When Microsoft announced the advent of Windows 11, they described the operating system as the perfect platform for gamers. They promised Auto-HDR, a function that would enable gamers to access HDR Mode regardless of whether or not the game in question supported HDR.
The Operating System’s decision to integrate the Xbox app attracted a lot of interest as well because it meant that people could use Microsoft’s Game Pass to play video games on their computers.
Microsoft went to great lengths to emphasize the improvements Windows 11 would offer to gamers. A few hiccups dampened their promises. One of the most prominent was the spike in L3 latencies.
However, many Microsoft fans expect the company to resolve these issues in the coming months. More importantly, they believe that these challenges are a worthwhile price to pay for the opportunity to benefit from DirectStorage.
What is Direct Storage?
DirectStorage is an API that will enhance the performance of video games significantly. Microsoft developed the technology with the Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S consoles in mind. But the API is now available on Windows 11.
Modern games require modern machines because they are massive. The average title is dozens of GB in size, which is why they need incredible amounts of RAM and storage.
Video games load far too much data, and this strains the memory. The average computer tries to alleviate this strain by dividing the items it has to process into small pieces.
The goal is to only load the items you need at that moment in the video game. This approach works, but it is cumbersome because of all the requests involved. Because most APIs today tackle the requests individually, computers have to contend with thousands of requests every second, which is inefficient.
The potential for bottlenecks is high. DirectStorage is supposed to solve this problem. Usually, a game has to retrieve compressed data from the RAM that the CPU must decompress before the GPU can render it.
DirectStorage makes CPU decompression unnecessary. It bridges the RAM and GPU, permitting large volumes of data to move between the two quickly. The result is faster load times. Learn more about https://devblogs.microsoft.com/directx/directstorage-is-coming-to-pc/
Windows 11 DirectStorage Requirements
- 1TB (NVMe SSD)
- DirectX12
- Shader Model 6.0 Support (GPU)
How Do You Use DirectStorage?
DirectStorage will revolutionize gaming on Windows. That shouldn’t come as a surprise. After all, the API was made for Xbox Velocity Architecture. But how do you use this technology? How do you enable it?
This is the beauty of DirectStorage. You don’t have to use or enable anything. Because this is an Application Programming Interface, it works in the background without your direct involvement.
You don’t have to do anything to make it work. Unfortunately, you cannot take full advantage of the API at the moment. Whenever Microsoft promotes DirectStorage, they emphasize the fact that the API will create new opportunities for game developers.
Video games are already technical marvels. Studios have created some of the largest and most immersive worlds the gaming market has ever seen. But with DirectStorage, they can do even more.
And this is where the delays come from. You have to wait for game developers to create games that take advantage of DirectStorage or tweak pre-existing games to utilize this feature.
DirectStorage is ready to go the moment these games become available. The computer will do all the complicated work. But industry experts do not expect DirectStorage-compatible games to emerge until 2023, at the earliest.
Therefore, you must wait a while. Give game developers are chance to implement the feature.
DirectStorage On Windows 10
When the API was first announced, Microsoft said they would only make DirectStorage available on Windows 11. But they backtracked and revealed, later on, that it would become available on Windows 10 as well.
The revelation surprised many experts because Microsoft had gone to great lengths to market Windows 11 as a gamer’s operating system. The tactic made sense.
Video games are the most lucrative medium in the world, bigger than movies and the music industry combined. If Microsoft can tap into the gaming market, it can grow its customer base exponentially.
Tech pundits expected Microsoft to use the gaming aspect to draw people to Windows 11. If people can access DirectStorage on Windows 10, they have less reason to upgrade to Windows 11.
The requirements for DirectStorage on the older operating system are similar. You need NVMe SSD (or PCIe3.0) and DirectX12 GPU. These are the minimum specs.
You can’t run the API with older, slower GPUs. Additionally, you can’t use DirectStorage on any random version of Windows 10. You need the 1909 version. Without it, DirectStorage is out of your each.
In truth, most gamers will make the jump to Windows 11. At the end of the day, even though they can use it on Windows 10, DirectStorage requires Windows 11 to reach its full potential. But non-gamers won’t care, and they are just as likely to stick with Windows 10.
Conclusion
Microsoft promised that Windows 11 would optimize the gaming experience, and for the moment, it looks like they told the truth. Microsoft makes Xbox, one of the biggest consoles in the world.
They applied elements of the Xbox Series S/X to the operating system, which is why gamers expect Windows 11 to exceed the performance of its predecessors. DirectStorage is obviously their most significant prize.
Along with Auto-HDR, the API has turned Windows 11 into one of the most attractive gaming platforms on the market. Admittedly, it may take a while for the operating system to attain its true potential.
Windows 11 is still new, which is why it has so many annoying bugs. Many people have decided to wait for this initial wave of glitches to disappear before they upgrade.
They know that Microsoft is still working out the kinks. They have no reason to rush. After all, game developers haven’t yet implemented DirectStorage. By the time an optimized version of Windows 11 hits the market, DirectStorage-compatible games should have arrived.
Until that appointed time in the near future, you can experiment with the Windows 10 version of the API.
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