Microsoft’s DirectStorage 1.1 will soon boost PC game load times with GPU decompression
by Tom Warren from The Verge - All Posts on (#64QD5)
Image: Microsoft 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...