Microsoft Brings DirectX 12 to Windows 7

[The AchieVer]

Microsoft Brings DirectX 12 to Windows 7 

Microsoft has just announced that it brings DirectX 12 to Windows 7 specifically to improve the gaming performance in some specific titles.

The first to benefit from this release is World of Warcraft: Battle for Azeroth, as Microsoft says that it worked together with Blizzard to make the whole thing happen.

Blizzard has apparently recorded major performance improvements on Windows 10 thanks to DirectX 12, and the company specifically reached out to Microsoft to see how the same results can be achieved on Windows 7. The result is a Windows 7 version of Direct X 12, which was exclusively released for Windows 10, with no port so far for the previous versions of the operating system.

“At Microsoft, we make every effort to respond to customer feedback, so when we received this feedback from Blizzard and other developers, we decided to act on it,” DirectX program manager Jianye Lu explains.

“Microsoft is pleased to announce that we have ported the user mode D3D12 runtime to Windows 7. This unblocks developers who want to take full advantage of the latest improvements in D3D12 while still supporting customers on older operating systems.“Other games to follow soonBlizzard is thus rolling out for the new DirectX version on Windows 7 with game patch 8.1.5 for World of Warcraft: Battle for Azeroth, so gamers who haven’t yet upgraded to Windows 10 should see a noticeable framerate boost after installing this update.

Microsoft says it’s already working with other game developers to get support for DirectX 12 on Windows 7, but no specifics can be provided at the moment.

Needless to say, Microsoft reminds everyone that Windows 10 provides much more refined gaming experience thanks to native DirectX 12 implementation.

“Windows 10 has critical OS improvements which make modern low-level graphics APIs (including DirectX 12) run more efficiently. If you enjoy your favorite games running with DirectX 12 on Windows 7, you should check how those games run even better on Windows 10!” it says.

 

 

 

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[SacredCultivator]

I don't think it matters too much fo rme at all, but then with this, as Win7 is DirectX 11, would this come via Windows Update? Since there's not standalone installer for DirectX12 (Or at least not to my knowledge).

 

And almost sure it won't affect me since the only game that I play is League of Legends and at rare times, PUBG.

But you know, when reading things like this, I don't mind being "up to date" with things.

 

Thanks.

[Karlston]

DirectX 12 comes to select Windows 7 games

Microsoft revealed on the official DirectX blog that Blizzard's World of Warcraft game is the first game to support DirectX 12 on Windows 7.

 

DirectX, a set of multimedia APIs used especially in PC games, is included natively in Windows. Microsoft releases new versions of DirectX regularly that introduce new features and improvements.

 

The company announced DirectX 12 in 2014 and launched it officially in Windows 10 in 2015. Microsoft decided to make DirectX 12 Windows 10 exclusive which meant that customers who ran Windows 7 or Windows 8.1 were limited to DirectX 11. This was not the first time that Microsoft decided to limit DirectX though.

 

When it released Windows Vista in 2006, it made DirectX 10 a Vista exclusive. The exclusivity backfired back then as the majority of game developers ignored DirectX 10 and focused on DirectX 9.0 instead which Windows XP supported as well.

 

According to Microsoft's blog post, it was Blizzard and other game companies that wanted to bring DirectX 12 support to their games on Windows 7. DirectX 12 offers advantages, such as low-level programing APIs or multi-GPU support, over previous versions of DirectX.

 

 

Microsoft ported the user mode Direct3D 12 runtime to Windows 7 in response so the request so that select games can use DirectX 12 on the operating system.

Today, with game patch 8.1.5 for World of Warcraft: Battle for Azeroth, Blizzard becomes the first game developer to use DirectX 12 for Windows 7! Now, Windows 7 WoW gamers can run the game using DirectX 12 and enjoy a framerate boost [..]

Microsoft is "working with a few other game developers" currently according to the blog post. DirectX 12 won't become available universally on Windows 7, but only for select games according to Microsoft.

 

It is unclear if the games will use DirectX 12 on Windows 7 only, or if the games will also use it on Windows 8.1. The newer operating system, supported until 2023, is not mentioned once by Microsoft.

 

The announcement comes as a surprise for a number of reasons; probably the biggest is timing.

 

Windows 7 has a remaining lifetime of just 9 months before Microsoft ends support. Microsoft did not reveal why it caved in and ported DirectX 12 to Windows 7 for select games. Maybe because it was not all that much of an effort to do so, or because it expects that many customers will keep on running Windows 7 for some time after support ends.

 

A look back at the end of support for Windows XP suggests that history could repeat itself. It took years after support end before Windows XP usage numbers dropped significantly.

 

The move would make sense if Windows 8.1 gamers would benefit from DirectX 12 support as well but that is unclear at this point.

 

Another reason why the decision is surprising is that Microsoft does not back port features to older versions of Windows once it made the decision to limit them artificially to new versions of Windows.

 

The change may be beneficial to game developers who have a large enough base of users on Windows 7 as they may focus on the DirectX 12 version of the game and introduce performance improvements at the same time.

 

Source: DirectX 12 comes to select Windows 7 games (gHacks - Martin Brinkmann)

[banned]

You don't add DirectX 12 support in a patch... you build the game from the ground up using the newest API. That's why everyone almost always sees better performance on earlier versions of D3D, if the game engine allows you to switch between versions. So, while it's neat that DX12 will come to 7, it will not lead to better performance in most titles. Rather, the benefit will be the ability to play future games on the OS (and ironically, an OS which was about to run out of support.)