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QuoteWhen we shared our first public release of DirectStorage on Windows to reduce CPU overhead and increase IO throughput, we also shared that GPU decompression was next on our roadmap. We are now in the final stretch of development and plan to release DirectStorage 1.1 with GPU Decompression to developers by the end of 2022. This is one of our most highly requested features, so in the meantime, we want to share a sneak peek at what we've been up to and what developers can look forward to later this year!

What is asset compression and how does GPU decompression change games?

Games require massive amounts of data to build immersive worlds – every character, object, and landscape has "assets" describing characteristics like shape, lighting, and color. This adds up to hundreds of gigabytes of data. To reduce the overall package size of a game, these assets are compressed. When a game is run, the assets are transferred to system memory, where the CPU decompresses the data before it is finally copied into GPU memory to be used as needed. The transfer and decompression of these assets on gaming devices contributes heavily to load times and limits how much detail can be included in open world scenes.

DirectStorage 1.0 improves the data transfer part of this process. Advances in Windows 11 combined with DirectStorage allow developers to make use of the higher bandwidth of NVMe drives. DirectStorage enabled games installed on NVMe drives should expect to see reductions in load times by up to 40%. After enhancing this part of the pipeline, developers will want to improve decompression performance next.


Where does GPU decompression work?

Several factors affect game performance when it comes to compression/decompression. Here's a breakdown of what works and what's recommended:

OS: DirectStorage games will work on both Windows 10 and Windows 11, but there are additional optimizations in the IO stack available to Windows 11 users, so that is our recommended choice for the best improvements. Games running on both Windows 10 and Windows 11 will see gains from an efficient GPU decompression implementation, as the key component to this feature is moving the workload from the CPU to the GPU rather than changes to the OS itself.

Storage Device: DirectStorage enabled games will work on all devices (. You'll need an NVMe SSD, where the bandwidth capabilities are much higher and the storage media itself is faster, to see the significant improvements of DirectStorage. We highly recommend ensuring your game files are saved to an NVMe to get the best gaming experience.

GPU: Any DirectX 12 capable GPU that supports Shader Model 6.0 will be able to take advantage of the new feature, we recommend a DX12 Ultimate capable card.

Full article:
- https://devblogs.microsoft.com/directx/directstorage-1-1-coming-soon/



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