Although the Xbox Series X is some months away from its official launch, more details about this console are hitting the web. Recently, the head of Microsoft’s Xbox confirmed that the Xbox Series X will be delivered on time although there may be delays in some games. Larry Hryb, Director of Programming for the Microsoft gaming network Xbox Live, confirmed today that the Xbox Series X will support Variable Rate Shading (VRS) technology.
What is Variable Rate Shading (VRS)
This is a technology that can improve the quality and efficiency of GPU rendering. It increases rendering performance and quality by varying the shading rate for different regions of the frame. VRS Wrapper makes it easier for developers to integrate gaze tracking capabilities of their HMDs for foveated rendering. In the past, every pixel of the game screen requires GPU rendering. When the resolution of the game screen and the pixel number is getting higher, the GPU still works perfectly.
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With VRS, developers can completely reduce the shading rate of certain areas of the game screen. For example, a 16 × 16 pixel block is rendered as “one pixel”. This way, developers can greatly improve rendering and rendering efficiency. Developers won’t just render any part of the screen, they would select very similar areas.
The 16 × 16 pixel areas are basically the same or highly similar areas in the game screen. For example, the area has to be all-sky or dark places. In this way, developers can improve the smoothness of the game screen as much as possible without sacrificing the image quality of the game.
With this technology, Xbox Series X will have better gaming performance. However, Xbox Series X major competitor, Sony PlayStation 5 will also come with this feature. Thus, if Microsoft will win the competition, it may not be with the inclusion of this technology.
