Microsoft has released a public preview of DirectStorage 1.4, which it claims will boost game load times and asset streaming through new advanced encryption.
As WCCFTech reports, the ZStandard (Zstd) codec is an open, widely supported compression standard that offers impressive compression and decompression performance, potentially helping games load much faster and reducing the chance of asset pop-in at greater draw distances.
Microsoft first debuted DirectStorage technology in 2022 with a handful of games, and the results were notable, if a little underwhelming. Games did appear to load faster when using DirectStorage, though it was only about 10-20% faster than using an NVMe SSD without it, so you were only shaving off a second or two at best. While this was supposed to be just the beginning, it’s been four years, and there are still barely any supporting games.
While developers may not be taking the necessary steps to implement DirectStorage support in their games, Microsoft has continued working on the technology. With version 1.4, it promises greater compression savings and more versatility for developers. The introduction of Zstd to DirectStorage’s multi-tier decompression framework lets developers leverage the CPU or GPU for decompression. It also allows GPU manufacturers to develop hardware acceleration for this kind of decompression, which could further speed up game load times.
(Credit: Microsoft)
DirectStorage 1.4 can also improve compression ratios and game load times through its Game Asset Conditioning Library (CAGL). Expect Zstd compression ratios to increase by up to 50% without impacting latency or placing additional demands on the CPU or GPU performing the decompression. Microsoft promises further performance improvements in this area with future versions of DirectStorage.
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AMD, Intel, Nvidia, and Qualcomm all touted the changes, with driver support coming in the next few months. With lots of talk about Microsoft’s next Xbox console being more PC-like and featuring some of AMD’s latest graphical technologies, DirectStorage is certain to be supported, too. After all, it first showed its effectiveness on Xbox and was later ported to Windows for PC gaming.
Expect DirectStorage 1.4 supporting drivers from all these companies before the end of the year. Game support may take a little longer, but developers who want to get to grips with it can download the public preview directly from Microsoft.
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Jon Martindale is a tech journalist from the UK, with 20 years of experience covering all manner of PC components and associated gadgets. He’s written for a range of publications, including ExtremeTech, Digital Trends, Forbes, U.S. News & World Report, and Lifewire, among others. When not writing, he’s a big board gamer and reader, with a particular habit of speed-reading through long manga sagas.
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