What’s New in the June 2015 Xbox One XDK
The June 2015 release of the Xbox One XDK from Microsoft contains the following new features, tools, and documentation. For features that shipped in a previous release of the Xbox One XDK, see the What’s New document for that release, available from Features Introduced in Previous Releases.
Sections:
Release Notes and Xbox One XDK Updates
The most recent release notes for and updates to the Xbox One XDK can always be found on Xbox One XDK Software Downloads on the Xbox Game Developer site. For access, log in with your ID and password on https://developer.microsoft.com/en-us/games/xbox/partner/index; at the top of the page, point to Development and click Downloads.
You can check with your account manager for the latest information about upcoming Xbox One XDK releases.
Xbox One XDK Version Info
The June 2015 Xbox One XDK contains the latest tools and libraries for Xbox One.
What’s new in the June 2015 XDK
Roadmap
The Xbox One Developer Roadmap on XGD has been updated with projections of developer-facing feature work from the May 2015 XDK through Q3 of 2015. The roadmap is intended to help developers plan their implementation schedules around upcoming feature and tooling efforts for the Xbox One console and related services.
Table of Contents
Developer Tools
Run from PC deployment now supports paths that contain symbolic links (Preview)
Run from PC deployment now supports symbolic links within the folder structure that contains the title. In addition, you can use the new Credentials (xbcred.exe) command-line tool to manage credentials for remote servers. For more information, see Run from PC Deployment.
Added XTF APIs to support Run from PC deployment (Preview)
The new XtfRegisterNetworkSharePackage and XtfGetCredentialInfoList functions have been added to support Run from PC deployment. For more information, see Run from PC Deployment.
ConsoleExtensions network simulations can now target specific addresses or hosts, which can be used to identify blocking Xbox Live calls
The network simulation features in the Microsoft.Xbox.Tools.ConsoleExtensions namespace have been enhanced to allow the simulation to impact only the set of IP addresses, hostnames, or services that you specify. These enhancements make it easy to test network conditions such as when access to Xbox Live services are down but all other network resources are available. For more information, see Network stress.
Enable XTF logging from xbconfig
The Configuration (xbconfig.exe) command-line tool now allows you to enable XTF logging on the development kit. To debug title deployment and launch failures using XTF, use the new LogLevel flag.
Improved runtime performance when using arrays of complex types
The compiler included in the Xbox One XDK has been updated to generate more efficient code when using arrays of types that are not built into the system. The previous versions of the compiler generated calls to constructors using the vector constructor iterator, even if the constructors were empty. The elimination of these calls results in dramatically improved performance, especially when iterating through large arrays.
Graphics
Direct3D 12.x First Approved Libraries
You can ship your title on Direct3D 12.x using the June 2015 Xbox One XDK.
Direct3D 12.x updates
The following updates have been made to Direct3D 12.x in the Xbox One XDK:
- D3D12.x now supports the Offline Graphics Pipeline State Object (PSO). The best performance on D3D12.x requires Offline PSO, which is build time persistence of PSOs that are loaded at title load time and set quickly at run time with SetPipelineState (the CPU cost of SetPipelineState is only the write of a six-DWORD payload). The persistence of PSOs is supported through a PC build of the UMD (umd12_pc.dll) using the new SerializeGraphicsPipelineStateX method. Serialized PSOs are loaded into your title’s process using the new DeserializeGraphicsPipelineStateX method. For more information about PSO, see the Xfest 2015 presentation “Introduction to Direct3D 12 on Xbox One.” Also, the new PhSO sample demonstrates how to use Offline PSO.
- D3D12.x now supports Derived Graphics PSO. Although the best performance is achieved when all PSOs are created offline, there are times when all permutations of PSO cannot reasonably be known and created offline. Derived PSOs provide an efficient means of creating a Graphics PSO that is derived from another PSO. The base state of the new derived object is created using the state of the source object, while allowing you to change the depth/stencil, rasterizer, and blend state. Derived PSO support is provided by the new CreateDerivedGraphicsPipelineStateX method.
- The validation driver now supports all primary use cases, including validation of Resource Barriers and PSO creation. For information about the types of validation that can be set, see the ID3D12Device::SetDebugFlagsX method.
- The IASetVertexBuffers method is now inlined and implemented in GPU microcode (the same way that other high-frequency APIs are). This further minimizes CPU overhead.
- D3D12_CPU_DESCRIPTOR_HANDLE now supports a cached read pointer. Also, the handle is now an encoded pair of pointers instead of a raw pointer. A null descriptor handle still has a pointer value of zero. This feature is implemented by the GetWritePointer, GetCachedReadPointer, and D3D12_GPU_DESCRIPTOR_HANDLE::GetGpuVirtualAddress methods.
- The D3D12XBOX_PRIMITIVE_TOPOLOGY_TYPE_QUAD and D3D12XBOX_PRIMITIVE_TOPOLOGY_TYPE_RECT values have been added to the D3D12_PRIMITIVE_TOPOLOGY_TYPE enumeration.
- The InvalidateGraphicsTLBX method has been added to support manual validation of the translation lookaside buffer (TLB).
- You can now reenable compression on render targets and depth/stencil buffers without a full coverage clear. After a relevant ResourceBarrier transition or resource update API has applied decompression to a resource and placed it into a decompressed state, the resource will now have its compression capabilities restored when transitioned back into a RENDER_TARGET or DEPTH_WRITE barrier state. The resource will be accessed with compressed writes even if a full coverage clear is not first initiated. The following D3D12_RESOURCE_STATES flags have been added to preserve decompression when entering a RENDER_TARGET/DEPTH_WRITE state (or on initial resource creation):
- D3D12XBOX_RESOURCE_STATE_PRESERVE_EXPANDED_COLOR
- D3D12XBOX_RESOURCE_STATE_PRESERVE_EXPANDED_DEPTH
- D3D12XBOX_RESOURCE_STATE_PRESERVE_EXPANDED_STENCIL
- The following new methods have been added:
- FillMemoryWith32BitValueX
- FillMemoryWith64BitValueX
- FillMemoryWith128BitValueX
- OMSetDepthBoundsX
- SetPixelShaderDepthForceZOrderX
- Wait32BitValue
- Wait64BitValue
- Write32BitValueBottomOfPipeX
- Write64BitValueBottomOfPipeX
Mapping a texture to ESRAM is now faster
The D3DMapEsramMemory method has been optimized in both D3D12.x and D3D11.x. This will benefit XGMemory memory layout APIs, such as the XGMemoryLayout::MapEsramPages method. The D3DMapEsramMemory method now takes about ten nanoseconds; this method previously took about 230 nanoseconds.
Added and updated graphics samples
The following updates have been made to the graphics samples on the Samples page of the Xbox Game Developer (XGD) site:
- The new PhSO sample demonstrates Offline PSO. This sample is installed with the Xbox One XDK.
- The new SimpleDepthBounds sample demonstrates how to use the ID3D12GraphicsCommandList::OMSetDepthBoundsX method.
- The new CMaskDecode sample demonstrates how to extract fast clear values from the cmask surface.
- All D3D12.x samples have been updated to use the latest API and behavior.
- The D3D12.x projects of the following samples have been updated to use Offline PSOs:
- Bokeh
- Compute Particles
- Deferred Particles
- Draw Bundles
- Dynamic Cube Map
- ESRAM
- Render Mesh
- Simple Bezier
- Simple Instancing
- Simple Lighting
- Simple Triangle
- The D3D12.x project for the Deferred Context sample has been updated to use Offline PSOs and Derived PSOs.
- The Point Sprites sample has been updated to demonstrate on-chip GS.
DirectXMath 3.08
The following changes have been made for DirectXMath 3.08:
- Added the use of
_mm_sfencefor Stream methods. - Fixed a bug with non-uniform scaling transforms in the BoundingOrientedBox interface.
- Added NearZ and FarZ asserts for the methods in the XMMATRIX structure.
- Added the use of
=defaultfor PODs in Microsoft Visual Studio 2015 and Microsoft Visual Studio 2013. - Added additional SSE optimizations for PackedVector functions.
PIX
Async compute and DMA improvements
The following improvements have been made to PIX for async compute and DMA operations:
- PIX now supports capture and playback for both async compute and DMA operations. To use this feature, select the option in the Settings menu.
- Events and timings can now be displayed for both async contexts and DMA contexts. Both of these contexts are available from the drop-down menu in the Events view.
- The new Command Disassembly view shows the breakdown of DMA operations.
- You can now view the GPU hardware state for async compute.
Hierarchy in the timeline (Preview)
The timeline now displays hierarchy by stacking events vertically, rather than overlaying child events directly on their parents. This allows you to see the hierarchical structure of the events at a glance, and makes it much easier to select events through the timeline. To use this preview feature, open the File menu, click Settings, and then select Enable hierarchical event display in the Timeline section.
Note This is a new feature in the Xbox One XDK. Please submit feedback for this feature by clicking the Feedback button on the PIX title bar.
ESRAM optimization for D3D12 and async compute
The ESRAM Optimization view now supports Direct3D 12.x captures as well as captures with async compute and DMA. The new Find Resource button allows you to locate resources in the ESRAM Optimization view.
Timeline navigation enhancements
To simplify timeline navigation, PIX now supports the keyboard and mouse shortcuts listed in the following table.
| Action | Shortcut |
|---|---|
| Select a timeline item in a lane | Left click |
| Select a time range | Hold down the left mouse button and drag |
| Display the context menu | Right click |
| Pan horizontally and vertically | Hold down the right mouse button and drag |
| Zoom the timeline | Scroll the mouse wheel (it is no longer necessary to hold down CTRL) |
| Zoom the ESRAM utilization map | Hold down SHIFT while scrolling with the mouse wheel |
Improved resource modification tracking
The resource information panel now lists DrawIds for easier tracking of resource modifications. You can now determine the last time that each resource was modified, as well as the time that it will be modified next.
PIX Event API supports ANSI
The PIXBeginEvent, PIXEndEvent, and PIXSetMarker functions now support ANSI format strings.
The File IO profiler now includes a timeline
The new File IO timeline displays the set of file reads that are outstanding at any point in time. A graph above the timeline shows IO throughput, disk utilization, and queue depth. The timeline and the graph are synchronized with the set of reads displayed in the events list. These new analysis features make it easier to optimize your title’s use of the IO subsystem.
Instruction traces can now be initiated directly for a specific function
The button used to initiate instruction traces on the Home tab now includes an option to list all of your title’s functions. Select a function in the dialog box to start an instruction trace without the need to perform a Function Summary or Callgraph capture beforehand.