Xbox Series S and X Developer Mode: 3 Things You Can Do With It And 3 You Can’t

I’m an IT professional by trade, but I didn’t always want to be in IT. To begin with, I never really liked computers because I didn’t grow up with them. I got into IT because I was decent at problem solving, and it turned into a career.

SEE: Everything you need to know about using low-code platforms (free PDF) (TechRepublic)

From the mid to late 1980s, I loved video games! For me, there was nothing better or more fun. While I had no idea of ​​my future career at the time, I always wanted to do something around video games. Fast forward to 1998 when my IT career started and while I still loved games, I thought the only real possibility for me would be as a game programmer or developer. There was only one small problem: I don’t like programming. I respect it, but I’m horrible at it.

Microsoft has introduced a developer mode for the next-gen Xbox Series S and X consoles, allowing gamers and developers of all skill levels to code and play their own games. By taking advantage of the technological advancements available to gamers today and Xbox’s high-end hardware, there is now a way to go for anyone interested in trying game development from the comfort of their homes.

For my current me, this is an incredibly versatile and valuable tool for any encoder, beginner or not, to take control of their destiny. From the ’80s version of my own perspective, this is a mind-blowing game-changer that wasn’t heard until the late 1990s, when Sony released the first of its all-black PlayStation consoles with dev kit functionality, Net Yaroze. A lot of effort, but in 1996, the entry price for the required console and computer was out of reach for many young gamers.

SEE: PS5 vs Xbox Series X: Why won’t I buy the PlayStation 5? (TechRepublic)

Today, gaming and computing in general are so common and ubiquitous that the entry price has dropped to drastic levels of affordability, and gamers already have most of the requirements available to start writing their first game. . And who knows? This could even fuel a race for today’s gamers to be tomorrow’s star developers. The next Shigeru Miyamoto, Hideo Kojima or John Carmack could be you!

Write your own games

This is why developer mode was created in the first place – to allow developers to sign up with the Microsoft Developer Account program to gain access to unlocking developer mode on their Xbox to start designing games. It also allows those games to be uploaded to the Microsoft Store, where other players can access the products and purchase them to play on their consoles. While developer mode won’t write games for you (you didn’t think it was going to be that easy), it certainly goes a long way in removing a lot of obstacles along the way to give you a solid dev kit to work on your games and a path to publishing. in an independent way.

Emulate this, emulate that

If you haven’t heard it yet, next-gen Xbox consoles pack some pretty serious hardware. Similar to what is found in custom PCs, the added power under the hood not only makes for a capable video game console, but also allows for additional performance by emulating older hardware. More specifically, older generations of gaming hardware – that is, almost any console from the 32-bit era and earlier – performs well given the boost in hardware. This does not mean that everything will work perfectly or be 100% compatible because setbacks are expected, but as with anything related to technology, especially newly released products, eventually the developers will fix the bugs to offer a smoother gaming experience. .

SEE: Xbox Series X Restocking: Where and How to Buy the Next Gen Gaming System (TechRepublic)

Side loading applications

When enabling developer mode, the option to download third-party applications is available as an optional setting that must be configured to allow remote access. When enabled, the Xbox Device Portal allows the use of a web browser to communicate directly with the console to upload packages to be installed as an application on the device, allowing users to run any number of applications developed by themselves or others. trusted programmers. As with a computer, installing apps will allow for additional functionality, but the side-loading option also opens the door for extensive testing and developer collaboration. It’s very promising and largely unheard of outside of making unauthorized or illegal modifications to your console’s internal security.

Software limitations

Applications written on the Universal Windows Platform (UWP) are limited to accessing individual files with a maximum of 2 GB. Anything above the maximum is not allowed and can cause problems when developing your UWP-based games or applications. Additionally, the limits on the amount of memory that UWP applications and games can address when running in the foreground are 1GB and 5GB respectively. Background applications are limited to 128MB, but games that exceed the allowed size will be suspended and terminated. Exceeding memory limits can affect memory allocation and cause errors.

Hardware limitations

Hardware resource allocation varies depending on whether an application or game requests them. It is broken down as follows, as stated in the official Microsoft documentation:

Applications: Share two to four CPU cores depending on the number of applications and games running on the system.
Games: Four dedicated and two shared CPU cores.

Applications: 45% share of the GPU based on the number of applications and games running on the system.
Games – Full access to available GPU cycles.

Applications: DirectX 11 Feature Level 10.
Games: DirectX 12 and DirectX 11 Feature Level 10.

All applications and games must target the x64 architecture in order to be developed or submitted to the Xbox store.

Note: Since Microsoft does not make developer kits publicly available, those looking to develop games without any of the above restrictions may wish to sign up for the company’s ID @ Xbox program, whereby they can publish digital games not just for Xbox, but also Windows 10, iOS and Android with Xbox Live without any of the limitations listed above.

Game restrictions

Finally, Microsoft limits the console to run in developer mode or in retail mode at any time. Switching from one to the other is as easy as selecting Exit Developer Mode from Dev Home, which will restart the console in commercial mode. Conversely, when entering the Xbox Dev Mode app from Retail Mode and selecting Change and Reboot, the device will reboot in developer mode.

In addition to keeping the compartmentalized modes, this also maintains another of Microsoft’s limitations, which is avoiding the loading of retail games in developer mode and avoiding the execution of development code in retail mode.

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