Hello guys,
If you are a windows user, one way or the other, you may have seen an error pop up window displaying missing codes when you try to launch a program on your PC. After a brief research on Google, you were told to download and install DirectX on your PC which solves the problem.
[1]Why DirectX?
DirectX is the name that Microsoft gives to a bunch of application programming interfaces or API for short. API’s are simply a set of instructions, routines or protocol that's used for creating different applications or indeed other protocols and video games.
DirectX simply put, is a language that talks to different components of your PC. Without DirectX, Microsoft would not dominate the gaming platform as it does today and in fact, this is where Microsoft got its name for the original Xbox. The original Xbox was called the Xbox because it was designed to be a box with DirectX involved in it.
[2]Essentially, a gaming PC in a console, something that hasn’t really being done before. PlayStation uses Open GL which is better and worse in a bunch of different ways and it’s way too much information to look at in this article.
The components that make up DirectX consists of:
- Direct3D or D3D: this is used for drawing 3D graphics.
- DXGI: this has to do with languages that pertain to monitors and managing chains for multiple different applications.
- DirectX 2D: for 2D graphics
- Direct Write: for fonts
- DirectCompute: for GPU computing
- Direct Sound: for 3D sound
- DirectX Media: comprising of animation sources for web animation
- Direct Show: for multimedia playback and streaming.
-Wikipedia.
There are many more but we're not going to go into those today because these are the main components that make up DirectX. D3D should be what you're going to need to keep your head in mind for when it comes to DirectX 12 because that's the main component that has been updated for the new line of DirectX.
DirectX Setup
This allows DirectX to be compatible with all other versions of DirectX which is one of the benefits of using DirectX. The fact that its backwards compatible with itself, still means that it's compatible on your hardware today which is really good. There are more tangible benefits to DirectX as well, For example, the Xbox one and 360 all use DirectX.
The disadvantages of DirectX in general is that it isn't an open-source platform like OpenGL, it won't run on things like Linux or Android. It can only run on Microsoft certified products such as the Xbox one, windows phone and of course, computers running on Microsoft windows.
What benefits do the new Direct X12 have over the old DirectX 11?
The beauty of DirectX 12 is that it’s the native API of Windows 10, Windows 10 is used on multiple devices.
[3]DirectX 12 introduces the new version of D3D or Direct3D that I mentioned earlier, it provides lower levels of hardware abstraction than ever before which basically means that things are far more efficient. It allows games to much improve their multi-threaded applications and tasks.
Direct3D 12 also introduces a set of new rendering pipeline features that will dramatically improve the efficiency of algorithms such as order-independent transparency, collision detection, and geometry culling.
source
All of these things will be improved with DirectX 12.
Essentially, it's a more beefed up version of DirectX 11, if you wanted to put it frank but really, it's so much more than that. Let me give you an example:
Direct3D 11 allows pipeline state manipulation through a large set of orthogonal objects.
source
[4]It's slightly inefficient and DirectX 12 fixes this. It does this by unifying much of the pipeline state into immutable pipeline state objects or PSO which have finalized on creation and allows the hardware and drivers to immediately convert the hardware into instructions that the computer can understand which is faster, way more economical and actually makes a whole lot more sense.
When coding games, it's all about how fast and how efficiently the GPU can turn instructions from the game itself into data that can be displayed on your screen in front of you. The faster and better that it can do this, the more the more native objects and creations you can put into your game while it is less tasking and less difficult for your GPU to handle. Essentially, it's all about optimization: making the games the most efficient they can possibly be.
If you want to learn more about DirectX 12, check out the link in the references, it has a lot of information and it will give you some more examples on exactly what has changed in DirectX 12 from DirectX 11. I hope you guys enjoyed this article, if you have any thoughts of your own, be sure to let me know in the comments and don’t forget to hit that upvote button below.
References: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6
Image sources: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4
GIF made by @foundation
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Thanks for this information 👌
Thanks for dropping by.
Wonderful
All I used to know about directx is it helps me play games like pes
And I started playing games on my laptop computer at 2013
Added to my computer library
Good for you.
Your wealth of knowledge in the field of ICT is overwhelming thanks for this wonder piece.
With this I can say I now have an I depth knowledge of what directx means
You're welcome, thanks for keeping in touch.
Awesome piece bro
Thanks
Great article. However, I'm still not clear as to how DirectX is different from general computer drivers. Is it like a collection of gaming drivers for the Windows PC?
It's an addition(spice) to general computer drivers, that's why most program and games don't run without it.