On June 30, 2016, EVE Online will no longer support DirectX 9 (DX9). This means that EVE Online players running on Windows XP or Vista will be unsupported by the developers and will have to figure out other methods to play the game.
The latest Steam hardware survey shows that only 2.8% of survey participants reported using operating systems that relied on DX9: XP and Vista. While Steam surveys are self-selective and do not necessarily represent the entire user base, the indication that the percentage of EVE players who rely on DX9 for their audio visual entertainment products is very low clearly struck a chord with CCP.
In a recent blog post, CCP Vortex states that “the ongoing development costs of supporting such an old API is beginning to slow down feature implementation”. This hints at the possibility of bigger and better graphical developments in EVE Online in the near future. Vortex also stated that “during the development of the new tactical overlay, we found the perfect solution early on, but unfortunately it was only supported on DX11.” This led to CCP having to spend “additional development time figuring out a solution what would work with DX9 and this has slowed some of our feature plans.”
Vortex noted that future updates to the graphics engine will include “secondary lighting” and that clouds will be phased out of the DX9 client.
He concluded by addressing the issue of the Mac client, which currently runs on DX9. Vortex assured Mac users that solutions were being investigated, the issue was being discussed, and that the Mac client will continue to be supported.
Hopefully this move into more modern graphics technology will result in a leap forward in EVE’s graphics. With the increase in power made possible by opting to support only DX11, EVE Online may become even more visually beautiful than it already is.
