AMD and Firaxis have had a long history of working together when it comes to getting to the metal in their hardware and software efforts. Civilization: Beyond Earth blew minds with support for Mantle API features, which managed to showcase what true ‘to the metal’ computing could do on PC.
Fast forward a few years and Mantle was integrated into the yet untested Vulcan API, with DirectX 12 taking center stage yet again when it comes to pushing gaming hardware. AMD (the creators of Mantle), and Firaxis have joined forces to bake the Microsoft API right into the upcoming Civilization VI, which launches later this year.
The partnership wishes to implement two of DirectX 12’s biggest features, namely Asynchronous compute and Explicit Multi-Adaptor support into the game, that will mean smoother framerates and denser worlds thanks to their focus on AMD hardware, which historically benefitted much more from DirectX 12 than their green counterpart.
Asynchronous compute aims to break down the walls between GPU and CPU, giving the GPU full access to multi-core CPU’s, which will improve draw calls, amongst other things, increasing the density of the worlds you play in. Explicit multi-adapter support is a groundbreaking feature that allows gamers to run multiple cards from different brands, for example, one card from Nvidia and one from AMD, with them working together to give players the best of both worlds. DirectX 12 is only supported on Windows 10, and Xbox One.
With these features coming, it remains to be seen how well it will translate into the game. Civilization VI is expected to launch on PC this October.
Source: PC World
Dreyer was a regular ICXM contributor between 2016–2017, publishing 139 articles across opinion pieces, game reviews, Windows and PC, and Xbox news. Their work focused on hands-on reviews, platform commentary, and breaking-news reporting during the Xbox One X launch year and Microsoft’s wider Play Anywhere / UWP gaming initiative. They post on X as @dreyer_smit.