Since the inception in 1995, DirectX continues to be an evolving technology. Primarily developed for Windows 95, NT 4.0 currently supports a subset of DirectX via NT Service Pack 3. Windows 98 also supports DirectX 5 and NT 5.0 will too. It is an integral part of both these operating systems including Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0. DirectX 5 introduces several new features that hadn’t been included in earlier versions. New features in DirectX 5:
The Direct3D API offers better image quality, greater features and ease of use by supporting the following:
DrawPrimitive services for Direct3D, providing developers with the flexibility to pass polygon information directly to the hardware rather than using execute buffers
Progressive meshes and enhanced animations
Advanced features of the technology currently code-named “TALISMAN” such as sort-independent anti-aliasing, range-based fog, anisotropic texture filtering and bufferless hidden surface elimination
DirectDraw API support for accelerated graphics port (AGP) new low-resolution modes and MMX optimizations
DirectInput API support for force-feedback devices and a new extensible game controller control panel
The DirectPlay API with Windows NT security, client/server support and lobby client API ? DirectSound3D Capture and Notify APIs, to simplify use of audio streams
DirectSound3D support for 3-D audio hardware acceleration
DirectX Setup; a database of known configurations that simplifies user setup on all leading hardware. If the user’s hardware is not recognized. DirectX Setup will inform the user of potential conflicts and allow the user to bypass driver installation or revert to the previous configuration after installation is complete.
DirectX 5.0 foundation also includes many new features that will be supported in the next version of Windows NT 5.0, such as multimonitor support, advanced graphics port AGP support, video port extensions (VPE) support, Universal Serial Bus (BUS) audio support and support for USB joysticks. These features are presently supported with Windows 98.
