TheRetroArcade
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Joined: Feb 2026
It could be laying the foundation for whatever the Xbox division is cooking up, too.
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Microsoft has just shared an update to DirectX, labelling it "the biggest wave of new tooling features in DirectX’s history." The company, alongside major "GPU hardware partners", has shared its "dream of bringing console-level GPU developer tools to Windows."
Microsoft reports, "AMD, Intel, Nvidia, and Qualcomm have worked closely with us throughout feature development, each making significant contributions to make this release possible."
The new changes come in a few different sections. The first is the introduction of DirectX dump files. As elaborated on in the Microsoft Game Dev blog, "GPU-related bugs can emerge at any point in a game’s lifecycle, and developers have sought more thorough crash-dump infrastructure to understand their causes."
These dump files can help with both retail users and developer machines, giving a better understanding of what has gone wrong and why. Dump files will reportedly give logs on the hardware and driver state, plus the state of DirectX, and what was happening in the game before the dump file was created. Giving more information in condensed forms like this can help with all kinds of troubleshooting.
Another big update to DirectX is the introduction of "Live Shader Debugging". Effectively, this would allow for real-time shader debugging, which is a celebrated feature on Xbox already. It is currently planned for release in 2027. Microsoft claims it is designed for "needle in the haystack" style problems and also reports it's "the deepest GPU tooling collaboration with hardware vendors in Windows history."
This debugging on PC was only shown off as a preview at this year's GDC, but Microsoft says the public can expect more details in the coming months.
Microsoft has also noted its new shader explorer, which it claims is "a new way to inspect, understand and debug compiled shaders, with deeper live analysis".
Keep up to date with the most important stories and the best deals, as picked by the PC Gamer team.
This new explorer works with Pix, Windows' debugging tool, and Microsoft has shown off a version working on both AMD and Intel hardware. Interestingly, the shader explorer is not paired to the driver, so developers can analyse shaders for GPUs they don't own. This could potentially help with optimising for the myriad ...Read more: Full article on www.pcgamer.com
What do you think about this?
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works.
Keep up to date with the most important stories and the best deals, as picked by the PC Gamer team.
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Every Friday
GamesRadar+
Your weekly update on everything you could ever want to know about the games you already love, games we know you're going to love in the near future, and tales from the communities that surround them.
Every Thursday
GTA 6 O'clock
Our special GTA 6 newsletter, with breaking news, insider info, and rumor analysis from the award-winning GTA 6 O'clock experts.
Every Friday
Knowledge
From the creators of Edge: A weekly videogame industry newsletter with analysis from expert writers, guidance from professionals, and insight into what's on the horizon.
Every Thursday
The Setup
Hardware nerds unite, sign up to our free tech newsletter for a weekly digest of the hottest new tech, the latest gadgets on the test bench, and much more.
Every Wednesday
Switch 2 Spotlight
Sign up to our new Switch 2 newsletter, where we bring you the latest talking points on Nintendo's new console each week, bring you up to date on the news, and recommend what games to play.
Every Saturday
The Watchlist
Subscribe for a weekly digest of the movie and TV news that matters, direct to your inbox. From first-look trailers, interviews, reviews and explainers, we've got you covered.
Once a month
SFX
Get sneak previews, exclusive competitions and details of special events each month!
Microsoft has just shared an update to DirectX, labelling it "the biggest wave of new tooling features in DirectX’s history." The company, alongside major "GPU hardware partners", has shared its "dream of bringing console-level GPU developer tools to Windows."
Microsoft reports, "AMD, Intel, Nvidia, and Qualcomm have worked closely with us throughout feature development, each making significant contributions to make this release possible."
The new changes come in a few different sections. The first is the introduction of DirectX dump files. As elaborated on in the Microsoft Game Dev blog, "GPU-related bugs can emerge at any point in a game’s lifecycle, and developers have sought more thorough crash-dump infrastructure to understand their causes."
These dump files can help with both retail users and developer machines, giving a better understanding of what has gone wrong and why. Dump files will reportedly give logs on the hardware and driver state, plus the state of DirectX, and what was happening in the game before the dump file was created. Giving more information in condensed forms like this can help with all kinds of troubleshooting.
Another big update to DirectX is the introduction of "Live Shader Debugging". Effectively, this would allow for real-time shader debugging, which is a celebrated feature on Xbox already. It is currently planned for release in 2027. Microsoft claims it is designed for "needle in the haystack" style problems and also reports it's "the deepest GPU tooling collaboration with hardware vendors in Windows history."
This debugging on PC was only shown off as a preview at this year's GDC, but Microsoft says the public can expect more details in the coming months.
Microsoft has also noted its new shader explorer, which it claims is "a new way to inspect, understand and debug compiled shaders, with deeper live analysis".
Keep up to date with the most important stories and the best deals, as picked by the PC Gamer team.
This new explorer works with Pix, Windows' debugging tool, and Microsoft has shown off a version working on both AMD and Intel hardware. Interestingly, the shader explorer is not paired to the driver, so developers can analyse shaders for GPUs they don't own. This could potentially help with optimising for the myriad ...Read more: Full article on www.pcgamer.com
What do you think about this?