Do people think there's anything behind the rumors of DX12 being practically DX11+Mantle replacing D3D?
Not really... I think DX12 is more like the actual version of DX who run on PS4 and Xbox one .. ( with maybe more PC computing features added who are not in the actual "DX console version") .
Now..
- Most features used in DX11 are made by AMD
- mantle use the same features level of DX11 (( no difference or anything lost in BF4 and Thief as example in term of graphic features ) ( they dont violate any licence by use all thoses features as they have for the most developp them or collaborate to include them in DX and have a total control on them ( legally ), hence why i was saying you have no difference in graphics by using Mantle ( you have not features retired as you dont use DX when using Mantle )
- Consoles DirectX API are low level API, as AMD is bringing in both case the x86 gpu and CPU.. the DirectX API is close to GCN. Mantle is close to GCN obviously ...
Saying that Dx12 is "just " DX11+Mantle look more like a metaphore for me. Basically it is something close to Mantle, But based on DirectX ... ( i will not be surprised that many codes are looking severally like Mantle, just due to the fact thoses codes allready exist in the DirectX version for consoles like the PS4 and Xboxone who have been developped on GCN architecture anyway )..
But i will not be so much surprised that MS do a deal with AMD for it.. AMD, DirectX and MS is a long story of collaboration...... ( I absolutely dont believe this is the case.. but looking the history, work of AMD for DirectX .. this is not completely impossible )