Are there plans to support DirectX 12? I have a Surface Book i7 pre ordered and I’d love to know that it would be a badass Zwift machine sometime in the near future.
I had the same question. I got this response from Zwift a few days ago:
“Zwift is using OpenGL”
“At this time we do not plan on adopting DirectX.”
Well crap.
I actually think that’s positive if your upgrading now. The current chipsets aren’t designed yet to take full advantage of DX12. They are compatible with DX12, manufacturers are keen to advertise that, but that’s about it. New chipsets released next year will perform much better with DX12 but only a little bit with OpenGL, what Zwift is using.
I think the reason why do this is Mac OSX doesn’t support DirectX natively… it would be a headache to have two different graphics engines running Zwift in terms of software development & support. OpenGL is more universally supported by different operating systems, but not as feature-rich visually.
Sorely disappointed in my Surface Book i7 16g 512 machine. I had a 1.5 year old Lenovo work laptop with out a discrete GPU but w/ a i7 quad core. The old laptop was giving 15FPS and it was playable other than some strange graphic artifacts. The new SB while doubling the graphics performance on tests only gives 4 to 5 FPS on Zwift. I know it is only dual core but I was hoping that with the discrete GPU it would be acceptable in Zwift. Really 4 to 5 FPS is not smooth at all. Really disappointed in a $2600 machine with a GPU not being able to run Zwift. My old laptop is giving 15 FPS w/o a GPU but with a quad i7.
If the Zwift engineers think that this maybe a software problem I may wait. As it is I am ready to send it back and get a true gaming laptop. I am a developer and wanted a machine I could use professionally but also be able to run Zwift at least as good as my old laptop.
Just to amend my last statement. The onboard GPU gives 18FPS when Zwift is started with the keyboard detached. That is without access to the discrete GPU. You can then run ok and even attach to the base. Of course you don’t get the benefit of having a dGPU.
When the discrete GPU is available when you start you only get 4-5FPS.
So it is some sort of interference having both GPU’s available. Even if you select the onboard GPU when you start it seems to always want to use the dGPU. As it will not allow you to undock even if selected the onboard GPU. This shows it is still using the dGPU even when instructed not to.
Craig, sounds like a driver/firmware issue. Have you opened a support ticket with MSFT?
Is this FPS behavior similar with other games on the Surface?
I did open a ticket both with MSFT and Zwift. I am not a big gamer so I didn’t try another game. I did run 3d diagnostics and it passed. The game uses OpenGL it works great with the onboard gpu just not with the dGpu. I will have to try your suggestion and track down a game
Thanks will do.
Same here. Will probably return and get a macbook pro if this is not solved. I also suggest you use the nvidia settings app to choose what graphics adapter you want to use instead of having to disconnect it.