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DirectX11: Coming soon to a Linux box near you

Linux will soon be able to run the latest Windows games that use DirectX11. This is thanks to software called CrossOver, which is expected to be updated to support DirectX11 by the end of the year according to PC World.

CrossOver is a product of Codeweavers, a software engineering company that believes people should be able to run their favourite Windows software on whatever operating system they desire.

At present Wine – the open-source compatibility layer software that runs Windows applications on other operating systems – supports DirectX9, allowing many older Windows games to run on Linux, but software has moved on and developers are no longer using that older version of DirectX.

That leaves Linux gamers without the option of playing newer titles like Alien: Isolation, Evolve and Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor, all of which are DX11-only games.

With DirectX11 support baked right into CrossOver, most Windows games will “just run” on Linux, CodeWeavers’ James Ramey said at the company’s recent showing at E3.

His exact words were “In the coming months, CodeWeavers will have support for DirectX 11; better controller support; and further improvements to overall GPU performance. While these incremental improvements for game support may seem small (at first), the cumulative improvements for game support will allow for many of these games to ‘just run’ when released.”

DirectX11 compatibility will also allow developers to port their games over to Linux just that much easier.

Once the CrossOver project is completed, which is anticipated to happen towards the end of 2015, the open-source code that brings DirectX11 compatibility will make its way into Wine as well.

This is great news for Linux gamers, as games for the OS are few and far between. With CrossOver and Wine, Linux gamers will essentially gain access to the entirety of the Windows game library, which has thousands of titles to choose from.

[Source – PC World]

 

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