Some DirectX 11.1 Features Confirmed for Windows 7

Right after reports went live focusing on a Microsoft Answers Q&A about DirectX 11.1 being a Windows 8 exclusive, Chuck Walbourn from Microsoft said on the Games for Windows blog that portions of the DirectX 11.1 runtime will be made available for Windows 7 after all.

According to Walbourn, Windows 8 includes an updated 'DirectX 11.1 Runtime' that supports Direct3D 11.1, updates Direct2D and DirectWrite, DXGI 1.2, and a revision of the Windows Imaging Component (WIC).

"Portions of the 'DirectX 11.1 Runtime' are being made available on Windows 7 Service Pack 1 via the Platform Update for Windows 7 Service Pack 1 and Windows Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1 (KB 2670838) included with the Internet Explorer 10 Release Preview for Windows 7," he writes. "This includes the updated components above, but is limited to WDDM 1.1 drivers on Windows 7."

According to the update notes, the patch improves the features and performance of Direct2D, DirectWrite, Direct3D, Windows Imaging Component (WIC), Windows Advanced Rasterization Platform (WARP), Windows Animation Manager (WAM), XPS Document API, H.264 Video Decoder and the JPEG XR codec.

Walbourn's blog adds more detail to the update:

* ID3D11Device1, ID2D1Factory1, IDWriteFactory1, IDXGIFactory2, IWICImagingFactory2, ID3DUserDefinedAnnotation and related APIs are available. Methods that depend on WDDM 1.2 drivers or new Windows Store app APIs are not supported.
* Improved Direct3D 11 device interoperability via ID3DDeviceContextState, including the improved interop with Direct2D/DirectWrite
* D3D11_FEATURE_DATA_D3D9_OPTIONS feature detection
* In addition to the new Windows 8 WIC features, this update also fixes decoding of 96bpp floating-point TIFF images.

For more information, read the blog here, and the platform update notes here.

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Old_Fogie_Late_Bloomer 5 years ago

It seems to me that this is in Microsoft's best interest, overall. I'm betting that the next Xbox will use DirectX 11.1. Any game developer that wants to release games for both the next Xbox and for PC will have to contend with the fact that Windows 7 is the most popular OS in the world (and will probably stay that way for a while).

If the lowest common denominator between the two systems is DirectX 11.0, that's what developers will shoot for. If Microsoft wants developers to use the latest and greatest features, they'll need to back-port them.
gerchokas 5 years ago

They already forgot about the still modern, very-similar-under-the-hood Windows Vista... With the platform update we already have DX11 in that OS, why not keep upgrading it?
And BTW, porting "portions" of the runtime to Win7 is BS... Are they that different that they can't port the whole thing??? (I dont think so..) They'd love to forget everything before Win8 right now if they could

Other Comments

Old_Fogie_Late_Bloomer 5 years ago

It seems to me that this is in Microsoft's best interest, overall. I'm betting that the next Xbox will use DirectX 11.1. Any game developer that wants to release games for both the next Xbox and for PC will have to contend with the fact that Windows 7 is the most popular OS in the world (and will probably stay that way for a while).

If the lowest common denominator between the two systems is DirectX 11.0, that's what developers will shoot for. If Microsoft wants developers to use the latest and greatest features, they'll need to back-port them.
mace200200 5 years ago

So what exactly does this mean for people one Windows 7 in terms of installing it? Are they putting out a new version of service pack one to be downloaded from windows update, or will graphics drivers be able to include it without us doing anything else?
dozerman 5 years ago

Sigh. What will all of the tin foil hat wearing windows8 haters have to worry about now?
Anonymous 5 years ago

Not that big a difference in games to matter anyway. Should be working on DX12 in my book. The next crapbox is a joke btw. Already outdated by my current PC hardware which I upgrade annually cause I can, its a hobby.
gerchokas 5 years ago

They already forgot about the still modern, very-similar-under-the-hood Windows Vista... With the platform update we already have DX11 in that OS, why not keep upgrading it?
And BTW, porting "portions" of the runtime to Win7 is BS... Are they that different that they can't port the whole thing??? (I dont think so..) They'd love to forget everything before Win8 right now if they could
tomfreak 5 years ago

I got a feeling that DirectX 12 will not be part of win7/vista. But these days new directX adoption rate is slow thanks to consoles.
wemakeourfuture 5 years ago

soldier2013Not that big a difference in games to matter anyway. Should be working on DX12 in my book. The next crapbox is a joke btw. Already outdated by my current PC hardware which I upgrade annually cause I can, its a hobby.

You do realize the price difference in a console and how much you have spent on your PC right?
The-Darkening 5 years ago

lostmyclantime to move for linux instead =) microsoft with direct X killed the 3dfx wich uses Open gl.I still have a voodoo 2 and a voodoo 4. i miss that times. when i play turok and quake series and the first unreal...

I still got the Voodoo 3 3000 box in my room. It was really world changing for me at the time, switching from Software render to OpenGL.
mpioca 5 years ago

Old_Fogie_Late_BloomerIt seems to me that this is in Microsoft's best interest, overall. I'm betting that the next Xbox will use DirectX 11.1. Any game developer that wants to release games for both the next Xbox and for PC will have to contend with the fact that Windows 7 is the most popular OS in the world (and will probably stay that way for a while).If the lowest common denominator between the two systems is DirectX 11.0, that's what developers will shoot for. If Microsoft wants developers to use the latest and greatest features, they'll need to back-port them.

The consoles use a different API from DirectX since it does not make hardware-specific programming possible. DirectX is the best solution for the vast array of GPUs we use in PCs but for the consoles you don't need it when you can "directly" program for them. This is why none of the consoles use the DirectX API, it would be wasteful of the computing resources. It might be possible that the Microsoft consoles use a modified version of DirectX but I'm not sure about that.
SteelCity1981 5 years ago

MS realizing hardly anyone is upgrading to windows 8 so they need to focus more on Windows 7.
randomizer 5 years ago

So... DirectX 11.0.5?
fb39ca4 5 years ago

mpiocaThe consoles use a different API from DirectX since it does not make hardware-specific programming possible. DirectX is the best solution for the vast array of GPUs we use in PCs but for the consoles you don't need it when you can "directly" program for them. This is why none of the consoles use the DirectX API, it would be wasteful of the computing resources. It might be possible that the Microsoft consoles use a modified version of DirectX but I'm not sure about that.

Ummm the 360 uses a modified version of DirectX 9, and the original XBox used a version of DX8. Xbox was actually short for DirectXBox.
mouse24 5 years ago

Even if it doesn't include any of the 11.1 features I doubt it would matter in terms of visual quality. Maybe a tiny bit of performance loss assuming they add some code optimizations somehow but thats mostly up to devs anyhow. The point I'm trying to get at is these minor revisions aren't noticeable under any other conditions than taking an industrial grade microscope to 2 of the same pictures. Most people I know IRL can't tell the difference between DX9 an DX11 even on games with good tessellation support.
Anonymous 5 years ago

I hear no word of Vista users of receiving 11.1
tomfreak 5 years ago

mouse24Even if it doesn't include any of the 11.1 features I doubt it would matter in terms of visual quality. Maybe a tiny bit of performance loss assuming they add some code optimizations somehow but thats mostly up to devs anyhow. The point I'm trying to get at is these minor revisions aren't noticeable under any other conditions than taking an industrial grade microscope to 2 of the same pictures. Most people I know IRL can't tell the difference between DX9 an DX11 even on games with good tessellation support.
because nobody make true DX11 games. All are crappy console ports. Now a mid range card can max everything without AA. Pretty soon low end Radeon HDx500, or Nvidia GT #40 series will be able to max everything
alextheblue 5 years ago

lostmyclantime to move for linux instead =) microsoft with direct X killed the 3dfx wich uses Open gl.I still have a voodoo 2 and a voodoo 4. i miss that times. when i play turok and quake series and the first unreal...
MS didn't kill 3dfx, Nvidia did most of that. It didn't help that 3dfx got cocky and arrogant and sat on their butts while Nvidia was hard at work.

In terms of APIs, 3dfx was never a big supporter of OpenGL, they were forced into it later on though. Initially 3dfx was pushing Glide. They only embraced OpenGL when forced into it by software developers. They first started supporting OpenGL with "MiniGL" which was a subset of OGL just to be able to run Quake's OpenGL rendering path. Before that it was all Glide.

So while MS didn't kill 3dfx, you could say that OpenGL and DirectX both killed Glide, and together dealt a blow to 3dfx indirectly by leveling the API playing field. DirectX didn't really take over until OpenGL fell significantly behind, after the fate of 3dfx was sealed.
IQ11110002 5 years ago

wemakeourfutureYou do realize the price difference in a console and how much you have spent on your PC right?

Don't forget to take into account the $2000 HDTV the consoles usually play on, Works out the same as buying a pc
-Jackson 5 years ago

Anonymous said:

You do realize the price difference in a console and how much you have spent on your PC right?

And you both do realise you're talking apples and oranges?
The Xbox and PC are two completely different things, one is designed to primarily play games and/or play DVDs, while the other.. well I don't think I need to explain that. Gaming is just a small part of the functions a PC is capable of.
griptwister 5 years ago

What's stupid is Microsoft is shooting themselves in the foot with consoles... They're forcing themselves to port back to support DX 11.1
cats_Paw 5 years ago

So far i still have not seem directx 11 beeing implemented well in games anyway. Right now its the best moment for me for me to find a girlfriend or something, since in the gaming industry things have been actually going backwards. Crysis 1, dx 10 (2007), Metro and stalker call of prypiat, Dx 11 (2010-11), call of duty, Dx9 (2012).

No point in buying anything now, not Hardware, nor Games. So ill wait till 2014 or so when everything is balanced again.

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