Direct X10? What does it add?

[Demirug]

With the new driver model vista will be a great D3D9 Platform too. Anyway PS2.0 hardware will be the base hardware for Vista. Because of this I think that all "Launch" Title will run with DX9 SM2.

An other part of the gameing platform is the new parental control system and maybe the new network feature.

 

[JHoxley]

I am sure they can do a lot things but how willingly will they to use it outside the lab in real games?

They will eventually. Think how long that SM3 was technically available before people started making good use of it.

Even with multi API support you can run in Problems as D3D10 seems not to use a fine granulated state machine like we know from D3D9 and OpenGL.

I don't really see how a fine (or not as the case may be) granulation poses such significant problems. Awkward to use initially I can understand, but it's not a major hurdle...?

I wouldn't be expecting much beyond a few fancy tech-demo's in the "early days" of D3D10 hardware. As much because the developers are getting used to it all as the hardware isn't up-to-scratch just yet... Give them a couple of generations of hardware and a year or two to get into the swing of things and we'll be seeing some special stuff

How else can M$ be serious about making Vista a "games" platform

As Demirug mentioned, it's *not* all about the actual games... there's much more to it. For example: LUA, Parental Guidance, Games Launch Pad thingy, Distribution channels, hardware requirements listing (forget the name, but the thing that simplifies the requirements on a games box).

I can't remember, but wasn't that Farcry next-generation video thing advertised in the keynote as being part of a launch title?

Cheers,
Jack

 

[Demirug]

They will eventually. Think how long that SM3 was technically available before people started making good use of it.

I don’t have any doubt that they will use it in the future but IMHO this will take more time than the SM3 step.

I don't really see how a fine (or not as the case may be) granulation poses such significant problems. Awkward to use initially I can understand, but it's not a major hurdle...?

It can be a problem if you have build an multi render API interface based on fine granulation for state changes and a new API don't have it anymore. Maybe I am wrong and D3D10 still support setting renderstates the “oldâ€￾ way and state objects are not compellingly.

I personally don’t have any problems with the new state objects as my own engine already use such a concept. I call anything a shader even if this pipeline part is still fixed function but the concept is the same as the D3D10 state objects. The only problem I maybe need to solve is if D3D10 have build other groups of states as I.

If you use an effect framework (like the one in D3DX) as the only interface between the game and the render API I don’t expect big problems too.

I wouldn't be expecting much beyond a few fancy tech-demo's in the "early days" of D3D10 hardware. As much because the developers are getting used to it all as the hardware isn't up-to-scratch just yet... Give them a couple of generations of hardware and a year or two to get into the swing of things and we'll be seeing some special stuff

In a year or two we maybe already talk about D3D11 or even D3D12.

I can't remember, but wasn't that Farcry next-generation video thing advertised in the keynote as being part of a launch title?

Cheers,
Jack

Yes, it was in one of the keynotes. They compare it with one of the Windows 1.0 games.

 

[pjbliverpool]

So can anyone explain in what ways D3D10 goes beyond the Xenos featureset and vice versa?