DirectStorage: you will have to wait for the first game with optimized loading times


Nerces

Hardware and Gaming Specialist

July 08, 2022 at 3:30 p.m.

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Forspoke © Square Enix

© Forspoken

Developed by Luminous Productions on behalf of Square Enix, Forspoken has been pushed back to January 24, 2023.

Last March, Forspoken had been used to demonstrate the advantages of DirectStorage imagined by Microsoft. Technological showcase, the video game still requires work… and too bad if it is for the moment the only title announced to support this novelty.

DirectStorage, what is it?

Announced several months ago by Microsoft, DirectStorage is a new API closely linked to Windows 11. The idea is quite simple and aims to boost data access, especially in games.

Loading current assets © Microsoft / Reddit

© Microsoft

To fully understand things, you have to have in mind the operation, albeit schematic, of a PC. As you can see above, the data stored on the SSD goes to memory and is necessarily processed by the CPU.

© Microsoft

Since games of old were relatively lightweight, this wasn’t really a problem. It’s different today where the CPU, too busy, is waiting for the GPU. Thanks to DirectStorage, the latter can access the data directly, without it being processed by the CPU.

Pushed back indefinitely

Logically, DirectStorage therefore aims to improve the CPU/GPU/SSD relationship and avoid bottlenecks. That said, we’re only talking theory here, and the game Forspoken has precisely made it possible to highlight these gains through a technical demo.

Forspoken - DirectStorage © Square Enix

© Microsoft

Microsoft has explained that the activation of DirectStorage should reduce CPU usage between 20 and 40%. The technology would also have an impact on the speeds of the most recent NVMe SSDs with, as a result, reduced loading times.

Still, video game enthusiasts will not yet be able to realize this. Forspoken is therefore pushed back, at best, to January next year and no other games supporting DirectStorage have yet been announced.

Source : VideoCardz



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