Posted on Thursday, August 02 2007 @ 2:00 CEST by Thomas De Maesschalck
Microsoft has released the first beta of DirectX 10.1. The Inq
has some info about what's updated:
Well, the big news is in audio. A new technology dubbed XAudio 2 is going to replace DirectSound, and the first look is in here. This is the same technology as is used in Xbox 360, and will enable easier cross-platform development when it comes to audio.
The main components of the technology includes sophisticated multi-channel and audio spatialisation support. 5.1 sound has been used well on Xbox and 360 titles, and MS is hoping that it can push PC games in the same direction. Also included is better support for multi-core processors, enabling a sufficiently sophisticated CPU to do a bit of the audio processing legwork.
Sound on Windows Vista, when it comes to games, has so far been a bit of a disaster. By changing the way that Vista implemented DirectSound instructions at a low-level, Microsoft single-handedly killed off surround sound and DSP effects in games through the well-established EAX protocols, something Creative is only now beginning to tackle with some thoroughness.
Also on the cards for DX10.1 is a new revision to the graphics subsystem, which will move to Shader Model 4.1. This adds thrilling features such as a dynamically selective sample pattern for MSAA, better resource handling and TextureCube Arrays. We're not sure what those are.
