How to Enable DX11 in Cataclysm Beta

Blizzard provides DirectX 11 support in the "Cataclysm" expansion.

"World of Warcraft: Cataclysm" is an expansion pack for the online game "World of Warcraft" developed by Blizzard Entertainment. This expansion is no longer in the beta testing phase, and Blizzard released it for sale in December 2010. One of the new features incorporated into this expansion is the inclusion of Microsoft's DirectX 11 rendering system. This enables enhanced graphical features to give life to the game's older engine. While "Cataclysm" is no longer in beta testing, you can still force your version of it to DirectX 11.

Instructions

1. Locate your shortcut to launch "Cataclysm beta." This shortcut may be on your desktop, or it may be under your "Programs" section in your "Start" panel.

2. Right-click the shortcut. Click "Properties."

3. Select the text in the "Target" box. Put a space after "WoW.exe" and type "-d3d11" into the end of the box. For example, your target should now read "C:\User\Program Files\Cataclysm Beta\WoW.exe" -d3d11." The path to "WoW.exe" should be enclosed in quotation marks, while the launch option comes after the second set of quotation marks.

4. Click "Apply" and close the window.

Tips & Warnings

• Setting launch options like this is common in many games. Typing this launch option into the shortcut target of the released version of "Cataclysm" will enable DirectX 11 as well. Moreover, you can also force it to use previous DirectX versions. To do so, change the "11" to either a "9" or a "10" to have it use DirectX 9 or 10. Doing so may cause your game to become unstable, so be careful.

• DirectX 11 is only compatible with Windows 7 and DirectX 11 compliant video cards. If you try to enable it without these two requirements, your game will likely fail to launch. To fix this, remove the launch option.

References

• Bit Gamer: Blizzard Adds DX11 to WoW: Cataclysm Beta; Richard Swinburne; July 2010
• Gamespot: "World of Warcraft: Cataclysm" (PC)