BETA Notes

Windows 8.1 x86 Store Apps only: Presently, Altus is targeted at Windows 8.1 x86 Store (Metro) applications. If you desire to use Altus for a Windows 8 Store application, a different architecture, or a traditional Windows Desktop application, please let us know. We are happy to work with enterprise customers on porting the engine to desired platforms and we will prioritize the work on a case-by-case basis.

Partial API: In its beta form, this managed Altus API for .NET is not fully fleshed out. Some functions that are present on iOS and Android will be provided in a future release. These will mostly be concerned with more advanced features like low-level camera tracking and resource management. If you are a developer using our iOS or Android releases and desire a certain API on Windows 8, let us know and we’ll prioritize it accordingly.

WARP fallback: If not run on a D3D10 or higher graphics device, Altus will fallback to using the WARP software rasterizer. The Windows Store conformance test application will attempt to run your application using a faux-D3D 9.1 device. During that test, Altus will be rendering using WARP and should pass the conformance test.

High-DPI support: In the current release, render targets are scaled according to the logical size of the XAML SwapChainPanel-derived control, not to the physical pixel dimensions of the control. This means that on high-dpi monitors, Altus will actually render at a lower resolution than expected in some cases. This is a known issue, but one we have consciously shipped with in order to get the beta into customer hands in Q1.