Wazoo Enterprises

In many ways, the DirectX9.0c SDK is a radical migration of the DirectX game library than any of its previous versions. While the DirectX8.1 release marked some new refinements available to the developer (a marked improvement of the D3DX helper library for one thing, along with a re-tooled set of DirectPlay interfaces), DirectX9.0c takes things quite a bit further.

• D3DX a DLL

  Although it created a firestorm among professional and hobbyist game developer alike, the DirectX team shifted the static D3DX library into a dynamically linked library (DLL) in order to provide Microsoft the ability to push any security related updates via Windows Update should any vulnerabilities be discovered. While this is an improvement for the end-customer using your game, it provides a few extra “things to think about” for the game developer.

• UNICODE

  To provide additional internationalization support along with some compatibility with 64-bit operating system architecture, the game developer should now be compiling their code with UNICODE features enabled.

• DXUT

  As an updated version of the DirectX sample framework that ships with the SDK, the DXUT provides you with a much more “open” design to give you more flexibility should you use it in your own applications. You’re no longer restricted to the class framework from the previous versions of the sample framework, but can pretty much compose your own C/C++ object hierarchy of your preference.

DXUT Architecture

While the DirectX sample frameworks of previous SDK’s required you to derive a class or two from CD3DApplication, DXUT processes your code as more a system of callbacks then a class structure. This pretty much gives you the flexibility to nearly drop DXUT into your existing code base without forcing you to rewrite the very foundations of your engine.