DirectX 11.1 is included in Windows 8 and DirectX 11.2 is included in Windows 8.1. Direct3D 11 runs on Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8 and Windows 10. DirectX 11 also improved multi-threading support to better assist video game developers in developing games. The features included GPGPU support (DirectCompute) and Direct3D 11 with tessellation support. Microsoft unveiled DirectX 11 at the Gamefest 08 event in Seattle with major scheduled features. We know Windows Vista is extinct, but it helps to understand how DirectX 10 evolved with Windows Vista and later. In order to achieve backwards compatibility, DirectX in Windows Vista contains several versions of Direct3D, including Direct3D 9, Direct3D 9Ex and Direct3D 10. Windows XP cannot run DirectX 10 applications. DirectX Versions DirectX 10ĭirectX 10 is a major update to DirectX API and ships with Windows Vista and later.

To keep DirectX version up-to-date, you may need to know how to download and install DirectX. But then, Microsoft keeps releasing updated versions of DirectX. So if you are using latest Windows OS, chances are that you will never need to install DirectX from scratch. All latest Windows OS versions include DirectX by default. Starting with Windows 8 Developer Preview, DirectX SDK has been integrated into Windows SDK. The users had an option to install DirectX if they wanted to.

When DirectX first made its appearance, the runtimes were installed only by games which required it. Wondering what’s DirectX is all about? DirectX Software Development Kit (SDK) consists of runtime libraries in redistributable binary form (remember the famous term “DirectX redistributable”?). When Xbox was developed, Microsoft used DirectX as the basis of the name Xbox to indicate the console was based on DirectX technology. Microsoft later coined DirectX to refer to all these APIs and the terminology has come to be used since then. The names of APIs originally began with Direct – Direct3D, DirectMusic, DirectPlay, DirectDraw and so on. Microsoft DirectX, popularly known as DirectX, is a collection of Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) for handling tasks related to multimedia, especially game programming and video on Microsoft platforms.

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