Microsoft has opened the public preview of DirectX Dump Files, a new debugging feature designed to help game developers investigate GPU crashes with more useful data. AMD is the first graphics company to release a public driver preview that supports the feature, giving developers with recent Radeon hardware an early way to test it.
GPU crashes can be difficult to diagnose because a game may behave differently across thousands of combinations of graphics cards, drivers, Windows versions, game settings, and system components. A crash that happens once on one PC may be impossible to reproduce on another system, leaving developers with limited information about what failed.
DirectX Dump Files aim to make that process easier by capturing a snapshot of GPU activity at the moment of a crash. The resulting file uses the .dxdmp format and can be opened in Microsoft’s PIX graphics analysis tool.
Microsoft says the dump can include GPU state, driver information, Direct3D runtime context, and application data. The level of detail depends on whether the installed graphics driver supports the feature fully.
DirectX Dump Files Offer Different Levels of Debugging Data
Microsoft has created three operating modes so developers can choose how much diagnostic information they want to collect and how much performance overhead they are willing to accept during testing.
The lowest impact mode captures limited information at the point of failure, while the highest mode records more detailed GPU and driver state data. That can make it more useful for difficult crash reports, although it may add more overhead during development.
| Mode | Data Collection Level | Expected Runtime Impact | Best Use |
|---|---|---|---|
| No Overhead | Limited crash snapshot | Very low | General crash collection |
| Medium Overhead | Balanced diagnostic data | Moderate | Development testing |
| High Overhead | Most detailed GPU and driver state | Highest | Deep crash investigation |
The feature is currently aimed at developers rather than regular players. Microsoft has made it available through the DirectX Agility SDK in Developer Mode, allowing studios and graphics hardware partners to test support before it reaches retail software.
Microsoft has previously said that DirectX Dump Files are expected to reach wider retail availability around the fall of 2026.
AMD Becomes the First Vendor With a Public Preview Driver
AMD has released its Agility SDK Developer Preview Driver 26.10.07.02 with DirectX Dump Files support for Radeon RX 7000 and RX 9000 graphics cards. The driver currently supports the High Overhead mode, which is the most detailed option available in the feature.
AMD’s support also includes PIX markers, which let developers attach extra context to GPU workloads, along with DebugBreak functionality that can create a dump file when a shader reaches an unexpected condition.
NVIDIA, Intel, and Qualcomm have demonstrated support during earlier development work with Microsoft, but they have not yet released public preview drivers for DirectX Dump Files. That may change as the preview continues and vendors prepare their own driver updates.
For developers, the feature could reduce the time needed to understand complex GPU crash reports. Instead of relying only on error messages or broad telemetry, they may be able to inspect what the graphics stack was doing when the failure occurred. Microsoft is positioning DirectX Dump Files as part of a wider effort to bring more advanced Windows GPU debugging tools to PC game development.
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