Intel’s graphics marketing team is currently in the midst of an expectant PR blitz around its upcoming Arc GPUs. Due in part to immature drivers, the new graphics cards generally perform much better in newer games that use the DirectX12 and Vulkan APIs than in older DirectX and OpenGL games. The problem for Intel is that not all games use the latest APIs, especially competitive multiplayer titles that have been around for a while.
For older games that use the DirectX9 API, the company has come up with a unique solution. Tom’s Hardware reports that Intel’s latest GPUs no longer support DirectX9 natively, relying instead on a Microsoft-provided software translation layer called D3D9On12 to convert Direct3D9 API calls to Direct3D12 calls (Direct3D is the name for the 3D graphics-related parts from DirectX).
Intel’s support page, dated August 10, says D3D9On12 will be used on all Arc GPUs and the integrated GPUs in 12th Gen Core processors. Despite being nearly identical to their 12th Gen counterparts, the integrated GPUs in 11th Gen CPUs will continue to support DirectX9 natively unless they’re on a PC that has an Arc GPU present.
Microsoft says D3D9On12 is “a complete and relatively high-performance implementation of a D3D9 driver,” but Intel notes that it can cause problems in some games, including “visual errors, artifacts, flickering, or even crashes.” That said, a native Direct3D9 implementation with errors can cause the same problems.
Intel may be giving up some performance by turning to DirectX9 translation for these GPUs, but the company is also freeing up resources to focus on DirectX11 and other versions as it tries to improve its Arc GPU drivers. The company can now also send performance issues and bugs in DirectX9 games to Microsoft (at the time of writing, many of Intel’s linked D3D9On12 information pages do indeed redirect to the homepage, but the one that tells people to go to Microsoft with problems works just fine. ).
DirectX9 is an important version of the API for older PC games, in part because it was the final version supported by Windows XP. That operating system’s dominance and longevity, plus its lighter system requirements compared to Windows Vista and 7, made it so popular with gamers that it was a common development goal for years – a surprising number of still widely played games are based on this version of the API, including Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and Team Fortress 2. valves DOTA 2 only the DirectX9 support removed last year.
