Direct Storage

[Riderocket]

I hope we get it on IL-2,

My game seems to take a long time to load.

 

 

[56RAF_Roblex]

What do you mean by 'Direct Storage'?   You cannot get more direct than running it off an SSD so the only way I can see it loading faster is for it to keep the whole game in RAM permanently.  

 

EDIT: OK I see what you were talking about though in the example provided there was no visible difference and even though it was only a small model there was a perceivable delay (identical to the non-direct version) while it drew.  

Edited March 27, 2022 by 56RAF_Roblex

[AndyJWest]

Article, so we know what this is about:

https://www.extremetech.com/gaming/332775-directstorage-api-finally-available-for-windows

 

It seems you'd need IL-2 GB installed on an NVME drive to benefit. 

 

 

[Riderocket]

Microsoft said that windows 10 was the last version of windows forever, and that it will be updated indefinitely.

 

Now they release windows 11 which has strict requirements that many older PCs don't have (like 8th gen or newer Intel)

 

And now they're bringing out improvements to gaming such as faster loading, like this new "Direct Storage" but the catch is you need a windows 11 PC with NVMe SSD...

 

Thanks Micro$oft

[AndyJWest]

I'm no great fan of Microsoft's monopolistic practices myself either, but complaining that they add new features to take advantage of possibilities new hardware offers doesn't make much sense.

 

The article I linked also seems to suggest that some of the benefits of Direct Storage may possibly be available under Win 10, though it isn't entirely clear.

[Riderocket]

11 minutes ago, AndyJWest said:

I'm no great fan of Microsoft's monopolistic practices myself either, but complaining that they add new features to take advantage of possibilities new hardware offers doesn't make much sense.

 

The article I linked also seems to suggest that some of the benefits of Direct Storage may possibly be available under Win 10, though it isn't entirely clear.

I'm sure whatever they put in windows 11 they can also put in windows 10, secure boot and TPM dont exactly add anything special.

 

Edit: NVMe came out sometime in 2013 or 2014. and they say older GPUs like the GTX 980 can support this direct storage (also 2014). so I wouldn't call it new hardware (older then windows 10 (2015)), so it should work on windows 10 which is still supported until 2025.

no excuses ?

Edited March 27, 2022 by Riderocket

[AndyJWest]

From Microsoft's DirectX Developer Blog:

Quote

DirectStorage is compatible with Windows 10 devices, but Windows 11 has the latest storage optimizations built in and is our recommended path for gaming. While you may see benefits on any kind of storage device, installing games to an NVMe SSD will maximize your IO performance and help you more fully experience the benefits of DirectStorage.

link

 

That seems to imply that you don't even need an NVMe drive to benefit, though any performance gains are going to be smaller without.

 

Edit:

An explanation of how DirectStorage works:

https://www.howtogeek.com/785339/what-is-directstorage-on-windows-11-and-xbox/

 

In brief, GPU assets are often stored in a compressed form, to save space and to provide faster access. Existing APIs used the CPU to decompress the data before sending it to the GPU, whereas under DirectStorage the data is sent to the GPU in compressed form, where the GPU itself does the decompression.

 

It should be fairly obvious that you'll only see significant benefits from this if you can get compressed data off storage fast enough for that to not be the bottleneck. Hence the benefit of using fast NVMe drives.
 

 

 

 

 

Edited March 27, 2022 by AndyJWest

[AEthelraedUnraed]

54 minutes ago, Riderocket said:

Microsoft said that windows 10 was the last version of windows forever, and that it will be updated indefinitely.

 

Now they release windows 11 which has strict requirements that many older PCs don't have (like 8th gen or newer Intel)

 

And now they're bringing out improvements to gaming such as faster loading, like this new "Direct Storage" but the catch is you need a windows 11 PC with NVMe SSD...

You do not seriously expect Microsoft, or any company for that matter, to keep supporting older hardware, do you? If you want to progress and make use of the newest technology while keeping your software small and fast, there's no other option than releasing newer versions that may be incompatible with older hardware and older versions of the software.

 

54 minutes ago, Riderocket said:

Thanks Micro$oft

Win 11 is free....

 

Even IL2 has recently dropped support for some long outdated hardware. If you call it Micro$oft, I suggest we rename the game I£2 $turmovik as well.

 

10 minutes ago, AndyJWest said:

From Microsoft's DirectX Developer Blog:

link

 

That seems to imply that you don't even need an NVMe drive to benefit, though any performance gains are going to be smaller without.

What DirectStorage seems to do is simply move the bottleneck from the CPU to the SSD as the calculations are now handled by the GPU which removes some overhead and should also be faster overall. So yes, it should in theory work with other storage technologies as well but if your SSD is already the bottleneck, it will have zero effect.