If DX 12 brings back a renaissance in RTS games, that would be fantastic. The demo looked very nice, but I will reserve judgement until we see a complete game.
If DX 12 brings back a renaissance in RTS games, that would be fantastic. The demo looked very nice, but I will reserve judgement until we see a complete game.
I hope DX12 crashes and burns so that Vulkan can take the spotlight for the next decade. As consumers we don't need Microsoft and their platform locking tactics since Vulkan, being improvement on Mantle, should be just as capable and familiar to devs as DX12. DX needs to die.
IMO the only reason everyone is getting free upgrades to Win10 is because of Mantle and Vulkan.
Some performance values from that video. Intel's Astroid field benchmark program is used.
First off Dx 11:
FPS: 28 CPU Utilization: 20% (Only 2 cores could be utilized)
Now for basic Dx 12 with no extra features other than REAL multithreading all the astreoid rocks are drawn one by one in a loop(DrawLoop) just like Dx 11 but on all the cores! (Which is actually not so smart as you can see after this)
FPS: 74 CPU Utilization: 38-39% (On all 4 cores and 8 threads available!)
Dx 11 vs Dx 12 Multithreading and issuing command with all the cores can be seen here:
On Dx 11 is till the middle of each cpu core graph, only 2 are active (and one verry jittery). But on Dx 12 all cores are active and really steady.
OK! Now with the usage of descriptor tables (a sw feature of Dx 12) all the different astreoid rocks are drawn again with a loop(DrawLoop) but this time on a single descriptor table heap in a bindless fashion.
FPS: 80 CPU Utilization: 35%
THIS IS NOT ALL! What comes next is the motherload of CPU utilization!!
Up until now all the rocks were drawn in a loop. A draw call was issued to all different cores of cpu at the end of each loop. But if you knew what is to be drawn for static/not changing parts of the game beforehand (like the developers do! ) then you can describe all of the object to be drawn in one single descriptor table and then ExecuteIndirect (prepare what is to be drawn beforehand and execute it in one fell swoop) so all the different objects are drawn in exactly one instance all together (smartest possibility to render).
DrawLoop on the left: Start drawing and don't stop until certain condition is met and when that is met stop drawing.
ExecuteIndirect on the right: Draw everything that is in the DescriptorTable, all the asteroid rocks in one heap in that table.
Dx 12 with ExecuteIndirect and Descriptor Heaps
FPS:90 !! and CPU Utilization: ONLY 9% !!!!
So going from Dx11 and 28 FPS to Dx 12 and 90 FPS. CPU utilization is down to 9% from 20%. I say Dx 12 is REAL.
I'd say it has more to do with the fact that Win8 had very poor adoption rates, and is still lagging way behind Win7 in current market share. Microsoft wants people to jump ship to Win10 so when they finally cease support for Win7, there will be fewer complaints.
If DX 12 brings back a renaissance in RTS games, that would be fantastic. The demo looked very nice, but I will reserve judgement until we see a complete game.
Well, Vista adoption was horrid, but they didn't give away Win7.
Not just desktop. Microsoft is under heavy attack if you look at the entire personal computing space. It is giving away Win10 in the hopes of keeping users locked into Windows and getting revenue from the Windows marketplace.
Microsoft was spurred into action by Mantle because further neglect of D3D might convince more and more devs to start supporting Mantle, which presumably could be made to run on other OSes like Linux/Android/Mac/iOS, and if gamers (many of whom are techies familiar with Linux) switched en masse, that would further erode the Windows user base. Even ordinary people are starting to slip away from Windows as they have just an iPhone and iPad for ALL of their computing needs. Ordinary users just want a web browser, Office apps, and games. An external HDD and Cloud storage and they're set. I would never do that personally, but more and more people are.
http://news.softpedia.com/images/extra/NEWS/large/windowsfall1.jpg
IMO the only reason everyone is getting free upgrades to Win10 is because of Mantle and Vulkan.
the market grew, windows installments didn't srhink
Windows 10 is free for Windows 8/8.1 users because MS knows they made a huge mistake. Windows 10 is free for Windows 7 users because MS is afraid of a XP rerun.
Nothing to do with any gaming API.
Notice how I state "IMO"? You though state it as if you've personally done a survey and interviewed the msft BOD. lol
Its not some kind of hidden information to MS enterprise customers, stockholders, OEMs and business partners.
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Radeon R9 2xx
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Well, Vista adoption was horrid, but they didn't give away Win7.
The question is how long is the definition of "life of a device " for say a desktop ?My understanding is windows 10 is a slight change in business model of windows for consumers. Windows 10 is the "last" version of windows. From this point onward, you buy windows once, and it is automatically kept up to date for the life of the device at no more cost.
I hope DX12 crashes and burns so that Vulkan can take the spotlight for the next decade. As consumers we don't need Microsoft and their platform locking tactics since Vulkan, being improvement on Mantle, should be just as capable and familiar to devs as DX12. DX needs to die.
The question is how long is the definition of "life of a device " for say a desktop ?
We need to know what happens 2, 3, etc yrs down the road .
The life of a device means as long as that system is licensed. If you keep a PC working 10 years then you get 10 years of feature updates. It has nothing to do with an expiration date. WHen you build or buy a new PC you require a new license and then you get updates for that system.
As opposed to SteamOS platform locking? Yeah...screw that. At least with Windows I can do something useful in addition to gaming.
Look, DX is the single best thing to happen to PC gaming. You seem to want it to go backwards. How many people use windows? Billions of people. That means DX is in the hands of billions of potential customers. Screw everything else...a universal API is the best thing and DX is as close to that as we've gotten and will probably ever get.
As opposed to SteamOS platform locking? Yeah...screw that. At least with Windows I can do something useful in addition to gaming.
Look, DX is the single best thing to happen to PC gaming. You seem to want it to go backwards. How many people use windows? Billions of people. That means DX is in the hands of billions of potential customers. Screw everything else...a universal API is the best thing and DX is as close to that as we've gotten and will probably ever get.