Since its apparently working well for MSFS on Xbox, one wonders when and what we will see if or when the tech is activated on PC https://www.techspot.com/news/93963-microsoft-directstorage-can-reduce-cpu-usage-40.html?fbclid=IwAR0dyZgGIYteawDdnh6Ba3fd_C6pe7oRBy7KLsKshTDSAFi_PBqZr71yV7s

 

Last week I noticed that MS made the Direct Storage API for PC available "to all of our partners" on March 14th.

I would assume that since the Xbox already had Direct Storage,  Asobo has prior experience.   Hopefully it won't take long,  and make a huge impact on loading times.

https://devblogs.microsoft.com/directx/directstorage-api-available-on-pc

Quote

DirectStorage API Now Available on PC

Cassie

 

March 14th, 20223

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. In September 2020, we announced DirectStorage would be coming to Windows, and after collecting feedback throughout our developer preview, we are making this API available to all of our partners to ship with their games. Check out the announcement blog for an in-depth exploration of the inspiration for DirectStorage and how it will benefit Windows games.

Getting Started – Developers

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 for Windows.

PIX on Windows will support DirectStorage Day 1 – check out the PIX blog post for more details!

We will be presenting an introduction to DirectStorage at GDC– along with some tips and tricks to get started– on March 22.  If you’re unable to watch it live, check back here for a link to the on-demand video of the session after the 22. We also recommend that you check out the GDC talk presented by Luminous Productions about their integration of DirectStorage in Forspoken.

Questions on development? Have an implementation you want feedback on? Reach out to [email protected].

Looking for community engagement? Check out the DX12 Discord Server.

 

Getting Started – Gamers

If you want to get your PC ready to take advantage of DirectStorage games, we have a few suggestions. 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. Stay tuned to learn about games that will be shipping with DirectStorage in the future!

 

What’s Next?

This release of DirectStorage provides developers everything they need to move to a new model of IO for their games, and we’re working on even more ways to offload work from the CPU.  GPU decompression is next on our roadmap, a feature that will give developers more control over resources and how hardware is leveraged. Additionally, we will continue optimizing, integrating feedback, and improving on the existing runtime implementation. Follow us on Twitter or join our Discord channel to get the latest news on DirectStorage features and improvements.

 

in their last dev Q&A they mentioned that they will look in to it, it was the same comment they said previously about DLSS.

that's code for "we don't understand how this works"...

43 minutes ago, CombatCustard said:

that's code for "we don't understand how this works"...

They seemed to have the same reaction when DLSS was first asked about in a Q&A. AMD FSR was also asked about recently. At least they seem to have now committed to DLSS so more cool tech should eventually follow.

I would just expect that any team developing an application where performance optimisation is important (like with MSFS), that they would be more up to speed with these technical developments.

After all, they have reduced certain detail/quality aspects to improve performance a little bit, but DLSS and DirectStorage have the potential to out perform any tweaking they have done with things such as cloud textures and draw distances etc. 

With things such as fully implemented DX12, DirectStorage, and DLSS (and equivalent AMD systems), I really would expect them to be taking the lead on this and telling us their hopes for the new technology, rather than users in forums having to keep questioning them in the official forums, having votes, and pressing them in the twitch feeds.

I think it would look great if they had someone ahead of the curve on this.  I don't know how they can fully plan performance and visual improvements to the sim in future without taking these things into account.

2 hours ago, CombatCustard said:

that's code for "we don't understand how this works"...

Actually, it’s probably code for “we’ll be happy to work on whatever Microsoft asks/pays us to work on.”

1 hour ago, bobcat999 said:

I would just expect that any team developing an application where performance optimisation is important (like with MSFS), that they would be more up to speed with these technical developments.

After all, they have reduced certain detail/quality aspects to improve performance a little bit, but DLSS and DirectStorage have the potential to out perform any tweaking they have done with things such as cloud textures and draw distances etc. 

With things such as fully implemented DX12, DirectStorage, and DLSS (and equivalent AMD systems), I really would expect them to be taking the lead on this and telling us their hopes for the new technology, rather than users in forums having to keep questioning them in the official forums, having votes, and pressing them in the twitch feeds.

I think it would look great if they had someone ahead of the curve on this.  I don't know how they can fully plan performance and visual improvements to the sim in future without taking these things into account.

LOL....it seems in this current world, being reactive vs proactive is standard policy.  The world has gotten lazy IMO and it seems that every aspect of life, you have administrations, companies and "leaders" waiting for things to happen before reacting to them, vs being one step ahead of everyone else.

"Didn't see it coming" is never a sentence you want coming out of "leaders" mouths.  🤔

Can't see DirectStorage doing anything meaningful for MSFS.  If you look at CPU utilization for I/O on current fast NVMe drives it's next to nothing already.

1 hour ago, Noel said:

MSFS.  If you look at CPU utilization for I/O on current fast NVMe drives it's next to nothing already.

Doesn’t it load the game in a matter of seconds on Xbox as oppose to 2-6 mins on PC? That would be enough of a pro for me. 

11 minutes ago, Ianrivaldosmith said:

Doesn’t it load the game in a matter of seconds on Xbox as oppose to 2-6 mins on PC? That would be enough of a pro for me. 

I think the loading in seconds has something to do with when you close the game it is put in a sleep state, and when re-started it is just awakened. This is even after the system has been 'turned off' but still plugged in on power (essentially put into sleep mode). if you start the Sim after playing something else the load times are longer. 

Edited March 31, 20224 yr by Simple B

Just now, Simple B said:

I think the loading in seconds has something to do with when you close the game it is put in a sleep state, and when re-started it is just awakened. This is even after the system has been 'turned off' but still plugged in on power (essentially put into sleep mode). if you start the game after playing something else the load times are longer. 

Sounds very plausible.

exactly., its called quickresume.

startup else takes 2.30 min on xbox series s.

I was the person who brought up the question on the Q&A. I think DirectStorage has a ton of protentional not only in reducing CPU usage but also faster loading time. I really hope Asobo look into this as this would make MSFS a much better product.

8 hours ago, CombatCustard said:

that's code for "we don't understand how this works"...

Exactly right