DirectX Versions (feature level)

Advanced Video Options, with Hardware & Software DirectX level highlighted and showing a new feature classic effects. High dynamic range moved to video options. On modern systems, the "Hardware DirectX level" (also referred to as "feature level") usually should display as "DirectX 9.0+" (or "DirectX 9.0" on any Intel graphics card). "Software DirectX level" (which actually refers to "Direct3D version") will always display as DirectX 9.0 (regardless whether Vulkan (via built-in DXVK) is used or dxlevel was lower than 90), as Source was primarily designed to run on Direct3D 9 only.

Source engine games (prior to Left 4 Dead), which primarily only runs on Direct3D 9 renderer, has a DirectX level systems (also referred as feature levels or compatibility levels) to provide compatibility with older GPUs (such as Nvidia GeForce 4 or ATI Radeon R200 series) released prior to DirectX 9, by disabling certain graphical features not available in older graphics card and lowering the graphical settings. The DirectX level system is also used on graphics card which have poor support for DirectX 9 or simply not fully DirectX 9 compliant, such as Nvidia GeForce FX series.

Each section has a description of what each version of DirectX is capable of, for reference when creating fallback materials for older GPUs with lower DirectX feature levels. Under each heading are features not available in previous versions of DirectX.

To run the game with lower DirectX levels on any newer graphics card, use the mat_dxlevel cvar, or -dxlevel command line arguments. Set it to 60, 70, 80, 81, 90 or 95 to set the corresponding DirectX version; it is not possible to run at a higher level than the graphics hardware or the game is capable of.

Risk of Confusion:There is a misconception that changing mat_dxlevel or dxlevel will also make Source engine run on different or older version of Direct3D, but this is not true as changing mat_dxlevel (DirectX levels), does not actually change Direct3D version to Direct3D 8 or earlier. Source will always run on Direct3D 9 renderer (or Direct3D 11/12 on some third-party engine branches). However, various DirectX 9 features, assets and shaders will be disabled or fallback to DirectX 8 or earlier for compatibility with older graphics card, or to improve performance with older GPUs that have poor support for DirectX 9. Older DirectX levels are also used to allow Nvidia's RTX Remix (used in Portal with RTX and upcoming Half-Life 2 RTX, and requires fixed-function shaders) to add raytracing while also replacing DX7/DX8 level assets with PBR capable materials. DirectX levels (or feature level and compatibility level) should not be confused with Direct3D versions.

As an example, GeForce FX 5000 series, while the card is DirectX 9.0a capable, the game will force the card to run at DirectX 8.0 level (which means it's using Direct3D 9 API with feature level 8.0) by default (according to dxsupport.cfg), due to this graphics card architecture are known for having poor performance and graphical issues when running the game with DirectX 9.0 level.

Note:Source games and engine branches released by Valve since Left 4 Dead drop support for all DirectX 8 (or earlier) cards, and the DirectX feature level system have been deprecated in favor of new shader & effect details option and automatic GPU memory size detection. This meant that all games running on Left 4 Dead engine branch (or later branches) only supports DirectX 9.0c level cards.
The only modern Source engine branch that still supports older DirectX levels (down to 8.0) is Source 2013 and Team Fortress 2 branch. Some third-party Source engine branch or Source successor, Source 2, will only support DirectX 11 or later cards.

Note:Many modern PC today equipped with modern graphics card are now DirectX 12 capable (and fully support all DirectX 9 levels and features in Source). Make alternate assets or shader fallback for older DirectX versions if you want, but almost no one will see them unless they launched the game with DirectX 8 level or have a very old graphics card, or by launching a game that utilizes Nvidia RTX Remix (Portal with RTX and Half-Life 2 RTX).

Bug:On some modern systems, or in some games, when a Source 2013 game is run for the first time, the game may default to DirectX 8 level (and DirectX 9.0 level instead of 9.0+ on laptops with Intel HD Graphics or switchable integrated/dedicated GPUs). Not only this would disable certain graphical options (such as "High" shadow detail), running the game in Vulkan (DXVK, through -vulkan) while having DirectX 8 level would cause graphical issues and crashes (however this issue doesn't apply to RTX Remix as it has it's own version of DXVK that can handle DirectX 7.0 and 8.0 level).
To fix this issues, see Fix DirectX 8.0 level on modern hardware. After doing the steps on that section, the Hardware DirectX level should display DirectX 9.0+. Next, configure your video settings (most systems should be able to handle "High" or "Very High" texture, model, shader, shadows, etc. easily).
Users must remove the -dxlevel command line after launching the game once to prevent the game from reset the video settings to default.  (tested in: )

Bug:Some effects appears to be less visible, such as the volumetric lighting model used to fake the volumetric lighting effect compared to DirectX 8 level, or DirectX 9 on older version of Half-Life 2.^[1][2] See Screenshots - Train Station  (tested in: )

DirectX levels

Important:

• In Source 2004 and Source 2006, DirectX 6 level was functional but unofficially supported as Half-Life 2 and other Source games requires DirectX 7 graphics card as minimum. In Source 2007 or Source 2009, both DirectX 6 and 7 support has been dropped (except RTX Remix games).
• Starting with Left 4 Dead engine branch and later Source games, the DirectX levels system (aswell as all DirectX 8 and early DirectX 9 cards) was dropped in favor of shader & effect details option and automatic GPU memory size detection.
• While DirectX 8 level is supported in Source 2007, Source 2009 and Source 2013, not all pre-L4D branch games support them and using it may either crashes the game or simply doesn't render any props (without .dx80.vtx), such as Postal III, games with deferred renderer & deferred lighting (including Black Mesa) and other third-party Source games.

DirectX 6 compatibility level

Referred to as "DirectX 6.0" on video settings and "dxlevel 60". DirectX 6-class graphics cards include the Nvidia TNT2 and Matrox G400.

These graphics card and this DirectX version are not officially supported by any Source engine branches, including 2004 and 2006, but it was functional until Source 2007.

DirectX 7 compatibility level

Referred to as "DirectX 7.0" on video settings and "dxlevel 70". DirectX 7-class graphics cards include the Nvidia GeForce 256, 2, 2MX and 4MX cards and the ATI Radeon R100 (7xxx) series.

Additionally, RTX Remix games such as Portal with RTX and the upcoming Half-Life 2 RTX uses DirectX 7 level, then replacing the textures, models and lighting with PBR textures and ray-traced lighting, then renders in Vulkan (using DXVK) before converting again to Direct3D 12 (DX12).^[3]

Features

• Blob shadows
• Displacement map texture blending

DirectX 8 compatibility level

Note:As mentioned above, when a Source 2013 game is launched for the first time, it may default to DirectX 8.0, even if you have a newer GPU.
A bug report can be found here: Issue 540 on GitHub

Referred to as "DirectX 8.0" on video settings and "dxlevel 80". DirectX 8-class graphics cards include the Nvidia GeForce4 Ti and most of the GeForce FX 5x00 series (while technically DirectX 9 cards, the latter suffer from major performance problems and graphical glitches with the DX9 rendering path).^[4]

The Source engine renderer was largely developed using Direct3D 8 as a number of error messages (appears when the game crashes) still refer to DirectX 8 (even if all Source games runs on Direct3D 9, and the game is running on DirectX 9 hardware level or higher), for example Failed to lock index buffer in CMeshDX8::LockIndexBuffer and Failed to lock vertex buffer in CMeshDX8::LockVertexBuffer. However at some point between the release of DirectX 9 (including Direct3D 9) in December 2002 and Half-Life 2 leak in October 2003 (with the leaked game build built in September 2003), the Source engine had already switched from Direct3D 8 to Direct3D 9, and compatibility/feature levels (DirectX levels in Source) were used for DirectX 8-level graphics card or earlier.

Features

• Refractions with the use of a du/dv map
• Dynamic shadows
• Directional lighting on world brushes using normal maps
• Cube-mapped specular effects
• Cube-mapped water
• Low-quality reflective water (used sparingly)

DirectX 8.1 compatibility level

Referred to as "DirectX 8.1" on video settings and "dxlevel 81". DirectX 8.1-class graphics cards include the Nvidia GeForce FX 5800 and 5900 and the ATI Radeon 8500/9100 and 9000/9200 cards.

Like most of the GeForce FX 5x00 series card, both FX 5800 and 5900 (which are DX9 cards) also suffers from performance issues and graphical glitches on DirectX 9 level.^[4] But unlike other GeForce FX 5x00 cards, it runs on DirectX 8.1 level which has soft dynamic shadows.

Features

• Soft edge dynamic shadows

DirectX 9 (Shader Model 2)

Introduced in December 2002, referred to as "DirectX 9.0" on video settings and "dxlevel 90".

DirectX 9-class graphics cards include the Nvidia GeForce 6 series (6600, 6800) and the ATI Radeon 9500/9600, 9700/9800, X300/X600 and X800 cards.

Features

• Shader Model 2.0, 2.0a and 2.0b
• Refractions with the use of a bump-map
• High-quality reflective water (used frequently)
  • Expensive water are rendered in real-time using planar reflections, rendered upside down.
  • World geometry is reflected, but users can also choose to reflect entities (such as props) if the Water detail setting is set to "Reflect All" on Advanced Video Options.
    • Note:In Left 4 Dead engine branch, the Water detail option is removed.
• Softer edge dynamic shadows
  • This means that the "High" shadows detail option will be visible and can be selected.
  • To enable High shadows on Intel GPUs, use "-force_vendor_id 0x10DE -force_device_id 0x1088", tricking the game into thinking that the user has a "NVIDIA GeForce GTX 590", enabling High shadows.
  • The command above may not be available in older Source games prior to 2012/2013, you can workaround this using other methods listed on PCGW.
• Normal-mapped lighting on models
• Improved-quality specular effects

Since Source 2006:

• High dynamic range rendering (disabled by default)
• Phong shading
• Color Correction

Since Source 2007:

• Motion Blur

Since 20th anniversary:

• Defaults to MSAA 4X
• LOD set to "0" (r_lod)
• Detail distance up to "4096"
• Bicubic lightmap (disabled by default)
  • Also available in all Team Fortress 2 branch games, but not listed on dxsupport.cfg.

DirectX 9.0+ - Shader Model 3

Referred to as "DirectX 9.0+" in menu, "DirectX 9.0c", "dxlevel 92" (Mac/Linux) and "dxlevel 95" (Windows). This DirectX 9 level features Shader Model 3.0 support.

DirectX 9.0+ (or Direct3D 9.0c / SM3.0) class graphics card includes Nvidia GeForce 6 series (6600, 6800) and ATI Radeon X1000.

Direct3D 9.0c is also the last version of Direct3D that support all version of Windows 98/98SE/ME/2000 and XP, however the DX9 feature level itself along with DX9 graphics card is still supported until it was dropped in Direct3D 12 (DX12).

Supported games

dxlevel 95 (or DirectX 9.0+) level was first introduced with updated version of Source 2004 (since the release of Day of Defeat: Source in 2005), and was also made available for Half-Life 2 and all first-party Source engine games at the time. All subsequent games and Source branches support and default to this DirectX level on any modern graphics card since 2005. Left 4 Dead engine branch games and above requires DirectX 9.0c capable GPU in order to run, and defaults to either this DirectX level or DirectX 10 level (with D3D9 renderer).

Note:Left 4 Dead engine branch uses dxlevel 92 on Windows, alongside dxlevel 100 on some systems. This can be only seen when using SourceMod (sm_cvar mat_dxlevel).

Features

• Shader Model 3.0
• Lightwarp support
• High dynamic range rendering (enabled by default)

Since 20th anniversary:

• Defaults to MSAA 4X
• LOD set to "0" (r_lod)
• Detail distance up to "4096"
• Bicubic lightmap (enabled by default)
  • Also available in all Team Fortress 2 branch games, but not listed on dxsupport.cfg.

Direct3D 9Ex / Windows Aero DirectX extensions

Also referred to as "Direct3D 9.0L", "DirectX 9Ex", "DX9Ex", or "D3D9Ex". This is an extension to Direct3D 9, which was used by Desktop Window Manager for Windows Aero feature and it is available in Windows Vista and later.

D3D9Ex was available on Source Multiplayer (since 2011), Source 2013 (including Team Fortress 2 branch) and CS:GO engine branch (since 2019). It is not tied to any DirectX level (dxlevel) whatsoever. D3D9Ex may improve performance on certain hardware, depending on the graphics driver, and it also improves windowed mode support aswell as Alt + Tab ⇆ support. Counter-Strike: Global Offensive implementation of D3D9Ex also reportedly reduces CPU usage up to 40%.

In Source Multiplayer, Source 2013 Singleplayer and Source 2013 Multiplayer, D3D9Ex can be only disabled/enabled by using -nod3d9ex.

Bug:While there was an option to toggle "Windows Aero DirectX extensions" (or D3D9Ex) in Video Options > Advanced, or through mat_disable_d3d9ex console command, both of these options are non-functional and does not actually disable D3D9Ex at all. Use -nod3d9ex instead to disable D3D9Ex. Valve claimed that the issue has been fixed in Source Multiplayer, but the problem is still present.  (tested in: and on Win 7, 10, 11)

Note:Due to the option to disable D3D9Ex via menu was non-functional, it was removed in Team Fortress 2 branch and Garry's Mod (since 2025). You can still disable D3D9Ex using -nod3d9ex command line.

In Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, D3D9Ex can be disabled using the -disable_d3d9ex command line.

DirectX 9.0+ level on other platforms

Game consoles (dxlevel 97/98)

Referred to as "dxlevel 97" (PS3)^[confirm] and "dxlevel 98" (Xbox 360). Made specifically for both and . Equivalent to dxlevel 95 (Shader Model 3) on PC.

Confirm:While dxlevel 97 can be only seen in Portal 2 (both PC and PS3), it is not confirmed whether the PS3 version actually uses it. See talk page.

Important:This version doesn't do anything much in PC builds of any game (the game will reset to dxlevel 95 after changing video settings). Only works for Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3, where it is required (and enabled by default).

Features

• GPU Particle Physics

Mac/Linux/Android (dxlevel 92)

These platform uses dxlevel 92, which is equivalent to both dxlevel 90 and dxlevel 95, but use the translator ToGL (which has partial Shader Model 3.0 support) to convert the DirectX calls to OpenGL calls, or uses DXVK to convert DirectX calls to Vulkan (with full Shader Model 3.0 or later support). Only on macOS and Linux, and other platforms/operating systems that do not support Direct3D and DirectX.

DirectX 10

Introduced with the release of Windows Vista (and it was only supported on Vista or later), Direct3D 10, while not supported on Windows XP, Source may use this DXLevel (but still renders in D3D9) regardless of operating systems, as long the user had an DirectX 10 graphics card. Referred to as "dxlevel 100".

DirectX 10-class graphics cards include the Nvidia GeForce 8/9/100/200/300 series, Intel GMA X3100, X3500, GMA 4500, and the ATI Radeon HD 2000/3000 series cards.

While Intel HD Graphics (2010) and Intel HD 2000/3000 are DirectX 10-capable and fully support all DirectX 9 features, Source by default (according to dxsupport.cfg with "Intel Unknown" profile) forces it to run at dxlevel 90 instead of dxlevel 95, even if you launch the game for the first time with Nvidia/AMD high performance GPUs on a laptop with dual switchable GPU (integrated and dedicated). Even then, the Source engine never actually supported Direct3D 10, and all DirectX 10 graphics card were capped to dxlevel 95 (except in L4D branch and above which detects dxlevel 100, but those games are still being rendered with Direct3D 9).

Features

• Unified shader pipeline (fixed-function pipeline has been dropped, however unified pipeline can be programmed to emulate the same fixed-function behavior like DirectX 9)
• Shader Model 4.x

Supported games

While dxlevel 100 is mentioned in dxsupport.cfg on all games since Left 4 Dead engine branch and above (and used by default on some systems), none of the Source engine branch actually supports and rendered on Direct3D 10 API.
Additionally, Valve later said that Direct3D 9 is still sufficient, therefore no Source engine games actually uses Direct3D 10.^[5] Also, when Source 2007 was released, it shipped with tools textures (ends with -dx10 in file name) that are intended to be displayed on system with DirectX 10 graphics card. Those textures are sRGB flagged, meaning those textures will be rendered in sRGB color space on DirectX 10 graphics card, resulting in correct appearance. sRGB are also mentioned in the GDC 2008 PDF presentation, in which the player runs a Direct3D 9 game on a DirectX 10 graphics card ("dxlevel 95" on Orange Box branch and earlier, or "dxlevel 100" on L4D branch and later) or on Xbox 360 (which uses "dxlevel 98").^[6] The presentation shown that the smoke effect are supposed to be thicker, gravity gun supposed to glow brighter, and health + crosshair HUD UI are more visible if it's gamma/sRGB corrected on DX10 graphics card.^[6]

D3D9 renderer with DX10 level

In Left 4 Dead engine branch (on some systems) up to the original release of Dota 2 (except and ), aswell as Source Filmmaker,^[7] these games runs on DX10 level, but the renderer still remains on Direct3D 9. In and , DX10 level can be only seen when using SourceMod (sm_cvar mat_dxlevel command).

DirectX 11

For more DX11 features (which may or may not used in third-party Source or Source 2 engine), see Wikipedia's DirectX 11 page.

Referred to as "dxlevel 110" (feature level 11.0) and "dxlevel 111" (feature level 11.1)

DirectX 11-class graphics cards include the Nvidia GeForce 400 (except GeForce 405) series, Intel HD Graphics 2500, HD 4000 (2012), and the ATI Radeon HD 5000 series.

Like previous Intel graphics cards, while Intel HD 2500/4000 are DirectX 11-capable and fully support all DirectX 9 features, Source by default (according to dxsupport.cfg with "Intel Unknown" profile) forces it to run at dxlevel 90 instead of dxlevel 95, even if you launch the game for the first time with Nvidia/AMD high performance GPUs on a laptop with dual switchable GPU (integrated and dedicated).

Features

• Shader Model 5.0
• Multithreaded rendering
• Support for Tessellation

Supported games

Source 2 natively supports and runs on Direct3D 11 by default, but Source 2 also supports Direct3D 9 for older DX9 GPUs (support was dropped in 2021 with Dota 2 update, with only SteamVR Home still support DX9). Titanfall branch was the first Source branch that supported D3D11. Direct3D 11 also has backward compatibility support for DirectX 10 or earlier feature level cards, but some later games may require DirectX 11 level cards.

• All Source 2 games
  • Source 2's VRAD can also recognize dxlevel 120 (DX12 level), but will be clamped to dxlevel 110 (DX11) or dxlevel 111 (DX11.1).^[8]
• Strata Source
• Titanfall branch
• Vindictus (introduced in later updates, but the game still uses dxlevel 95 level instead.)

DirectX 12

Introduced in 2015, and currently the latest version of DirectX. Originally exclusive to Windows 10 but later backported to Windows 7 in 2019. D3D12 and DX12 are not supported on Windows 8 or 8.1. Referred to as "dxlevel 120".

DirectX 12-class graphics cards include the Nvidia GeForce 900 series, Intel HD Graphics (from 2015-2016), Intel Arc series, and the AMD Radeon 200 (GCN 2.0), Radeon 300 series cards.

Like previous Intel graphics cards, while these latest Intel GPUs are DirectX 12-capable and fully support all DirectX 9 features, Source by default (according to dxsupport.cfg with "Intel Unknown" profile) forces it to run at dxlevel 90 instead of dxlevel 95, even if you launch the game for the first time with Nvidia/AMD high performance GPUs on a laptop with dual switchable GPU (integrated and dedicated), and even if you have powerful Intel Arc series GPU.

The Source 2's VRAD tool was able to recognize this DirectX level, but it will be clamped to dxlevel 110 or dxlevel 111, as the Source 2 engine did not support Direct3D 12 (DX12).^[8]

Features

For more DX12/D3D12 features (which may or may not used in third-party Source or Source 2 engine), see Wikipedia's Direct3D 12 page.

• Low-level rendering API, similar to Vulkan
• Shader Model 5.1 and later
• Ray tracing (since Windows 10 October 2018 (1809) Update, requires RT-capable GPUs)
• Dynamic refresh rate (since Windows 11)

Supported games

Note:These game support D3D12, but may not have mat_dxlevel 120.

• Apex Legends - using -anticheat_settings=SettingsDX12.json command line argument. Enabled by default since March 20, 2025 update.
• All games using RTX Remix - converts D3D9 (DX7 level) to Vulkan then converted again to D3D12 (this is referred as "VK/DXGI" by RivaTurner Statistics Server), but D3D12 (and dxlevel 120) is not actually implemented into the engine. ^[3]
  • Portal with RTX
  • Half-Life 2 RTX

dxsupport.cfg

Result after modifying dxsupport.cfg on a system running NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060. The game recognizes the card and set MSAA to 8x, and anisotropic filtering to 16x, while also marking it as recommended setting.

dxsupport.cfg is a file located at the bin folder of the game. It is used to automatically set the graphical settings (MSAA, anisotropic filtering, screen resolution, etc.) or DirectX versions for a specific graphics card listed on the file, when the game is first launched. Starting with Left 4 Dead, cfg/moddefaults.txt is used for the same purpose.

For example, on the system with GeForce FX 5900, the game will first detect the exact card and load the "GeForce FX 5900" profile according to its "VendorID" (0x10de) and "DeviceID" (0x0334), then set the default launch resolution to 800x600, DirectX level 8.1 (with max level 9.0), disable motion blur and set Anisotropic filtering to 2X. The GeForce FX 5900 along with other FX 5x00 series are technically DX9 card, but as mentioned above, it suffered from poor performance and graphical glitches with DX9 rendering path.^[4]

Over time, this file was later updated to include new GPUs up to the GeForce 500 series or Radeon HD 6000 series (in most Source games), and later in 20th anniversary update, changing detail props distance to "4096", set MSAA to 4x and enabling Bicubic lightmaps by default when running on DirectX 9.0+ (the command itself is mislabeled as "r_bicubic_lightmap", instead of "r_lightmap_bicubic").

This file is automatically generated by "dxsupport.pl" Perl script, which was not included anywhere on the game folder nor the officially released Source SDK Base 2013 or Alien Swarm code. The file can be also manually edited to include new GPUs (such as NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 as a example).

Additionally, dxsupport.cfg also includes other DirectX versions such as dxlevel 92/97/98/100, these only works on console ports (, ), L4D branch, Dota 2 and SFM (all 3 are only Source games run on DirectX 10 level, but using D3D9 renderer), or platforms such as Mac/Linux (which uses dxlevel 92 and uses ToGL to convert DirectX calls to OpenGL).

GPUs not listed on the dxsupport.cfg will instead load the "NVidia/ATI/Intel Unknown" and set certain graphics to low and anti-aliasing to disabled (or MSAA 4x since 20th anniversary) by default, sometime this can cause a bug that the game defaults to DirectX 8 level even on modern hardware. The game may also default to DirectX 9.0 instead of 9.0+ (95) when running on a laptop with dual switchable GPU (integrated Intel & dedicated Nvidia/AMD), this issues does not affect integrated AMD GPUs.

Note:If this file was missing, have its content corrupted or modified in certain way or simply failed to load properly, this can cause the game to default to lowest DirectX level available (e.g. DirectX 8.0 - dxlevel 80).

DirectX levels	Graphics card/systems	Notes
DirectX 6.0 dxlevel 60	NVIDIA TNT2 Matrox G400	Not supported on Source 2007 and later.
DirectX 7.0 dxlevel 70	NVIDIA GeForce 256, 2, 2MX and 4MX ATI Radeon R100 (7xxx)	RTX Remix games (Portal with RTX, Half-Life 2 RTX) runs on this DirectX level, then translated to Vulkan (using DXVK) and replacing assets at the same time, then renders as Direct3D 12 (DX12). Not supported on Source 2007 and later (outside RTX Remix).
DirectX 8.0 dxlevel 80	NVIDIA GeForce4 Ti and most of the GeForce FX 5x00 series GeForce 6600 GT / Go 6600
DirectX 8.1 dxlevel 81	NVIDIA GeForce FX 5800 and 5900 ATI Radeon 8500/9100 and 9000/9200 cards.
DirectX 9.0 dxlevel 90	Nvidia GeForce 6 series (6600, 6600 LE, 6800) ATI Radeon 9500/9600, 9700/9800, X300/X600 and X800 cards All Intel graphics card (incl. Intel HD 2000/3000 or later, aswell as all Intel Arc graphics card)
DirectX 9.2 dxlevel 92	Only ToGL or DXVK/Vulkan (except DXVK on Windows) (pre-L4D) All GPUs and renderer (post-L4D)
DirectX 9.0+ dxlevel 95	Nvidia GeForce 6 series (6600, 6800) ATI Radeon X1000	Maximum GPU detected/listed on dxsupport.cfg: GeForce 8800, Radeon X1000 series, Intel GMA 3000/X3000 () GeForce GT 520 - GTX 590, Radeon HD 6000 series, Intel HD 3000 ( - ) GeForce GT 610 - GTX 690, Radeon HD 7000/8000 series, Intel HD 4600 () GeForce 510 - GTX 590, GTX 680, Radeon HD 7000 series, Intel HD 4000 () GeForce GT 520 - GTX 590, Radeon HD 6000/7900 series, Intel HD 3000 () GeForce GT 710 - GTX 780 Ti, Radeon R9 200 series, Intel Unknown only ()
DirectX 10.0 dxlevel 100	All	Left 4 Dead engine branch, Dota 2 (pre-Reborn) and Source Filmmaker only. Main renderer is still Direct3D 9 (DX9).

RTX 3060 profile example

This is a example profile for the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060, combined with ConVar taken from "Nvidia 7800 GTX" dxsupport.cfg profile.

Expand to show example

"887" { "name" "NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060" "VendorID" "0x10de" "MinDeviceID" "0x2504" "MaxDeviceID" "0x2504" "DefaultRes" "3840" // Run the game at 4K (or maximum possible resolution your monitor support) when first launched. // (optional) Minimum GPU driver versions required to run the game "m_nDriverVersion_BuildHigh" "11" "m_nDriverVersion_BuildLow" "6371" // (optional) Minimum GPU driver versions required to run the game (Windows Vista or later) "m_nDriverVersion_Vista_BuildHigh" "11" "m_nDriverVersion_Vista_BuildLow" "6369" "CentroidHack" "1" "ConVar.mat_antialias" "8" // Set MSAA to 8x "ConVar.mat_forceaniso" "16" // Set anisotropic filtering to 16x // Detail props distance (some newer NVIDIA and ATI GPUs have "1600" detail distance), but for some reasons this was absent on later GPUs and Unknown profile by default, resulting more noticeable pop-ins of vegetation and other detail props. "ConVar.cl_detaildist" "1600" "ConVar.cl_detailfade" "400" "ConVar.r_fastzreject" "1" // Activate/deactivates a fast z-setting algorithm to take advantage of hardware with fast z reject. "ConVar.mat_motion_blur_enabled" "0" // Motion blur - disabled by default "ConVar.r_waterforcereflectentities" "1" // Water - Reflect all entities }

Fix DirectX 8.0 level on modern hardware

On some modern hardware (or systems with newer graphics card), when you start Half-Life 2, Counter-Strike: Source or Portal (and some Source 2013) games for the first time, the game may default to DirectX 8 level, or DirectX 9.0 (on laptops with dual switchable GPUs, systems with Intel HD Graphics/Intel Arc) instead of DirectX 9.0+. This issue may be caused by missing, incorrectly modified or corrupted dxsupport.cfg file, or simply dxsupport.cfg failing to load properly.

To fix this, run the game once with -dxlevel 95 command line argument (or launch options), then quit the game and remove the command line (to prevent the game from changing video settings to default). The "Hardware DirectX level" should display as DirectX 9.0+ on the video options. Also, to fix "High" shadow detail missing on Intel graphics card, use -force_vendor_id 0x10DE -force_device_id 0xFFFF command line argument (works on , , , , or later Source branches since 2012-2013), or spoofing GPU vendor ID through DLLs file/registry edit (works on or earlier).

Sample screenshots

Main article: /Screenshots

References

1. Jasper Carmack (@JasperCarmack) (April 3, 2024). "Comparing the differences between Half-Life 2 (Legacy / "DX8" shaders) on the left and (Modern) DX9+ shaders on the right.".  X (Twitter). Retrieved March 06, 2026.. 2. Jasper Carmack (@JasperCarmack) (April 3, 2024). "When loading the save for comparison, you need to wait a little bit because the light glows are scripted to come on after a delay. So 1 = dx8, 2 = dx9 on load, 3 = dx9 after 5 seconds".  X (Twitter). Retrieved March 06, 2026.. 3. In the game files, there is dxvk.conf, used to store RTX Remix configuration. The game itself then renders as Direct3D 12 (DX12), confirmed when using third-party applications like RivaTurner Statistics Server (RTSS).. 4. This video shows the example of DirectX 9 performance issues on GeForce FX 5x00 series card.. 5. PCGH interview about Left 4 Dead, part 2 Doug Lombardi (Valve): Well I mean there is always that tradeoff between taking the time to adopt the engine to a new API, right. And for us we feel like there still things in DX9 that we can achieve without having to go through the pains of moving to DX 10. That is very worthwhile and allows us the time to concentrate on other pieces. So for us as a company and our game designs, we've looked at the tradeoff of the work to move to DX 10 and we have always kind of felt that there is not really enough there for us to delay whatever game we are working on by six to eight month just to say we've a DX10 game. The other thing that is worth mentioning too is to run DX10 natively under the API you have to have both the card and vista. If you google to the Steam hardware survey where we poll peoples machines on Steam you can see that right now there is only about thirteen percent of those people that have both, the DX 10 card and Vista. So you have to look at that as well and say is it worth to investing for thirteen percent of the audience.. 6. Alex Vlachos Valve Corporation (February 18, 2008), GDC 2008 - Post Processing in The Orange Box. Retrieved on March 1, 2026.  7. User:leonidakarlach (June 4, 2024) - According to dota\cfg\video.txt (generated when the game is launched): "setting.mindxlevel" "92" "setting.maxdxlevel" "100" "setting.dxlevel" "100" The game also report that it's using DirectX 10.0 according to the hidden VGUI Options menu by typing gamemenucommand openoptionsdialog, go to Video > Advanced > Hardware DirectX level. Third-party software like RivaTurner Statistics Server (RTSS) showing that it's still uses Direct3D 9.0, however.. 8. (CS2 Workshop Tools Hammer) Vulkan error at startup vrad3.exe (VK_ERROR_DEVICE_LOST) - According to compile log: CreateDevice: Requested DX level 120, clamped to DX level 111 .