DirectX 12: The future of it within the console gaming space (specifically the XB1)

[Shortbread]

http://schedule.gdconf.com/session-id/828184

For nearly 20 years, DirectX has been the platform used by game developers to create the fastest, most visually impressive games on the planet.

However, you asked us to do more. You asked us to bring you even closer to the metal and to do so on an unparalleled assortment of hardware. You also asked us for better tools so that you can squeeze every last drop of performance out of your PC, tablet, phone and console.

Any thoughts or opinions on how DX 12 will shape the console gaming space, more so the XB1 platform?

 

[Boxercide]

http://schedule.gdconf.com/session-id/828184



Any thoughts or opinions on how DX 12 will shape the console gaming space, more so the XB1 platform?

Format: Sponsored Session

 

[pjbliverpool]

http://schedule.gdconf.com/session-id/828184

Any thoughts or opinions on how DX 12 will shape the console gaming space, more so the XB1 platform?

None whatsoever I'd have thought. The XB1 will continue to use it's own custom version of DX which I'm sure is already very low level and exposes all of the One's features.

I suppose it could have an impact on console gaming overall in terms of the entry to PC gaming being lower than ever before thus drawing people away from consoles but that's about all I can think of!

On a side note, it's quite depressing to see the first (only at present) DX12 thread appear in the console forums!

 

[joker454]

On a side note, it's quite depressing to see the first (only at present) DX12 thread appear in the console forums!

Well for the most part the pc forum on b3d is largely dead.

 

[mosen]

Looking ahead, we’re stoked about the releases of Xbox One and Windows 8.1! The process that got us to this point will continue to drive our future releases. We are getting excellent feedback from the industry around the areas that are most important for future API development, and that feedback is directly informing our Direct3D development direction. We’re continually innovating in areas of performance, functionality and debug and performance tooling for Xbox One. We’re also working with our ISV and IHV partners on future efforts, including bringing the lightweight runtime and tooling capabilities of the Xbox One Direct3D implementation to Windows, and identifying the next generation of advanced 3D graphics technologies.

Developers creating content for the Xbox One are able to use the same programing constructs across Windows and Xbox, and benefit from all the improvements that have been introduced on Windows. With Xbox One we have also made significant enhancements to the implementation of Direct3D 11, especially in the area of runtime overhead. The result is a very streamlined, “close to metal” level of runtime performance. In conjunction with the third generation PIX performance tool for Xbox One, developers can use Direct3D 11 to unlock the full performance potential of the console.

http://blogs.windows.com/windows/b/appbuilder/archive/2013/10/14/raising-the-bar-with-direct3d.aspx

Andrew Goossen: To a large extent we inherited a lot of DX11 design. When we went with AMD, that was a baseline requirement. When we started off the project, AMD already had a very nice DX11 design. The API on top, yeah I think we'll see a big benefit. We've been doing a lot of work to remove a lot of the overhead in terms of the implementation and for a console we can go and make it so that when you call a D3D API it writes directly to the command buffer to update the GPU registers right there in that API function without making any other function calls. There's not layers and layers of software. We did a lot of work in that respect.

We also took the opportunity to go and highly customise the command processor on the GPU. Again concentrating on CPU performance... The command processor block's interface is a very key component in making the CPU overhead of graphics quite efficient. We know the AMD architecture pretty well - we had AMD graphics on the Xbox 360 and there were a number of features we used there. We had features like pre-compiled command buffers where developers would go and pre-build a lot of their states at the object level where they would [simply] say, "run this". We implemented it on Xbox 360 and had a whole lot of ideas on how to make that more efficient [and with] a cleaner API, so we took that opportunity with Xbox One and with our customised command processor we've created extensions on top of D3D which fit very nicely into the D3D model and this is something that we'd like to integrate back into mainline 3D on the PC too - this small, very low-level, very efficient object-orientated submission of your draw [and state] commands.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-the-complete-xbox-one-interview

Actually it seems to me that some of the X1 API modifications will be utilized on standard DirectX (DX12).

 

[iroboto]

Not sure how to embed a tweet.
https://twitter.com/DirectX12/status/442011932011134976

 

[XpiderMX]

Not sure how to embed a tweet.
https://twitter.com/DirectX12/status/442011932011134976

And the Xbox One logo is on the DX blog.

 

[babybumb]

The custom dx api on Xbox One will already have better access to the gpu than any generic dx12. Both consoles will bring API updates like they always have

DX12 probably just bring some low level Xbox stuff to PC and make porting easier

 

[pjbliverpool]

The custom dx api on Xbox One will already have better access to the gpu than any generic dx12. Both consoles will bring API updates like they always have

Although it does sound likely to cut the traditional console API advantage (which this generation desperately needs) clean in half - at least.

 

[iroboto]

And the Xbox One logo is on the DX blog.

Thanks for that, I wanted to write more cause my post was rather lacking information but my daughter just lost it and wouldn't stop crying and yelling ;(

Something I wanted to ask was whether there would be a possibility of a hardware spec requirement for a fully compliant DX12 based video card? I can't think of anything it has that any other Sea Islands GPU wouldn't already have [assuming the X1 is changing over to DX12 and DX12 is not just a rebadging of it's custom dx api]

 

[fehu]

So it's possible that developers will be able to develop games compatible with windows' store and theone's?

 

[MJP]

So it's possible that developers will be able to develop games compatible with windows' store and theone's?

I'd be fairly surprised if MS hadn't been planning this from the start. They've already spent time creating the tools and libraries required for having apps running in a limited tablet/mobile environment, so it seems like it would be natural to extend that to the XB1. However I'm not sure if this has anything to do with DX12.

 

[Cyan]

Woah, hold on, if they bring DirectX 12 to the Xbox One, that's huge!

They say DX12 goes pretty low-level like Mantle you could say, there are probably other interesting changes as well. This has direct connections to what a few developers have said about some future update for the Xbox One that brings games up to 1080p that have popped up as of late.

I expect lots of 1080p 60 fps games on Xbox One from now on.

GDC is looking very very interesting as it gets closer.

 

[Strange]

Woah, hold on, if they bring DirectX 12 to the Xbox One, that's huge!

They say DX12 goes pretty low-level like Mantle you could say, there are probably other interesting changes as well. This has direct connections to what a few developers have said about some future update for the Xbox One that brings games up to 1080p that have popped up as of late.

I expect lots of 1080p 60 fps games on Xbox One from now on.

GDC is looking very very interesting as it gets closer.

Are you kidding or being sarcastic?

 

[Cyan]

Are you kidding or being sarcastic?

Not kidding. Perhaps you read it differently, although I never said something as the Xbox One now being able to achieve 240 fps and 8k resolution now.

It just confirms that there has to be some benefit in bringing DirectX 12 to Xbox One. If not, why bother? I mean, with Tiled Resources and better use of the hardware via DX12 higher resolutions and 60 fps might be achievable.

It's all about resources, Strange. Say you need to pay a lot less on your internet bill and you get dial up instead of DSL or Cable, plus your land line phone, all together. You will still have an Internet connection, despite that maybe you won't see videos too well online, but for you, it'd be all about saving money.

DX12 might be the same for Xbox One. Perhaps some games won't work too fancy because of the limited storage of the eSRAM but other games might gain huge benefits in performance by saving precious MB from that limited amount of memory.

 

[Betanumerical]

Not kidding. Perhaps you read it differently, although I never said something as the Xbox One now being able to achieve 240 fps and 8k resolution now.

It just confirms that there has to be some benefit in bringing DirectX 12 to Xbox One. If not, why bother? I mean, with Tiled Resources and better use of the hardware via DX12 higher resolutions and 60 fps might be achievable.

It's all about resources, Strange. Say you need to pay a lot less on your internet bill and you get dial up instead of DSL or Cable, plus your land line phone, all together. You will still have an Internet connection, despite that maybe you won't see videos too well online, but for you, it'd be all about saving money.

DX12 might be the same for Xbox One. Perhaps some games won't work too fancy because of the eSRAM but other games might gain huge benefits in performance by saving precious MB of that limited amount of memory.

You expect DX12 to bring 40-50% more ALU power?.

 

[joker454]

I expect lots of 1080p 60 fps games on Xbox One from now on.

I think you will be very dissapointed.

It just confirms that there has to be some benefit in bringing DirectX 12 to Xbox One. If not, why bother?

Microsoft's #1 purpose in life right now should be to unify all their platforms to make it easy to code on one and get it running with relative ease on all the others. Qualcomm listed on the DX12 slide gives me hope that maybe they are finally moving towards that goal.

 

[Cyan]

You expect DX12 to bring 40-50% more ALU power?.

Well.... of course not, but if you want maximum gaming better drivers are a must, and we still don't know what's the timeframe for DirectX 12 -I hope it supports Windows 8.1 btw, 'cos I am tired of 3D games from 2007 or so with simple graphics by todays' standards peaking my laptop's GPU to the point that I have to throttle the whole thing down for it to have decent temps, not to mention using a cooler base fans at times, and oddly enough I get the same 60 fps performance because my laptop can handle them just fine without reaching temperatures up to 70º-.

I mention that timeframe because while I don't expect it to magically transform the Xbox One, things are what they are, I might come out at a time when Xboxone's drivers shall be better.

 

[Betanumerical]

Well.... of course not, but if you want maximum gaming better drivers are a must, and we still don't know what's the timeframe for DirectX 12 -I hope it supports Windows 8.1 btw, 'cos I am tired of 3D games from 2007 or so with simple graphics by todays' standards peaking my laptop's GPU to the point that I have to throttle the whole thing down for it to have decent temps, not to mention using a cooler base lamp at times, and oddly enough I get the same 60 fps performance because my laptop can handle them just fine without reaching temperatures up to 70º-.

I mention that timeframe because while I don't expect it to magically transform the Xbox One, things are what they are, I might come out at a time when Xboxone's drivers shall be better.

A new version of DX will not change how old games run.

 

[Cyan]

I think you will be very dissapointed.




Microsoft's #1 purpose in life right now should be to unify all their platforms to make it easy to code on one and get it running with relative ease on all the others. Qualcomm listed on the DX12 slide gives me hope that maybe they are finally moving towards that goal.

That sounds a lot like what Jack Nicholson said, "You can't handle the truth!" That sums up a lot of things in life, and people too -their personal biz and stuff like that, the average person probably can't deal with that. But anyways, not to get off-topic, the last replies from forumers here make me think that maybe you are right, perhaps we shouldn't expect amazing improvements, maybe some cool ones at least though.

Purpose in life.... he he, that sounds quite empirical. DirectX has a lot of potential and legacy and almost every game on the planet can run on it, so that sounds fine with me.