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Sony is empowering game developers by creating data libraries optimized for advanced PS5 next-generation rendering techniques, including ray tracing.
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In its Recent Corporate Report 2020, Sony briefly mentions how it is helping game developers optimize data and asset management on the PS5. The next-gen PlayStation 5 SSD storage hardware is monumentally fast, and is capable of sending uncompressed data at speeds of 5.5GB / sec via a 6-channel memory controller and a PCIe 4.0 x4 interface.
The SSD can feed data to RAM, GPU and CPU components at levels never before seen for consoles, leading to instantaneous loading sequences, global lighting techniques such as ray tracing, variable speed shading optimizations to significantly improve performance. frame rates and bigger, more robust worlds.
However, to get the most out of the hardware, Sony has to optimize data management at the software, operating system and toolset level.
Sony hasn’t talked much about this process. Microsoft, however, has been incredibly transparent in the architectural design of the Xbox Series X; They have talked extensively about Velocity Architecture and DirectX 12 Ultimate, which enables ray tracing and other optimizations. Sony, however, has remained mute on the subject. Despite the silence, the developers praise the PlayStation 5 and say it is the the easiest console to develop games for.
Now, in its recent corporate report to investors, Sony touches on the subject. The company says it is creating value by strengthening relationships with developers. A key way to do this is by facilitating game development using non-specific custom tools and data optimization features.
The details are shrouded in mystery, but the gist is that Sony wants ray-traced imaging to be incredibly easy to achieve on PlayStation 5.
“Custom I / O systems with integrated ultra-high-speed custom SSDs, for example, can substantially reduce game load times, dramatically changing the gaming experience for users.
“The PS5 supports ray tracing technology to simplify the rendering process, a major burden for game creators.
“For ray tracing to be effective, it must be fast, requiring not only excellent hardware performance, but also excellent software to get the most out of the hardware. To get the most out of the hardware performance, we are building data structures. essential for faster ray tracing and development libraries to offer game creators whose voices we will be considering throughout the process. “
Read also: PlayStation 5 SSD destroys loading screens in new Ratchet & Clank game
There hasn’t been much discussion about data management and optimization tools. PlayStation 5 architect Mark Cerny briefly discussed this issue during the March presentation, but the briefing was mostly focused on speed, efficiency, and how storage will revolutionize the way games are made and played.
“We’re talking two orders of magnitude faster, which means roughly 100 times faster than PS4. Which means that at 5GB / sec on the SSD the game boots in one second.
“There are no loading screens. The game just fades and loads half a dozen gigabytes, and fades again. The same goes for a reload. You immediately go back to the game after doing so. And the fast travels become so fast that in a blink of an eye you are present “ PS5 architect Mark Cerny said in a presentation in early March.
“Our goal with the PS5 is not just for the SSD to be 100 times faster. It’s for game loads and streaming to be 100 times faster as well. So all potential bottlenecks needed to be addressed. And there are Many”.
“To solve these problems, we built a lot of custom hardware, namely a custom flash controller and a series of custom drives on our main chip.”
Sony may reveal more details about these libraries and data structures during the upcoming PS5 teardown event, but it’s more likely that consumers won’t get much information on the subject.
The PlayStation 5 is due out in the 2020 holiday season. No pricing or information on the exact release date has been confirmed, but we suspect the system will cost $ 499 and will launch on November 13.
There will be two versions of the PlayStation 5: a digital-only system and a disk-based system.
See below for confirmed PlayStation generation side-by-side specs: