Documentation

Documentation is available on the GitHub wiki.

Notices

All content and source code for this package are subject to the terms of the MIT License.

For the latest version of DirectXTK, bug reports, etc. please visit the project site on GitHub.

Release Notes

FOR SECURITY ADVISORIES, see GitHub.

For a full change history, see CHANGELOG.md.

• The CMake projects require 3.21 or later. VS 2019 users will need to install a standalone version of CMake 3.21 or later and add it to their PATH.

• Starting with the March 2025 release, Windows 7 and Windows 8.0 support has been retired. For DirectX ToolKit for Audio this means that DirectXTKAudio_Desktop_*_Win7 has been removed, and DirectXTKAudio_Desktop_*_Win8 has been integrated into the DirectXTK_Desktop_* vcxproj which uses XAudio 2.8 for Windows 8.1 compatibility.

  • Remove any References to or use of DirectXTKAudio_Desktop_*_Win8.vcxproj or DirectXTKAudio_Desktop_*_Win7. If using DirectXTK_Desktop_*.vcxproj you will be using XAudio 2.8 as before. Client code will need to build with _WIN32_WINNT=0x0603.

  • With the directxtk_desktop_2019 NuGet package, you will be using XAudio 2.8 and no longer use the XAudio2Redist NuGet package. Client code will build with _WIN32_WINNT=0x0603.

  • If you want to use XAudio2Redist with Windows 8.1, the CMake project supports this with the build option BUILD_XAUDIO_REDIST. The CMake build option BUILD_XAUDIO_WIN7 was renamed.

  • When using XAudio 2.8 for Windows 8.1, there is no xWMA format support. This is available when using XAudio 2.9 or XAudio2Redist.

• Starting with the February 2023 release, the Mouse class implementation of relative mouse movement was updated to accumulate changes between calls to GetState. By default, each time you call GetState the deltas are reset which works for scenarios where you use relative movement but only call the method once per frame. If you call it more than once per frame, then add an explicit call to EndOfInputFrame to use an explicit reset model instead.

• As of the September 2022 release, the library makes use of C++11 inline namespaces for differing types that have the same names in the DirectX 11 and DirectX 12 version of the DirectX Tool Kit. This provides a link-unique name such as DirectX::DX11::SpriteBatch that will appear in linker output messages. In most use cases, however, there is no need to add explicit DX11 namespace resolution in client code.

• Starting with the July 2022 release, the bool forceSRGB parameter for DDSTextureLoader Ex functions is now a DDS_LOADER_FLAGS typed enum bitmask flag parameter. This may have a breaking change impact to client code. Replace true with DDS_LOADER_FORCE_SRGB and false with DDS_LOADER_DEFAULT.

• As of the October 2021 release, the DGSLEffect no longer directly supports skinning. Instead, make use of SkinnedDGSLEffect which is derived from DGSLEffect.

• Starting with the June 2020 release, this library makes use of typed enum bitmask flags per the recommendation of the C++ Standard section 17.5.2.1.3 Bitmask types. This may have breaking change impacts to client code:

  • You cannot pass the 0 literal as your flags value. Instead you must make use of the appropriate default enum value: AudioEngine_Default, SoundEffectInstance_Default, ModelLoader_Clockwise, or WIC_LOADER_DEFAULT.

  • Use the enum type instead of DWORD if building up flags values locally with bitmask operations. For example, WIC_LOADER_FLAGS flags = WIC_LOADER_DEFAULT; if (...) flags |= WIC_LOADER_FORCE_SRGB;

• The UWP projects and the Win10 classic desktop project include configurations for the ARM64 platform. Building these requires installing the ARM64 toolset.

• For ARM64/AArch64 development, the VS 2022 compiler is strongly recommended over the VS 2019 toolset. The Windows SDK (26100 or later) is not compatible with VS 2019 for Win32 on ARM64 development. Note that the ARM32/AArch32 platform is deprecated.

• When using clang/LLVM for the ARM64/AArch64 platform, the Windows 11 SDK (22000) or later is required.

• The CompileShaders.cmd script must have Windows-style (CRLF) line-endings. If it is changed to Linux-style (LF) line-endings, it can fail to build all the required shaders.

• As of the October 2024 release, the xwbtool command-line tool also supports GNU-style long options using --. All existing switches continue to function. MakeSpriteFont supports only --version and --help for POSIX-style parameters.

• Xbox One support for DirectX 11 requires the legacy Xbox One XDK. See February 2023 or earlier releases of DirectX Tool Kit for the required MSBuild project files. It can also be built using the current CMake project from an Xbox One XDK Developer Command Prompt with the addition of CMake 3.20 or later to the path via the x64-Debug-Durango or x64-Release-Durango CMake preset.

Support

For questions, consider using Stack Overflow with the directxtk tag, or the DirectX Discord Server in the dx9-dx11-developers or input-and-audio channels.

For bug reports and feature requests, please use GitHub issues for this project.

Contributing

This project welcomes contributions and suggestions. Most contributions require you to agree to a Contributor License Agreement (CLA) declaring that you have the right to, and actually do, grant us the rights to use your contribution. For details, visit https://cla.opensource.microsoft.com.

When you submit a pull request, a CLA bot will automatically determine whether you need to provide a CLA and decorate the PR appropriately (e.g., status check, comment). Simply follow the instructions provided by the bot. You will only need to do this once across all repos using our CLA.

Tests for new features should also be submitted as a PR to the Test Suite repository.

Information on coding-style can be found on GitHub.

Code of Conduct

This project has adopted the Microsoft Open Source Code of Conduct. For more information see the Code of Conduct FAQ or contact opencode@microsoft.com with any additional questions or comments.

Trademarks

This project may contain trademarks or logos for projects, products, or services. Authorized use of Microsoft trademarks or logos is subject to and must follow Microsoft's Trademark & Brand Guidelines. Use of Microsoft trademarks or logos in modified versions of this project must not cause confusion or imply Microsoft sponsorship. Any use of third-party trademarks or logos are subject to those third-party's policies.

Credits

The DirectX Tool Kit is the work of Shawn Hargreaves and Chuck Walbourn, with contributions from Aaron Rodriguez Hernandez and Dani Roman.

Thanks to Shanon Drone for the SDKMESH file format.

Thanks to Adrian Tsai for the geodesic sphere implementation.

Thanks to Garrett Serack for his help in creating the NuGet packages for DirectX Tool Kit.

Thanks to Roberto Sonnino for his help with the CMO, DGSL rendering, and the VS Starter Kit animation.

Thanks to Pete Lewis and Justin Saunders for the normal-mapped and PBR shaders implementation.

Thanks to Andrew Farrier and Scott Matloff for their on-going help with code reviews.