DirectX 11: What to expect

Hello capsuleers! CCP Zorba here on behalf of Team RnB. We want to talk to you about DirectX 11.

If you've played EVE Online using Singularity, our public testing server, you may be running with DirectX 11. The change should be mostly unnoticeable, as our goal right now is to have a DX11 client that performs the same (performance, stability) as our DX9 client. This change will go out to everyone in our winter expansion, EVE Online: Rubicon.

DX11 is enabled by default if your GPU and OS support it. If either does not, you will use the DX9 client automatically.

A few frequently asked questions:

• Can I choose between DX9 and DX11? The Launcher will soon have a setting where you can toggle this (if your GPU does not support DX11, this checkbox will be disabled or missing).
• Are you sunsetting DX9? No, and we have no plan to.
• Does this affect the Mac? No, Mac will continue to use DX9.
• Do I have to download two clients now? No, we just ship a DX9 and DX11 version of our rendering engine (Trinity) and choose between them at runtime.
• Is the minimum machine spec changing? No, the minimum spec machine does not support DX11 and will continue to use DX9.
• My client is using DX11 but looks the same, what gives? Our DX9 and DX11 clients should look the same. No new features. Yet.

Getting the DirectX 11 version of our engine (which has been a long time in the works) into your hands is a huge and important step so we can test and harden it thoroughly. We hope our next DX11 Dev Blog will tell you about some awesome new graphical features.

Finally, if you notice any graphics issues, please report them in the feedback thread here.

-Team RnB

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