AMD: “DirectX Is Getting In The Way”

Hardware firm AMD has said that cumbersome APIs like Direct X are holding back PC games from their true potential.

[SnakeMustDie]

What's better? OpenGL or DirectX

[Pandamobile]

DirectX. There's a reason why games are developed on DX and not OpenGL for the most part.

DirectX has more/better documentation, or so I've been told by my professors.

[captain-obvious]

DirectX is the only thing thats pushing your lazy ass to work AMD

MS have done the PC gaming A HUGE favor with DX
now i hope they get back tho their minds and start doing that again
and i mean beyond DX

[evrfighter]

If we start dropping api's do we go back to 3dfx era and being forced to buy different cards to play different games?.

The problem isn't so much directx but that developers aren't pushing The hardware. Consolization is a very serious issue when you have hardware giants trying to figure out why games aren't pushing the envelope.

[LolololRumz]

I had to do an entire assignment on DirectX and openGL. From the opinions I heard when doing research there seems to be a lot more support for DirectX for developers.

But imo i'd probably have to say DirectX nudges it

[Motion]

I think OpenGL is actually better as far as hardware/performance ratio's go, but DX has a lot more support from M$ making it easier to develop games for.

[gamingdroid]

John Carmack says DirectX is better then OpenGL.

That said, it is ironic this is said by one of the companies that makes the sh!ttiest drivers for their graphics card. aherm ATI anyone?!

However, they are partially right if we all wanted to write our own stuff for everything i.e. re-invent the wheel. That doesn't make sense when a new graphics card is released every year!

So really the companies to blame is ATI/AMD and nvidia.

[B1663r]

I think this article is bogus. The only thing that the directx draw api does is load a vertex structure, assign a shader and render. It couldn't be more simple or direct. The HLSL gives you raw and direct access to the hardware.

The reason none of the developers are writing software for the new video cards is two fold. First PC gamers want to use their fillrate for high resolution, and second the mass market is currently filled with Number+m, aka mobile, GPU's, because I suspect the quantity of people with high end GPU's for gaming is diminishingly small.

[theonlylolking]

OpenGL I think is better.

[B1663r]

OpenGL at this point has pretty much the same draw api as directX... Load a vertex structure, assign a shader, and render.

Nowdays all the work happens in the shaders.

[DeadlyFire]

Well there is OpenGL and DirectX. Which is better? Who cares? AMD is talking about the future. Niether DirectX or OpenGL should be used they claim. It would add more visual variety and let games perform better in a general purpose computing environment. I don't believe its all that bad of an idea, but its not going to happen for awhile. API = security to many developers. Without it they fear touching that unknown sector.

[awiseman]

FYI

OpenGL is software accelerated
DirectX is Hardware accelerated(particuarly with a GPU)

on topic:

AMD are fools.

DirectX is the reason we have games looking like what we have today...then again AMD still cant make proper drivers that work...

What is Crysis? That was the first game to utilixe DX10 to it max..I guess DX was holding it back?

Its ridiculous nonsense like this and the failure thay are in making drivers which is why I will never buy AMD products. Intel+NVidia is my loyalty.

[Pandamobile]

"OpenGL is software accelerated"

Uh, what? They both use GPUs...

[kookie]

Yes

[Ducky]

/facepalm

As far as what the hardware can do,
OpenGL > DirectX

Next time, think twice before you try and contradict a major hardware manufacturer.
Not liking them is one thing, but assuming they're oblivious in their market is kinda pushing it.

[limewax]

Agreed. the point this stand out the most is running games on a computer not quite capable and checking between directX and openGL I find.

OpenGL always has the edge in performance

[OpenGL]

lol wat? both OpenGL and DirectX are graphics APIs.

Also, when they're saying DirectX is getting in the way they don't mean that OpenGL is a better solution, but that software based rendering pipelines using CUDA, OpenCL, or DirectCompute would offer them more flexibility and better performance. Epic has said the same thing years ago when talking about Unreal4.

[Newtype]

fyi, Nvidia hates Intel.

[kevnb]

Lol, the previois article sure did take this out of context.

[xtremegamerage]

Directx has more support.

Opengl is faster in some things/dx in others.

Bring back glide and be done with it:)

[ProjectVulcan]

Software would be great but its too slow, right now anyway. Larrabee was the concept that could have changed all that, but in a world not ready for software based rendering in games Larrabee died before it even got off the ground. Maybe in the future it will finally make a return but not for a while.

You can do anything you feel in a software renderer in theory- much like CGI movies. However this is still the games industry, if you can't render 30 of those frames in a second then there is no point. Hardware rendering is so much faster, it is still the only real practical option.

These APIs are clearly double edged swords. Without them then we would not have reached the level of visuals and performance we enjoy today. With them, developers are more constrained with the type of effects they can achieve. Overall i think the good far outweighs the bad, but eventually they will become less relevant at some point in the future.

[DeadlyFire]

Larrabee isn't dead. First build was bad. Would have released with terrible ratings and very underwhelming performance on mainstream markets. So they scrapped it. 2nd generation is in the works. Aimed for 2012 reveal and release plans.

[ProjectVulcan]

Larrabee is dead for consumer graphics. It is now just a development project and not a consumer product, so yeah, its dead even if the concept still survives, although that concept has been around since the stone age. It isn't anything new or revolutionary. In fact it would just return us to an age where developers built their own software renderers that was slowly abandoned over time for hardware polygons and then pixel shading.

Whatever generation intel attempt to bring to the market would be related to larrabee but essentially that line has been dead and buried for quite a long time now. I think that rasterisation with hardware acceleration will gradually evolve better flexibility not suddenly die out in favour of intel's concepts. Most developers agree rasterisation will be around for a while yet no matter how it is done. Do not expect a graphical revolution anytime soon.

[NaiNaiNai]

Open GL sucks so bad....

[PirosThe4th]

No it doesn't It sucks running OpenGL on DirectX based cards... :P

[Kalowest]

I'm going with John Carmack "DX is better than OpenGL"

[OpenGL]

That's odd because all of his previous games have used OpenGL, and he still plans on using OpenGL for Rage. From the perspective of most developers it is better because there is a lot more support out there, and I think that's what he meant.

[Raendom]

JC knows what he's talking about so I'm inclined to agree.

[Active Reload]

What is this guy talking about? Does he want to see the wind blowing without any object there to signify that the wind is blowing? If so, then I hope he succeeds and shows the rest of the world what they're missing, lol

[BeastlyRig]

People seem to think they are lazy! When really they are saying they want to optimize for PC Gpus specifically to bring out it's true potential!! DirectX is made to make sure software work on many different hardware!

Noobs!!

“If we drop the API, then people really can render everything they can imagine, not what they can see.”

they want to do what ps3 devs do & max out the hardware! sheeesh!! PC gamers can benefit from this stop bitching ok?

"It's not just developers who are frustrated by the prioritization of console versions. PC gamers, particularly those who enjoy the traditionally PC-centric first-person shooter genre, have expressed their annoyance on several occasions at the "consolification" of their favorite games. Recent Call of Duty games' lack of dedicated servers and Dragon Age II's accusations of being "dumbed down" for the console market are just two recent examples."

"Huddy and many PC-focused developers are in favor of leaving behind technologies such as DirectX in favor of writing code to take direct advantage of PC graphics hardware. This will have the benefit of making individual titles look more distinct from one another and run more speedily, but will be much more challenging work for developers trying to make their titles work on as broad a range of hardware as possible."

http://www.next-gen.biz/new...

[Ducky]

Unfortunately, all that extra work is pointless unless if you're aiming for the demographic with very high end hardware...
... which is a small group and not many people will be willing to make the investment in putting the extra effort into a game just to please that group.

Especially when you can get a very similar result with Dx with less the effort. The advantage of OpenGL in that field becomes trivial.
It's still great for cross-platform projects though.

[BeastlyRig]

I wish they would release 6 gpu's every 3 years & make it standard like consoles! That way they could sell them cheaper & sell more of them over the long haul.. A gtx 580 optimized would be great for the next 3 years I would think as long as they squeeze all the juice card!

but that's in my dreams..

[kevnb]

Way out of context, they werent talking about consoles except that pc hardware is much superior. direct x has been on pcs long before microsoft made a console, and ps3 doesnt even have direct x.

[rjgbyrne]

Your correct, to a point. PS3 uses a customised version of OpenGL because they don't have the right to use DirectX, thats prob a trump card for Microsoft and why games port well over it but it doesn't mean its any was less amazing a tech than DirectX. Its the developer that will get the most out of it. Sont has done great will Cell and Nvidia cards. I do find it funny they both switch Nvidia and ATI for graphics cards this Gen. I reckon Intel should to an all in one for Nintendo, ha!

[ATiElite]

Remember folks Macs use OpenGL and Valve so far has had Zero problems porting their entire library to Apple and Portal 2 will release on Mac and PC at the same time as well as Valve's new releases from here on out. OpenGL is only difficult if your development team lacks the talent which is the case for most teams when compared to Valve and their 250 TOTAL employees (midnight cleaning crew included).

OpenGl is virtually the same as Directx except it is a little more difficult to program for because it lacks the refined tool-set that Microsoft wraps DX in but it allows for a developer to be more innovative on the fly versus being stuck with what Microsoft has given you. With the power of CPU's,GPU's and GpGpu processing AMD wants to drop the API (which is just taking up resources) and just run flat-out on the CPu and Gpu. (sorta like a PS3 emulator running without booting windows but that's another story...EFI).

You need to realize that AMD is all about open formats and OpenGL would kill off Nvidia's "The way we charge you for Physx" tool-set. Ill regardless Nvidia's Physx is a failure and a bad business decision because most developers are just implementing physics into their game engines while some are venturing off to Havok and Bullet physics which is OpenGL based.

Bottom line i believe a great developer can use whatever tools and make a AAA title while others just complain about crap. AMD has always put the gamer first where as Nvidia is all about cash flow from their stupid decision to buy Ageia and so far not pan out because "Nvidia Physx" in the handful of games using it is just laughable and only add a small amount of eye candy to the few titles using it.

Most developers just don't wanna pay Nvidia for this and nvidia won't give AMD the code so Physx can run on their cards thus opening up more opputunity for Physics in games. DX10 suck but DX11 fixes it's problems so now Developers had to relearn everything and make new game engines w/ physics engine just to get away from Nvidia and DX10 thus along with console ports causing this long delay in PC game technology really being pushed forward.

OpenGL would have made it easier to work around but unfortunately with code already in place no one in their right mind would scrap DX10 code to start over to make OpenGL code for a game. OpenGL works just fine.....don't believe me then go ask Valve.

[rjgbyrne]

Valva had plenty of trouble and had to spend a lot of time porting Steam to the Mac. Macs can use DirectX too.

[ATiElite]

I disagree because they did this all rather quickly while making L4D 2, Alien Swarm, updating Steam, making Steam Mac, and getting involved with DotA2. All PS3 games from Valve use OpenGL.

@deadlybrand
In case you just don't know....OpenGL does everything DirectX can do including Tessellation and as far as the AMD drivers (what an Urban Legend) AMD constanly updates their drivers to make sure they are OpenGL and DirectX compatible. Not too mention they are compatible with several 3D software unlike nvidia which forces you to use theirs.

AMD and Nvidia drivers are the same, some good some bad. and if you have a problem updating drivers well maybe you need a console. Steam updates my drivers for me automatically. As that easy enough?

[Raider69]

Open GL is all stuff and now that games are beginning to use tessellation more often Open GL is going to get old faster!

[Raider69]

People the real reason AMD is bitching on DX its because they dont want continue to due the work on drivers for there cards!You people know 4 years ago AMD never was real into update drivers with the consistence they have been due for the last 2 years!Nvidia was way more consistence than AMD until they had to start working hard on driver update because people were jumping on Nvidia due to the support they give!Now the are almost equal but AMD dont like to put work on updating drivers for the cards!