I have a video card that supports DirectX 11, but I am still amazed at the lack of respect that the ZOS had with yours customers.

Worse, it had no graphical improvement at all in the game to justify this exchange! Moreover, for several years we had many games that supported DX9 and DX11 at the same time!

I am outraged, but it could be worse if I had been one of the harmed by this company!

A laymen’s guide to DirectX for software engineers - which apparently the software engineers for Elder Scrolls Online (ESO) need to read as they aren’t using it correctly in the latest patch: http://bell0bytes.eu/direct-x-com/

Each version of DirectX contains more available features than the previous - for example, new features in DirectX 11 (not present in previous versions) included: Compute Shader, Dynamic Shader Linkingm, Multithreading, Tessellation, and a few others.

DirectX - the way it is SUPPOSED to work: DirectX is a wonderful software tool for game developers. It has a critical CORE feature which, when used correctly, allows the same games to run at higher settings on more powerful (and up-to-date) computers, but still be playable on lower settings on older machines. It does this by using something call HAL (Hardware Abstraction Layer - also sometimes thought of as the Hardware Acceleration Layer) and HEL (Hardware Emulation Layer). The HAL uses the hardware on the graphics card, the HEL uses the computers CPU to emulate missing graphics hardware. So long as most of the graphics computations are handled by the graphics card, the CPU can be employed to step in and handle the small number of exceptions for future technology.

Graphics cards have dedicated hardware to run these game features, and the people who coded a computer game can make use of these hardware features by calling the HAL. HOWEVER, and this is where ESO developers have currently failed in the latest patch: If the call for the HAL to run a directX 11 feature returns that that particular feature is not present in HARDWARE, then there should be a line of code which then calls the HEL to fill in the gaps - the Hardware Emulation Layer then uses software, and the power of your CPU (rather than graphics card hardware) to emulate the missing features and adds them to the game seamlessly. The HEL will hence fill the gaps for just the very few extra features which are not hardware supported on the graphics card, and so long as the CPU isn't terrible, this should we be seamless, and the game will play as designed. In this way, the game developers are in no way stopped from using and new graphical features in DirectX 11 or even DirectX 12, and do not need to compromise - simply call HAL for any features they want to use, and HEL for any features not present on the users graphics card.

As to ESO in the latest patches - the game in its entirety can be forced to play ENTIRELY using HEL (independently of whatever the graphics card is), I have already tested this using the dxcpl DirectX tool, so this PROVES that the game can work regardless of what graphics card is being used. But this is neither sensible or feasible - the VAST majority of the graphical requirements CAN be run on a graphics card which supports the vast majority of the graphical feature calls via HAL, and if the code for ESO is written well (so that when it makes a HAL call for DirectX 11 features, if the feature is missing, it just runs HEL for those features, rather than crashing and throwing a "required feature missing" and forcing the game to exit) then ESO will NOT have lose a HUGE number of its users, as the game will run on machines which, for example, support DirectX hardware and use DirectX software.

A Simple website explaining the difference between HEL and Hal is:
http://bell0bytes.eu/direct-x-com/

There are LOADS of websites telling you how to check graphics card hardware and use HAL for hardware available, and ONLY use HEL for specifically missing directX 11 hardware support for functions you want to run in the game, so that the game still runs well. A website giving an example is:

https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=lRUj-nhQRu8C&pg=PA383&lpg=PA383&dq=how+to+use+HEL+if+call+for+HAL+fails+in+DirectX&source=bl&ots=7xEe1GK17A&sig=5yb13QuCOvpH4iy9Czq5HZwrMLk&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiNhfje4O_LAhXDtBQKHcwXBLAQ6AEIHjAA#v=onepage&q=how to use HEL if call for HAL fails in DirectX&f=false

Can you please now implement ESO patch now, so when it makes a HAL call for the directX 11 specific features at login, instead of just crashing out and telling people "your graphics card isnt good enough", essentially "banning" them from playing the game, instead use the returned fail of HAL call to call HEL for those missing features so people with DirectX 10 cards, etc. can actually play! There is no need for compromise - you dont have to remove any game features or updates, just add some code to use HEL for missing hardware! Simple!

Happy to answer any questions on this.
Kind regards
Dr. Tim Longson PhD