Redistributable
This download provides
the DirectX end-user
multi-languaged
redistributable that
developers can include with
their product. The
redistributable license
agreement covers the terms
under which developers may use
the Redistributable. For full
details please review the
DirectX SDK EULA.txt and
DirectX Redist.txt files
located in the license
directory.
This
package is localized into
Chinese (Simplified), Chinese
(Traditional), Czech, Dutch,
French, German, Italian,
Japanese, Korean, Polish,
Portuguese (Brazil), Russian,
Spanish, Swedish, and
English.
End-User
Runtime
Microsoft
DirectX is a group of
technologies designed to make
Windows-based computers an
ideal platform for running and
displaying applications rich
in multimedia elements such as
full-color graphics, video, 3D
animation, and rich audio.
DirectX includes security and
performance updates, along
with many new features across
all technologies, which can be
accessed by applications using
the DirectX
APIs.
neowin.net -
11.10.2006DirectX 11 coming to Vista
As with Windows Vista, the newest version of Windows brings with it a newer version of Microsoft's DirectX. Windows 7 was released with Direct X
11 support, and it was initially thought that Direct X 11 support would remain a 7-only technology. Reports indicate that a platform update is being
pushed via Windows Update that will enable DirectX 11 support on Vista PC's. With an impressive lineup of Direct X 11 games announced which
includes Crysis 2 and The Lord of the Rings Online, Vista users will be happy to know that they can go out and purchase a Radeon 5870 and use it to
its full potential.
Read full story.....
neowin.net -
03.11.2009Gaming in Vista with DX10 goodness?
Turns out that Vista's
DirectX 10 is not fully
backwards compatible with
DirectX 9, and Vista does not
ship with the components
required for all games that
utilize DirectX 9.. Therefore,
if you get any errors about
missing DLL files from games
when you try to run them in
Vista (such as Medieval 2:
Total War), then you'll have
to actually download and
install DirectX 9!
Just in case you need to do
so - here's the link as of
Feb 2007:
DirectX
Runtime Files neowin.net -
15.02.2007DirectX 10.1 in Windows Vista SP1 - The Evolution
As Windows Vista brought to the table the exclusive DirectX 10, the first service pack for the operating system will evolve Microsofts graphics
technology to version 10.1. DirectX 10.1 is already available to over 12,000 testers via the first beta of Vista Service Pack 1, concomitantly with
the official release of Build 6001.16659. Although the testing milestones of Vista, Windows Server 2008 and Windows XP SP3 Beta, are officially
limited in terms of access, a hack is available designed to permit the download of Windows Vista SP1 Beta Build 6001.16659 straight from Microsoft,
and simultaneously test drive DirectX 10.1.
However, Vista users have to understand that DirectX 10.1, as well as DirectX 10 is a
technology intimately connected with the underlying graphics card, such as the upcoming ATI Radeon HD 3800 Series. According to an AMD whitepaper
focused on the implementation of DirectX 10.1 in the ATI Radeon HD 3800 Series, the latest application programming interface from Microsoft, manages
to "unlock the state of the art in GPU technology."
neowin.net -
31.10.2007Microsoft Will Not Release
DirectX 10 for WinXP
Microsoft will not release
next-generation graphics
application programming
interface (API) called DirectX
10 for the currently shipping
Windows XP operating system
(OS), instead, the company
will keep the new API strictly
for the forthcoming Windows
Vista OS, despite earlier
assumptions about DirectX 10
for the XP.
jcxp.net -
26.05.2006DirectX 11 Details Emerge
Microsoft released a handful of details about DirectX 11 today and the folks at Shacknews have the scoop.
Similar to DirectX 10, the
software will be available only on Windows Vista and future versions of Microsoft's operating system. DirectX 11 will add new compute shader
technology that Microsoft says will allow GPUs to be used "for more than just 3D graphics," allowing developers to utilize video cards as parallel
processors.
jcxp.net -
23.07.2008BioShock Frame Rates: DirectX 9 Vs. DirectX 10
Want a serious performance boost in BioShock? Play it on DirectX 9. Sad, but true. As DirectX 9/10 hybrid games have trickled to market, we've been
testing them to see whether the newer, Vista-only API library is worth its salt. We've done it with Company of Heroes, Lost Planet, and more. In
every case, DirectX 9 performance was far better than that of DirectX 10.
Add another game to the pile. Using FRAPS to measure
frame rates, we've discovered that BioShock plays much more smoothly on DirectX 9. We ran the informal test on a Vista machine with an AMD ATI Radeon
HD 2900 XT graphics card, an Intel QX6700 CPU overclocked to 3.19 GHz, and 4GB of memory.
Playing through five very similar
minutes of the game with FRAPS and timing the frames per second, we shot up a batch of splicers in DX10 and then in DX9, with all other settings being
equal (high quality defaults at 1680x1050). In DirectX 10, FRAPS showed an average of 61.658 fps; in DirectX 9, the average was 80.300 fps.
The game looks pretty much the same in either mode. You certainly don't notice a difference in graphical splendor when you're running
breakneck through the Rapture, dodging grenades thrown by splicers while looking for the telekinesis upgrade.
While we continue
to wait for a game built upon DirectX 10 from the ground up to wow us with its performance, evidence mounts that DirectX 10 just isn't all it's
cracked up to be compared with its predecessor.
winbeta.org -
23.08.2007Gabe Newell: DirectX 10 for Vista was a mistake
According to an online survey by
Valve Software, only one in fifty players who access
download service Steam has a DirectX 10-compatible graphics card and Windows Vista installed. In an interview with heise online, Gabe Newell,
president of Valve Software, said that Microsoft made a terrible mistake releasing DirectX 10 for Vista only and excluding Windows XP. He said this
decision affected the whole industry as so far only a very small percentage of players can use DirectX 10.
When developing
cross-platform games which are also released fo Xbox 360 and Playstation 3, developers look for the smallest common denominator. And since neither
Microsoft's nor Sony's new consoles support Shader Model 4.0 for DirectX 10, only few games use it, he said.
In addition,
Newell bemoaned the increasing lack of input device diversity in PC gaming culture. He would like to see controllers like the Wiimote or the Guitar
Hero guitar, but since DirectX support for devices like these had increasingly been reduced over the last few years, developers didn't dare implement
these expensive innovations.
winbeta.org -
26.08.2007Microsoft speaks DirectX 10
From the Games Developers
Conference
Europe
Microsoft finally saw sense
and decided to drop Windows
Graphic Foundation (WGF) and
replace it with the more
easier and logical DirectX 10
name for its nexgen
API.
It
gave some details to the
developers officially about
its upcoming API and we know
that it plans to release this
API together with Longhorn. Or
Vista, as we must learn to
call it.
The
DirectX 10 API will have
completely new and faster
dynamic link libraries (DLLs)
and is supposed to run much
faster. The company decided to
cut the backward compatibility
with DirectX 9, 8, 7 and lower
in this API but there will be
a way to use games programmed
for those APIs. Microsoft will
enable support for DX 9 or
lower games through a software
layer, meaning it might run
slower...
winbeta.org -
06.09.2005DirectX 10 is Dying
We've seen games with the new API suite spliced in; now we're going to be able to play games that were built for DirectX 10. Will they change our
perception as the only Windows Vista feature gamers really care about? Probably not.
Microsoft spells it out clearly, as it has
for many months, right on its own
website:
DirectX 10 features heavily enhanced 3-D graphics-rendering capabilities and helps noticeably
improve your computer's performance in games and high-end 3-D applications.
To the writer of that blurb I say: Are you high?
I haven't noticed much of a performance improvement, or the promised visual splendor, that Microsoft seems to think DirectX 10
provides. So far, in most games, engaging DirectX 10 mode cripples them on all but the most powerful computers. To be fair, we've been working with
early DirectX 10 games on premature drivers, and as the drivers have taken shape, the performance has improved.
A change is
hopefully in the wind.
winbeta.org -
31.10.2007Windws Vista SP1 needs new hardware
Vista Service Pack 1 comes with an important update for gamers - DirectX 10.1. The catch? You need brand new hardware to support it, and NVIDIA
enthusiasts are left totally out in the cold.
One of the benefit Windows Vista brought to the gaming table was the next version of DirectX
– version 10. With the potential improvements to 3D gaming potentially outweighing the anticipated performance drop in running games on a more
resource-hungry operating system, most hardcore gamers waited until ATI and NVIDIA released their DirectX 10-capable GPUs before taking the plunge and
upgrading to Vista.
neowin.net -
14.01.2008DirectX 11 Details Emerge, Adds New Features to DX10 Hardware
Microsoft released a handful of
details about DirectX 11 today and the
folks at Shacknews have the scoop.
Similar to DirectX 10, the software will be available only on Windows Vista and future
versions of Microsoft's operating system. DirectX 11 will add new compute shader technology that Microsoft says will allow GPUs to be used "for more
than just 3D graphics," allowing developers to utilize video cards as parallel processors.
winbeta.org -
23.07.2008DirectX 10 Support to Become Compulsory for "Vista Premium"
In June 2008, Microsoft
Corporation plans to make
DirectX 10-compliant graphics
cores compulsory for personal
computers carrying the
"Windows Vista Premium"
logo. The software giant hopes
to boost popularity of its new
operating system among gamers
and a new application
programming interface among
game developers. That means,
if Microsoft gets its way,
DirectX 9-compliant graphics
cores will only be found
inside low-cost "Windows
Vista Capable" systems.
Currently, a "Windows
Vista Capable" PC should
include at least a 800MHz CPU,
512MB of system memory as well
as a DirectX 9-compliant
graphics processor. At the
same time, "Windows Vista
Premium" PC should feature at
least a 1.0GHz microprocessor,
1GB of memory, a DirectX
9.0-compliant graphics adapter
that supports pixel shader 2.0
with 32-bit precision and
equipped 128MB of memory, 40GB
hard disk drive with 15GB free
space, DVD-ROM drive, audio
output and Internet access
capability.
neowin.net -
30.05.2007Download The Vista RC1 DirectX
10 SDK
With a lot of controversy
surrounding the upcoming RC1
release of Windows Vista (see
Should There Be Vista Beta
3?), Microsoft is already
releasing software which
requires Vista RC1 to
run.
Microsoft
has released the August
DirectX Software Development
Kit (SDK) which includes a
public pre-release of Direct
3D 10. Once again, Microsoft
has released an SDK before
releasing the platform needed
to use parts of it.
According the
Microsoft, "Samples and
applications built with the
Direct3D 10 Technology Preview
in the August 2006 DirectX SDK
require Windows Vista RC1 to
run. The Windows Vista RC1
will be available to MSDN
subscribers." While this is
great news for developers,
many are wondering when they
will actually see Windows
Vista RC1. Many Beta Testers
are still expecting another
'interim' release before RC1
is released to the public.
Click
on read more to get some more
juicy info!
jcxp.net -
07.08.2006DirectX 10.1 Requires No New GPU
Microsoft has announced the
details of its new DirectX
version; to ensure full
support one need not only to
install Service Pack 1 for
Windows Vista but may also
need to replace a graphics
card. Contemporary graphics
accelerators from Nvidia
GeForce 8800 and AMD/ATI
Radeon 2900 may not support
all the new features added to
Direct3D 10.1. The features of
DirectX 10.1 include
incremental improvements to 3D
rendering quality. As for the
innovations, among them are
32-bit floating-point
operations (instead of 16-bit
ones, used today by default)
and obligatory support of 4x
FSAA.
Microsoft's
Sam Glassenberg did however
note that " DirectX 10.1
fully supports DirectX 10
hardware. No hardware support
is being removed. It's
strictly a superset. It's
basically an update to DirectX
10 that extends the hardware
functionality slightly ."
Glassenberg says DirectX 10.1
will be fully compatible with
all graphics cards supporting
DirectX 10. All the company
wants to do now is to increase
the API life cycle. Sam
confirmed that existing
graphics cards may still not
be able to use all the new
features of DirectX 10.1 but
also stressed that
applications designed
specifically for DirectX 10.1
are very unlikely to appear,
because overall, the updates
aren't that critical.
neowin.net -
17.08.2007DirectX 11 to get announced this month
Microsoft will start talking about DirectX 11 in less than two weeks. Sources have confirmed that Microsoft game technology conference, previously
known as Meltdown and now renamed to Gamefest 2008, will be the place where Microsoft plans to officially announce DirectX 11.
This
conference takes place on the 22 and 23 July in Seattle, Washington and it will set you back $550 if you register online. You can find some more
details about the conference here.
The big feature of DirectX 11 is Tessellation/Displacement while we also heard that Multithreaded
Rendering and Compute Shaders are part of it. DirectX 11 also brings Shader model 5.0 but we don’t know many details about it.
It looks
like DirectX 11 will stick to rasterization as there is no any mentioning of Ray tracing support.
Nvidia will also talk about DirectX 11
at its Nvision event / conference in late August 2008
jcxp.net -
10.07.2008Intriguing theory on DirectX 10 and its absence from Windows XP
The parties involved would
never admit whether
this
Inquirer story is true,
but it's entertaining enough
that we just had to link to
it. Grain of salt and all that
(the article lists no sources,
for example) but the theory as
reported says that Microsoft
started off with sound
technical reasons for making
DirectX 10 exclusive to
Windows Vista. Due to alleged
driver troubles from Nvidia,
Microsoft is supposed to have
loosened the requirements, and
now its supposedly very
possible to port DirectX 10
back to Windows XP.
Even if DX 10 on XP can be
done, Microsoft won't allow
it for business reasons--it
wants people to buy Vista, or
so the story goes
One
of our missions out here at E3
this week is to talk to as
many PC gaming developers as
possible to find out what the
near-term future of DirectX 10
looks like, especially for the
purposes of benchmarking PCs
and graphics cards. We don't
expect to hear from anyone
about DirectX 10 coming to
Windows XP, but we do expect
plenty of "no comments" when
we ask about this story.
winbeta.org -
11.07.2007
XP SP3 and Vista SP1: DirectX 9 and DirectX 10 Patches Updated