Although we’re still waiting for game developers to fully exploit the capabilities of DirectStorage 1.0, Microsoft’s efforts to reduce game load times on PC continue. This prompted the company to prepare a new version of the DirectStorage feature already that promises to reduce loading times by an even greater percentage.
Microsoft introduced the new DirectStorage 1.1 last week, which will harness the capabilities of your GPU to simplify the process of loading games. “It’s one of our most requested features,” says well-known Microsoft programmer Cassie Hoef.
The new approach is able to load game scenes three times faster than current decompression methods, according to Hoef, demonstrating the new feature first-hand.
DirectStorage 1.1 will handle the way you download and install games that come in a compressed form. Where the central processor usually decompresses the game tools and then the graphics processor takes charge of loading them on the screen as graphics. “The process of transferring and decompressing these files on game consoles significantly contributes to loading time and limits the amount of detail we can include in open-world game scenes,” says Hoef.
DirectStorage 1.0 is able to simplify the download process by using faster NVME SSDs by loading multiple game files in parallel, instead of one by one. This translates to a 40% reduction in loading time, according to programmer Hoef.
DirectStorage 1.1 simplifies data transfer even more by removing the CPU from the decompression process. Instead, decompression is done by the GPU, freeing up the CPU for other tasks.
“Graphics cards are very efficient at performing repetitive tasks in parallel, and we can use those capabilities along with the bandwidth of our high-speed NVMe disks to get more work done in one go,” Hoef added. It reduces loading time and improves the view of open worlds.”
Hoef then points to a screenshot of a computer using DirectStorage for GPU decompression versus CPU decompression. The result was that the computer loads a 5.6GB game scene in 0.8 seconds by decompressing the graphics processor, compared to 2.36 for the central processor.
DirectStorage 1.1 works across both Windows 10 and Windows 11, but performance will be better on the latter. “Any graphics processor that has DirectX 12 support and supports Shader Model 6.0 can take advantage of the new feature,” Hoef added. (DirectX 12 launched in 2015.)
The company plans to release DirectStorage 1.1 to game developers by the end of this year. This includes a new data compression format that Microsoft made with the help of Nvidia called GDeflate. “Microsoft is working with important partners such as AMD, Intel, and Nvidia to provide the necessary definitions for this format,” according to the new announcement.
It will then be up to the game makers to exploit the technology. So far, only one PC game, the long awaited turn-based title Forspoken, has revealed support for DirectStorage 1.0. The game was originally scheduled to be released this month, but it has been pushed back to January next year.