Home /
Blog

DirectStorage is a new feature from Microsoft that promises “a new era of fast load times and detailed worlds in PC games.”

March 15, 2022 Hammad Naveed news, Microsoft, directstorage, NVMe No Comments

Post Views: 138

DirectStorage is a new feature from Microsoft that promises “a new era of fast load times and detailed worlds in PC games.”

Contents

1 DirectStorage is a new feature from Microsoft that promises “a new era of fast load times and detailed worlds in PC games.”

One of the most crucial breakthroughs in Microsoft’s new Xbox Series X console, the ability to transport massive amounts of data from a blazing fast NVMe solid-state drive to your GPU rather than relying on your CPU to decompress it first, was announced 18 months ago. The “DirectStorage API” would allow games to load more detailed worlds and do so faster than before.

DirectStorage API

The DirectStorage API is now available, according to Microsoft. “Windows games will be able to ship with DirectStorage starting today.” “By allowing developers to more completely using the performance of the latest storage devices, this public SDK release ushers in a new era of fast load times and detailed environments in PC games,” according to the company’s blog post. Even though Microsoft says that 11 is “our recommended path for gaming,” it will work with Windows 10, not just Windows 11.

Microsoft NVMe 4.0 stick drive

However, before you rush out to get a game to finally take advantage of that fast NVMe 4.0 stick drive and compatible motherboard, you should know that the titles aren’t yet available. While developers have had access to the technology since July, today is just the beginning for those that want to dig in. In reality, the true kickoff may not come until the Game Developers Conference on March 23rd, when AMD and developer Luminous Productions will discuss how they used DirectStorage in Forspoken, one of the first demonstration games for the technology. By the way, because Forspoken was just postponed last week, you won’t be able to play it until October 11th.

Skeptical

You could also be skeptical that developers would fully exploit NVMe storage anytime soon, given that many PC players have yet to upgrade to fast NVMe SSDs, and that titles like Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart for the PS5 were discovered to be underutilizing their capabilities. (In fact, some game developers will still need to target UHS-I microSD cards that read at less than 100MB/sec, rather than the 4,000-7,000MB/sec of a PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD, thanks to the Steam Deck.) Still, if Windows games can hypothetically pull off the same SSD tricks as the PS5 and Xbox Series X, it means one less piece of the PC is limiting next-gen gaming’s potential — and we’re excited for that largely unfulfilled promise to be realized.