Could DirectX 10 work on the 360?

By icecaveman
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Grand Master

Trong

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I thought XNA was the "push for corss-platform gaming" ? Why is DirectX 10 such a big deal?

Because new games will be made with DX10? DX10 makes use of crazy powerful GPUs so older DX9 games will run much faster. If you've seen some sample DX10 shots, you'd notice that they look about 100x better than any DX9 game images out now.

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Grand Master

icecaveman

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^If you read from various sources the 360 has more than DirectX 9 capabilities, more like 9.6. Most of the unified shaders work the same on the 360 as DirectX 10 from what I've heard.

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Grand Master

Spartan_X

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the Xbox 360 was designed with DX10 in mind, and here is something a few people know about games on the Xbox platform... :shiftyninja:

the original Xbox just packed a few libraries on its firmware, the idea behind implementing libraries on the game disk rather than on the hardware was portability and extensibility. this allows Microsoft to provide game developers with the latest sets of tools and libraries with fixes and updates that allow them to take full advantage of what they know about the platform and transform all that knowledge in some of the most amazing titles.

that's one of the reasons why most games on the Xbox looked and performed better than previous titles, the good thing about this approach is that it was carried over to the 360 platform and this allows Microsoft to keep an up-to-date platform that can be easily updated to match the technology available on the PC at a software level without the need to make drastic changes, in this case the full set of the DX10 implementation for the 360 which already packs some of those libraries and tools... ;)

so, you can expect to see some really amazing stuff once all these tools are ready to go out to game devs... :happy: :yes:

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Grand Master

Spartan_X

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^ But how do you explain the fact that ATi said full implementation of DX10 isn't possible with the 360s GPU?

keyword "full implementation"... the way Xenos was build doesn't require all of the DX10 stuff, remember that this is a console we're talking here not a PC... :shifty: :whistle:

go around the net and take a look at ATI's info on Xenos vs ATI's DX10 VCs... :yes:

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Grand Master

jamend

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It's probably because the latest cards out now use vertex and pixel shader 3.0, the Xbox uses unified shader 3.0, and DX10 uses unifified shader 4.0. It's close but not quite there.

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Grand Master

DrunknMunky Veteran

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the Xbox 360 was designed with DX10 in mind, and here is something a few people know about games on the Xbox platform... :shiftyninja:

the original Xbox just packed a few libraries on its firmware, the idea behind implementing libraries on the game disk rather than on the hardware was portability and extensibility. this allows Microsoft to provide game developers with the latest sets of tools and libraries with fixes and updates that allow them to take full advantage of what they know about the platform and transform all that knowledge in some of the most amazing titles.

that's one of the reasons why most games on the Xbox looked and performed better than previous titles, the good thing about this approach is that it was carried over to the 360 platform and this allows Microsoft to keep an up-to-date platform that can be easily updated to match the technology available on the PC at a software level without the need to make drastic changes, in this case the full set of the DX10 implementation for the 360 which already packs some of those libraries and tools... ;)

so, you can expect to see some really amazing stuff once all these tools are ready to go out to game devs... :happy: :yes:

Kick ass, very informative post :yes:

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Heyo

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Come on x360 uses ibm powerpc cpu which has different architecture than pc. I am sure it can't run directx 9 or 10.

Are you joking, or do you just not understand the whole point of an Application Programming Interface (API) like Direct X?

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Spartan_X

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Well i dont, could some one explain?

there you go buddy, have fun with it! :happy: :yes:

Brief History of Direct-X

Before the release of Windows 95, most games were developed and released for the Microsoft Disk Operating System (DOS) platform, usually using something like DOS4GW or some other 32-bit DOS extender to obtain access to 32-bit protected mode. Windows 95, however, seemed to signal the beginning of the end of the DOS prompt. Games developers began to wonder how they were going to write games optimally that would run under Windows 95 - games typically need to run in full-screen mode, and need to get as close as possible to your hardware. Windows 95 seemed to be "getting in the way" of this. DOS had allowed them to program as "close to the metal" as possible, that is, get straight to the hardware, without going through layers of abstraction and encapsulation. In those days, the extra overhead of a generic API would have made games too slow.

What is DirectX?

DirectX is comprised of application programming interfaces (APIs) that are grouped into two classes:

1- The DirectX Foundation layer

2- The DirectX Media layer

These APIs enable programs to directly access many of your computer's hardware devices.

The DirectX Foundation layer automatically determines the hardware capabilities of the computer and then sets the programms' parameters to match. This allows multimedia applications to run on any Windows-based computer and at the same time ensures that the multimedia applications take full advantage of high-performance hardware.

The DirectX Foundation layer contains a single set of APIs that provide improved access to the advanced features of high-performance hardware, such as 3-D graphics acceleration chips and sound cards. These APIs control low-level functions, including 2-D graphics acceleration; support for input devices such as joysticks, keyboards, and mice; and control of sound mixing and sound output. The low-level functions are supported by the components that make up the DirectX Foundation layer:

Microsoft DirectDraw

The Microsoft DirectDraw API supports extremely fast, direct access to the accelerated hardware capabilities of a computer's video adapter. It supports standard methods of displaying graphics on all video adapters, and faster, more direct access when using accelerated drivers. DirectDraw provides a device-independent way for programs, such as games and two-dimensional (2-D) graphics packages, and Windows system components, such as digital video codecs, to gain access to the features of specific display devices without requiring any additional information from the user about the device's capabilities.

Microsoft Direct3D Immediate Mode

The Microsoft Direct3D Immediate Mode API (Direct3D) provides an interface to the 3-D rendering functions built into most new video cards. Direct3D is a low-level 3-D API that provides a device-independent way for applications to communicate with accelerator hardware efficiently and powerfully.

Direct3D provides application developers with many advanced features, such as:

1- Switchable depth buffering (using z-buffers or w-buffers)

2- Flat and Gouraud shading

3- Multiple lights and light types

4- Full material and texture support

5- Robust software emulation drivers

6- Transformation and clipping

7- Hardware independence

8- Full hardware acceleration on Windows 2000 (when the appropriate device drivers are available)

9- Built-in support for the specialized CPU instruction sets, including Intel's MMX and Pentium III architectures, and the 3DNow! architecture

Microsoft DirectSound

The Microsoft DirectSound API provides a link between programs and an audio adapter's sound mixing and playback capabilities. It also enables wave sound capture and playback. DirectSound provides multimedia applications with low-latency mixing, hardware acceleration, and direct access to the sound device. It provides this feature while maintaining compatibility with existing device drivers.

Microsoft DirectMusic

The Microsoft DirectMusic API is the musical component of DirectX. Unlike the DirectSound API, which captures and plays digital sound samples, DirectMusic works with message-based musical data that is converted to digital audio either by your sound card or by its built-in software synthesizer. As well as supporting input in Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI) format, DirectMusic provides application developers the ability to create immersive, dynamic soundtracks that respond to user input.

Microsoft DirectInput

The Microsoft DirectInput API provides advanced input for games and processes input from joysticks as well as other related devices including the mouse, keyboard, and other game controllers, such as force-feedback game controllers.

The DirectX Media layer works with the DirectX Foundation layer to provide high-level services that support animation, media streaming (transmission and viewing of audio and video as it is downloaded over the Internet), and interactivity. Like the DirectX Foundation layer, the DirectX Media layer is comprised of several integrated components that include:

Microsoft Direct3D Retained Mode

The Microsoft Direct3D Retained Mode API provides higher-level support for advanced, real-time, three-dimensional (3-D) graphics. Direct3D Retained Mode provides built-in support for graphics techniques like hierarchies and animation. Direct3D Retained Mode is built on top of Direct3D Immediate Mode.

Microsoft DirectAnimation

The Microsoft DirectAnimation API provides integration and animation for different types of media, such as two-dimensional images, three-dimensional objects, sounds, movies, text, and vector graphics.

Microsoft DirectPlay

The Microsoft DirectPlay API supports game connections over a modem, the Internet, or LAN. DirectPlay simplifies access to communication services and provides a way for games to communicate with each other, independent of the underlying protocol, or online service.

Microsoft DirectShow

The Microsoft DirectShow API plays multimedia files located in local files or on Internet servers, and captures multimedia streams from devices, such as video capture cards. DirectShow plays video and audio content compressed in various formats, including MPEG, audio-video interleaved (AVI), and WAV.

Microsoft DirectX Transform

The Microsoft DirectX Transform API enables application developers to create, animate, and edit digital images. DirectX Transform works with both two-dimensional (2-D) images and three-dimensional (3-D) images, which can be used to create stand-alone programs or dynamic plug-ins for Web graphics.

? MYCPLUS Online Community - http://www.mycplus.com/

Source:> MYCPLUS

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OhMuffin

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So basically we can call this DirectX 9.5... with the additions of adding new libraries from the dvd disk itself.

I still dont think the 360 will look as good as DX10, but I'm happy with my 360.

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Grand Master

dnast

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Does it matter? I'm pretty sure Direct X isn't needed for consoles. Wasn't Direct X made to make it easier for developers to "talk" directly to the hardware through Windows and also so it would be easier to code for multiple hardware configurations? (Yes, I'm aware that it makes it easier for PC developers to port PC titles and even bring new IP to the X360, btw)

The PS3 won't have Direct X at all, but I'm sure there isn't much that'll stop that console from having visually impressive games. The learning curve will be the only thing that holds it back somewhat in the beginning.

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Grand Master

Yusuf M. Veteran

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I don't think the Xbox 360 hardware is capable of implementing DX10, but I certainly think the console can achieve visuals similar to the visuals obtainable with DX10.

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Gfunk4life

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Does it matter? I'm pretty sure Direct X isn't needed for consoles. Wasn't Direct X made to make it easier for developers to "talk" directly to the hardware through Windows and also so it would be easier to code for multiple hardware configurations? (Yes, I'm aware that it makes it easier for PC developers to port PC titles and even bring new IP to the X360, btw)

The PS3 won't have Direct X at all, but I'm sure there isn't much that'll stop that console from having visually impressive games. The learning curve will be the only thing that holds it back somewhat in the beginning.

if im not wrong doesnt Direct X help games run better, and look better?

(im not saying anything about PS3)

the console needs something to run graphics, they need some thing to process it. the only differnce was that consoles didnt have memery like PC's .i think im saying that consoles have information going through them and direct x helps it do it better right? atless i think im right :p dont hate me

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