Mar 15, 2022 13:00:00

Microsoft finally announces that it will introduce 'Direct Storage' to Windows to speed up game loading time

In September 2020, Microsoft announced in its

DirectX developer blog that it plans to introduce ' DirectStorage ,' a technology that reads huge amounts of data directly from high-speed NVMe storage to the GPU, to Windows. Finally, Microsoft announced that it will be able to install APIs that enable Direct Storage in Windows games as well.

DirectStorage API Now Available on PC --DirectX Developer Blog
https://devblogs.microsoft.com/directx/directstorage-api-available-on-pc/

Microsoft releases DirectStorage:'a new era of fast load times and detailed worlds in PC games' --The Verge
https://www.theverge.com/2022/3/14/22978223/microsoft-directstorage-api-xbox-velocity-windows-pc-nvme-load-times

Game data is read from storage into memory, decompressed by the CPU, and then transferred to the GPU's VRAM. However, this method has the problem of increasing the load on the CPU.

However, with the evolution of storage technology and the realization of transfer speeds of several GB per second, it has become possible to read large amounts of data into memory at once. The DirectStorage API allows you to load data from NVMe storage into memory and then transfer it directly to the GPU's VRAM without going through the CPU. Microsoft says this will reduce the load on the CPU, significantly reduce game load times, and improve graphics.

Direct Storage has been announced as a feature for Windows 11, and Microsoft says it will also be available for Windows 10, version 1909 and later. This Direct Storage is also included in part of the core technology '

Velocity Architecture ' of the Xbox Series X home video game console.

However, what was announced this time is 'to publish the DirectStorage API to the developers of games for Windows', and it is the game that adopted the DirectStorage API that can actually experience the explosive speed of loading by DirectStorage on the market. It will be after it is on the market.

In addition, IT news site The Verge said, 'There are not so many PC gamers migrating to high-speed NVMe storage, and it was designed to load at high speed like' Ratchet & Clank Parallel Trouble '. Given the scarcity of games, it's no wonder developers have doubts about deploying the DirectStorage API, 'he said, pointing out that the environment and market surrounding PC games isn't keeping up with the DirectStorage API. did.