Setting DXGI Information in the Registry

DXGI and the reference rasterizer use the following registry keys under the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\ subkey to control behavior.

Name Type Description
DXGI\DisableFullscreenWatchdog DWORD Set to 1 to disable the watchdog thread.
Direct3D\ReferenceDevice\FlushOften DWORD Set to 1 to flush often.
Direct3D\ReferenceDevice\FenceEachEntryPoint DWORD Set to 1 to make each call to a DDI function fence with the GPU. Fencing with the GPU means to flush the command batch and block until the GPU is idle.
Direct3D\ReferenceDevice\Debug DWORD Set to 1 to: a. Flush often and make each call to a DDI function fence with the GPU. b. Run the reference rasterizer (RefRast) single threaded.
Direct3D\ReferenceDevice\D3D10RefGdiDisplayMask DWORD Each bit in the DWORD mask enables (set to 1) or disables (set to 0) the display monitor that the reference device controls.
Direct3D\ReferenceDevice\SingleThreaded DWORD Set to 1 to enable running RefRast single threaded.
Direct3D\ReferenceDevice\ForceHeapAlloc DWORD Set to 1 to make the reference device create resources by using the regular process heap, versus other allocation mechanisms.
Direct3D\ReferenceDevice\AllowAsync DWORD Set to 1 to allow the reference device's second thread to run asynchronously (that is, multiple command buffers are allowed to be outstanding). The reference hardware typically runs in a second thread; however, this second thread completes all its work before the primary thread can continue.
Direct3D\ReferenceDevice\SimulateInfinitelyFastHW DWORD Set to 1 to make the reference device's simulated hardware process only a few limited commands to give the appearance that the reference device is really fast (by essentially doing nothing). The driver can use this key as a performance tool.