The final version of Windows 10 will ship with DirectX 12 (DX12), confirmed Microsoft via the DirectX Developer Blog. The firm is encouraging gamers to help refine the release by becoming Windows Insiders and installing the Windows 10 Technical Preview (W10TP) to develop software using their DX12 'Early Access' membership. Microsoft says that users with the W10TP and Early Access to DX12 will "receive everything they need to kickstart their DX12 development, including: updated runtime, API headers, drivers, documentation, and samples".
Microsoft and Epic have worked together to make a DX12 port of the Unreal Engine v4. It is available in the UE4 GitHub repository. The latest UE version, 4.4, is supported. UE4 is the graphics engine behind many games and is provided to developers as a game development suite to create anything from 2D mobile games to PC and console blockbusters.
Epic wasn't the only partner mentioned in Microsoft's blog update. It was also revealed that Intel, which showed off a DX12 Asteroids demo at Siggraph, will offer the source code for that game to all developers who are part of the DX12 Early Access Program. Intel used the demo to illustrate the performance and power savings of DX12. Microsoft has previously detailed its work with Nvidia and Epic. Furthermore, in the latest DX12 blog post, it said it had "great working relationships with all graphics vendors".
Answering questions about a public SDK for DX12, not limited to 'members', Microsoft said that such access would come later; "Think of it like a game beta - eventually, we'll be in open beta and everyone will receive access. Until then, we will be gradually increasing the number of people who are invited so long as we can properly scale to make it a great experience for them," wrote Microsoft's Brian Langley. He also gave tips about how to snag an Early Access membership.
