SpaceSimCentral

lair360 wrote:


DarkOne wrote:
I would only hope for DX9 to be dropped. DX9 had a long life but needs to be retired. DX10 itself is just about 5yrs old itself and DX11 came out when Win7 came out. Egosoft wants to do a X rebirth and they should definitely start with the graphics and AI.
Some older generation games will need DX9. Therefore, it's difficult to stop developing or dump it. Also, 3D modelling for learners, they still use DX9. It's easier for beginners. So... why dump it? DX10 / DX11 is a lot harder to utilize and takes longer to develop...
Vista and W7 have backward compability by offeringDX9.0L So older games Dx9.0 and higher will work.Dx10 hardware is already decent mainstream stage.There was a time that DX9.0 restricted windowsXP powerd DX10.0 hardware. using the raw power of dx10 hardware to do dx9 stuff.One gen and two refreshes gone by. Since 8800 of nV. The acient G80 GPUDx9 means aiming at dated previous maintream wich not only people who sticked on windows XP but still uses Dx9 hardware. In current time this would be non gamers or casual gamer. Now IGP are DX10 or higher.Dx10 wich is bound to Vista where Ms did a major kernel or aplication layer overhaul for directX also with a new driver model. So the difference, from vista and Dx10 and up to the privious XP and dx9 and what did bcome befor that, is large and not only the extra features.But the way directx is used.Wich in result the API is much cleaner so easier to use then older.Large bulk of feature must be supported by hardware vendors vs total freedom to previous hardware vendors. No device cap.That's a good thing. So no check for can it do it, no the only variable is at what performance.So what means using dx9 yes you reach a even very large PC audience nice if you go for gameplay. But space game is just like race car game base on beautifull object wich just demand eyecandy. unlike games like Nintendo franchises and spore like games.wich can do with extreem abstractions.This means if you want stand out and reach large audience you must code 2 different path the dated but difficult dx9 and the more for devs accesable dx10 and up. This DX9 path also limits the extensive use of new features at a larger scale. It restrict the optional dx1x.x path.My first DX10 hardware is wenn R600 was released a HD2900 and 8800GT runing crysis on Vista 64bit long time ago.Checked it out june 2007.PS3 was just out in the Benelux.4 years almost a console lifetime cycle as main target platform.A bit gamer has at least dx10 hardware. most of them a win OS that can use it.