DirectX 11 Technology Update

Chuck Walbourn Senior Software Design Engineer Microsoft

Gamefest 2008
Graphics Track
Introduction to the Direct3D 11 Graphics Pipeline Direct3D 11 Tessellation High Level Shader Language (HLSL) UpdateIntroducing Version 5.0 Multithreaded Rendering for Games

Direct3D 11 Compute ShaderMore Generality for Advanced Techniques

Partners Track

Advanced Topics in GPU Tessellation (AMD) Water-Tight, Textured, Displaced Subdivision Surface Tessellation Using Direct3D 11 (NVIDIA)

DirectX 11 Overview
Direct3D 11 is based on Direct3D 10.1
Similar API design & rendering pipeline

Enables new DirectX 11 hardware features Supports existing DirectX 10 and 10.1 hardware
Enables some new features as well

Hull Shader Tessellator Input Assembler Domain Shader Vertex Shader

Geometry Shader Stream Output

Supports a subset of DirectX 9 SM 2.0+ hardware Supported on Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008, and Windows Server 2008 R2

Rasterizer Pixel Shader Output Merger

Multithreaded Rendering & Resource Creation

Runtime emulation or Driver optimized

DirectCompute
CS 5.0 on DirectX 11 HW CS 4.x on some DX10.x h/w

HLSL Shader Model 5

5.0 on DirectX 11 HW Some new constructs emulated on older profiles

Dynamic Shader Linkage

Class Linkage on DirectX 11 HW interface construct works on older profiles

Hardware Tessellation
DirectX 11 HW only

BC6H/BC7 Texture Formats

DirectX 11 HW only

Features & Feature Levels

Feature levels are well-defined sets of functionality
Not a sea of opt-in caps bits

Each feature level is a superset of the previous one Concept was introduced with Direct3D 10.1
ID3D10Device1::GetFeatureLevel() D3D10_FEATURE_LEVEL_10_1 D3D10_FEATURE_LEVEL_10_0

DirectX 11 Feature Levels

Feature Level D3D_FEATURE_LEVEL_10_0 (e.g. NVIDIA GeForce 8000/9000 Series; GTX 260/280) Capabilities Direct3D 10 hardware: Shader Model 4.0, geometry shader, stream out, alpha-to-coverage, MSAA textures, 2-sided stencil, general render target views, texture arrays, BC4/BC5, optional DirectCompute (CS 4.0), all 9_3 features.

D3D_FEATURE_LEVEL_10_1 (e.g. ATI Radeon HD 2000/3000/4000 Series; NVIDIA GeForce G210/GT220)

Direct3D 10.1 hardware: Shader Model 4.1, cubemap arrays, extended MSAA, optional DirectCompute (CS 4.1), all 10_0 features.

D3D_FEATURE_LEVEL_11_0 Direct3D 11 hardware: Shader Model 5.0, hull & domain shaders, (e.g. ATI Radeon HD 5000 Series) mandatory DirectCompute (CS 5.0), BC6H/BC7, all 10_1 features.

10level9 Feature Levels

Feature Level Capabilities D3D_FEATURE_LEVEL_9_1 Direct3D 9 hardware: must support Shader Model 2.0 (vs_2_0/ps_2_0), (e.g. Intel G965 Express Chipset, 2K textures, volume textures, event queries, BC1-3 (aka DXTn), and a NVidia GeForce FX 5200) few other specific capabilities.

D3D_FEATURE_LEVEL_9_2 (e.g. ATI Radeon 9500)

Direct3D 9 hardware: must support Shader Model 2.0 (vs_2_0/ps_2_0), occlusion queries, float formats (no blending), extended caps, all 9_1 features.

D3D_FEATURE_LEVEL_9_3 (e.g. NVidia GeForce 6600, ATI Radeon X1300)

Direct3D 9 hardware: must support Shader Model 2.0 (vs_2_0/ps_2_b) with instancing, 4K textures, multiple render targets (4 MRTs), floatingpoint blending, all 9_2 features.

Driver Optional Features

Devices can expose some new DXGI_FORMATs
ID3D11Device::CheckFormatSupport

BGRA (B8G8R8*8) formats

required for 9_1, 9_2, 9_3 and 11_0 optional for 10_0 / 10_1

10:10:10:2 X2 biased High Color mode (R10G10B10_XR_BIAS_X2_A2_UNORM)

required for 11_0 optional for 10_0 / 10_1 not available for 9_1, 9_2, or 9_3

Majority of format support is defined by feature level

Detailed in the DXGI Programmers Guide in the Windows Graphics documentation

Driver Optional Features

DirectX 11 drivers can support four optional features
ID3D11Device::CheckFeatureSupport

DirectCompute
D3D_FEATURE_LEVEL_10_0 / 10_1 support for CS 4.x is optional CS 5.0 is required for D3D_FEATURE_LEVEL_11_0

Double-precision shader support is optional Multithreading Driver support is optional

Concurrent object creation Command lists

Related Technologies
DirectX Graphics Infrastructure (DXGI) 1.1
Version 1.0 introduced in Windows Vista Enumerates adapters, display modes, and outputs (e.g. monitors) New DXGI_FORMATs and improved support for remote desktops

Windows Display Driver Model (WDDM) 1.1

WDDM 1.0 introduced in Windows Vista Unified driver model for all Direct3D APIs

Windows Advanced Rasterization Platform (WARP) 10

Software rasterization device supporting 10.1 device functionality No driver optional feature support Much faster than the DirectX SDKs Reference device

Demo
Updated DxCapsViewer Utility

Direct3D 10.0 API

ID3D10Device ID3D10DeviceChild ID3D10Asynchronous ID3D10Resource ID3D10View

ID3D10VertexShader ID3D10Buffer ID3D10GeometryShader ID3D10Query ID3D10ShaderResourceView

ID3D10PixelShader ID3D10Texture1D ID3D10InputLayout ID3D10Predicate ID3D10DepthStencilState ID3D10Texture2D ID3D10BlendState ID3D10RenderTargetView

ID3D10RasterizerState

ID3D10Counter ID3D10Texture3D

ID3D10DepthStencilView

ID3D10SamplerState

Direct3D 10.1 API

ID3D10Device1 ID3D10DeviceChild ID3D10Asynchronous ID3D10Resource ID3D10View

ID3D10VertexShader ID3D10Buffer ID3D10GeometryShader ID3D10Query ID3D10ShaderResourceView1

ID3D10PixelShader ID3D10Texture1D ID3D10InputLayout ID3D10Predicate ID3D10DepthStencilState ID3D10Texture2D ID3D10BlendState1 ID3D10RenderTargetView

ID3D10RasterizerState

ID3D10Counter ID3D10Texture3D

ID3D10DepthStencilView

ID3D10SamplerState

Direct3D 11 API (partial)

ID3D11Device ID3D11DeviceChild ID3D11Asynchronous ID3D11Resource ID3D11View

ID3D11VertexShader ID3D11Buffer ID3D11GeometryShader ID3D11Query ID3D11ShaderResourceView

ID3D11PixelShader ID3D11Texture1D ID3D11InputLayout ID3D11Predicate ID3D11DepthStencilState ID3D11Texture2D ID3D11BlendState ID3D11RenderTargetView

ID3D11RasterizerState

ID3D11Counter ID3D11Texture3D

ID3D11DepthStencilView

ID3D11SamplerState

ID3D11DeviceChild ID3D11Device

ID3D11Asynchronous

ID3D11Resource

ID3D11View

ID3D11VertexShader ID3D11GeometryShader ID3D11PixelShader ID3D11ComputeShader ID3D11DomainShader ID3D11HullShader ID3D11InputLayout ID3D11Predicate ID3D11DepthStencilState ID3D11BlendState ID3D11Texture2D ID3D11DepthStencilView ID3D11Texture1D ID3D11RenderTargetView ID3D11Query

ID3D11Buffer

ID3D11ShaderResourceView

ID3D11DeviceContext

ID3D11RasterizerState ID3D11SamplerState ID3D11ClassInstance ID3D11ClassLinkage ID3D11CommandList ID3D11Counter ID3D11Texture3D ID3D11UnorderedAccessView

Direct3D 11 API Change

Main difference is ID3D10Device was split in two
Object creation in ID3D11Device interface Other methods split off into ID3D11DeviceContext interface
Rendering and state configuration Map()/Unmap() from resource objects Begin(), End(), and GetData() from query objects One immediate context for rendering directly to the device Zero or more deferred contexts for creating command lists

Provides basis of multithreading improvements

Multi-threading Rules
ID3D11Device is thread-safe
Without driver support for Concurrent Creates, runtime will enforce thread-safety with a coarse lock Without driver support for Concurrent Creates, creating objects and rendering with the immediate context will not be concurrent (using the same coarse lock) Methods on most other objects (ID3D11DeviceChildderived) are also thread-safe Can opt-out by using D3D11_CREATE_DEVICE_SINGLETHREADED

Multi-threading Rules
ID3D11DeviceContext is not thread-safe
Typical usage is one device context per thread, one of them using immediate and the rest using deferred contexts Note that DXGI methods should not be used concurrently while rendering with the immediate device context
For example, Present() uses the immediate device context

It is thread-safe to use the methods inherited from ID3D11DeviceChild

AddRef(), Release(), QueryInterface() GetDevice(), GetPrivateData(), SetPrivateData(), SetPrivateDataInterface()

Multi-threading Rules
ID3D11DeviceContext deferred mode limitations
Map() must be used with D3D11_MAP_WRITE_DISCARD and/or D3D11_MAP_WRITE_NO_OVERWRITE GetData() for queries is not allowed Queries can be used in conjunction with predication If executing a deferred command list with a query active and the command list itself uses the same query, then the command list submission is ignored as invalid

Multi-threading Recommendations
Concurrent creation is a no brainer
Many engines already have resource loading threads Runtime emulation is good enough for a win
Less overhead than the default Direct3D 10 M/T behavior

ConcurrentCreates driver support makes it better When creating objects with M/T driver support, providing initial data for static objects should be more efficient
i.e Use the pInitialData parameter on the Create rather than staging resources, UpdateSubResource(), or Map() when possible

Multi-threading Recommendations
Concurrent submission depends on the scenario
Useful for Triple-core, Quad-core, or more
For Dual-core, it is less likely to be worthwhile

Best use scenario is one rendering thread per core

Ideally use the Windows Vista/Windows 7 thread pool API If you roll your own solution, see the DirectX SDK CoreDetection sample for the robust way to determine number of cores

Similar but not identical to Xbox 360 Command Buffers Driver CommandLists support is currently rare

Porting to Direct3D 11 from 10.x

Start with a simple text translation
ID3D10* -> ID3D11* D3D10_* -> D3D11_*

If starting with Direct3D 10.0, will need to fix up a few minor structure differences
(11 matches the 10.1 version)

D3D10_BLEND_DESC1 D3D10_SHADER_RESOURCE_VIEW_DESC1

Porting to Direct3D 11 from 10.x

Change rendering & state calls from device to immediate context
After getting port done, will want to revisit this

Change resource Map() and query Begin(), End(), & GetData() to use immediate context Create*Shader takes an additional class linkage parameter (can use NULL) *SetShader and *GetShader take an additional class instance parameter (can use NULL)

Porting to Direct3D 11 from 10.x

Some defines changed, so be sure you arent using magic numbers (D3D10_RESOURCE_MISC_FLAG) A minor feature was completely dropped
ID3D10Device::GetTextFilterSize ID3D10Device::SetTextFilterSize D3D10_FILTER_TEXT_1BIT

Vendor-neutral performance counters removed

Were rarely implemented or consistent i.e. D3D11_COUNTER_DEVICE_DEPENDENT_0 is the only counter enumeration

Porting to Direct3D 11 from 9

Essentially the same as porting from Direct3D 9 to Direct3D 10.x
Remove all fixed-function pipeline usage Use state management based on immutable state objects Obey strict shader linkage and input layout rules Use shader resource views associated with texture resources Map data to DXGI_FORMATs (no 16-bit formats, no 24-bit color format, strict RGB color order) Rework global constant data into several constant buffers for efficient update

Porting to Direct3D 11 from 9

Start with the existing guidance for moving from Direct3D 9 to Direct3D 10
SIGGRAPH 2007 Course #5
Introduction to Direct3D 10
http://msdn.microsoft.com/directx/presentations

Gamefest 2007 talk

Windows to Reality: Getting the Most out of Direct3D 10 Graphics in Your Games
http://www.microsoftgamefest.com/presentations/2007.htm

HLSL Compiler
DirectX 11 requires 4.0 or later profile shaders D3DCompile DLL contains latest HLSL compiler
Used by D3DX9, D3DX10, D3DX11, and FXC.EXE Can use directly (i.e. without using D3DX)
Note it is in its own DirectSetup CAB file in the REDIST folder

Supports all shader models except Pixel Shader 1.x profiles

Vertex vs_4_0 vs_4_1 vs_5_0 vs_4_0_level_9_1 vs_4_0_level_9_3 Pixel ps_4_0 ps_4_1 ps_5_0 ps_4_0_level_9_1 ps_4_0_level_9_3 Geometry gs_4_0 gs_4_1 gs_5_0 Compute cs_4_0 cs_4_1 cs_5_0 hs_5_0 ds_5_0 Hull Domain

Shader Profiles and Feature Levels

Shader profiles in DirectX 11 can be applied to higher feature levels, but not lower 10level9 shader profiles are compiled twice internally
vs_4_0_level_9_* => vs_2_0 + vs_4_0 ps_4_0_level_9_1 => ps_2_0 + ps_4_0 ps_4_0_level_9_3 => ps_2_b + ps_4_0
Shader Profile vs. Device Feature Level 5_0 4_1 4_0 4_0_level_9_3 4_0_level_9_1 11_0 Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes 10_1 Yes Yes Yes Yes 10_0 Yes Yes Yes 9_3 Yes Yes 9_2 Yes 9_1 Yes

HLSL Recommendations
Use the latest compiler
Esp. avoid the in box D3D10Compile APIs

Generally use the lowest profile possible for VS/PS when supporting 10level9 For DirectCompute
prefer CS 5.0 over CS 4.x Prefer CS 4.1 over CS 4.0

Compile your shaders offline for your retail game

Effects (FX) Library

Effects for Direct3D 11 (FX11) is shared source in DX SDK
FX9 was in D3DX9 FX10 was in box with the OS

Porting from FX10 -> FX11 is fairly trivial

Essentially the same API without effects pools

Porting from FX9 -> FX11 requires significant code change

HLSL Profile Effects 9 fx_2_0

Effects 10
Effects 11

fx_4_0 and fx_4_1

fx_5_0

D3DX11
Includes texture loaders (BMP, JPG, PNG, DDS, TIFF, GIF)
and asynchronous loaders introduced with D3DX10

Does not include D3DX Math, Mesh, Sprite, or Font

See XNAMath as alternative for D3DX Math and DXUT11 for alternative to font, etc.
D3DX11 uses a CPU codec for BC6H/BC7 texture compression, which can be time-consuming. For a fast DirectCompute 4.x solution, see the BC6HBC7EncoderDecoder11 sample.

D3DCSX
Optional extended D3DX DLL for Compute Shader
Resides in its own DirectSetup / REDIST CAB

DirectCompute (CS 5.0) utility functions

ID3DX11Scan
Unsegmented Scan or Multiscan Segmented Scan

ID3DX11FFT
1D, 2D, 3D support Real or Complex Forward or Inverse Transform with optional scale

XNAMath
aka xboxmath 2.0 Inline C++ SSE/SSE2 optimized math library
VMX128 optimized on Xbox

~350 functions
Focused on single-precision floating-point operations Limited integer operations Conversion to/from packed graphics formats Implemented using Visual Studio intrinsics Supports x86 and x64 native

Common 3D primitives
Vectors, matrices, planes, quaternions, etc.

DirectX 11 Deployment
DirectX 11 Runtime is included with Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 DirectX 11 Runtime can be deployed down-level to Windows Vista / Server 2008 D3DX11, D3DCSX, D3DCompile, etc. installed by DirectSetup / DX SDK REDIST
Just like D3DX9, D3DX10, XAUDIO2, etc.

The DirectX SDK does not install the DirectX 11 Runtime

The DX SDK does install the debug layers and reference device

DirectX 11 Runtime
Direct3D 11 DXGI 1.1 WARP10 10level9 Direct3D 10.1 Direct2D DirectWrite
New API supporting 10, 10.1, 11, 10level9, and WARP10 D3D glue library updated for new formats and WDDM 1.1 driver features 10.1 level software renderer Direct3D 9 Shader Model 2.0 h/w support (9_1, 9_2, 9_3 feature levels) Updated existing API to support WARP10, 10level9

GDI-like 2D drawing API for working on Direct3D surfaces High-quality, feature-rich font rendering API (works with Direct2D)

KB 971644
Platform Update for Windows Vista
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=160189

Deployed through Windows Update Requires Windows Vista / Server 2008 SP2 to be installed
See the D3D11InstallHelper sample in the DirectX SDK for detection, applying the KB, and messaging for RTM / SP1

Detailed in Direct3D 11 Deployment for Game Developers technical article

KB 971512
For corporate network environments using Windows Server Update Servers (WSUS), KB 971644 is not available Use this update instead
Windows Graphics, Imaging, and XPS Library
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/971512/

Local IT admin will need to approve the update through the managed WSUS servers Requires Windows Vista / Server 2008 SP2 to be installed

Recommendations
Update your existing Direct3D 10.x code path to use Direct3D 11
This requires some installer/deployment work Your DX11 code path will require Windows Vista SP2+ or Windows 7

For Windows Vista / Windows 7 titles 10level9 feature levels can provide more hardware support, so you dont need a Direct3D9 code path For titles that need Windows XP support, you will need a legacy Direct3D9 code path

Recommendations
If you still only have a legacy Direct3D 9 code path
Nows the time to invest in DirectX 11 Take advantage of the existing resources Lessons learned moving from D3D9 -> D3D10 all apply to moving from D3D9 -> D3D11

Direct3D 11 provides
the latest hardware features new features for existing 10.x hardware and supports the majority of video cards with WDDM drivers

Resources
Latest DirectX SDK
http://msdn.microsoft.com/directx

Gamefest 2008 Graphics and Partners Tracks

http://www.microsoftgamefest.com/presentations/2008.htm

Gamefest 2010 Graphics Track

Think DirectX11 Tessellation! what are your options? DirectX 11 DirectCompute A Teraflop for Everyone Block Compression Smorgasbord and additional talks from AMD & NVIDIA

APPENDIX

#include d3d10.h IDXGISwapChain *g_pSwapChain = NULL; ID3D10Device *g_pDevice = NULL; DXGI_SWAP_CHAIN_DESC sd; // Set to desired values HRESULT res = D3D10CreateDeviceAndSwapChain( NULL, D3D10_DRIVER_TYPE_HARDWARE, NULL, 0, D3D10_SDK_VERSION, &sd, &g_pSwapChain, &g_pDevice ); if ( FAILED(res) ) // Error Handling // Bind render target from swap chain // Set up viewport

#include d3d10_1.h IDXGISwapChain *g_pSwapChain = NULL; ID3D10Device1 *g_pDevice = NULL; DXGI_SWAP_CHAIN_DESC sd; // Set to desired values HRESULT res = D3D10CreateDeviceAndSwapChain1( NULL, D3D10_DRIVER_TYPE_HARDWARE, NULL, 0, D3D10_FEATURE_LEVEL_10_1, D3D10_1_SDK_VERSION, &sd, &g_pSwapChain, &g_pDevice ); if ( FAILED(res) ) { res = D3D10CreateDeviceAndSwapChain1( NULL, D3D10_DRIVER_TYPE_HARDWARE, NULL, 0, D3D10_FEATURE_LEVEL_10_0, D3D10_1_SDK_VERSION, &sd, &g_pSwapChain, &g_pDevice ); }

if // // //

( FAILED(res) ) // Error Handling Bind render target from swap chain Set up viewport
use g_pDevice->GetFeatureLevel() to check for 10_1; can otherwise assume 10_0

#include d3d11.h IDXGISwapChain *g_pSwapChain = NULL; ID3D11Device *g_pDevice = NULL; ID3D11DeviceContext* g_pContext = NULL; DXGI_SWAP_CHAIN_DESC sd; // Set to desired values D3D_FEATURE_LEVEL flvl[] = { D3D_FEATURE_LEVEL_11_0, D3D_FEATURE_LEVEL_10_1, D3D_FEATURE_LEVEL 10_0 }; D3D_FEATURE_LEVEL fl; HRESULT res = D3D11CreateDeviceAndSwapChain( NULL, D3D_DRIVER_TYPE_HARDWARE, NULL, 0, flvl, sizeof(flvl)/sizeof(D3D_FEATURE_LEVEL), D3D11_SDK_VERSION, &sd, &g_pSwapChain, &g_pDevice, &fl, &g_pContext );

if // // // //

( FAILED(res) ) // Error Handling Bind render target from swap chain Set up viewport
use g_pDevice->GetFeatureLevel() (or remember fl above) to check for 11_0 or 10_1, assume 10_0 otherwise

#include d3d11.h IDXGISwapChain *g_pSwapChain = NULL; ID3D11Device *g_pDevice = NULL; ID3D11DeviceContext* g_pContext = NULL; DXGI_SWAP_CHAIN_DESC sd; // Set to desired values D3D_FEATURE_LEVEL flvl[] = { D3D_FEATURE_LEVEL_11_0, D3D_FEATURE_LEVEL_10_1, D3D_FEATURE_LEVEL 10_0, D3D_FEATURE_LEVEL_9_3, D3D_FEATURE_LEVEL_9_2, D3D_FEATURE_LEVEL_9_1 }; D3D_FEATURE_LEVEL fl; HRESULT res = D3D11CreateDeviceAndSwapChain( NULL, D3D_DRIVER_TYPE_HARDWARE, NULL, 0, flvl, sizeof(flvl)/sizeof(D3D_FEATURE_LEVEL), D3D11_SDK_VERSION, &sd, &g_pSwapChain, &g_pDevice, &fl, &g_pContext ); if // // // ( FAILED(res) ) // Error Handling Bind render target from swap chain Set up viewport

use g_pDevice->GetFeatureLevel() (or remember fl above) to check feature level

#include d3d11.h IDXGISwapChain *g_pSwapChain = NULL; ID3D11Device *g_pDevice = NULL; ID3D11DeviceContext* g_pContext = NULL; DXGI_SWAP_CHAIN_DESC sd; // Set to desired values HRESULT res = D3D11CreateDeviceAndSwapChain( NULL, D3D_DRIVER_TYPE_HARDWARE, NULL, 0, NULL, 0, D3D11_SDK_VERSION, &sd, &g_pSwapChain, &g_pDevice, NULL, &g_pContext ); if // // // ( FAILED(res) ) // Error Handling Bind render target from swap chain Set up viewport

use g_pDevice->GetFeatureLevel() to check feature level

DirectX 11 Debugging
DirectX SDK provides debugging layer Enabled through code (D3D11_CREATE_DEVICE_DEBUG) or the DirectX Control Panel utility
Control panel controls the 10 and 11 debugging layer through the same settings Unlike Direct3D 9, it is per application not a global setting

Prints messages to Windows debug output

DirectX 11 Debugging
Make sure your application runs debug layer clean
ERROR and CORRUPTION reports are critical to fix Tools like PIX for Windows assume this level of correctness

Can also make use of the ID3D11Debug and D3D11InfoQueue interfaces

Obtain via QueryInterface from Direct3D 11 Device Exists only if debug layer is attached ID3D10Debug::Validate() split into ValidateContext() and ValidateContextForDispatch() New method for DX11 Debug Layer
ID3D11Debug::ReportLiveDeviceObjects()

Debug Resource Naming

Debug layer messages in debug window use friendly names for resources, defaults to unnamed Can set the name by using the SetPrivateData() API in combination with a well-known GUID from d3dcommon.h
#ifndef NDEBUG // Only works if device is created with the D3D10 or D3D11 debug layer const char c_szName[] = "texture.jpg"; pObject->SetPrivateData( WKPDID_D3DDebugObjectName, sizeof( c_szName ) - 1, c_szName ); #endif

Windows 7 / Server 2008 R2 only

A few DirectX-branded technology pieces are not available down-level
Direct3D9Ex video HD and overlay extensions Direct3D9Ex D3DSWAPEFFECT_FLIPEX and improved frame statistics DirectMusic core API for x64 native (time stamped MIDI, software synthesizer)

Windows Media Foundation improvements are not also included

www.microsoftgamefest.com

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This presentation is for informational purposes only. Microsoft makes no warranties, express or implied, in this summary.