News

Howard: Skyrim "mostly a DirectX 9 game", could expand DX11?
Posted: 20.04.2011 11:40 by Simon Priest Comments: 3
Bethesda's Todd Howard has clarified earlier statements by adding that the Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim team "aren't taking advantage" of DirectX 11's full suite.

It's "mostly a DirectX 9 game in terms" of shaders, he said, but that "doesn't mean" they won't beef it up with DirectX 11 tech later. Already have "gains" from it.

"Basically, it's mostly a DX9 game", said Todd Howard, referring to how the shaders work in Skyrim. "When it comes to DX11 there are things they give us for free in terms of performance gains, and that's really what I meant."

"So we get performance gains out of it, versus an older version, and there are specifics that DX11 does like tessellation and that kind of stuff; we aren't taking advantage of that right now. But that doesn't mean we won't in the future, we just aren't right now."

PC gamers have been a little on edge since Howard revealed the game is scalable and provided near-identical versions across all three platforms. Hopefully Bethesda will make time for Skyrim to take full advantage of DirectX 11.

Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim releases on Xbox 360, PS3 and PC November 11th.

Source: AusGamers

Comments

By herodotus (SI Herodotus) on Apr 20, 2011
herodotus
So that's why it'll basically look the same on console as with PC. Obviously the lessons from "TW: Shogun 2" and "Crysis 2" not releasing the final product with DX 11 on board didn't reach Bethesda's offices. I won't mind waiting, however for a 2011 AAA title it's pretty remiss.
I'm sure some of the cash they make from pre-orders and sales will go into development for a DX11 patch...at least I hope it will.
By FoolWolf (SI Elite) on Apr 20, 2011
FoolWolf
Not so much sales as developing time - making it Direct X native means they cut three systems with one go instead of making one master then nerfing or the other way around, two smooth then beefing them up. Just shows that PC users won't get what they deserve until statistics really start to log all that online sales... *Grrrr*
By K3Spice (SI Core) on Apr 21, 2011
K3Spice
I really do hope they add and make good use of DX11 though.