DirectX Dump Files Preview Now Available! - DirectX Developer Blog

At this year’s GDC, we shared our vision for bringing console‑level GPU developer tools to Windows. As part of that announcement, we introduced DirectX Dump Files as a major step forward in GPU crash debugging on Windows.
Today, we’re excited to make our DirectX Dump Files public preview available to developers!
If you missed our GDC announcement, it’s now available in the GDC Vault: Bringing Console-Level GPU Tooling to Windows
You can also read our announcement blog: DirectX: Bringing Console‑Level Developer Tools to Windows
For instructions on how to get started today, see our Getting Started section
We’re intentionally releasing DirectX Dump Files as a preview so we can hear developer feedback early and act on it. If you try it out, please tell us what’s working, what isn’t, and what you’d like to see next.
You can reach us via the DirectX Discord(#dxdmp), the Help->Send Feedback button in PIX, or by email at dxdmpsupport@microsoft.com.
We have heard consistently from developers and partners that it’s been difficult to find and diagnose GPU crashes on PC. On top of being challenging to reproduce, the problem surface of different hardware, drivers, and Windows OS versions is vast, and there is no investigation process that works across all hardware vendors.
Today we’re taking a first step towards a robust cross-IHV solution with our DirectX Dump Files public preview.
DirectX Dump Files are the result of a yearslong effort. Delivering this new solution for GPU crashes required coordinated work across the DirectX runtime, drivers, the Windows graphics kernel and PIX. We are especially grateful to our hardware partners for their close collaboration!
Today, we’re taking the first step to give developers a scalable way to diagnose GPU crashes with actionable data captured directly at the point of failure. DirectX Dump Files record a snapshot of GPU execution at the moment of a crash, including hardware state, driver data, Direct3D runtime context and application data. This all gets packaged into a .dxdmp file that can be retrieved and analyzed by PIX and developers.
All four Windows IHVs (AMD, Intel, NVIDIA, Qualcomm) demoed DirectX Dump Files running on their hardware at GDC. We’ve been working closely with them to light up dedicated drivers for DirectX Dump Files. Today we already have driver support ready on selected devices and expect drivers that support an even wider range of hardware in the near future.
Even without dedicated drivers, partial DirectX Dump Files (which do not contain hardware state and driver data) will be generated on all hardware if a device has the requisite OS and Agility SDK support.
This release marks the beginning of the DirectX Dump Files public preview. Our goal is to validate the end-to-end developer experience while continuing to expand hardware support and improve driver quality across the ecosystem. As this is the first preview release of DirectX Dump Files, there will be some rough edges, but please give us feedback if you hit any issues!
DirectX Dump Files are not yet intended for retail game deployment, and the corresponding Agility SDK requires Developer Mode to be enabled.
Hardware and driver coverage will improve over time as our hardware partners light up support. We’ll be sure to keep this blog post updated with the latest list of supported drivers and corresponding hardware.
We currently expect to ship retail support in Fall 2026 and encourage developers to use this preview to validate their workflows and help shape the final product.
Please send us feedback! You can reach us at the DirectX Discord(#pix), the Help->Send Feedback button in PIX, or by email at dxdmpsupport@microsoft.com
When a GPU crash occurs, DirectX Dump Files follow a well-defined flow from failure to investigation:
1. Windows detects the GPU crash through the TDR mechanism
When the GPU stops making forward progress, Windows detects the timeout via Timeout Detection and Recovery (TDR) and resets the device to recover the system
2. DirectX generates a .dxdmp file at the point of failure
At the moment of a TDR, the DirectX runtime captures a structured .dxdmp file that includes GPU execution state, driver-provided data, and Direct3D runtime state. Developers can also include up to 2MB of custom data along with metadata via new D3D12 APIs and callbacks
3. Developers retrieve the DirectX Dump File
Applications can register callbacks to receive the DirectX Dump File path at creation time, enabling integration with crash collection pipelines. The file is also retained locally in the preview build so that it is available for postmortem investigation immediately without modifying the application code
4. The DirectX Dump File can then be analyzed offline
The resulting .dxdmp file can then be opened in PIX. PIX, with support from IHV plugins, will try to expose several pieces of useful information by:
This model allows crashes to be analyzed after the fact without requiring reproduction on the original system and provides a consistent workflow across development and retail environments.
Developers can also use the PIX API to process a DirectX Dump File programmatically. For details about the PIX API itself, refer to the documentation located in your PIX installation directory.
For a detailed description of how dump files are generated and structured, see the specification: D3D12: DirectX Dump Files.
Confirm that you have the correct OS, Agility SDK, hardware, and driver support using the info supplied below
2. Set D3DConfig options (optional)
If the driver requires dump file options to be set before app launch, or if you’d like to set those options before app launch, D3DConfig can be used to set driver options (D3D12_DUMP_FILE_DRIVER_OPTIONS) and whether to retain dump files locally (enabled by default for preview).
3. Utilize PIX Markers (optional)
We recommend utilizing PIX markers and passing them to the graphics driver to maximize the usefulness of the resulting dump file, as PIX us