DirectStorage will be coming to Diablo IV as Blizzard confirms files are already present in the game but it is still working on enabling it. Microsoft began rolling out the DirectStorage API to PC users some time ago but despite its ability to significantly decrease load times, it has largely gone unused. So far, the only other game to utilize it has been Forspoken which was reported to load in less than 2 seconds on PC. The developers for Diablo IV have told PC Gamer that while the feature is not enabled they are working on a future patch to turn it on.
Per PC Gamer:
“MS DirectStorage is currently not enabled,” the Diablo team says, “but we are planning on enabling it in the future.”
It was also reported by PC Gamer that back in March a Reddit user had discovered the DirectStorage files, along with those for DLSS 3, and while the ladder was enabled it seems the Blizzard may still have technical issues preventing it from using the former. It is unfortunate that so many games are launching without this support since it could potentially aid with stuttering issues that have plagued so many games recently. Even though it could be more akin to a crutch in terms of PC optimizations it would still be a nice feature to further improve the gaming experience.
AMD and NVIDIA have both provided their own means of direct memory access to graphics card’s GDDR VRAM, which operate at much faster speeds, than standard memory but the loading of data is still restricted to the storage protocols being used by the system thus creating an unnecessary bottleneck. Consoles such as the XBOX Series X|S and PlayStation 5 have enjoyed the benefits of such technology. In particular, the PlayStation 5 has had numerous articles praising its incredulous load times for various games. As Blizzard confirms that it’s working in enabling it we can only hope more developers are doing the same.
Discussion (8 replies)
Join Discussion →Hmm.. Going from 2.4 to 2.1 seconds I guess counts as significant.
I was referring to the original article that compared NVMe/SATA/HDD. Still not as drastic for SATA SSD at 3.7s but 20s less than HDD.
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I think that is all with DS enabled and you just see the difference between various storage types - not sure they are showing a With and Without DS benchmark there.
Agreed, although not smoke and mirrors it's not far off from that either. It's always that "up to" claim that becomes suspect because as we all know the user's PC hardware specs and configuration will play the largest role in the final numbers. Consoles, in some ways, have an advantage with the mostly locked-in hardware, drives withstanding, which means you can mostly count their numbers as a static reference. Just about anything else could be all over the map.
I count myself fortunate to have so many different PCs in the house to play and test things with but I'm on the verge of a total 5800X3D desktop approach. Sigh, I'm noticing significant CPU bottlenecks with my 3700X, a CPU I love and it's not that old, but seeing a 10-20 FPS difference at 5120x1400 compared to the 5800X3D rig that's using a nearly identical setup at 4K. Prices have really dropped and I can afford to swap it out but I've always enjoyed being able to look at numbers for my 3 different rigs. However, the 5800X3D is that good, at least for those looking for perf/price metrics at 4K with modern features while still getting the most of AM4. I'm sidetracking my own thread here but it's been on my mind a lot since digging into Hogwarts and noticing that Witcher 3 Enhanced wasn't the only title bringing down my 3700X rig.
Back on topic, sort of, the 3700X does seem to provide near-identical load times with games on Gen4 but I don't have Forspoken (unless its free, Epic-lol, I'm not likely to try it otherwise) so I can't speak for that. The 3700X Gen4 is a little slower (vs 5800X3D) but barely noticeable but since they don't have the same brand/model drives that too could be a contributing factor.
Meanwhile, I've done some game loading testing with SATA III drives vs NVMe Gen4, and again barely noticeable and I don't have technical screenshots to prove, but I can tell they are slower as well. The HDD drive differences are very noticeable, even with larger drives that have larger caches. I will say that with the 3700X rig, I took a hybrid approach in multiple ways in that it has a 2 TB SATA III SSD and 6 TB HDD, along with Gen3 and Gen 4 NVMe drives. This was, in part, to stretch my legs with the H7 Flow since that's my smallest build yet and it was replacing my previous 4930K HTPC setup. However, moving forward it's likely to be my last such build since the prices for NVMe drives keep dropping, and I love the simplicity of having drives on the motherboard, and I expect DS to eventually become more utilized.
There is a free Forspoken Demo that I think has all the tech switches available
I'll take the patch if it helps with mob loading the first time a mob or some odd power from a player is used in game it micro stutters.
Forspoken loads super fast for me.
D4 isnt slow, I also would not call it fast - I wait at load screens often enough.
I totally forgot about that. I might give it a shot except I'm really into Hogwarts right now.