In recent years, as the quality and content of AAA games have continued to improve, the size of game files has been rapidly increasing. Nowadays, it's not uncommon for games to exceed 100GB, with updates often reaching tens of gigabytes, and major updates sometimes necessitating a complete re-download of the game. For instance, the upcoming Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 is reported to exceed 300GB, presenting a substantial inconvenience for gamers without high-speed internet access.

To address this issue, AMD is developing a pioneering technology named Neural Block Compression (NBC), which aims to significantly reduce the disk space occupied by games and the size of patches and updates. Modern AAA game files are primarily composed of visual materials, such as textures, CG, and animated transition videos. These games may include hundreds of thousands of individual assets, sometimes incorporating redundant texture sets to accommodate different image quality settings.

The core concept behind Neural Block Compression is to flatten multiple layers of texture and texture map data into a single material format using AI neural networks. Traditional game textures cover not just the surface of the wireframe but also include additional layers like specular maps, normal maps, and roughness maps. AMD plans to elaborate on this technology at the European Graphics Rendering Symposium, which is scheduled for July 3-5, 2024.

Specifically, game engines can use AI neural networks to break down textures into layers. This methodology differs from supertexturing, which relies on a large texture that encompasses all objects. The neural block compression technique allows for substantial file size reductions by flattening the individual texture and mapping data layers. Although this technique may impose some additional computational costs on the client-side, the storage space savings and improved update efficiency are significant. For gamers, this translates to shorter download times and reduced storage space requirements, while for developers, it offers more efficient resource management.

AMD's innovative approach not only demonstrates its leadership in gaming technology but also offers a new direction for future game development. As the size and complexity of game files continue to grow, efficiently managing and distributing this content becomes increasingly critical. Neural Block Compression provides a promising solution to this challenge and may become a new standard in game development.

AMD's Neural Block Compression technology is poised to revolutionize both game development and the gaming experience by reducing the burden of storage and updates. We eagerly await more details from AMD at the upcoming European Graphics Rendering Symposium.