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by flohofwoe 3562 days ago
I'm using Windows (and OSX, and Linux) everyday and recently started (but didn't finish because of UWP's weirdness) porting my 3D coding framework over to UWP. The same framework is also running on Win32, OSX, Linux (incl RaspPI), iOS, Android, HTML5 and PNaCl, so I do have some multi-platform experience. Of these platforms, and with the exception of Android NDK, UWP is the most painful to port to (if you're interested in the details: http://floooh.github.io/2016/08/20/uwp.html).

I want Windows to remain the dominant gaming platform. But for this, UWP is completely heading into the wrong direction.
2 comments
benaadams 3562 days ago
How does a conversion of one of your Win32 exes run with the new system?

Can do a manual convert (https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/uwp/porting/desktop...) or use the tool to create the appx then double click to install, I believe...

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flohofwoe 3562 days ago
I'll try that as soon as I'm back on my Win10 laptop. If this works well it will be highly preferable over an UWP port, because too many compromises have to be made to run games on top of UWP.

What I'd actually like to see is a new application model and set of APIs 100% focuses on games, in the original spirit of DirectX. The required API footprint for games is minimal and should be easy to sandbox.

None of the existing desktop or mobile operating systems are particularly well suited for games, writing window system glue code and input event handling is terrible everywhere outside of the game console world.

Only Microsoft cared about that in the early days of DirectX and before it's gaming focus shifted to the Xbox and Xbox360. We need a new DirectX initiative which fixes the flaws of UWP for games. We don't need one generic solution which is supposed to work for all application types, we need a couple of highly specialised APIs and specialised application models. As Windows8 has shown, one-size-fits-all doesn't work.

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youdontknowtho 3562 days ago
I think that's the direction things are heading. If you look at the compositor API's they are trying to make the whole XAML layer easier to interop with DX because DX is where the perf and flexibility are.
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WorldMaker 3562 days ago
Right, a big push to the XAML stack with the Anniversary Update was a lot of beefy pushes to what's called the "Visual Layer" [1]. A lot of the focus seems to be on making sure that you use high level XAML components and low level DirectX code side-by-side in the same windows.

[1] https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/uwp/graphics/visual...

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youdontknowtho 3562 days ago
There is a guy named Kenny Kerr that produced a library called "Modern Windows" or something like that. He has a PluralSight course...I think at least part of it is on youtube...where he demonstrate using it.

His stuff is just worth watching anyway. Awesome Windows dev and ISO C++ content.

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youdontknowtho 3562 days ago
Then this announcement is really for you because you can now use the code unmodified.
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