Article: Q191829
Product(s): Microsoft Home Games
Version(s): WINDOWS:95
Operating System(s):
Keyword(s): kbref kbimu
Last Modified: 13-JUN-2001
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The information in this article applies to:
- the operating system: Microsoft Windows 95
- the operating system: Microsoft Windows 98
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SUMMARY
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This article describes the new features that are included in Microsoft DirectX
6.0.
MORE INFORMATION
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DirectX 6.0 is composed of the following five components:
- Direct3D is used for 3-dimensional rendering.
- DirectPlay is used for multi-player gaming.
- DirectDraw is used for onscreen graphics.
- DirectSound is used for audio playback.
- DirectInput is used for input device support.
Direct3D
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The new features in Direct3D include:
- Significantly faster performance due to overall improvements in the run-time
components of Direct3D.
- A completely rewritten geometry engine, which is responsible for transforming
and lighting operations and includes processor-specific performance
optimizations that take advantage of features in the latest generation of
processors.
- All-new software rasterizers, which enable developers to compare the visual
quality of output on 3-D hardware accelerators to a reference standard.
- Support for many new hardware features, including single-pass multitexturing,
bump mapping, texture compression, stencil buffers, w-buffers and much more.
DirectPlay
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The new features in DirectPlay include:
- New lobbying services.
- Support for firewalls.
DirectDraw
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The new features in DirectDraw include:
- Performance optimizations.
DirectSound
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The new features in DirectSound include:
- Performance optimizations for MMX technology in Microsoft Windows 95.
NOTE: These performance optimizations are already included in Microsoft
Windows 98.
DirectInput
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There are no new DirectInput features in DirectX 6.0.
REFERENCES
==========
For additional information about how to download and install DirectX, click the
article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
Q179113 How to Download and Install DirectX
For more information about how to solve problems related to DirectX, use the
DirectX Home Troubleshooter located at the following Microsoft Web site:
http://support.microsoft.com/support/directx/directx_7.0/tshooter/default.asp
Additional query words: direct-x dx6
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Keywords : kbref kbimu
Technology : kbOSWin98 kbOSWin95 kbOSWinSearch
Version : WINDOWS:95
Issue type : kbinfo
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