Battlefield 4 Will Support Windows 8s Exclusive DX11.1

[csbin]

http://slumz.boxden.com/f13/battlef...-dx11-1-will-improve-cpu-performance-1956709/

Battlefield 4 is among the most anticipated games of 2013. A couple of days ago, some PC requirements were leaked via the game’s Ubisoft store page. DICE was quick to react and claimed that those requirements were not the real deal, however we got word that BF4 will support DX11.1, Windows 8′s exclusive API.

Johan Andersson, Technical Director on Frostbite at DICE, posted on NeoGAF and claimed that Battlefield 4 will fully support DX11.1 and that this particular API will offer improved CPU performance.

As Johan said:

“We use DX11.1, there are some optimizations in it (constant buffer offsets, dynamic buffers as SRVs) that we got in to the the API that improves CPU performance in our rendering when one runs with DX11.1. This will be in BF4.”
​

Battlefield 4 is based on Frostbite 3 and promises give players the freedom to do more and be more for an unrivalled entertainment experience, and will feature dynamic destructible environments.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R9yVV6g3q7g

 

[Stuka87]

One more reason I hope dev's start switching to OpenGL 4.4 and ditch DirectX. Microsoft using it as leverage to try and force people to upgrade is BS.

 

[Carfax83]

So someone enlighten me, how will DX11.1 offer improved CPU performance? I have Windows 8 Pro x64 already, but I'm curious..

That said, after using Windows 8 for many months, I can confidently say it's a superior OS to Windows 7....especially for gaming.

 

[BallaTheFeared]

I will update to 8.1 from 8 once it goes live, can't wait to enjoy this great new game on a great new OS with a great program like Start8.


Hey, they showed Dragon Age: Inquisition in there too for the updated engine, I hope it's more like Origins than 2!

 

[MrK6]

Cool, one more reason to wait until BF4 is <$20.

 

[desprado]

Wow f yayaaaaaaaaaaaa.Worth of buying Win 8 and dam those gtx 780s.BF 4 here i come.

 

[BallaTheFeared]

Doesn't Windows 7 support 11.1? Maybe not, or is it Windows 8.1 that is required for 11.2?

Is confusaurus.


Edit: Google told me Windows 7 got some features of DX11.1 but not all, not sure if it got any of DX11.2 thou.

Perhaps "exclusive" here means it's not the shared features that will be used? :hmm:

 

[tusharkant15]

People should learn from other's endeavors:

http://www.extremetech.com/gaming/133824-valve-opengl-is-faster-than-directx-even-on-windows

 

[Bateluer]

One more reason I hope dev's start switching to OpenGL 4.4 and ditch DirectX. Microsoft using it as leverage to try and force people to upgrade is BS.

They've been doing this for years. DirectX 10 was Vista exclusive and toted as a reason to upgrade to Vista.

 

[Silverforce11]

People should learn from other's endeavors:

http://www.extremetech.com/gaming/133824-valve-opengl-is-faster-than-directx-even-on-windows

So a port of an ancient game without any modern fancy effects runs faster on Open GL and Linux.. ok. 270 fps vs 315 fps.

Is this your idea of propaganda, because its irrelevant to what we're discussing here, BF4, on the most modern game engine.

 

[escrow4]

And? Even my Titan doesn't support 11.1. If a 3930K can't keep up the minimums at 4.3Ghz I give up.

 

[Red Hawk]

So someone enlighten me, how will DX11.1 offer improved CPU performance? I have Windows 8 Pro x64 already, but I'm curious..

That said, after using Windows 8 for many months, I can confidently say it's a superior OS to Windows 7....especially for gaming.

Reduced CPU overhead, most likely.

People should learn from other's endeavors:

http://www.extremetech.com/gaming/133824-valve-opengl-is-faster-than-directx-even-on-windows

The Source engine is still stuck on DirectX 9.0c and has no interesting or taxing graphical effects to speak of. It's a worthless comparison moving forward.

Anyways, did DICE ever get multi-threaded rendering working in Frostbite?

 

[Remobz]

this is bullocks

 

[Spjut]

Reduced CPU overhead, most likely.

Anyways, did DICE ever get multi-threaded rendering working in Frostbite?

Johan Andersson has said on his twitter(repi) that it isn't working well for Dice. The issue lies in the drivers and driver model.

He also said this about BF4 and DX11.1 half a year ago

It's a pity about DX11.1 only being fully supported on Win8, but it's also nice that Windows 7 won't become a clog for all games

 

[boxleitnerb]

Wow f yayaaaaaaaaaaaa.Worth of buying Win 8 and dam those gtx 780s.BF 4 here i come.

Nvidia supports the two features that are mentioned in the article via 11.0. They are "only" missing 4 features of 11.1 that are - supposedly - irrelevant for gamers:
http://www.guru3d.com/news_story/nvidia_kepler_not_fully_compliant_with_directx_11_1.html

 

[lefty2]

DirectX 11.1 is available to Windows 7 as an update: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/chuckw/archive/2012/11/14/directx-11-1-and-windows-7.aspx
Only XINPUT 1.4 and XAudio 2.8 are exclusive to Windows 8.

 

[Mem]

Doesn't Windows 7 support 11.1? Maybe not, or is it Windows 8.1 that is required for 11.2?

Is confusaurus.


Edit: Google told me Windows 7 got some features of DX11.1 but not all, not sure if it got any of DX11.2 thou.

Perhaps "exclusive" here means it's not the shared features that will be used? :hmm:

Win8.1 and XBox One will get DX11.2,so does that mean BF5 will be DX11.2?... hehe never know.

Gamers don't worry too much about upgrading OS,they spend lots of money on video cards and games so Win8 etc is a cheap upgrade, especially if you got it early like I did.
I actually purchased Win8 cheaper then most of my games let alone a video card.

 

[ViRGE]

So someone enlighten me, how will DX11.1 offer improved CPU performance? I have Windows 8 Pro x64 already, but I'm curious...

Reduced CPU overhead, most likely.

Bingo. There are some tangible benefits to D3D11.1 if you are a master of UAVs, often revolving around more optimal paths for certain classes of functions that rely on them. But getting into how all of that works is diving pretty deep into the minutia of the rendering stack. You can go read the MSDN D3D11.1 article, but unless you're a dev there's a good chance most of this will fly over your head.

 

[tviceman]

If AMD is pushing this, then IMO it's a strange and ineffective way to leverage your hardware products when so few gamers are running widows 8. I would rather see AMD fight nvidia with graphical features like tress-fx.

Edit: so I must be out of the loop. Didn't realize 11.1 was available to win 7 users. There really isn't any news here.

 

[brandonb]

Before the OpenGL fans get their undies in a bundle. I have to mention that the DirectX API was changed during the Vista days to be backwards compatible with older DirectX feature sets.

So if BF4 is written to take advantage of DX 11.1, it will still run on DX 11.0. It will fall back to that feature level, and the new optimizations will effectively be turned off but the game will still run just fine.

The new model falls back all the way to DirectX9 provided Dice wants to program in code paths for those feature levels (In other words, create shaders compatible with Pixel Shader 2.0 functionality)

So this is not a DirectX and/or Microsoft problem. I assume they will fall back to DX 10 in the very least. As BF3 ran on that feature set.

So as the article mentions, it will support it. Doesn't mean it will require it. And I give that the thumbs up.

 

[sontin]

But you still need Windows 8 to get Feature_Level 11.1 and not only API level. With OpenGL you do not need to switch the OS.

It's time that OpenGL raise again and bring more choice to the market.

 

[brandonb]

So? You have to buy a new video card to support Feature level 11.1 anyways. If you want to live with a 3 year old OS, you will get 3 year old features. OpenGL isn't the cure all.

OpenGL was dominate in the 90's and the market shifted away for a reason. I don't see OpenGL gaining and removing the reasons why people left in the first place. OpenGL syntax is archaic. The implementation is driver dependent from the video card manufacturers. New features require extensions and we'll be in the same mess where if want a certain feature, we have to buy from a specific video card manufacturer.

So in the end, instead of upgrading our Windows OS and buying a video card which is compatible with a certain feature sets. We're going to have certain features only being available with certain vendors, and we'll have to pick and choose what features we want (see PhysX with NVidia for example) and the quality of the drivers determining if the game is going to work or run well. No thanks. I'll stick with what we have. DirectX is a standard that all vendors need to adhere to in some fashion.

OpenGL is a syntax standard (same as DirectX) but the implementation is up to the vendors and is not standard. I understand OpenGL 4.4 actually comes with some tools to make implementation standard, but nobody has to follow it. And when it comes to extensions then there is no standard.

If you want to have you driver certified, it does with Microsoft.

If game manufacturers had to pick one or the other, who do you think they are going to pick? An API in which the result may or may not work on the users hardware correctly? Or are they going to pick an API which enforces standards and having the same output?

Not that hard to understand why people shifted to DX. I understand its cool to hate MS these days though.

<--- Has programmed in both. Sorry to say though that DX is light years ahead of OpenGL.

 

[moonbogg]

I guess I better buy windows 8 and two AMD cards. No, but seriously, this is garbage. Almost want to cry real hard about it and not buy BF4!

 

[Rvenger]

I guess I better buy windows 8 and two AMD cards. No, but seriously, this is garbage. Almost want to cry real hard about it and not buy BF4!

Nvidia 6xx and 7xx cards should be supported as well. If not... then I want a free DX 11.1 version of a GTX 780. I paid a premium for a reason!!!

 

[The Alias]

I don't get it it's not like nvidia users can't play the game .

Imho ! (Sirpauly lol)

I think it's good that Amd probably pushed 11.1 into bf4 as it exposes Nvidia's inability to use it to customers and will be a sore thumb for the green team till they release maxwell .I'm not saying this trying to be Mister Red, but just as a consumer who doesn't like being lied to . ESPECIALLY when it comes to feature sets .