DirectX10: Graphics, sound and input
This question might be asked before few times, but i heared different answers on this.
I thinking of stopping my DX9 project and start with a DX10 project. Cause DirectSound and DirectInput are still DX8 i want to know if there are plans to implement a new Sound and Input subsystem in DX10 (native code)
If not ...
Will these subsystems (DSound8 / DInput8) keep existing or not?
Should we use 3the party libraries to replace them?
Does vista have libraries that can replace these subsystems and might be better to use?
I have been looking into xact but its not 64bit compactible (yet?)
Conclusion:
Whats the best way to develop sound and input systems that are fully vista compactible? (no xp support needed cause DX10 is not xp compactible)
I am hope you are aware that doing a D3D10 only project will cut your user base to a very low amount for some time.
DirectInput should only be used if you need to support joysticks that you can’t integrate other way. For mouse and keyboard the normal Win32 API is fine today and for Vista. For XBox 360 compatible controllers you can use XInput.
DirectSound is still supported but it seems that Xact is the new favored way. I am not sure when there will be a 64 bit version. There is a new low level sound API in Vista you can find more information about it in the latest Windows SDK
If you want to support special features of a sound solution you will need to lock which APIs the vendors offers you.
PS: moved to general as this is not a D3D10 question.
I'm aware of the D3D10 only. I'm not planning to release my project within the 2-3 years.
Thats why i'm thinking of doing it in DX10 (maybe support DX9 also). I don't really have much time to work on my project (few hours / month :()
So if my project will take about 2-3 years (maybe longer), why still support DX9, its like releasing something now that still works on DX8.
My project support joysticks, so i'm using direct input. That brings me to a new question. If using direct input (to support joysticks) whats best to use for the keyboard and mouse, also directinput or win32 api? ... i mean like for performance. I guess directinput is just a layer on top of the api, so maybe better to use the api instead of direct input?
As for the sound, i will take a look at xact. I'm using multiple dll's in my project like 1dll for graphics, 1 for sound, 1 for input, ... so i can still use a 32bit sound system together with a 64bit graphics / input system for now. I will also look into the sound api's of the sdk to see if it can fullfil my needs. Altho i have been looking at xact when the first beta's of it were released and it looks like a good, powerfull, easy to use system.
