Microsoft has released the public preview of DirectStorage 1.4 during the GDC. The main novelty is the integration of Meta's Zstandard (Zstd) compression algorithm, designed to optimize the loading and streaming of assets in games with a large amount of content. This update comes accompanied by the Game Asset Conditioning Library, a new tool for developers.
Technical integration and advantages for development 🛠️
Zstd is incorporated into DirectStorage's multi-level decompression framework, compatible with CPU and GPU, offering developers one more option. It does not replace existing methods, but rather expands the possibilities for building pipelines. The GACL library, designed to integrate into existing content pipelines, can improve Zstd compression ratios by up to 50%, while keeping decompression costs low at runtime by working together.
Goodbye to loading screens, hello to download screens ⚡
With these improvements, soon we will be able to go from seeing a loading bar to simply receiving a notice that the level is already ready. Perhaps the next problem will be that players will no longer have time to read screen tips or take a sip of coffee between matches. Speed advances, but our ability to procrastinate during loads is in danger.