How can Dirt 2 have no DX 10 path ?

Ok so the thing is this,
When DX11 was first touted everyone was pushing the fact that DX11 is just a super set or DX10 and so if a game was coded in DX11 then by default it included a DX10 path. This meant that DX10/10.1 cards could in theory benefit from some of the improvements that the DX11 code would bring.
Now Toms has reviewed Dirt 2 with a view to seeing how good or not the DX11 path is compared top the DX9 path and the review states there is no DX10 path at all only a DX9 or a DX11 path.
So either this review is in error, Dirt 2 is blocking the DX10 path on purpose or all the reviewers and tech journo's were fed a load or crap about DX11 in the first place. Just like Gamer tried to tell us

Mactronix
 
I asked this question after having a look at the demo and the only response I got was "maybe that's because it's just the demo", for me it just goes to show that DX10/10.1 may not have been worth all the noise after all.
 

wh3resmycar

Distinguished
i was disappointed. i thought dx10 would be the base minimum of all dx11 featured games or have a set of options like switching from 9/10/10.1/11.

i guess developers' cost-benefit analysis is still negative for full dx10 support.
 
Well i guess its possable that its down to a crappy implementation on code masters part. I'm just kinda thinking out load here but i guess it could be that it will support some features with the DX10/10.1 hardware but only if the game is code totally in DX11. Dirt 2 seems to be to me a DX9 path and then another DX9 path with a DX11 layer for some tessellation effects.
So maybe if it had a DX9 and a totally DX11 path then the DX10/10.1 cards would be allowed to execute the DX11 path as best as it could but then again if its not 100% compatible it wouldn't be able to would it ?
I was really expecting it to work kinda like wh3resmycar is suggesting.

So i guess the question now becomes does DX11 have a DX10/10.1 path by default or not, and does Dirt 2 not give this support due to not being 100% DX11 or just through bad coding ?

Mactronix
 

jennyh

Splendid
It could be anything. Sure ATI might have leaned on Codies to leave out dx10...then again maybe Nvidia should have sent people to help them out like they did with Eidos and Batman?

Or maybe it was just time constraints? Oh wait where did I here that one before?
 
It's a shame but then it is but one title, what I'm hoping is that we are not seeing the start of a trend here and the next into the fray will be the new AvP which whilst nothing new as far as the game idea goes, visually it should look good.
 

jennyh

Splendid
Honestly and all nitpicking aside, the tesselation of dx11 simply wouldnt work on dx10 cards would it?

It looks like Codies just said 'screw dx10 it doesn't do what we want'. Although it might be compatible with dx11 that doesn't necessarily mean it would be optimal.

From what I can see, the differences between 9 and 11 are very minimal and only really show up in stills so it really is no big deal either way.
 

xrodney

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Jul 14, 2006
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I guess CM went with DX9 for overall compatibility and AMD pay them to add DX11 support. To make it work also with 10/10.1 it would probably require another delay to implement and test it.
 
@ mousemonkey,
Couldnt agree more lets just hope its down to this one game.

@ jennyh,
Quite correct DX11 tessellation cant run on DX10/10.1 cards, however all the Dev's that were interviewed and the guys from Nvidia and ATI that i have seen interviews with over the last few months all said that DX10/10.1 cards would benefit from some of the improvements of DX11 and as it was a super set it wouldn't need a different path to work.
So is it misleading to say it has a DX9 and DX11 path but no DX10 path ? How is it running DX9 ? I'm not 100 % up on this but i believe DX9 running in a DX10 environment is a different version than it is under XP.
Anyway that's all by the by if as MM says its just this one title that it effects.

@ xrodney,
Thats the whole thing though, it shouldnt need any testing or implementing if as they all told us its a stricy superset, that is DX11 includes all the DX10 code anyway then it should just work.

I really really hope MM is right and this isnt the start of a trend.

Mactronix

 

jennyh

Splendid
I think it might be the start of a trend unfortunately. If dx10 can be bypassed then I don't see why any devs would bother really.

The only people who miss out are those with dx10 cards, and the games devs will probably use the argument that they were happy with dx9 for years.

So ye, unfortunately I'd say there is a high chance of all future games being dx9/dx11 only, and dx10 being forgotten.