PC Games What does the DirectX reference mean?

[yooperchick]

I am not a hardcore computer gamer. I am a console player.

Just curious what the DirectX references mean?

Mods - If this should be in another thread, feel free to move.

Thanks!

 

[Wrecked]

well i don't know what it technically means, but here it refers to the different generations of games, graphic wise.

too play the newer/prettier games, you need to upgrade your DirectX drivers. so in retrospec, DirectX 5 games look no where near as pretty as DirectX 9 games.

and that's DirectX in a nutshell... i think.

 

[yooperchick]

Should I also mention that I am a MAC user? *cowers and hides in the corner*

That could be why I am unfamiliar with the term. It is a Windows thing, right?

 

[Wrecked]

as far as i know [ i play games only on the PC ], yes.

but i'm sure there is DirectX for the Mac. because the games need the DirectX drivers to be playable.

 

[yooperchick]

Ugh. Just saw a thread about this in another part of the forum:

http://www.gameforum.com/showthread.php?t=30

 

[Thermal]

DirectX is an Software Development Kit (SDK) that many windows developers use to create applications. Basically, its prewritten code that allows programmers to write to the screen, networking, music, etc. in a very efficient way. There is also another technology called OpenGL, which is more portable and is what you'll more and likely be using on a Mac, or Linux machine.

WineX can also be used to emulate games that use DirectX over OpenGL on other platforms other than windows, but it often tends to be slower due to the extra layer of processing.

 

[Gamechamp]

Well, I don't really care what DirectX is. I just know that I need it to play some games and I download it. The games usually tell you when you need to download a newer version, so I don't think you really need to worry about it.