Over the past few years, I’ve been working on a number of projects in part motivated by the need to replace legacy D3DX functionality. As noted on MSDN, all versions of D3DX are deprecated and are not shipped with the Windows 8.x SDK. This includes D3DX9, D3DX10, and D3DX11. There are plenty of options for moving existing code over to newer, more supportable solutions most of which are now shared-source.

I’ve built a number of porting notes tables for each of these topics, and then realized today I don’t have a single place to see it all. So here it is, the “D3DX porting mega-table” for Direct3D 11.

Direct3D 9: There are not many good replacements for the functionality in D3DX9 if you are still using Direct3D 9. You can make use of D3DCompile APIs directly with the legacy DirectX SDK, but newer versions of the D3DCompile DLL in the Windows 8.x SDK are not compatible with Windows XP for runtime use. You can use DirectXMath/XNAMath for Direct3D 9 instead of D3DXMath. The DDSWithoutD3DX sample supports Direct3D 9, and you can use DirectXTex and DirectXMesh when preparing content for use by Direct3D 9.

Direct3D 10: The best option for Direct3D 10.x applications is to update them to use Direct3D 11, and then utilize all the options here to replace legacy D3XD10. Porting the API is very straightforward, and Direct3D 11 is available on all supported platforms that have Direct3D 10.

Direct3D 12: There is a header that ships in the DirectX 12 samples on GitHub called d3dx12.h. It is all inline utility header which has no DLL or redistributable dependency, and can be used under the MIT license. It is not included in the Windows SDK. If you are looking for additional functionality, see the DirectX Tool Kit for DirectX 12.

Related: Where is the DirectX SDK?, Where is the DirectX SDK (2013 Edition)?, Where is the DirectX SDK (2015 Edition)?, DirectX SDKs of a certain age, DXUT for Win32 Desktop Update, DirectX SDK Samples Catalog, DirectX SDK Tools Catalog, Where’s DXERR.LIB?

General Helpers

The DirectX Tool Kit provides a number of helpers that are designed to simplify Direct3D 11 programming in the tradition of the original D3DX library. You can find the library on CodePlex and GitHub.

ID3DX10Sprite	SpriteBatch
ID3DX10Font	SpriteFont, SpriteBatch
ID3DX10Mesh	Model, ModelMesh, ModelMeshPart
D3DXCreateBox D3DXCreateCylinder D3DXCreateSphere D3DXCreateTeapot D3DXCreateTorus	GeometricPrimitive
D3DX11CreateShaderResourceViewFromFile	CreateXXXTextureFromFile
D3DX11CreateShaderResourceViewFromResource D3DX11CreateShaderResourceViewFromMemory	CreateXXXTextureFromMemory
D3DX11CreateTextureFromFile	CreateXXXTextureFromFile
D3DX11CreateTextureFromResource D3DX11CreateTextureFromMemory	CreateXXXTextureFromMemory
D3DX11SaveTextureToFile	SaveXXXTextureToFile

HLSL Functions

The HLSL compiler, shader reflection API, and related functionality has been broken out into it’s own D3DCompile DLL for some time. D3DCompile is in the Windows 8.x SDK and is included with VS 2012 and VS 2013 Preview.

D3DXCompileShaderFromFile D3DX10CompileFromFile D3DX11CompileFromFile	D3DCompileFromFile
D3DXCompileShader D3D10CompileShader D3DX10CompileFromMemory D3DX11CompileFromMemory	D3DCompile
D3DXCompileShaderFromResource D3DX10CompileFromResource D3DX11CompileFromResource	No direct equivalent. Can use resource APIs and then D3DCompile above.
D3DXPreprocessShader D3DXPreprocessShaderFromFile D3DXPreprocessShaderFromResource D3D10PreprocessShader D3DX10PreprocessShaderFromFile D3DX10PreprocessShaderFromMemory D3DX10PreprocessShaderFromResource D3DX11PreprocessShaderFromFile D3DX11PreprocessShaderFromMemory D3DX11PreprocessShaderFromResource	D3DPreprocess
D3DXDisassembleShader D3D10DisassembleShader D3DX10DisassembleShader	D3DDisassemble
D3D10ReflectShader D3DX10ReflectShader	D3DReflect D3D11Reflect
ID3DXBuffer ID3D10Blob	ID3DBlob
D3DXCreateBuffer D3D10CreateBlob	D3DCreateBlob
D3D10GetInputSignatureBlob D3D10GetOutputSignatureBlob D3D10GetInputAndOutputSignatureBlob D3D10GetShaderDebugInfo	D3DGetBlobPart

Texture Functions

The DirectXTex library is primarily intended for texture processing offline with tools, although it can also be used at runtime for doing texture block compression, mipmap generation, or handling more general image processing needs. DirectXTK is intended for use at runtime with light-weight helpers and image loaders, but does not provide support for general runtime texture format conversion. You can find both libraries on CodePlex and GitHub.

D3DX11ComputeNormalMap	DirectXTex library, ComputeNormalMap
D3DX11CreateShaderResourceViewFromFile D3DX11CreateTextureFromFile	DDSTextureLoader: CreateDDSTextureFromFile WICTextureLoader: CreateWICTextureFromFileDirectXTex library (tools), LoadFromXXXFile then CreateShaderResourceView or CreateTexture
D3DX11CreateShaderResourceViewFromMemory D3DX11CreateTextureFromMemory	DDSTextureLoader: CreateDDSTextureFromMemory WICTextureLoader: CreateWICTextureFromMemoryDirectXTex library (tools), LoadFromXXXMemory then CreateShaderResourceView or CreateTexture
D3DX11CreateShaderResourceViewFromResource D3DX11CreateTextureFromResource	No direct equivalent, can use Win32 resource functions and then the ‘from memory’ APIs above.
D3DX11FilterTexture	DirectXTex library, GenerateMipMaps and GenerateMipMaps3D
D3DX11GetImageInfoFromFile	DirectXTex library, GetMetadataFromXXXFile
D3DX11GetImageInfoFromMemory	DirectXTex library, GetMetadataFromXXXMemory
D3DX11GetImageInfoFromResource	No direct equivalent, can use Win32 resource functions and then the ‘from memory’ APIs above.
D3DX11LoadTextureFromTexture	DirectXTex library, Resize, Convert, Compress, Decompress, and/or CopyRectangle
D3DX11SaveTextureToFile	ScreenGrab: SaveDDSTextureToFile or SaveWICTextureToFile DirectXTex library, CaptureTexture then SaveToXXXFile
D3DX11SaveTextureToMemory	DirectXTex library, CaptureTexture then SaveToXXXMemory

Geometry Functions

The DirectXMesh library is intended for geometry processing offline with tools, although it can be used at runtime. You can find the library on CodePlex and GitHub.

D3DXCleanMesh	Clean
D3DXComputeNormals	ComputeNormals
D3DXComputeTangent D3DXComputeTangentFrame D3DXComputeTangentFrameEx	ComputeTangentFrame
ID3DX10Mesh::GenerateAdjacencyAndPointReps	GenerateAdjacencyAndPointReps
ID3DX10Mesh::GenerateGSAdjacency	GenerateGSAdjacency
ID3DX10Mesh::Optimize	AttributeSort OptimizeFacesEx OptimizeVertices ReorderIB FinalizeIB FinalizeVB
D3DXOptimizeFaces	OptimizeFaces
D3DXOptimizeVertices	OptimizeVertices
D3DXValidMesh	Validate

Math

The legacy D3DXMath library has been replaced by DirectXMath. The library is in the Windows 8.x SDK and is included with VS 2012 and VS 2013 Preview.

D3DXFLOAT16	HALF
D3DXMATRIXA16	XMMATRIX or XMFLOAT4X4A
D3DXMATRIX	XMFLOAT4X4
D3DXQUATERNION D3DXPLANE D3DXCOLOR	XMVECTOR is used rather than having unique types, so you will likely need to use an XMFLOAT4
D3DXVECTOR2	XMFLOAT2
D3DXVECTOR2_16F	XMHALF2
D3DXVECTOR3	XMFLOAT3
D3DXVECTOR4	XMFLOAT4 (or if you can guarantee the data is 16-byte aligned, XMVECTOR or XMFLOAT4A )
D3DXVECTOR4_16F	XMHALF4
D3DX_PI	XM_PI
D3DX_1BYPI	XM_1DIVPI
D3DXToRadian	XMConvertToRadians
D3DXToDegree	XMConvertToDegrees
D3DXBoxBoundProbe	BoundingBox::Intersects(XMVECTOR, XMVECTOR, float&)
D3DXComputeBoundingBox	BoundingBox::CreateFromPoints
D3DXComputeBoundingSphere	BoundingSphere::CreateFromPoints
D3DXSphereBoundProbe	BoundingSphere::Intersects(XMVECTOR, XMVECTOR, float&)
D3DXIntersectTriFunction	TriangleTests::Intersects
D3DXFloat32To16Array	XMConvertFloatToHalfStream
D3DXFloat16To32Array	XMConvertHalfToFloatStream
D3DXVec2Length	XMVector2Length or XMVector2LengthEst
D3DXVec2LengthSq	XMVector2LengthSq
D3DXVec2Dot	XMVector2Dot
D3DXVec2CCW	XMVector2Cross
D3DXVec2Add	XMVectorAdd
D3DXVec2Subtract	XMVectorSubtract
D3DXVec2Minimize	XMVectorMin
D3DXVec2Maximize	XMVectorMax
D3DXVec2Scale	XMVectorScale
D3DXVec2Lerp	XMVectorLerp or XMVectorLerpV
D3DXVec2Normalize	XMVector2Normalize or XMVector2NormalizeEst
D3DXVec2Hermite	XMVectorHermite or XMVectorHermiteV
D3DXVec2CatmullRom	XMVectorCatmullRom or XMVectorCatmullRomV
D3DXVec2BaryCentric	XMVectorBaryCentric or XMVectorBaryCentricV
D3DXVec2Transform	XMVector2Transform
D3DXVec2TransformCoord	XMVector2TransformCoord
D3DXVec2TransformNormal	XMVector2TransformNormal
D3DXVec2TransformArray	XMVector2TransformStream
D3DXVec2TransformCoordArray	XMVector2TransformCoordStream
D3DXVec2TransformNormalArray	XMVector2TransformNormalStream
D3DXVec3Length	XMVector3Length or XMVector3LengthEst
D3DXVec3LengthSq	XMVector3LengthSq
D3DXVec3Dot	XMVector3Dot
D3DXVec3Cross	XMVector3Cross
D3DXVec3Add	XMVectorAdd
D3DXVec3Subtract	XMVectorSubtract
D3DXVec3Minimize	XMVectorMin
D3DXVec3Maximize	XMVectorMax
D3DXVec3Scale	XMVectorScale
D3DXVec3Lerp	XMVectorLerp or XMVectorLerpV
D3DXVec3Normalize	XMVector3Normalize or XMVector3NormalizeEst
D3DXVec3Hermite	XMVectorHermite or XMVectorHermiteV
D3DXVec3CatmullRom	XMVectorCatmullRom or XMVectorCatmullRomV
D3DXVec3BaryCentric	XMVectorBaryCentric or XMVectorBaryCentricV
D3DXVec3Transform	XMVector3Transform
D3DXVec3TransformCoord	XMVector3TransformCoord
D3DXVec3TransformNormal	XMVector3TransformNormal
D3DXVec3TransformArray	XMVector3TransformStream
D3DXVec3TransformCoordArray	XMVector3TransformCoordStream
D3DXVec3TransformNormalArray	XMVector3TransformNormalStream
D3DXVec3Project	XMVector3Project
D3DXVec3Unproject	XMVector3Unproject
D3DXVec3ProjectArray	XMVector3ProjectStream
D3DXVec3UnprojectArray	XMVector3UnprojectStream
D3DXVec4Length	XMVector4Length or XMVector4LengthEst
D3DXVec4LengthSq	XMVector4LengthSq
D3DXVec4Dot	XMVector4Dot
D3DXVec4Add	XMVectorAdd
D3DXVec4Subtract	XMVectorSubtract
D3DXVec4Minimize	XMVectorMin
D3DXVec4Maximize	XMVectorMax
D3DXVec4Scale	XMVectorScale
D3DXVec4Lerp	XMVectorLerp or XMVectorLerpV
D3DXVec4Cross	XMVector4Cross
D3DXVec4Normalize	XMVector4Normalize or XMVector4NormalizeEst
D3DXVec4Hermite	XMVectorHermite or XMVectorHermiteV
D3DXVec4CatmullRom	XMVectorCatmullRom or XMVectorCatmullRomV
D3DXVec4BaryCentric	XMVectorBaryCentric or XMVectorBaryCentricV
D3DXVec4Transform	XMVector4Transform
D3DXVec4TransformArray	XMVector4TransformStream
D3DXMatrixIdentity	XMMatrixIdentity
D3DXMatrixDeterminant	XMMatrixDeterminant
D3DXMatrixDecompose	XMMatrixDecompose
D3DXMatrixTranspose	XMMatrixTranspose
D3DXMatrixMultiply	XMMatrixMultiply
D3DXMatrixMultiplyTranspose	XMMatrixMultiplyTranspose
D3DXMatrixInverse	XMMatrixInverse
D3DXMatrixScaling	XMMatrixScaling
D3DXMatrixTranslation	XMMatrixTranslation
D3DXMatrixRotationX	XMMatrixRotationX
D3DXMatrixRotationY	XMMatrixRotationY
D3DXMatrixRotationZ	XMMatrixRotationZ
D3DXMatrixRotationAxis	XMMatrixRotationAxis
D3DXMatrixRotationQuaternion	XMMatrixRotationQuaternion
D3DXMatrixRotationYawPitchRoll	XMMatrixRotationRollPitchYaw (Note the order of parameters is different: D3DXMath takes yaw, pitch, roll, DirectXMath takes pitch, yaw, roll)
D3DXMatrixTransformation	XMMatrixTransformation
D3DXMatrixTransformation2D	XMMatrixTransformation2D
D3DXMatrixAffineTransformation	XMMatrixAffineTransformation
D3DXMatrixAffineTransformation2D	XMMatrixAffineTransformation2D
D3DXMatrixLookAtRH	XMMatrixLookAtRH
D3DXMatrixLookAtLH	XMMatrixLookAtLH
D3DXMatrixPerspectiveRH	XMMatrixPerspectiveRH
D3DXMatrixPerspectiveLH	XMMatrixPerspectiveLH
D3DXMatrixPerspectiveFovRH	XMMatrixPerspectiveFovRH
D3DXMatrixPerspectiveFovLH	XMMatrixPerspectiveFovLH
D3DXMatrixPerspectiveOffCenterRH	XMMatrixPerspectiveOffCenterRH
D3DXMatrixPerspectiveOffCenterLH	XMMatrixPerspectiveOffCenterLH
D3DXMatrixOrthoRH	XMMatrixOrthographicRH
D3DXMatrixOrthoLH	XMMatrixOrthographicLH
D3DXMatrixOrthoOffCenterRH	XMMatrixOrthographicOffCenterRH
D3DXMatrixOrthoOffCenterLH	XMMatrixOrthographicOffCenterLH
D3DXMatrixShadow	XMMatrixShadow
D3DXMatrixReflect	XMMatrixReflect
D3DXQuaternionLength	XMQuaternionLength
D3DXQuaternionLengthSq	XMQuaternionLengthSq
D3DXQuaternionDot	XMQuaternionDot
D3DXQuaternionIdentity	XMQuaternionIdentity
D3DXQuaternionIsIdentity	XMQuaternionIsIdentity
D3DXQuaternionConjugate	XMQuaternionConjugate
D3DXQuaternionToAxisAngle	XMQuaternionToAxisAngle
D3DXQuaternionRotationMatrix	XMQuaternionRotationMatrix
D3DXQuaternionRotationAxis	XMQuaternionRotationAxis
D3DXQuaternionRotationYawPitchRoll	XMQuaternionRotationRollPitchYaw (Note the order of parameters is different: D3DXMath takes yaw, pitch, roll, DirectXMath takes pitch, yaw, roll)
D3DXQuaternionMultiply	XMQuaternionMultiply
D3DXQuaternionNormalize	XMQuaternionNormalize or XMQuaternionNormalizeEst
D3DXQuaternionInverse	XMQuaternionInverse
D3DXQuaternionLn	XMQuaternionLn
D3DXQuaternionExp	XMQuaternionExp
D3DXQuaternionSlerp	XMQuaternionSlerp or XMQuaternionSlerpV
D3DXQuaternionSquad	XMQuaternionSquad or XMQuaternionSquadV
D3DXQuaternionSquadSetup	XMQuaternionSquadSetup
D3DXQuaternionBaryCentric	XMQuaternionBaryCentric or XMQuaternionBaryCentricV
D3DXPlaneDot	XMPlaneDot
D3DXPlaneDotCoord	XMPlaneDotCoord
D3DXPlaneDotNormal	XMPlaneDotNormal
D3DXPlaneScale	XMVectorScale
D3DXPlaneNormalize	XMPlaneNormalize or XMPlaneNormalizeEst
D3DXPlaneIntersectLine	XMPlaneIntersectLine
D3DXPlaneFromPointNormal	XMPlaneFromPointNormal
D3DXPlaneFromPoints	XMPlaneFromPoints
D3DXPlaneTransform	XMPlaneTransform
D3DXPlaneTransformArray	XMPlaneTransformStream
D3DXColorNegative	XMColorNegative
D3DXColorAdd	XMVectorAdd
D3DXColorSubtract	XMVectorSubtract
D3DXColorScale	XMVectorScale
D3DXColorModulate	XMColorModulate
D3DXColorLerp	XMVectorLerp or XMVectorLerpV
D3DXColorAdjustSaturation	XMColorAdjustSaturation
D3DXColorAdjustContrast	XMColorAdjustContrast
D3DXFresnelTerm	XMFresnelTerm

Spherical Harmonics Math

The SHmath library is available as an add-on for DirectXMath.

XMSHEvalDirection	Evaluates the Spherical Harmonic basis functions. Equivalent to D3DXSHEvalDirection function.
XMSHRotate	Rotates SH vector by a rotation matrix. Equivalent to the D3DXSHRotate function.
XMSHRotateZ	Rotates the SH vector in the Z axis by an angle. Equivalent to the D3DXSHRotateZ function.
XMSHAdd	Adds two SH vectors. Equivalent to the D3DXSHAdd function.
XMSHScale	Scales a SH vector. Equivalent to the D3DXSHScale function.
XMSHDot	Computes the dot product of two SH vectors. Equivalent to the D3DXSHDot function.
XMSHMultiply XMSHMultiply2 XMSHMultiply3 XMSHMultiply4 XMSHMultiply5 XMSHMultiply6	Computes the product of two functions represented using SH. Equivalent to D3DXSHMultiply2, D3DXSHMultiply3, D3DXSHMultiply4, D3DXSHMultiply5, and D3DXSHMultiply6.
XMSHEvalDirectionalLight	Evaluates a directional light and returns spectral SH data. Equivalent to the D3DXSHEvalDirectionalLight function.
XMSHEvalSphericalLight	Evaluates a spherical light and returns spectral SH data. Equivalent to the D3DXEvalSphericalLight function.
XMSHEvalConeLight	Evaluates a light that is a cone of constant intensity and returns spectral SH data. Equivalent to the D3DXSHEvalConeLight function.
XMSHEvalHemisphereLight	Evaluates a light that is a linear interpolant between two colors over the sphere. Equivalent to the D3DXSHEvalHemisphereLight function.
SHProjectCubeMap	Projects a function represented in a cube map into spherical harmonics. Equivalent to the D3DX11SHProjectCubeMap function.

Effects (FX)

The Effects system for Direct3D 11 is primarily provided as a porting aid for older code. The library is available on CodePlex and GitHub.

D3DXCreateEffect D3DXCreateEffectEx D3DXCreateEffectFromResource D3DXCreateEffectFromResourceEx D3D10CompileEffectFromMemory	D3DX11CompileEffectFromMemory
D3DXCreateEffectFromFile D3DXCreateEffectFromFileEx	D3DX11CompileEffectFromFile
D3D10CreateEffectFromMemory	D3DX11CreateEffectFromMemory
D3DXCreateEffectPool D3D10CreateEffectPoolFromMemory	Effects 11 does not support ‘effect pools’ or D3DCOMPILE_EFFECT_CHILD_EFFECT. Effect groups provide a more efficient solution for common scenarios previously addressed with ‘effect pools’
D3DXDisassembleEffect D3D10DisassembleEffect	D3DDisassemble D3DDisassemble10Effect in D3DCompile

Performance/Profiling

D3DX9 included the entry-points intercepted by PIX for Windows for performance profiling. This is now handled by the DirectX runtime directly and is monitored by the Visual Studio Graphics Diagnostics tool.

D3DPERF_BeginEvent D3DPERF_EndEvent D3DPERF_SetMarker D3DPERF_SetRegion D3DPERF_QueryRepeatFrame D3DPERF_SetOptions D3DPERF_GetStatus

ID3DUserDefinedAnnotation which is supported by the DirectX 11.1 runtime on Windows 8.x and Windows 7 Service Pack 1 + KB2670838 If using DirectX 11.2+, you can use ID3D11DeviceContext2 directly for BeginEventInt, SetMarkerInt, and EndEvent.

UVAtlas Functions

The UVAtlas library is intended for isochart creation offline with tools, although it can be used at runtime. You can find the library on CodePlex and GitHub.

D3DXUVAtlasCreate	UVAtlasCreate
D3DXUVAtlasPartition	UVAtlasPartition
D3DXUVAtlasPack	UVAtlasPack
D3DXComputeIMTFromPerVertexSignal	UVAtlasComputeIMTFromPerVertexSignal
D3DXComputeIMTFromPerTexelSignal	UVAtlasComputeIMTFromPerTexelSignal
D3DXComputeIMTFromSignal	UVAtlasComputeIMTFromSignal
D3DXComputeIMTFromTexture	UVAtlasComputeIMTFromTexture

Note

Careful readers will note that there are a few omissions from this table.

• The ID3DXMatrixStack from D3DXMath doesn’t have a new version, but it’s actually pretty easy to implement your own. If someone has a burning need for this, please comment below.
• The Precomputed Radiance Transfer (PRT) simulator is only available in closed-source form in legacy D3DX9. There are a number of papers that cover this technology in the literature, and the most generally useful parts of this functionality are the SHmath functions which are available.

Background

A few folks have asked why the D3DX libraries were deprecated in the first place in the transition to the Windows 8.x SDK. D3DX has been a useful set of utility code for Direct3D applications since Direct3D 7, but has a presented a number of challenges over the years. The primary one is that as a ‘closed-source’ utility library; it was difficult to debug, resolve performance issues, or apply hot-fixes without taking a dependency on a newer release of the DirectX SDK. Second, with the security requirements that came with the adoption of the Secure Development Lifecycle (SDL) at Microsoft, the transition to a DLL rather than a static library created a redistribution requirement that complicated setup for many developers–note that static libraries have their own problems such as being specific to a particular release of the compiler including service pack level. D3DX9 itself became a bit bloated which resulted in a DLL larger than many EXEs that used it. Finally, the actual usable content of subsequent generations of D3DX left D3DX11 with not much in it. The need for useful utility code is still there, but it is now being solved with various ‘shared-source’ solutions rather than a monolithic closed-source DLL like D3DX.