Improving The Foundation
Dear Capsuleers
In June 2016, we announced that we would be starting work that would eventually phase out DirectX 9 support for EVE Online. Originally released 19 years ago and supported by Windows 98, it was the perfect solution for the retail CD release of EVE Online!
However, continuing to support DirectX 9 has become a significant development cost that is impacting our ability to improve the graphical fidelity of EVE Online. With less than 1% of players being limited to using DirectX 9, the time is right to end support in 2022.
For the last few years, we've been investing in foundational improvements of EVE, such as with the transition to a 64-bit client to set EVE up for a thriving third decade. This is the next step in that journey and it will happen on 11 January 2022. After this date, we will no longer provide a DirectX 9 capable client.
We encourage all existing DX9 players who are capable of running the DirectX 11 client to go to their Launcher settings and under 'Game Client' ensure that "Run game clients with DirectX 9" is not ticked.
This will ensure the EVE client uses DirectX 11 rendering. On 30 November, we will be moving all existing players to DirectX 11 if it is supported by the GPU. You will be able to switch back to DirectX 9 temporarily if you are unable to play, however, we strongly suggest reaching out to Customer Support (choose 'Technical') so we can identify the reasons you have chosen to not use DirectX 11. The option to switch back to DirectX 9 will not be available after 11 January.
As a result of DirectX 9 deprecation, we will be increasing the minimum specification to need a DirectX 11 (feature level 11.0) based graphics card. For Nvidia, this will be a GeForce GT 420, while AMD users will require a Radeon HD 5450 GPU. The first DirectX 11 GPUs are over 10 years old, so this change should not impact most people’s ability to play.
__Minimum System Requirements: __
- OS: Windows 7 Service Pack 1 64-bit
- CPU: Dual Core @ 2.0 GHz
- RAM: 4 GB or higher
- Video: Video: AMD Radeon 5450 or NVIDIA GeForce 420 or better with at least 1024 MB VRAM
If you have a very old GPU, you can manually check your DirectX version by pressing CTRL+F to open the FPS window in-game. This will show the current rendering mode in the bottom left:
Players on MacOS will not need to worry about this change as our new Native Mac Client utilizes Metal and not DirectX.
DirectX 9 has served us well, but to enable a more performant and immersive experience in the future, we must say goodbye. Removing technical debt such as older graphical APIs and utilizing more modern rendering methods such as DirectX 11 gives us a better foundation to bring amazing visuals to all pilots in EVE.
Join the player discussion in the official thread on EVE Online forums.
