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Microsoft has bundled DirectX 11.1 in Windows 8. It is claimed to be the next level of Direct 3D 11 and will be an exclusive to Windows 8. Microsoft developer Daniel Moth has explained the company’s strategy for DirectX 11.1 in its Developer Network Forum.

Moth said, “DirectX 11.1 is part of Windows 8, just like DirectX 11 was part of Windows 7. DirectX 11 was made available for Vista . . . but at this point there is no plan for DirectX 11.1 to be made available on Windows 7.” DirectX 11.1 will also be known as Direct3D 11.1, as the previous version of DirectX was called Direct3D 11. According to Moth, Direct X 10 was developed for Windows XP version, DirectX (3D) 11 or SDK was meant for windows 7 and Vista, and DirectX 11.1 has been developed for Windows 8.

DirectX 11.1 has brought huge improvements with performance enhancing tweaks. It has brought RockPaperShotgun feature to the table for the first time, which gives extensive support for stereoscopy or 3D glasses. This will help gamers to enjoy 3D environment without relying completely on the core GPU features and strength. But to enable these options, having Windows 8 and titles that support the new DirectX-based 3D standard is a must.

Take a look at the major features of DirectX 11.1 below.

•     Shader tracing and compiler enhancements.
•     Direct3D device sharing.
•     Check support of new Direct3D 11.1 features and formats.
•     Use HLSL minimum precision.
•     Specify user clip planes in HLSL on feature level 9 and higher.
•     Create larger constant buffers than a shader can access.
•     Use logical operations in a render target.
•     Force the sample count to create a rasterizer state.
•     Process video resources with shaders.
•     Extended support for shared Texture2D resources.
•     Change subresources with new copy options.
•     Discard resources and resource views.
•     Support a larger number of UAVs.
•     Bind a subrange of a constant buffer to a shader.
•     Retrieve the subrange of a constant buffer that is bound to a shader.
•     Clear all or part of a resource view.
•     Map SRVs of dynamic buffers with NO_OVERWRITE.
•     Use UAVs at every pipeline stage.
•     Extended support for WARP devices.
•     Use Direct3D in Session 0 processes.

Source:  Extreme Tech, The Inquirer

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