirectX team has been working on a way to change the game for developers who want to be on the bleeding edge of graphics. We're finally ready to show the world how we're pushing the envelope with an exciting new update.

HLSL Shader Model 6.6
Introducing HLSL Shader Model 6.6: granting shader developers increased flexibility to enhance and expand existing rendering approaches and devise all new ones!

What's New with High Dynamic Range in DirectX Games
High Dynamic Range (HDR) is part of the gold standard for the newest generation of graphically rich games. In this talk, you'll learn about our ongoing work to improve DirectX's HDR support on PCs. We are helping to solve the problem of HDR display ecosystem variability, providing best practices for optimizing your native HDR implementations for displays, and working on exciting new technology to extend the reach of HDR PC gaming.

System & Tools​

Xbox Velocity Architecture: Faster Game Asset Streaming and Minimal Load Times for Games of Any Size
The new Xbox Velocity Architecture in the Xbox Series X|S consoles enables developers to re-imagine how to build their games. By combining a super-fast SSD, hardware decompression, and the new DirectStorage functionality, game developers have tools to develop immersive experiences with a minimal load time for users. This session will review the benefits of the Velocity Architecture and show a real-world example.

DirectStorage for Windows
Microsoft is excited to bring DirectStorage, an API in the DirectX family originally designed for the Velocity Architecture to Windows PCs! DirectStorage will bring best-in-class IO tech to both PC and console just as DirectX 12 Ultimate does with rendering tech. With a DirectStorage capable PC and a DirectStorage enabled game, you can look forward to vastly reduced load times and virtual worlds that are more expansive and detailed than ever. In this session, we will be discussing the details of this technology will help you build your next-generation PC games.

Audio​

Microsoft 3D Spatial Sound: Better Storytelling with Immersive Audio Experiences
This presentation is an audio content focused look at a variety of ways that Spatial Sound can be used to enhance the audio experience in a game. We will explore using Spatial to enhance Immersion, expand Story Telling, bring better Gameplay, push Spectacle, and give Clarity and mix space to the audio environment. This video will have pre-rendered HRTF playback and will be best listened to over headphones. All content will be played in A/B fashion to show difference between Stereo and Spatial rendering.

Microsoft 3D Spatial Sound: Middleware Platform Support and Integration
This presentation will focus on integrating the Microsoft Spatial Sound platform into your title. It is intended to be a primer on getting started with using Spatial Sound on our platforms. We will show how to integrate using middleware, and discuss best practices when integrating spatial sound into a game. We will cover the different types of usage scenarios possible for playback within a game, and how the Spatial platform's user choices might affect those choices.

Next Gen Immersive Audio: Spatial Sound and Project Acoustics
This presentation will explore how we can take immersive audio to the next level in our games. By taking advantage of platform features, technologies and next gen hardware offerings, developers have the ability to bring deeply immersive audio experiences to their games, without sacrificing resources to accomplish it. We will look at Spatial Audio with Dolby Atmos and DTS:X, Advanced acoustic technologies such as Project acoustics, the possibilities of ray traced reflection techniques, and tie it all together with the promises of Series X/S audio HW processors.

https://games.dolby.com/blog/deeply-immersive-game-audio-with-spatial-sound/
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/coreaudio/spatial-sound

 

[DegustatoR]

DX12 'Agility' SDK

One of the big announcements coming from Game Stack Live is a new SDK for DirectX12, dubbed the 'Agility' SDK.

With the new Agility SDK, Microsoft is aiming to solve a pain point for developers who say adopting new DirectX12 graphics features is cumbersome. With the Agility SDK, Microsoft will claim that the new features are easier to adopt, won't interrupt or impact existing games, and come with more reliable bug fixes.

Essentially, the Agility SDK allows developers to light up new features for users with compatible systems, namely an updated version of Windows 10 or an Xbox Series S or Xbox Series X console, without impacting users who aren't on the "correct" operating system. The DX12 Agility SDK also comes with a new shader model, dubbed Shader Model 6.6.

Using this new SDK, you can expect games to get graphics optimizations more rapidly since developers won't have to wait for user adoption to kick in before moving to the new feature sets. Some developers like 343 Industries, Turn 10, and Epic Games have already been testing out the new SDK, which should become available for more developers around the time of the show.

Microsoft will also demonstrate a range of existing and new DirectX 12 features, including toolsets for HDR support across Windows 10 and Xbox. Microsoft will also discuss DirectStorage for PC, which brings Xbox's standardized data streaming techniques from the NVME SSD on the new-gen consoles to PC. DirectStorage has implications for game development beyond the loading of games, including things like rapid decompression of assets, reducing file sizes, or using storage for RAM-like rapid streaming of data, resulting in game worlds that are "more expansive and detailed than ever."

https://www.windowscentral.com/game-stack-live-2021

 

[DmitryKo]

It looks like the decoupling of the Direct3D 12 runtime from the Windows OS, to support latest features on some downlevel versions of Windows 10 without requiring Insider Preview builds and new OS releases. This would be similar to the distribution model for WinUI 3 / Project Reunion and recently DirectML, where most recent runtime is also made available on NuGet and includes "polyfill" code to work around limitations of older OS releases.

 

[iroboto]

It looks like the decoupling of the Direct3D 12 runtime from the Windows OS, to support latest features on some downlevel versions of Windows 10 without requiring Insider Preview builds and new OS releases. This would be similar to the distribution model for WinUI 3 / Project Reunion and recently DirectML, where most recent runtime is also made available on NuGet and includes "polyfill" code to work around limitations of older OS releases.

It's pretty crazy that they've had dx12 linked to windows versions for so long thinking about it.

 

[DmitryKo]

crazy that they've had DX12 linked to windows versions for so long

Well, it's quite a lot of additional work, even if you only cover new features implemented by the user-mode display driver.

As for features that require updates to kernel-mode graphics driver (DXGI/DXGK layers), there's a reason why Microsoft stopped releasing service packs and runtime components which make major feature updates to individual kernel components, and switched to a continuous development model where the entire OS is flighted as a new integrated build.
I recall how they tried to backport WDDM 1.2 from Windows 8 to Windows 7 SP1 back in 2012 to support entire Direct3D 11.1 API, but such major changes broke many 3rd-party graphics drivers; too much testing and code refactoring was required to make it work, so they had to revert to using WDDM 1.1 APIs, which resulted in a huge backlash and accusations of forcing the users to upgrade to a full version of much-hated Windows 8. As a result, Direct3D 11.1 and feature level 11.1 never really took off.

 

[zed]

Ha, I remember when they unnecessarily deliberately tried to tie d3d into the windows OS to try and stop opengl gaining too much of a foothold (exactly like they did with internet explorer). Shit, when was that, more than 2 decades ago, maybe?

 

[ChuckeRearmed]

Ha, I remember when they unnecessarily deliberately tried to tie d3d into the windows OS to try and stop opengl gaining too much of a foothold (exactly like they did with internet explorer)

Did it help?

As for features that require updates to kernel-mode graphics driver (DXGI/DXGK layers), there's a reason why Microsoft stopped releasing service packs and runtime components which make major feature updates to individual kernel components, and switched to a continuous development model where the entire OS is flighted as a new integrated build.

But how did they achieve that? And how those updates are different from service packs?

 

[DmitryKo]

how did they achieve that? And how those updates are different from service packs?

Two points. First, new Windows 10 versions and Insider Preview builds are delivered as full standalone OS releases. They can only be installed by performing an in-place upgrade or a clean install.

Second, Windows Update only serves security updates and bug fixes, with separate KB IDs for each specific Windows 10 version (or Insider preview build). Major feature updates are only released with new OS releases (new OS build). All KB updates are mandatory and you cannot skip or uninstall specific updates anymore.

This greatly simplifies the testing matrix, since there are far less combinations of OS components with different versions (and far less disk space occupied).


BTW Windows Update in Windows 10 still uses WinSxS, component storage and file versioning system that originated on Windows ME. Unfortunately it never ever worked reliably, being a constant source of trouble in every single version of Windows released since 1999.

I recall that by the end of Windows 7 service life, Windows Update and Component-Based Servicing systems became fully broken on our corporate machines, mostly because of the sheer quantity of small optional updates released throughout the lifetime of the OS.
It became a bit better when Microsoft started serving monthly "quality roll-ups" instead of dozens very small optional fixes, after they refactored the Windows 7 servicing stack several times and ported the DISM tools from Windows 8/10. However most PCs unable to recover by themselves by that time. In my practice, recent updates need to be installed manually using WSUSOFFLINE script, which will install servicing stack updates one-by-one (rebooting like a dozen times) and rebuild the update catalog (DataStore.edb) on each machine, before Windows Update started functioning again.

Early versions of Windows 10 until 19H2 also suffered from unreliable Windows Update stack. One day updates would stop downloading and installing, and it would stall for several months or more. The usual manual repair of the update catalog wouldn't even help - to recover, you would have to run the Windows 10 Update assistant (or prepare the ISO media using free UUP tools like UUPDump) and make a full in-place 'repair' install to a recent version. Thankfully 20H1/H2 are finally nearly flawless in this regard...

 

[DmitryKo]

they unnecessarily deliberately tried to tie d3d into the windows OS

Huh? Direct3D has always been Microsoft's proprietary, closed source API. Nobody ever wanted or needed Direct3D 9 to exist outside Windows ecosystem.

to try and stop opengl gaining too much of a foothold

No. There were WDDM 1.0 requirements for OpenGL ICD drivers in Windows Vista to support certain pixel formats, so full-screen video modes would be redirected through the DWM (Aero) compositor, and to properly register the OpenGL DLL with the system instead of simply overwriting Microsoft-supplied OpenGL32.dll. These were briefly misinterpreted as deprecating vendor-installable OpenGL ICDs.

https://www.opengl.org/pipeline/article/vol003_7/
https://www.opengl.org/pipeline/article/vol003_9/

 

[ChuckeRearmed]

Two points. First, new Windows 10 versions and Insider Preview builds are delivered as full standalone OS releases. They can only be installed by perfrorming an in-place upgrade or clean install.

So basically new Windows 10 versions are essentially reinstalling Windows when you upgrade them?

 

[DmitryKo]

So basically new Windows 10 versions are essentially reinstalling Windows when you upgrade them?

Exactly, though they are delivered using UUP packages and installed silently (same as Windows Upgrade Assistant process).

 

[ChuckeRearmed]

Exactly, though they are delivered using UUP packages and installed silently (same as Windows Upgrade Assistant process).

Whoa. Windows installations evolved a lot. I still associate Windows installations with "select your language" windows, progress bars and so on.

 

[zed]

Huh? Direct3D has always been Microsoft's proprietary, closed source API. Nobody ever wanted or needed Direct3D 9 to exist outside Windows ecosystem.


No. There were WDDM 1.0 requirements for OpenGL ICD drivers in Windows Vista to support certain pixel formats, so full-screen video modes would be redirected through the DWM (Aero) compositor, and to properly register the OpenGL DLL with the system instead of simply overwriting Microsoft-supplied OpenGL32.dll. These were briefly misinterpreted as deprecating vendor-installable OpenGL ICDs.

https://www.opengl.org/pipeline/article/vol003_7/
https://www.opengl.org/pipeline/article/vol003_9/

I believe d3d was first created by another company before being bought by MS, I was actually using it then , it was painful . Im not talking about d3d9 existing outside windows (though some ppl wanted this eg to play d3d games on linux through a wrapper)
With the pipeline newsletters, I do remember these, I think what I'm talking about happened a few years earlier than this. I quickly tried googling but came up empty, finding stuff from the net 20 years ago is actually quite hard, I may look properly later if I get some free time.

 

[Deleted member 11852]

I believe d3d was first created by another company before being bought by MS, I was actually using it then , it was painful .

Yup, the API that Microsoft branded as Direct3D was created by RenderMorphics who Microsoft bought for the API.