

Furthermore, it looks like SATA SSDs don't see a significant improvement in loading times using DirectStorage when compared to the traditional Win32 API. It should be noted that during a showcase of the upcoming game, none of the scenes actually loaded in one second, with loading times hovering around two seconds for M.2 SSDs. Ono claims that some scenes in the new game will load in just one second on systems equipped with NVMe SSDs that are capable of delivering read speeds of over 5,000 megabytes per second. According to Teppei Ono, who is Luminous Productions' technical director, Forspoken will be one of the first games that will take advantage of the new technology. GDC 2022 is still in flux, and courtesy of Luminous Productions we now have an idea on what to expect from DirectStorage on PC. In other words, we should see fewer texture pop-ins, shorter interruptions when navigating game worlds, and more lifelike graphics in future games. Specifically, DirectStorage will take advantage of the great internal parallelism of modern storage devices to enable lightning-fast loading times, seamless in-game transitions, more expansive and detailed worlds, and even features like Quick Resume. The Redmond giant says the technology - which was first implemented for the Xbox Series X and the Xbox Series S consoles - will soon bring the same benefits to PCs equipped with fast solid-state storage. It will take time before developers will be able to tap into the full potential of the new technology, but important steps are already being made in offloading tasks from the CPU and allowing NVMe drives to shine brighter than their SATA siblings.Įarlier this month, Microsoft released its much-awaited DirectStorage API to PC game developers. Something to look forward to: PC games will soon be able to take advantage of DirectStorage for faster loading times and more detailed worlds, starting with titles like Forspoken.
