Today we are pleased to release Version 2.2 of NTHUSIM!
What’s new?
- DirectX 11 support, for those fancy new games
- DirectX 7 support, for those great old time games
- A new configuration test pattern, for easier alignment
- No more DirectX dependency, for hassle free installs
- Mouse cursor control, for applications that treat the mouse differently
DirectX 11 Support
What do you get when you add 0.9 to DirectX 10.1? DirectX 11, of course!
So, what is new in this DirectX 11? It has multi-threading, making it easy for programmers who want to use multiple cores. Not much you'd notice in any games. It also now allows tesselation. You've probably seen those demos where people compare tesselated scenes to non-tesselated scenes. Tesselation just means that the graphics card can generate the triangle information, saving the CPU to do other more interesting tasks. It means the scene looks simple to the CPU and more complex to the GPU.
But what really matters is which games use it?
They are listed here (wikipedia), but a few examples are:
- Civilization V
- Dirt 2
- World of Warcraft: Cataclysm
- Medal of Honor
DirectX 7 Support
DirectX 7 was quite a milestone in game development. It was the first DirectX that would work with Windows 2000. A lot of game development houses started to develop for DirectX. Since there are a few games out there that people still enjoy, we've added support for it. So dust off those old games and enjoy!
A new configuration test pattern
BHawthorne shared an image that made it easier to align the system. To switch the configuration pattern, press spacebar in the configuration screen. We've tried it out and it is really easier to use!
By the way, did you know you can hide the control points? use the 'Z' key to toggle the control points on and off. They are still there, you just can't see them. So if you find that the control point is getting in the way of a good lineup, try toggling them!
No more DirectX dependency
So Microsoft regularly releases new updates for DirectX. This would have effects on NTHUSIM, meaning that we had to check which components were installed to make sure everything was working well. This tended to cause confusion, because Windows XP users would go to install the latest runtime updates, which would confusingly be labeled 'DirectX 11'. Of course we all know that DirectX 11 doesn't work on XP... so basically, it was annoying for everyone.
We felt that this was unnecessary so we went through and reworked NTHUSIM so that it didn't lean on DirectX at all. You can run NTHUSIM without ever installing DirectX. Of course you won't be able to play any DirectX games until you install it, but at least NTHUSIM won't make you install it. Later on, when you do actually install DX, NTHUSIM will automatically work with it. Brilliant!
What does this mean? Easier installs.
Mouse cursor control
OK, so different versions of windows and different applications all do different things with the mouse cursor. We've made it so that 95% of things will work fine, but sometimes you just need it to work a bit differently. It just isn't possible to get it right all the time. So we've given you control over how it should behave!
Mouse cursor disappears when you mouse over a youtube video? Untick the hide hardware cursor box and hey presto! But now you get two cursors in World of Warcraft? Just tick the box again!
The cursor is still red so that you can tell the difference. It's all about choice - you work it the way you want!!
Next version of NTHUSIM...
We're very thankful for all our users who help make NTHUSIM better by providing feedback, suggestions, and requests. It's through the participation of people like you that changes like these:
- DirectX 7 support was a user request
- Red cursor was a user suggestion
- Frames per second limiter (which works on OpenGL and DirectX 7 to 11) was also a request
can happen. (and these are just some examples!)
So a big thankyou to all who have participated!
Shape NTHUSIM to be the way you want it and participate in the next-gen forum!
Downloads
The Plus edition supports up to 3 projectors in a horizontal span setup. Download Plus edition (1 MB).
The standard version supports a single projector. Download Standard edition (1 MB).
The NTHUSIM software will run in demo mode until activated. Log in to view your activations.
Thank you for being a part of the community