Microsoft uses the name DirectX to refer to a proprietary collection of many different application programming interfaces (abbreviated as APIs) that are used for handling processes related to multimedia operations, including webwatcher software and especially video and computer game programming and rendering of video, on Microsoft-branded platforms. DirectX 8.1 was released for Windows XP, along with Windows Server 2003 on October 25, 2001.

DirectX 8.1 was also used as the exclusive API for the first generation of the Xbox video game console. The API for DirectX 8.1 was a joint development between industry giant Microsoft and video card developer and manufacturer Nvidia. Nvidia was also responsible for developing the custom graphics hardware and chipset that was used by the original Xbox. The Xbox version of the DirectX 81. API is similar to the version of the DirectX 8.1 API used in PCs, but does not have built-in patching or updating capabilities like other video game console technologies. In celebration of its DirectX 8.1 underpinnings, the Xbox was code named the DirectXbox when in development at Microsoft, but this name was shortened to just “Xbox” for its commercial release.

DirectX version 8.01.0881, Release Candidate 7 was a version of DirectX that was released for what Microsoft had called down level OS (operating system) markets such as Windows 98, along with Windows Me and Windows 2000. It was released on November 8, 2001.

It was followed by an updated and patched release titled “DirectX 8.1a”, though its official release number was actually 4.08.01.0901. The most significant part of this patch included an update to the Direct3D Dynamic Link Library, specifically the D3d8.dll file. It was released on May 13, 2002.

DirectX 8.1a was followed soon thereafter by the release Microsoft titled “DirectX 8.1 B”. The actual release number remained 8.01.0901, Release Candidate 7. This update to the DirectX 8.1 APIs included a bugfix to the DirectShow Dynamic Link Library that was a part of Windows 2000 under the Quartz.dll file. It was released on June 25, 2002

.DirectX 8.1 has one final version release which Microsoft titled “DirectX 8.1 C”, although the official release number was actually 8.02.0134, Release Candidate 0. It was functionally the same as the previously released DirectX 8.1b, but also included the module called DirectPlay 8.2.

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DirectX 11 — Is It Worth Downloading?

Years ago, there was a war between companies to decide which 3D API would end up on top. Microsoft’s DirectX API came out on the top of that battle. As a result, many mainstream games rely on DirectX functionality for you to experience their full effect. Some even require you to have DirectX in order to play them at all. So with each new version of DirectX, the world of gaming changes immeasurably.

With the new DirectX 11, Microsoft has updated their DirectX API with the newest trends in the world of the video card GPU, where many of the most important gaming visual calculations are done. But what are some of the specific features that this new version of DirectX allows?

DirectX now directly supports the use of tiling, which is the using of a pattern of figures in order to cover an area without any gaps or overlaps with other figures. While there was a work around that involved a high level of detail in tiling before, with the implementation of tiling directly into the DirectX API, the function can be used with greater speed and fewer memory resources, helping to make it much more efficient.

One of the other most important advances of DirectX 11 is the fact that it has finally adopted the multiple core processor approach, allowing computers with multiple core processors to have a vast improvement in visual processing speed over the single core predecessors. With extremely fine control over each of the threads, the developer can fine tune their games to ensure they run with the maximum efficiency for their individual needs.

Unfortunately for users of the older Windows operating systems, DirectX 11 will not be available for you. It will only be available for users of the Windows Vista and Windows 7 operating systems. For those of you still using Windows XP, you can always rely on DirectX 10 for XP. This will be a definite improvement over the DirectX 9.0c, which came with Windows XP SP3. Users of even older versions of Windows will have to rely on DirectX 7.0 or DirectX 8.0a.

Overall, you have to be impressed with the progress that Microsoft continues to make with its DirectX API. They have helped to take gaming to new levels and continue to build upon each of their releases, adding more and more functionality to every generation of the DirectX API.

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