Microsoft Public GDK
Welcome to the June 2023 Microsoft Game Development Kit release. You can use the GDK to develop games that can be certified and approved for release on Windows 11 PCs and Windows 10 PCs.
We have organized this document into the following sections.
- The GDK is released in two types: Major (focused on features, three times a year) and Updates (focused on fixes, as often as needed).
- To view the full What's New section, see the online version of What's New.
Fixed several issues related to the Game Config Editor when using the Store Association module.
Fixed an issue that caused the MicrosoftGame.config file in Visual Studio to be reformatted when the xml was edited directly. This was caused because the GUI version of the game config editor was saving the file and overwriting the formatting.
Fixed an issue that caused wdapp.exe to incorrectly report error code 0x800705b4 (This operation returned because the timeout period expired) when installing a .msixvc file on a PC that has the latest public release of the Gaming Services component installed.
Fixed an issue that caused the Microsoft Game Config editor to scale incorrectly when the PC was set to a non-English language.
Fixed an issue where
XblCleanupAsyncwould never complete when called without any ongoing requests.
If you're updating from a GDK version earlier than March 2023 GDK Update 3, check the release notes for previous releases for additional breaking changes that might affect you.
Microsoft Azure PlayFab APIs that previously took
XTokenin the request structure now takeXUserHandle.
The following requests are affected.
PFInventoryRedeemMicrosoftStoreInventoryItemsRequestPFFriendsClientGetFriendsListRequestPFAccountManagementClientLinkXboxAccountRequestA compile error now occurs when
XTokenis used in these APIs.
Multiplayer Session Directory and SmartMatch features deprecation timeline
We're announcing a deprecation timeline for new titles that use the MPSD and SmartMatch features in the GDK. These features will be deprecated by March 2024 and will be replaced with Microsoft Azure PlayFab Lobby and PlayFab Matchmaking. Titles should use Multiplayer Activity (MPA) for XR compliance. Developers can continue to use their own in-house or third-party multiplayer services in combination with MPA. We'll begin warning on API usage in the October 2023 GDK.
New titles will lose access to these features in March 2024. There will be a process for applying for exceptions after March 2024. Existing titles will continue to have access to the GDK APIs past that date. However, new titles will be prevented from access in Partner Center to configure SmartMatch Hoppers or MPSD Session Templates unless these titles are given an exception. For more information, members of a managed program can see MPSD deprecation on the GDK forums.
Fixed an issue where Xbox Services API (XSAPI) real-time event callbacks weren't invoked on
XTaskQueuethat was provided to XSAPI during initialization.
Fixed a rare crash in Achievement manager that was caused by retrieving un-cached achievements during a Real-Time Activity service resync.
You can view the documentation online at Game Development Kit (GDK) documentation.
Welcome to the October 2023 Microsoft Game Development Kit release. You can use the GDK to develop games that can be certified and approved for release on Windows 11 PCs and Windows 10 PCs.
We have organized this document into the following sections.
- The GDK is released in two types: Major (focused on features, three times a year) and Updates (focused on fixes, as often as needed).
- To view the full What's New section, see the online version of What's New.
Fixed a regression in XCurl where specifying
CURLOPT_INFILESIZEon a curl request with theTransfer-encoding: chunkedheader would cause the request to not send the final empty chunk and ultimately fail.
Fixed an issue where Windows Imaging Component (WIC) APIs could crash due to a missing delay loaded dependency.
Fixed an issue in the task queue to avoid a race condition that could cause a title to crash with a failfast error when the title is suspended.
Fixed an issue that could result in a "dll not found" error message when attempting to reference
PlayFab.CoreorPlayFab.Serviceslibraries.
Fixed an issue where the MicrosoftGame.Config editor would delete certain fields if the user added them to the file using a text editor.
Fixed an issue where protocol activation wasn't properly handling relative paths to the target executable.
Fixed several issues where the title could crash or the streaming client properties would report no data if a streaming client connected while the
XGameStreamingInitializeAPI was executing.
Fixed a race condition in
WinHttpWebsocketteardown on suspend that could cause the title to crash or stop responding.
Fixed an issue where using XSAPI or PlayFab with trace logging enabled at information or verbose levels could cause the title to crash.
Fixed an issue that could cause the title to crash when calling
PeoplehubService::DeserializeTitleHistoryfor certain locales.
The GDK currently supports building game projects with the Visual Studio 2017 compiler and linker toolset (version v141) either from the command line or from the Visual Studio 2019 or Visual Studio 2022 IDEs.
Support for building game projects with the v141 toolset will be removed in the October 2024 version of the GDK.
Fixed an issue with
XStoreQueryAssociatedProductsAsyncwhere themaxItemsToRetrievePerPageparameter wasn't returning the correct number of results when 26 or more products were requested.
Systems using the GDK Unity Package that have only the public GDK installed will have missing DLL issues in Unity projects until the next plugin release.
For more information and a quick fix, see Plugin fails to load DLLs/Tools for public GDK installs Issue #93 microsoft/gdk-unity-package.
This issue is resolved, make sure you are using the latest GDK Unity Package.
2024.03.29 - Administrator Note:
No change with this release - fixing an error with the release notes that were stuck in draft and not fully published. Release notes will be restored by April 2024.
Welcome to the March 2024 Microsoft Game Development Kit release. You can use the GDK to develop games that can be certified and approved for release on Windows 11 PCs and Windows 10 PCs.
We have organized this document into the following sections.
- The GDK is released in two types: Major (focused on features, three times a year) and Updates (focused on fixes, as often as needed).
- To view the full What's New section, see the online version of What's New.
As of the March 2024 GDK release, the GDK installer no longer installs the
GameInputlibraries.If you're targeting PC, add the
Microsoft.GameInputNuGet package (https://www.nuget.org/packages/Microsoft.GameInput/) to your solution. Run the NuGet package'sGameInputredistributable MSI to ensure that you have the latest runtime. Although the runtime is included in Windows May 2020 Updates and later, running the MSI will ensure that you have the latest version.
Include this redistributable in game installers to ensure thatGameInputis available on all supported versions of Windows.
Fixed an issue in the task queue to avoid a race condition that could cause a title to crash with a failfast error when the title is suspended. [49474469]
Welcome to the October 2023 Microsoft Game Development Kit release. You can use the GDK to develop games that can be certified and approved for release on Windows 11 PCs and Windows 10 PCs.
We have organized this document into the following sections.
- The GDK is released in two types: Major (focused on features, three times a year) and Updates (focused on fixes, as often as needed).
- To view the full What's New section, see the online version of What's New.
Fixed an issue that could result in a "dll not found" error message when attempting to reference
PlayFab.CoreorPlayFab.Serviceslibraries.
Fixed an issue where the MicrosoftGame.Config editor would delete certain fields if the user added them to the file using a text editor.
Fixed an issue where protocol activation wasn't properly handling relative paths to the target executable.
Fixed several issues where the title could crash or the streaming client properties would report no data if a streaming client connected while the
XGameStreamingInitializeAPI was executing.
Fixed a race condition in
WinHttpWebsocketteardown on suspend that could cause the title to crash or stop responding.
Fixed an issue where using XSAPI or PlayFab with trace logging enabled at information or verbose levels could cause the title to crash.
Fixed an issue that could cause the title to crash when calling
PeoplehubService::DeserializeTitleHistoryfor certain locales.
The GDK currently supports building game projects with the Visual Studio 2017 compiler and linker toolset (version v141) either from the command line or from the Visual Studio 2019 or Visual Studio 2022 IDEs.
Support for building game projects with the v141 toolset will be removed in the October 2024 version of the GDK.
Fixed an issue with
XStoreQueryAssociatedProductsAsyncwhere themaxItemsToRetrievePerPageparameter wasn't returning the correct number of results when 26 or more products were requested.
Systems using the GDK Unity Package that have only the public GDK installed will have missing DLL issues in Unity projects until the next plugin release.
For more information and a quick fix, see Plugin fails to load DLLs/Tools for public GDK installs Issue #93 microsoft/gdk-unity-package.
Welcome to the October 2023 Microsoft Game Development Kit release. You can use the GDK to develop games that can be certified and approved for release on Windows 11 PCs and Windows 10 PCs.
We have organized this document into the following sections.
- The GDK is released in two types: Major (focused on features, three times a year) and Updates (focused on fixes, as often as needed).
- To view the full What's New section, see the online version of What's New.
Fixed an issue that could result in a "dll not found" error message when attempting to reference
PlayFab.CoreorPlayFab.Serviceslibraries.
Fixed an issue where the MicrosoftGame.Config editor would delete certain fields if the user added them to the file using a text editor.
Fixed an issue where protocol activation wasn't properly handling relative paths to the target executable.
Fixed several issues where the title could crash or the streaming client properties would report no data if a streaming client connected while the
XGameStreamingInitializeAPI was executing.
Fixed a race condition in
WinHttpWebsocketteardown on suspend that could cause the title to crash or stop responding.
Fixed an issue where using XSAPI or PlayFab with trace logging enabled at information or verbose levels could cause the title to crash.
Fixed an issue that could cause the title to crash when calling
PeoplehubService::DeserializeTitleHistoryfor certain locales.
The GDK currently supports building game projects with the Visual Studio 2017 compiler and linker toolset (version v141) either from the command line or from the Visual Studio 2019 or Visual Studio 2022 IDEs.
Support for building game projects with the v141 toolset will be removed in the October 2024 version of the GDK.
Fixed an issue with
XStoreQueryAssociatedProductsAsyncwhere themaxItemsToRetrievePerPageparameter wasn't returning the correct number of results when 26 or more products were requested.
Systems using the GDK Unity Package that have only the public GDK installed will have missing DLL issues in Unity projects until the next plugin release.
For more information and a quick fix, see Plugin fails to load DLLs/Tools for public GDK installs Issue #93 microsoft/gdk-unity-package.
Welcome to the October 2023 Microsoft Game Development Kit release. You can use the GDK to develop games that can be certified and approved for release on Windows 11 PCs and Windows 10 PCs.
We have organized this document into the following sections.
- The GDK is released in two types: Major (focused on features, three times a year) and Updates (focused on fixes, as often as needed).
- To view the full What's New section, see the online version of What's New.
Fixed an issue where protocol activation wasn't properly handling relative paths to the target executable.
Fixed several issues where the title could crash or the streaming client properties would report no data if a streaming client connected while the
XGameStreamingInitializeAPI was executing.
Fixed a race condition in
WinHttpWebsocketteardown on suspend that could cause the title to crash or stop responding.
Fixed an issue where using XSAPI or PlayFab with trace logging enabled at information or verbose levels could cause the title to crash.
The GDK currently supports building game projects with the Visual Studio 2017 compiler and linker toolset (version v141) either from the command line or from the Visual Studio 2019 or Visual Studio 2022 IDEs.
Support for building game projects with the v141 toolset will be removed in the October 2024 version of the GDK.
Fixed an issue with
XStoreQueryAssociatedProductsAsyncwhere themaxItemsToRetrievePerPageparameter wasn't returning the correct number of results when 26 or more products were requested.
The Microsoft Game Config editor can't be used to edit the new
<shareable>element that has been added to<PersistentLocalStorage>in the October 2023 GDK. You must edit the game config file manually to add the<shareable>element.If the Microsoft Game Config editor is used to open a file that contains the
<shareable>element, it will be inadvertently deleted when the file is saved.
Fixed an issue that could cause the title to crash when calling
PeoplehubService::DeserializeTitleHistoryfor certain locales. [45433556]
Systems using the GDK Unity Package that have only the public GDK installed will have missing DLL issues in Unity projects until the next plugin release.
For more information and a quick fix, see Plugin fails to load DLLs/Tools for public GDK installs Issue #93 microsoft/gdk-unity-package.
Welcome to the March 2023 Microsoft Game Development Kit release. You can use the GDK to develop games that can be certified and approved for release on Windows 11 PCs and Windows 10 PCs.
We have organized this document into the following sections.
- The GDK is released in two types: Major (focused on features, three times a year) and Updates (focused on fixes, as often as needed).
- To view the full What's New section, see the online version of What's New.
Fixed an issue that caused wdapp.exe to incorrectly report error code 0x800705b4 (This operation returned because the timeout period expired.) when installing a .msixvc file on a PC that has the latest public release of the Gaming Services component installed. [45598405]
Fixed an issue that could cause the title to crash when calling
PeoplehubService::DeserializeTitleHistoryfor certain locales. [45433556]
Fixed an issue with user mini dumps that caused memory dumps to either fail or be much larger than needed when writing a user mini dump with the
MiniDumpWithFullMemoryandMiniDumpFilterWriteCombinedMemoryflags.The issue caused user mini dumps to not filter out the memory blocks with protection set to
PAGE_WRITECOMBINE.The code has been updated to make sure that the filtering for
PAGE_WRITECOMBINE(whenMiniDumpFilterWriteCombinedMemoryis used) is applied for the memory writing phase, in addition to the descriptor writing phase.
Fixed an issue where
XblCleanupAsyncwould never complete when called without any ongoing requests. [45364143]
Fixed an issue that caused the Microsoft Game Config editor to scale incorrectly when the PC was set to a non-English language. [45264919]
As of the March 2023 recovery, the GDK Lighting API only supports the following devices on console. Support for additional devices will be added in future recovery releases.
- Razer Turret for Xbox One (keyboard and mouse)
- Razer BlackWidow Tournament Edition Chroma V2
Fixed an issue where
makepkg packwould not create a package if the source files were read-only.
PlayFab Party titles that use peer-to-peer (P2P) for connectivity will now fall back to relayed connectivity if P2P connectivity is disrupted and unrecoverable.
If you're updating from a GDK version earlier than October 2022 GDK Update 2, check the release notes for previous releases for additional breaking changes that might affect you.
Side-by-side GDK uninstall issues
A bug in Visual Studio Installer version 17.4 can cause GDK components in Visual Studio 2019 and Visual Studio 2022 to work incorrectly after installing multiple GDK versions side-by-side on the same PC. The installer can also cause GDK uninstall failures.
This bug is fixed in Visual Studio Installer versions 17.4.6, 17.5.3 and 17.6.
Fixed a known issue where using the Visual Studio 2022 Debug Quick Resume option could result in a
failure to launch the titleerror message.
Improved support for Japanese keyboard layouts in
GameInput.
Added checks to the LTA tool to detect if an Azure PlayFab title is using a known sample
titleid. The tool now returns a red failure that indicates that a sampletitleidis being used and must be configured to use a non-sampletitleidprior to being shipped to retail.
Added the PlayFab SDK Unreal Marketplace Plugin and GitHub Source to the ongoing official GDK compatibility matrix. Both releases were tested and are compatible with the March 2023 GDK and later.
You can view the documentation online at Game Development Kit (GDK) documentation.
Welcome to the October 2023 Microsoft Game Development Kit release. You can use the GDK to develop games that can be certified and approved for release on Windows 11 PCs and Windows 10 PCs.
We have organized this document into the following sections.
- The GDK is released in two types: Major (focused on features, three times a year) and Updates (focused on fixes, as often as needed).
- To view the full What's New section, see the online version of What's New.
The GDK currently supports building game projects with the Visual Studio 2017 compiler and linker toolset (version v141) either from the command line or from the Visual Studio 2019 or Visual Studio 2022 IDEs.
Support for building game projects with the v141 toolset will be removed in the October 2024 version of the GDK.
Fixed an issue with
XStoreQueryAssociatedProductsAsyncwhere themaxItemsToRetrievePerPageparameter wasn't returning the correct number of results when 26 or more products were requested.
Fixed an issue that could cause the title to crash when calling
PeoplehubService::DeserializeTitleHistoryfor certain locales. [45433556]
The Microsoft Game Config editor can't be used to edit the new
<shareable>element that has been added to<PersistentLocalStorage>in the October 2023 GDK. You must edit the game config file manually to add the<shareable>element.If the Microsoft Game Config editor is used to open a file that contains the
<shareable>element, it will be inadvertently deleted when the file is saved.
Systems using the GDK Unity Package that have only the public GDK installed will have missing DLL issues in Unity projects until the next plugin release.
For more information and a quick fix, see Plugin fails to load DLLs/Tools for public GDK installs Issue #93 microsoft/gdk-unity-package.
Welcome to the June 2023 Microsoft Game Development Kit release. You can use the GDK to develop games that can be certified and approved for release on Windows 11 PCs and Windows 10 PCs.
We have organized this document into the following sections.
- The GDK is released in two types: Major (focused on features, three times a year) and Updates (focused on fixes, as often as needed).
- To view the full What's New section, see the online version of What's New.
Fixed an issue that caused the MicrosoftGame.config file in Visual Studio to be reformatted when the xml was edited directly. This was caused because the GUI version of the game config editor was saving the file and overwriting the formatting.
Fixed an issue that caused wdapp.exe to incorrectly report error code 0x800705b4 (This operation returned because the timeout period expired) when installing a .msixvc file on a PC that has the latest public release of the Gaming Services component installed.
Fixed an issue that caused the Microsoft Game Config editor to scale incorrectly when the PC was set to a non-English language.
Fixed an issue where
XblCleanupAsyncwould never complete when called without any ongoing requests.
If you're updating from a GDK version earlier than March 2023 GDK Update 3, check the release notes for previous releases for additional breaking changes that might affect you.
Microsoft Azure PlayFab APIs that previously took
XTokenin the request structure now takeXUserHandle.
The following requests are affected.
PFInventoryRedeemMicrosoftStoreInventoryItemsRequestPFFriendsClientGetFriendsListRequestPFAccountManagementClientLinkXboxAccountRequestA compile error now occurs when
XTokenis used in these APIs.
Multiplayer Session Directory and SmartMatch features deprecation timeline
We're announcing a deprecation timeline for new titles that use the MPSD and SmartMatch features in the GDK. These features will be deprecated by March 2024 and will be replaced with Microsoft Azure PlayFab Lobby and PlayFab Matchmaking. Titles should use Multiplayer Activity (MPA) for XR compliance. Developers can continue to use their own in-house or third-party multiplayer services in combination with MPA. We'll begin warning on API usage in the October 2023 GDK.
New titles will lose access to these features in March 2024. There will be a process for applying for exceptions after March 2024. Existing titles will continue to have access to the GDK APIs past that date. However, new titles will be prevented from access in Partner Center to configure SmartMatch Hoppers or MPSD Session Templates unless these titles are given an exception. For more information, members of a managed program can see MPSD deprecation on the GDK forums.
Fixed an issue where Xbox Services API (XSAPI) real-time event callbacks weren't invoked on
XTaskQueuethat was provided to XSAPI during initialization.
Fixed a rare crash in Achievement manager that was caused by retrieving un-cached achievements during a Real-Time Activity service resync.
You can view the documentation online at Game Development Kit (GDK) documentation.