DX 9 question

Java 2D
#1

Hi!

One question: Should I upgrade to DX 9 until a new j2se release supports it?

Thanks

#2

erhm, not sure what you meant by waiting to upgrade… but installing dx9 shuldn’t matter to j2se, as all earlier dx interfaces will still be supported. Just like older games (almost) always work with newer dx version.

-elias

#3

From a users perspective, I havn’t noticed any difference since I installed dx9.
Though im sure all the d3d coders are rubbing their hands together at all the new 3d features 8)

#4

I read that Dx9 is not considered stable (I guess I read it on theinquirer.org or so). So at least I will wait a few more weeks. New versions of DirectX usually don’t improve old software much, although MS always claims speed upgrades etc.

Which is the minimum version of DirectX required by j2se anyway?

#5

Don’t think there is a minimum version - j2se 2d code has fallbacks to non-directx code. But to use directdraw, it probably doesn’t require a directx that new - directx 3 , afaik, is the latest directx on winnt 4.

  • elias
#6

Starting with jdk1.4.1 we use some of Direct3D functionality (which caused a lot of fun for the ATI users, unfortunately), which first appeared in DirectX5.

So yes, it’ll still work on DX3 (on WindowsNT, for example), but with using DirectDraw only (so no D3D accelerated lines to the back-buffer, for example).

I doubt that you’d get any benefit when running java apps if you upgrade to DX9, though.