Microsoft has released a new update for its PIX tool that will help developers better optimize their titles. In case you didn’t know, PIX is a performance tuning and debugging tool for game developers, and its latest beta version lets developers analyze the performance of DirectX 12 games.
PIX supports both UWP and Win32 games, can debug and analyze the performance of Direct3D 12 graphics rendering, offers captures to the developers for undestanding the performance and threading of all CPU and GPU work carried out by their game, and provides insight into the memory allocations made by their game.
This new update for PIX introduces a system monitor that displays real-time counter data while a game is running. This system monitor displays statistics like fps, frame duration, and sync interval, as well as the GPU memory usage.
Moreover, this new patch for PIX improves callstack resolution performance when opening timing captures, fixes crashes caused by HLSL syntax highlighting, and comes with a more robust pixel history.
Here is the complete changelog for PIX’s latest update:
- System Monitor displays realtime counter data while a game is running
- Present statistics (fps, frame duration, sync interval)
- GPU memory usage (commitment, budget, demotions)
- Custom title counters reported by the WinPixEventRuntime PIXReportCounter API
- Continuous timing captures
- Record timing data into a circular buffer (rather than just capturing a fixed duration), then use the System Monitor graph view to select a time region of interest and open that as a timing capture
- Timing capture event list can now be ordered by either CPU or GPU execution time
- Timing capture GPU timeline uses flame graphs to display nested marker regions
- More robust pixel history (many bugfixes)
- Fixed crashes caused by HLSL syntax highlighting
- Improved callstack resolution performance when opening timing captures
- Support for Function Summary, Callgraph, Memory and File IO captures of packaged titles
John is the founder and Editor in Chief at DSOGaming. He is a PC gaming fan and highly supports the modding and indie communities. Before creating DSOGaming, John worked on numerous gaming websites. While he is a die-hard PC gamer, his gaming roots can be found on consoles. John loved – and still does – the 16-bit consoles, and considers SNES to be one of the best consoles. Still, the PC platform won him over consoles. That was mainly due to 3DFX and its iconic dedicated 3D accelerator graphics card, Voodoo 2. John has also written a higher degree thesis on the “The Evolution of PC graphics cards.”
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“Are you excited? You will be.” F#KIN’ WHEN?
In each version of Windows 10 MS add new functions to WDDM (currently 2.2 in W10 1703), DX12, beta Shader Model 6, beta PIX and UWP. They want create single SDK between Xbox and PC. For next big version of SDK, DX, SM, PIX, UWP, WDDM you will be waiting to release of Xbox X (Windows 10 Fall Update). I think that “shared SDK”, PIX and SM6 will be ready on November 7.
What about the new Shader Model? They said it would be out early 2017, we’re already 6 months in & you’re telling me it’s still just in Beta?
Jesus, mate.
Yes because few months ago MS released most parts of directx 12 as open source project. Source code of shader model 6 and language HLSL 6 with all compilers are now on github. Progress is slower because SM6 code must work not only on Windows and Xbox but also on Mac and Linux. More work for developers.
If you want look at DirectX 12 source code – Google:
“shader model 6 open source”
So, Microsoft is now trying to compete with Vulkan by trying to move Direct3D into the OS X & Linux spheres?
Wow. That’s hilarious.
Isn’t it? god knows what would happen if it wasn’t for vulkan, they didn’t even allow dx12 for their own win7
directx12 already outperforms vulkan, there’s no need to be greater for directx12 at the moment since no api can beat this monster
“directx12 already outperforms vulkan”
Lol’d.
don’t be jealous just because microsoft is superior dude
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/0f788044a83a6271fb6c7968c726fbf232c921923ab18ff276f3ba89efc7f6d0.jpg
You’re f /cking deluded.
shut up stupid moron, troll IDIOT.
I hate brown people because their average IQ is 70 which falls in category of people with down syndrome among white people, that’s why they insist on being white, they don’t know they’re brown.
opps, wrong place.
Which is why i said ms should stop doing everything because they suck.
Eh well, at least it gives Vulkan incentives to keep pushing, lest they fall behind & get ridiculed for it.
Month ago I read on Microsoft blog that Forza Horizon 3 was first game optimized by early beta “PIX for Windows”. They say that PIX improved Forza performance on Windows more than 20% thanks to easier debuging of multithreading. Patch was released few weeks ago and most gamers confirm better fps.
Okay? “Better “FPS” meaning, what, though, exactly? A 1-3 FPS increase? 5? On what kind of system? Low-end? High-end? Etc. etc. etc.
He’s referring to the patch that hit Horizon that made DSOG say the game was now fixed. The patch helped greatly in balancing CPU core usage, and the patch gave at least a ~20% increase in FPS for many people.
Oh, so instead of actually improving a product, they just “fixed” a broken one?
Huh. Way to spin that, Microshills ^^
“PIX for Xbox” was available at least 10 years. All console developers used it for optimization multithreaded code.
“beta PIX for Windows” is available less than 6 months. Turn10 used beta version of this tools to optimize Forza Horizon 3. MS plan to release final version of “PIX for Windows” later this year.
I see that our ‘favourite’ Microsoft shill is back! First it was him shilling WIndows 10 Store, UWP and Xbox Live and now he’s back shilling for DirectX 12.
One wonders how much Microsoft or its appointed agencies are paying people like him to ‘spread the gospel’.
Dear ms, stop doing what you are doing…..just stop.
You suck!!!
So you’re saying they should stop helping developers optimize their games?
he’s negative about everything
says the stupid troll. Every post i read from you is making me facepalm, how can anyone can be this stupid i say? Stop dont talk you are a moron.
Yes they should stop “helping” their “help” is cancer, they should get out of pc gaming and console gaming and stop making windows and directx while they are at it. They suck.
And what would be the alternative to it instead?
Just as they ported .net to Linux, if MS ported DX12 (essentially DX12 WINE) to Linux they’d win hearts and minds.
With the quality of ports we’ve been getting lately, any support the devs can get is certainly appreciated.
Yeah, finally !!!
ads are choking my PC
They literally stated “PIX supports both UWP and Win32 games…”. This has nothing to do with Windows Store. Any game using DX12 can take advantage of this tool.
You didn’t read the article.
Battlefield 1: DX12 and DX11-Origin
Tom Clancy’s the Division: DX12 and DX11- UPlay
Sniper Elite 4: DX12-Steam
DX12 is not meant to restrict people into UWP. Besides, how many of us actually play games on Mac/Linux?
Microsoft isn’t my ‘beloved’ and I don’t wanna harm gamers lol. I’m a dev and a gamer myself. In fact, I also support Vulkan over DX12. I hate DRM just as much as the next guy, but blaming DX12, an API that has nothing to do with UWP, using tinfoil hat conspiracies won’t solve anything.
There are 2 games with support both: DX11 and Vulkan. So we can compare performance of API. Vulkan is good but it isn’t as fast as DX11.
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/09eb18c8b0ad78923570164d8c65681680b65b1f8956feb1be11640136a85ba2.jpg
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/74a896c27e41c70566a87e4bea57786afd1a95568dbef11c197f1603c90b7564.png
Wasn’t it you who last year was saying DirectX 12 games were being held back by DirectX 11 legacy coding?
Hm.
You should add Serious Sam Fusion in there which has Serious Sam TFE, TSE and Serious Sam 3. It supports D3D9, D3D11 and Vulkan.
As of now, both D3D11 and Vulkan run extremely smooth compared to their original releases.
And a bit more offtopic, but the fusion version of Serious Sam 3 has some really neat improvements from a gameplay standpoint. Rebalanaced weapons, more enemy attacks on harder difficulties and even some slight scenery changes.
SS3 Fusion is out?
Sweet 😀
Dx12 is DOA
trash api all around,i dont want the devs to bother with it
Microsoft must demand better optimization for UWP PC games. They have to set a better example. They aren’t consistent.
I could single-handedly do a better QA job than these guys. This isn’t even a joke. Any decent PC gamer could. Send me the free games, I’ll tell you whether it should launch or not yet.
Horizon 3 for example is a flagship title and it had the worst CPU optimization ever until the patch in May, only 8 months after the game launched! Any chump who could find the task manager when the game was running could see it.
At least they fixed it in the end I suppose….
“Send me the free games, I’ll tell you whether it should launch or not yet.”
Like they give a sh*t. Just look at Dishonored 2; it was obviously not ready to be launched yet, but much like the case of Arkham Knight before it, nobody gave enough of a f*ck to stop it, because “money counts.”
Though apparently not as much as watching it sail away with their reputations, it would seem…….
I’m liking the sentiment, though 😛
It wouldn’t be that difficult a job. Give me complete authority over the launch of these titles :p
I have dozens of thumbs down gifs I can email to them until their product works like they say it should.
😀
I’m liking this bloke. I second the proposition!
MS said that they “fixed” Forza Horizon 3 using first beta version of “PIX for Windows” performance tools. Tools are sill in early beta but we can see first real results
which is why i say ms should stop doing anything it is doing, they suck.
Monitor app is useless
we already have GPU tweak and CPU tweak apps
microsoft insists on glorying their wincrap 10
I care a cr@p about Windows Store paranoias. My biggest worry about it is non-exclusive fullscreen mode stealing FPS performance. Fix that (if it isn’t fxed already), and it’s just another store out of many.
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/d717f7d4fac0311eca8243c211fe72b847c1fc7c347c968415aa5cd76e901c53.png Just think about that 🙂
Great.
Still won’t use that crap that is called windows store though.
Forza? Gears of War?
Define “Killer app”