DirectX 8.0

Product:  DirectX 8.0
For: Win95, Win98, NT4, Window 2000.
From: www.microsoft.com/directx
Price: free
Pros: generally good game compatibility, enables new features in some graphics cards
Cons: Gains seen in 3D performance during the beta cycle have mysteriously vanished in the final release, leading some to wonder if the software has some broken code. Some compatibility issues.

Introduction
Microsoft has released the final version of DirectX 8, an enhanced version the multimedia system foundation for Windows operating systems. According to Microsoft, this latest version of DirectX offers updated graphics, faster frame rates, and support for massively multiplayer games. It also offers more immersive audio when running and displaying programs rich in multimedia elements such as full-color graphics, video, 3-D animation, and surround sound. If you had an earlier version of DirectX installed on your system, you will see little difference in available space on your hard drive following the installation. DirectX 8.0 will overwrite any earlier versions.

Warning: After installation, the DirectX 8.0 run time cannot be uninstalled. DirectX is a system component. It cannot be uninstalled without reinstalling your operating system.

Perhaps the best reason to upgrade is the fact that, with it, most owners of 3D-accelerated video cards will enjoy significantly improved performance. Already, versions of drivers for the nVIDIA family of graphics cards are available that take advantage of DirectX 8; drivers for cards from other manufacturers are expected to follow shortly.

The company also released the DirectX 8 SDK (software developers' kit), a 137MB collection of tools needed to build cutting-edge applications. The kit includes the run-time, headers and libs, sample executables, sample source, documentation, DirectX utilities, and support for both C++ and Visual Basic development.

A Little History
Drawing heavily from ideas pioneered by Apple's QuickTime, Microsoft's DirectX 8.0 includes a number of "APIs" (application programming interfaces) that allow programmers to more easily add features like 3D spatialized sound, hardware or software-based 3D acceleration and other services to 32-bit Windows programs. Direct3D, for example, allows programs such as games or 3D viewers to use a standard set of 3D function calls to ease the complex task of programming 3D graphics. DirectInput does the same thing for input devices like analog or digital joysticks or gamepads. DirectShow (formerly known as ActiveMovie) and DirectSound perform similar tasks for video and audio, respectively. DirectX 8.0 is available for free on many game CDs, or as a free download from Microsoft's website (http://www.microsoft.com/directx/); developers may wish to download an additional 137MB worth of Software Development Kit code samples, application examples and utilities.

Although DirectX 6.x is now considered obsolete, it was an important release that in many ways foreshadowed developments now emerging in DX8. Among other new features, DirectX 6.x included bump-mapping technology from TriTech Microelectronics and interactive music and downloadable sound sets via DirectMusic. Although DirectX 6.1 was officially only for Windows 95/98, some testers found that it could also be coerced to install under Windows NT 4.0, with some limitations. (Standard disclaimers apply.)

For further reading on DirectX 6.x, see the article titled "Playtime: Microsoft's new DirectX aids gamers" or the article at http://www.gamecenter.com/News/Item/0,3,1682,00.html

DirectX 7.0 and 8.0 (preliminary specs) are discussed at:

• http://agent.microsoft.com/hwdev/presents/2melt98/melt982adoc.htm 
• DirectX 7.0 ships with Windows 2000 and Windows Me

DirectX 8.0 Control Panel
Want to tweak your setting for DirectX8? 3dSpotlight has a nifty little Control Panel that gives you several new options, once you download and install it! An included Read Me file describes the (easy) installation procedure.

DirectX 8.0 Benchmarks
Gaming enthusiasts have been saying that that Transformation & Lighting ("T&L") support in DirectX 8.0 is broken in all versions produced after DirectX BETA 146. Here are some benchmarks courtesy of The-Ctrl-Alt-Delete.com that would seem to support this allegation. Test results from Quake 3 Time demos are nearly identical to DirectX 7.0 and, in some cases, DirectX 8.0 is slightly slower than DirectX 7.0.

Other Caveats
Lars Nilsson, Webmaster at HardWare Links UK, advises us that, in his tests, he has uncovered several games that won't run under DirectX 8.0. Says Lars, "I've had problems with Ground Control from Sierra and Rollercoster Tycoon from Hasbro. I presume there will be more games that will suffer from the same problem. They seem to report that DX7 is missing but you can't install it since it comes up with a message saying that you have a newer version installed."

Lars' test system included a GeForce 2 card in it, with nVidia driver ver. 7.17. He says he also tried to "downgrade" to 6.31 without success.
Meanwhile, here at PC Buyers Guide, our tests of DirectX 8.0 with an ATI All-in-Wonder RADEON card and Windows Me are underway.

DX8 Uninstaller
With the recent release of Microsoft DirectX8 and all the reports about lower 3DMark scores, incompatibility issues and game crashes while using the new version of DirectX... The gentlemen down under at TweakTown have kindly uploaded a program to their server and have made it available for download to everyone. The program is called DX Uninstaller, it will uninstall DirectX8 if you are unhappy with it and revert you back to your previous version of DirectX. Grab it here! (683kb)

Conclusion
Do you need DirectX 8.0? No, although many games currently on the market require at least version 7.0. (Windows 98 originally shipped with DirectX 5.) It is probably safe to assume that, a year or so from now, many products will require DirectX 8.0 and some will include it on the CD.

For further Reading

• PC Buyers Guide:The DLS ("Downloadable sound") format is now part of Microsoft's DirectX 8.0 multimedia architecture. Find out what the buzz is all about in our latest feature on DLS and SoundFonts...
• Microsoft: A List of New Features Included in Microsoft DirectX 8.0
• The-Ctrl-Alt-Del.com: DirectX 8.0 Final Review
• PC Buyers Guide: DirectX and Beyond- Next-gen APIs

External Links:

• TweakTown.com: DirectX 8 uninstaller (683kb)
• See Betanews.com for a list of alternate DirectX 8.0 download locations.

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