DX9 Games and video cards

[Skuzzy]

I am curious about this. Actually more than curious.

I hope the question makes sense.


Oh poop! Stealth,..would you mind moving this to General Software? Dagnabit!

[Hanners]

When you say 'Would you', do you mean would you if they were available, or when do you think they will become available?

[Skuzzy]

I knew I would not nail that question.

If a DX9 game was available, would you buy it knowing it required a DX9 video card, and if so, when would be the earliest you would consider buying the game.

Did I muck it up again?


Sheesh,..I can be moronic. Hope one of the mods can move this thing.

[Hanners]

Seeing as I have a DirectX 9 card, I'd snap up any DirectX 9 games as soon as they became available.

[R.Carter]

You mean a game thatsimply requires DirectX9 to be installed, or one that actually uses DirectX9 features and so will not work unless you have DirectX9 hardware?

[Skuzzy]

A game that requires the video card to support DX9 features as well as DX9.

Sigh,..this is why I am a programmer. Blast my illiterate hide!

[SurfMonkey]

Originally posted by Skuzzy
A game that requires the video card to support DX9 features as well as DX9.

Sigh,..this is why I am a programmer. Blast my illiterate hide!

:confused:

So a game that requires DX9 support as well as DX9... video card?

I don't think there will be any truly worthwhile DX9 games for at least another 9 months. Developers are only just moving away from DX7 to full blown DX8 titles. The market hasn't changed that much, the GF4MX and GF3\GF2 still live in over 50% of the machines out there. That won't change for at least a year.

I think we may see games that have features that only DX9 level card owners will get to see, so on that basis I would. You'd get twice the pleasure from it.

But I wouldn't buy a 100% DX9 title now, I don' t see the point.

[GlowStick]

Funny thing, the game "Enter The Matrix" complains about wanting to install dx9, but then says "this is a dx 8.1 game"

so... um yea.

[Skuzzy]

SurfMonkey,..I am a developer. I just finished some work and am just looking for some feedback.

You might be surprised how fast DX9 games come to market, compared to DX8.

There are compelling features in DX9 for the programmer that allows quite a bit more to be done easier than in DX8.

A lot of the holdup with moving to DX8 was due to the video cards on the market that could not use DX8 features. This was due to the low requirements for a video card maker to call a card DX8 ready.

DX9 is another story. If a card is DX9 ready, it has to have support for shaders, which DX8 cards did not have to have.

[SurfMonkey]

Yeah, but you could also say that because of the ambiguity as to whether a DX8 class card had programmable shaders and not a fixed function T&L unit, having cards that are at a DX9 level means that developers can definately use DX8\8.1 features. Rather than aiming for a very small DX9 only market.

[Gator]

according to FutureMark, the majority of people out there run a GF4TI4200, with only a small percentage with R9500/R9700, and an even smaller number of GFFX owners.

My guess is DX9 hardware required games are a LONG time away. Software requiring DX9 runtime be installed, that's not a big deal, but DX9-only-hardware-required... nah

[Sazar]

Originally posted by Gator
according to FutureMark, the majority of people out there run a GF4TI4200, with only a small percentage with R9500/R9700, and an even smaller number of GFFX owners.

My guess is DX9 hardware required games are a LONG time away. Software requiring DX9 runtime be installed, that's not a big deal, but DX9-only-hardware-required... nah

dx9 games will rn on dx8 hardware... just w/o the 'extras' you would see with a dx9 card... ie water effects et al...

[Skuzzy]

Quite correct Sazar, if it is coded to do so. Just have to have the paths set based on what the hardware can do.

There is a substantial effort already in place for DX9 by many developers. When will it get released? That's the question.

We already have a pretty deep investment in DX9 code, using specific DX9 features. When will we release it? Again,..the market will determine that.

I was just wanting to get a feel from the hardcore crowd. I don't mean that in a derogatory manner either. It's just that bulletin boards usually are occupied by serious gamers versus the everyday buyer.

[StealthHawk]

Moved to Games Forum :)

[R.Carter]

Welp, Tomb Raider: Angel of Darkness seems to indicate 100% DirectX9 16MB 3D Accelerated Video Card /w Hardware TnL.

LOL! Dunno if there are any DirectX9 video cards with only 16MB!! Sounds more like a DirectX7 video card.

[Skuzzy]

Thank you Stealth,...sorry for the boo-boo.

[Smokey]

Still waiting for a game that requires my GF3 as the mins spec :D but I am hoping to get a DX9 card in the next 6-9 months, most of the current games have just made it to a GF1/Radeon as the min spec ie supports hardware T&L :(

[StealthHawk]

Originally posted by R.Carter
Welp, Tomb Raider: Angel of Darkness seems to indicate 100% DirectX9 16MB 3D Accelerated Video Card /w Hardware TnL.

LOL! Dunno if there are any DirectX9 video cards with only 16MB!! Sounds more like a DirectX7 video card.

Hardware T&L is DX7 :p

[EDLIM]

If Directx9.0 games will run only on DX9 ready cards..... then that is not the way to go. I wouldn't spend $300.00 to $499 on a card to play a $50.00 DX9 game "This is insane" . I'll buy myself a console - ( As we speak the price has gone down on PS2 and XBOX). Honestly, I believe that a good Directx 9.o game should be playable and backward compatible to a DX8.0 card with a DX 9.X driver. If I am the software Developer/Publisher , then I will cater my game to fit the hardcore and average people/gamers out there which have a different flavor of Graphics card/CPU. Not everybody have the money to throw away on a graphics Card. Even if we do, I would spent it wisely.

[StealthHawk]

I already have a DX9 card, so you can guess what I voted for :)

In all honesty you need a DX9 class card to be able to crank up FSAA and AF all the way and just leave it on in today's games anyway.

[Skuzzy]

I was hoping for a bigger sample. Thank you to those that participated.

[john19055]

There are DX9 cards out there now cheaper than $300.

[saturnotaku]

If I didn't own a DirectX 9 card and there was a game out there that required a DX9-capable card to utilitze all the graphical goodies, I would most definitely upgrade my video card to play that game.

Back in the day I upgraded my CPU so I could play the original Need for Speed. But nowadays I tend to upgrade my system hardware much before games actually require them. :)

[GlowStick]

Originally posted by saturnotaku
If I didn't own a DirectX 9 card and there was a game out there that required a DX9-capable card to utilitze all the graphical goodies, I would most definitely upgrade my video card to play that game.

Back in the day I upgraded my CPU so I could play the original Need for Speed. But nowadays I tend to upgrade my system hardware much before games actually require them. :)

What if the game was Brittneys Dance Grove 2 Special Editon!

[saturnotaku]

I should have clarified - if there was a DirectX 9 game I wanted to play.

Curse this drug-induced haze. :baaa::