“DirectStorage allows faster loading times by skipping the cpu and loading assets directly from storage to the GPU” — This is false.
There are a few different technologies with different names that are being conflated and misunderstood by users and tech media. I hope I can try to clear this up a little.
THE CURRENT WAY OF DOING THINGS (without DirectStorage)
Assets are loaded into games by executing File IO requests on the CPU using the Win32 API. This API was not designed with high-speed storage in mind, nor was it built to handle large amounts of very small requests. Games nowadays follow exactly this type of “high-quantity, small file-size” pattern and so are unable to fully utilize high speed SSDs. Compressed graphics assets are loaded from the storage device into system memory (RAM). The assets are decompressed by the CPU, then copied from system memory into the memory on the graphics card (VRAM).
WHAT DIRECTSTORAGE DOES DIFFERENTLY
DirectStorage for Windows replaces the …
Just a neat little thing to think about. Looking at VR now, it’s great that adoption has increased immensely but mostly for stand-alone headsets like Quest 2. Facebook continues to dominate the market going forward meanwhile PCVR is still waiting for whatever player, mostly Valve really, to release a new headset. There’s high-end stuff like Varjo, mid-end stuff like Reverb, niche accessory/peripherals (body tracking, VR gloves, etc.) manufacturers/modders, and even China is pumping loads of cash into the tech now. Investment into the industry is at an all time high and competing headsets, at least announcements of their existence, are popping up nearly every other month.
However, on the software side of things it feels like the needle has barely moved. Sure games on Quest 2 are seeing better sales and that’s great for VR devs to keep afloat but at the same time we haven’t really gotten any Alyx-level game yet which people seemed to expect after it came out. Off …
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