Microsoft is bringing GPU decompression to Home windows PC video games quickly. After launching DirectStorage earlier this yr, GPU decompression guarantees to be the following step within the ongoing effort to enhance recreation load instances on PCs. Microsoft says it’s “considered one of our most extremely requested options” from recreation builders.
GPU decompression works by offloading the work wanted to decompress property in video games to the graphics card as a substitute of the CPU. Trendy video games embody large quantities of property like characters, landscapes, and objects which are all compressed to scale back the overall dimension of a recreation.
“Usually, decompression work is finished on the CPU as a result of compression codecs have traditionally been optimized for CPUs solely,” explains Cassie Hoef, a senior program supervisor at Microsoft. “We’re providing an alternate methodology in DirectStorage 1.1 by shifting the decompression of these property to the GPU as a substitute — generally known as GPU decompression.”
GPU decompression frees up the CPU for different recreation duties
By shifting this workload to a GPU, load instances can dramatically lower in video games, even in areas the place you’re shifting from one world to a different. Microsoft claims this may be as a lot as thrice sooner, liberating up the CPU to deal with different recreation processes. “When DirectStorage 1.1 [is] launched, it kicks off a brand new journey for recreation builders to make full use of gaming {hardware} and velocity up load instances for PC video games over the following few years,” says Hoef.
These new enhancements are coming quickly for builders, and can be out there in each Home windows 10 and Home windows 11. Microsoft says there are “further optimizations within the IO stack out there to Home windows 11 customers,” in order that would be the best option for GPU decompression and DirectStorage normally.
GPU makers like Nvidia and AMD will even must launch suitable DirectStorage 1.1 drivers forward of Microsoft’s ultimate launch later this yr. Whereas DirectStorage has the promise of blazing-fast load instances that we’re seeing on Xbox Sequence X consoles, we haven’t seen many PC video games undertake this know-how but. Forspoken was imagined to be the primary large recreation with DirectStorage assist, however the title received delayed to January 2023.
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