Nixxes software, which is developing the PC port for Insomniac"s Games" Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, shared more details about the upcoming title. The game is going to feature Microsoft"s DirectStorage version 1.2, which means the game will bring GPU decompression, among other features.
This will make it the second title after Forspoken to receive the modern storage API. Rumor has it that Diablo IV too is getting DirectStorage support sometime in the future.
While the post has since been deleted, a ResetEra forum user Madjoki saved the information that was published. Apparently, the game will work best with PCIe SSDs, which is to be expected as they are much faster than SATA ones, but the latter should work too.
Even though hard disk drives (HDDs) are multitudes of time slower, they are supported too as features like buffered file IO will come into play.
To ensure a smooth dimension-hopping experience, our team implemented DirectStorage 1.2 in Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart on PC, including GPU decompression.
Richard van der Laan, Senior Lead Programmer at Nixxes Software, explains:
To enable quick loading and instant transition between dimensions, the game needs to be able to load assets quickly. DirectStorage ensures quick loading times and GPU decompression is used at high graphics settings to stream assets in the background while playing. Traditionally, this decompression is handled by the CPU, but at a certain point there is an advantage to letting the GPU handle this, as this enables a higher bandwidth for streaming assets from storage to the graphics card. We use this to quickly load high-quality textures and environments with a high level of detail.
Principal Programmer Alex Bartholomeus:
For Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart on PC we added adaptive streaming based on live measurement of the available hardware bandwidth. This allows us to tailor the texture streaming strategy for the best possible texture streaming on any configuration. With DirectStorage, the use of a fast NVMe SSD and GPU decompression, this results in very responsive texture streaming even at the highest settings.
DirectStorage is developed to fully utilize the speed of fast PCIe NVMe SSDs, but the technology is also compatible with SATA SSDs and even traditional hard disk drives. This means Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart on PC can use the same technology for loading data, regardless of the storage device in your system.
Here are the PC system requirements for Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart:
Aside from those, Nvidia"s Ray-traced Ambient Occlusion (RTAO) as well as Intel"s XeGTAO (Ground Truth-based Ambient Occlusion). A summary of the overall PC features was also provided:
- Blast your way through an interdimensional adventure as Ratchet and Clank make their way to PC for the very first time!
- Wrap your eyes around delightful, diverse dimensions, with ultra-wide support for 21:9, 32:9, and 48:9 (triple monitor support) resolutions!*
- See the omniverse brought to life with the option of unlocked frame rates! You can also enjoy ray-traced reflections, as well as newly added, ray-traced shadows for exteriors.**
- Witness the very latest, performance-enhancing upscaling technologies for yourself, including NVIDIA DLSS 3, AMD FSR 2, Intel XeSS and Insomniac Games\u2019 Temporal Injection. NVIDIA Reflex and image quality-enhancing NVIDIA DLAA are also supported.
- Play with the DualSense controller to experience haptic feedback and dynamic trigger effects.*** Or choose mouse and keyboard \u2013 with a wide range of control customization options.
- Includes support for achievements and cloud saves on PC game launchers.
The title is set to launch in around a couple of weeks on July 26, 2023.