see how it works and all the details

Starting today, games on Windows could come with DirectStorage technology. Microsoft ushers in a new era of game load times in the PC world by allowing developers to take full advantage of the speed of the latest storage devices. The company announced in September 2020 that DirectStorage would be coming to Windows, and after gathering feedback through extensive testing with developers, the company is making the API available to all of its partners to integrate into their games.

DirectStorage will have less loading time in games.

This technology is an API within the DirectX family whose main function is related to fast data reading, which leads to shorter loading times in games.

DirectStorage, was initially developed for the Xbox Velocity architecture present in the Xbox Series X and S, as it allows you to use a high-speed SSD more efficiently in gaming, not just typical menu loading. We are talking about the textures of the characters’ clothing, the details of the environment and other components that finally reach the GPU.

The DirectStorage API is part of DirectX 12 Ultimate, the technology that powers the Xbox Series X, and combines the real-time I/O data processing of games with the high bandwidth of Gen4 SSD storage. It’s designed to take better advantage of this speed boost offered by the latest SSDs by eliminating bottlenecks as data is transferred to and from the drives within our computers. With this, developers would have the opportunity to bring larger and more detailed worlds to their games, since we will have faster loading.

We will need Windows 11 and a Gen3/4 SSD

To understand how DirectStorage works, try to think of a road with 3 lanes: the first with trucks, slower, are the HDDs; the second lane is for cars, faster, but still slow, these are current SSDs; now the third lane is FREE, for sports cars full throttle all the time, this is DirectStorage. Allowing Gen4 SSDs to reach their highest speed and making games take advantage of that.

DirectStorage is supported on Windows 10 devices, but Windows 11 has the latest storage optimizations and is Microsoft’s recommended system for leveraging the technology in games. Another point the company mentions is that “while benefits can be seen on any type of storage device, installing games on an NVMe SSD will maximize I/O performance and help you better enjoy the benefits of DirectStorage.”

In general, we will need a Windows 11 (or Windows 10) system, an NVMe SSD if possible of the latest ones on the market (Gen3 and Gen4), a compatible GPU and a game that takes advantage of the storage API to be able to use DirectStorage in our PCs. However, we still don’t have much information about the hardware and games that support this API. All we have so far is an excerpt from the official post telling us to stay tuned “for more information on games coming with DirectStorage in the future.”

Microsoft will be talking about DirectStorage on PC during the GPU Technology Conference (GTC) 2022, specifically on March 22.

Source: Microsoft