Microsoft brings DirectStorage APIs to Windows PCs

mood · Sep 2, 2020

Microsoft brings DirectStorage APIs to Windows PCs
September 1, 2020
https://mspoweruser.com/microsoft-brings-directstorage-apis-to-windows-pcs/

Back in March, Microsoft revealed Xbox Velocity Architecture, a new architecture that brings advanced capabilities to Xbox Series X game console. Xbox Velocity Architecture consists of four components: a custom NVMe SSD, a dedicated hardware decompression block, the all new DirectStorage API, and Sampler Feedback Streaming (SFS). All these four components work together to improve available memory and asset streaming for developers.

Microsoft today announced that DirectStorage APIs are coming to Windows PCs. With this availability, DirectStorage enables best-in-class IO tech to both PC and console. Just like in Xbox Series X, games in DirectStorage supported PCs will have vastly reduced load times.

There are two primary areas this new API is going to improve: reducing frustratingly long load times of the past and enabling games to be more detailed and expansive than ever.
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Microsoft is planning to bring development preview of DirectStorage for game developers next year and it is already working with partners right now to finish designing/building the API and its supporting components.
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Microsoft: DirectStorage is coming to PC

We’re excited to bring DirectStorage, an API in the DirectX family originally designed for the Velocity Architecture to Windows PCs! DirectStorage will bring best-in-class IO tech to both PC and console just as DirectX 12 Ultimate does with rendering tech.

In this blog post, we’re going to give gaming enthusiasts more details on how it’s going to work and how it will revolutionize PC gaming. [...]
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Why NVMe?
An NVMe device can have multiple queues and each queue can contain many requests at a time. This is a perfect match to the parallel and batched nature of modern gaming workloads. The DirectStorage programming model essentially gives developers direct control over that highly optimized hardware.

With a supported NVMe drive and properly configured gaming machine, DirectStorage will be able to detect up front that these extra steps are not required and skip all the necessary checks/operations making every IO request cheaper to fulfill.
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xxJackxx · Sep 2, 2020

Sounds good but I am assuming that proprietary hardware will be required.

mood · Jun 26, 2021

Xbox’s DirectStorage API will speed up gaming PCs on Windows 11 only
June 24, 2021
https://www.pcgamesn.com/windows-11/directstorage-api

Microsoft has finally debuted Windows 11, and it’s not just packing auto HDR and native Android apps. The long-teased DirectStorage API that’s meant to cut down loading times on gaming PCs much in the same way the Xbox Velocity Architecture speeds things up on Microsoft’s consoles is on its way, and it won’t be coming to Windows 10 like we originally thought.

The Windows 11 exclusive feature improves communication between your storage device and graphics card, allowing assets to load quicker without having to pass through the CPU first. Naturally, this means more time spent gaming and less time reading the same hints as you move from area to area.
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It’ll work best with systems that are dubbed ‘DirectStorage Optimised’, containing the right hardware and drivers for the job. If you’re more of the DIY type that prefers to build the best gaming PC yourself, requirements demand an NVMe SSD with 1TB of storage or more.
[...] DirectStorage will still work with older standards like the third generation PCIe 3.0 – you won’t have much luck with 2.5-inch SATA drives, though.

DirectStorage will only work with games built using DirectX 12, so there’s no telling how many titles will support the feature when you upgrade to Windows 11 for free later this year.
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mood · Jul 19, 2021

Windows 11's DirectStorage tech is being enabled in Windows 10
Microsoft wants to help developers reach as many gamers as possible
July 19, 2021
https://www.techspot.com/news/90482-windows-11-directstorage-tech-enabled-windows-10.html

Why it matters: DirectStorage is one of several attractive features destined for Windows 11. Up until this point, we’d been led to believe that the tech, which was originally created for the Xbox Series X/S, would be a Windows 11 exclusive. As it turns out, that isn’t the case at all. It might not be as speedy as the Windows 11 implementation, but at least Microsoft is catering to its existing user base and developer partners.

Microsoft program manager Hassan Uraizee said the company is committed to ensuring that when developers adopt a new API, they can reach as many gamers as possible with it. As such, games built to utilize the DirectStorage SDK will also be compatible with Windows 10, version 1901 and newer, just like with the DirectX 12 Agility SDK.
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Microsoft’s DirectStorage tech is all about maximizing the performance of local storage by providing an enhanced link between storage and the GPU.
One notable difference between the implementation on Windows 10 and Windows 11 has to do with the storage stack. With Windows 11, DirectStorage will have access to an upgraded OS storage stack to unlock the tech’s full potential but on Windows 10, it’ll have to make use of the legacy OS storage stack.
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mood · Mar 14, 2022

DirectStorage API for Windows is now out, promising faster load times in games
March 14, 2022

Microsoft has announced that a DirectStorage API is now finally out for developers building games on Windows PCs. Coming nearly 2 years after it was first detailed, and after collecting feedback from a developer preview, the feature promises faster load times in games, and so much more (via Neowin.)

For developers and Microsoft's partners, this API has everything needed to bring a new model of I/O for games. Microsoft has a full list of benefits over on its blog, but it boils down to making games load much faster, enabling games to be more detailed and expansive, and reducing the volume on I/O operations. DirectStorage is also compatible with Windows 10 devices, too but Microsoft still says that Windows 11 is the "Best Windows ever for Gaming."
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The technology is similar to what's used on the Xbox Series X and uses parallelization to work, though best leveraged on NVMe SSDs. Developers can check out this webpage for downloads and all the SDKs.

As for what's next, Microsoft is hoping to work on GPU decompression. It's a feature a feature that will "give developers more control over resources and how hardware is leveraged," per the Redmond giant.
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Microsoft: DirectStorage API Now Available on PC

Starting today, Windows games can ship with DirectStorage. This public SDK release begins a new era of fast load times and detailed worlds in PC games by allowing developers to more fully utilize the speed of the latest storage devices.
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mood · Oct 14, 2022

Microsoft’s DirectStorage 1.1 will soon boost PC game load times with GPU decompression
By Tom Warren @tomwarren - October 14, 2022

Microsoft is bringing GPU decompression to Windows PC games soon. After launching DirectStorage earlier this year, GPU decompression promises to be the next step in the ongoing effort to improve game load times on PCs. Microsoft says it’s “one of our most highly requested features” from game developers.

GPU decompression works by offloading the work needed to decompress assets in games to the graphics card instead of the CPU. Modern games include massive amounts of assets like characters, landscapes, and objects that are all compressed to reduce the total size of a game.

“Typically, decompression work is done on the CPU because compression formats have historically been optimized for CPUs only,” explains Cassie Hoef, a senior program manager at Microsoft. “We are offering an alternative method in DirectStorage 1.1 by moving the decompression of those assets to the GPU instead — known as GPU decompression.”
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GPU makers like Nvidia and AMD will also need to release compatible DirectStorage 1.1 drivers ahead of Microsoft’s final release later this year. While DirectStorage has the promise of blazing-fast load times that we’re seeing on Xbox Series X consoles, we haven’t seen many PC games adopt this technology yet.
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Microsoft: DirectStorage 1.1 Coming Soon

By Cassie Hoef - October 13, 2022
When 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!
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mood · Nov 7, 2022

Microsoft DirectStorage 1.1 now out, promises up to 3x faster loads with GPU decompression
By Sayan Sen - November 7, 2022

Microsoft showed off the great benefits of the GPU decompression feature last month, promising up to three times or 200% improvements in the game load times. Additionally, the CPU usage also reduces tremendously as the CPU cycles no longer have to deal with decompression work. Microsoft also added that there are "additional optimizations in the IO stack" for Windows 11 which will help it more, even though DirectStorage should work on both Windows 11 and Windows 10.

Today, the DirectStorage version 1.1, which brings GPU decompression, is now available. The announcement blog post also highlights the changes in version 1.1, it says: [...]
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DirectStorage 1.1-supported drivers have also been available for a week or so. AMD has not confirmed, though, which driver exactly comes with the feature support. Intel and Nvidia however have confirmed the driver versions. In the case of Team Blue, it is beta driver version 31.0.101.3793. For Team Green, it is GeForce Game ready driver 526.47.
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Microsoft: DirectStorage 1.1 Now Available

By Cassie Hoef, Damyan Pepper - November 7, 2022
The DirectStorage team is pleased to share that GPU decompression with DirectStorage 1.1 is available now. This new version of DirectStorage contains everything a developer needs to get started with GPU decompression. For more information on this feature and how it benefits gamers, check out our previous blog post: DirectStorage 1.1 Coming Soon.
Getting Started with DirectStorage 1.1
For all the necessary resources to get started, please check out aka.ms/directstorage. This includes the NuGet repository with the redistributable package, the GitHub repo with samples and documentation, as well as links to PIX on Windows.
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mood · Nov 21, 2022

AMD, Intel and Nvidia are ready for DirectStorage 1.1
By Martin Brinkmann - November 21, 2022

Microsoft released DirectStorage 1.1 recently, an updated technology to improve the loading times of PC games significantly. Games that make use of DirectStorage 1.1 may move decompression tasks from the processor to the graphics processing unit; this speeds up the operation, as GPUs are better suited for these tasks, and reduces the load on the CPU at the same time.
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Graphics processing units that support DirectStorage do support the updated version as well. Manufacturers like AMD, Intel and Nvidia may release optimizations, called metacommands, to optimize the feature on devices that run their graphics cards.

Intel released a new driver for its ARC GPU series this week that introduced support for " optimized Microsoft DirectStorage* 1.1 with GPU accelerated decompression for developer integration".
AMD has yet to release a public driver with metacommands; the company revealed that it has "a build of a metacommand-enabled graphics driver" for partners available. Nvidia released driver 526.98 and with it official support for DirectStorage 1.1.
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mood · Jan 13, 2023

DirectStorage benchmark shows massive transfer speed improvements
Tests benchmark SSD transfer speeds and GPU decompression
By Daniel Sims @RedSwirl - January 12, 2023

Why it matters: Microsoft's DirectStorage API promises to bring PCs ultra-fast load times akin to what Xbox Series console and PlayStation 5 users have experienced for two years. As the first game supporting DirectStorage prepares to launch, a benchmark shows real performance gains on retail hardware.
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Tests from PC Games Hardware show that Microsoft's DirectStorage API can help NVMe SSDs load assets significantly faster than SATA SSDs. They also offer the enormous advantages of GPU-based decompression over CPU decompression.

The site ran Microsoft's publicly available Avocado-loading DirectStorage demo on a SATA SSD, a PCIe 3.0 NVMe SSD, and a PCIe 4.0 NVMe. It also compared decompression speeds between three GPUs and a CPU --an AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT, an Intel Arc A770, an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4080, and a 5.2GHz Intel i9-12900K.
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At GDC in March, Square Enix claimed that DirectStorage lets Forspoken load new scenes and environments in less than two seconds on an NVMe SSD compared to several seconds on a SATA SSD and almost half a minute on an HDD. Microsoft designed the new API for use on Windows 11. Due to its legacy storage stack, Windows 10 systems will only see limited benefits.
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mood · Jan 25, 2023

NVME demand could shoot up as Microsoft DirectStorage in Forspoken is seen working its magic
By Sayan Sen - January 24, 2023

Microsoft's DirectStorage API was one of the main reasons why Square Enix's Forspoken on PC was such a highly anticipated game. The new storage API was built on Xbox Velocity architecture and was set to revolutionize gaming. Early demos had shown extremely promising results and third-party testing on compatible hardware was equally impressive. The official system requirements for the title on PC were shared this past week and it confirmed that Windows 11 was necessary for DirectStorage support.
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Earlier today, Sunil Godhania, Senior Social Media Manager at Square Enix, published some expected performance numbers when DirectStorage is used. Godhania says NVMe drives should reduce load times to around a couple of seconds. SATA SSDs on the other hand will be able to do the same job in around 10 seconds. He writes:

This title uses Direct Storage[sic] technology. By running a NVMe SSD drive, loading time may finish within 1~2 seconds. With SATA SSD it may take about 10 seconds.
*loading time may vary depending on other hardware configurations and the storage devices in use.
Twitter user @JJDizz1L noted the load times where the game loaded back into the level almost in the blink of an eye when the "Continue" option was clicked.
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However, not every scene may yield great results. Wccftech notes that their loading times were far longer, with a few scenes taking over six seconds, even on a WD_BLACK SN850 Gen4 NVMe SSD. However, we have to keep in mind that it's a fairly new release which means the future overall looks really bright for DirectStorage and gaming on NVMe SSDs.
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