The next version of DirectStorage is capable of speeding game loading times by up to 40%. Microsoft shared the figure in a new post on the DirectX Developer Blog today, one that can confirm DirectStorage 1.1 is coming soon and can offer significant reductions in loading times in supported games for Windows users with NVMe drives. DirectStorage 1.1 leverages a new compression format called GDeflate, which was contributed by NVIDIA.
Developers can expect the following in the DirectStorage SDK update:
- Updated DirectStorage runtime to perform decompression
- Tooling for GDeflate, including compressors
- Samples (including the Bulk Loading demo above)
- Documentation
“NVIDIA and Microsoft are working together to make long load times in PC games a thing of the past,” said John Spitzer, VP of Developer and Performance Technology at NVIDIA. “Applications will benefit by applying GDeflate compression to their game assets, enabling richer content and shorter loading times without having to increase the file download size.”
From the DirectX Developer Blog:
DirectStorage 1.0 improves the data transfer part of this process. Advances in Windows 11 combined with DirectStorage allow developers to make use of the higher bandwidth of NVMe drives. DirectStorage enabled games installed on NVMe drives should expect to see reductions in load times by up to 40%. After enhancing this part of the pipeline, developers will want to improve decompression performance next.
Typically, decompression work is done on the CPU because compression formats have historically been optimized for CPUs only. We are offering an alternative method in DirectStorage 1.1 by moving the decompression of those assets to the GPU instead – known as “GPU decompression.” Graphics cards are extremely efficient at performing repeatable tasks in parallel, and we can utilize that capability along with the bandwidth of a high-speed NVMe drive to do more work at once. As a result, the amount of time it takes for an asset to load decreases, reducing level load times and improving open world streaming.
Microsoft launched the DirectStorage API in March 2022, allowing developers to ship their games with the technology that promises to enable faster loading times, more detailed worlds, and more. DirectStorage is compatible with Windows 10 devices, but Microsoft recommends Windows 11, having explained that it has the latest storage optimizations built in.
Discussion (10 replies)
Join Discussion →the next version? we haven't had the FIRST version lol
We have the first version, its kinda like that weird screwdriver thing in the toolbox with the funny shape. You know you have the tool if you ever need it but you dont have any screws that fit - not even from Apple.
I keep hoping something on the market will get an update - maybe they have been waiting for 1.1?
Loading a campaign in Fantasy Grounds could certainly use a boost! Bunches of other stuff could too - Funny City of Heroes used to take a while, now its almost instant. Go future tech, right? I think I remember when 5gb was a big game.
I remember when HardOCP was young and a game company released a DEMO that was 100MB and everyone was like. "WHOAH NOW!! That's too damn big.". Lol I remember when 12 floppy disks to install a game was a lot... Of course I also remember when you could have a full game installed on a 1.2 mb floppy and still have space to save files.
So yea... as the years have gone by size has increased almost at pace with storage capacity and speed.
I remember when CD-ROMS came out and people were saying, you'll never fill those.
Lol I remember when a 1 gigabyte hard drive was infathomably huge and used a TON of power.
Buncha old f'n farts around here, I tell ya.
I recall it took a while for me to fill up my 1st 1TB HDD, the 2TB not so much.
I have a box of 5.25" 140k per side and the floppies along with some 3.5" 400/800k within arms reach for my Apple 2c+ and apple 2gs - I really should spend more time working on those and get around to putting the ethernet card into the gs.
Remember when... we had to back up our files to petabyte-sized drives at transfer rates limited by PCIe 7? And we thought that was fast?
This comment may need some time to mature. Bookmarked to see how it ages.
yattabytes FTW.