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RO & destructable walls?...physics fun, using NVidia-physx and UT3

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Paajtor

Paajtor

Grizzled Veteran
Jul 30, 2006
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The Netherlands
youtu.be
#1
Hi all,

Haven't been here for ages, but I came across this and thought I had to post it.
I remembered some discussions about destructable environments in RO - like driving a tank through a wall, stuff like that.
Here is a video, showing the use of NVidia-PhysX in the UT3 engine.

Hope it's not old news....I did a quick search here, though.:D
 
#5
The new nVidia cards have an built in feature to calculate the physics. There are three special physics levels for UT3 (one with a tornado) but I don't know if it is even possible to start these maps without an Physixs card or the new nVidia babies, probably yes but the will certainly cause frame rate drops.

Long story short a small number of objects which can be affected by the player (in a possible RO2) should be ok for normal hardware (at least it works for Source games)
 
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#6
The trick with physics isn't about how many objects/particles really, it is about if the items are game relevant, and if so they need to act the same way across the entire network. Cause telling something to do local physics is easy these days. Like a small can rolling down a street. Doesn't matter where it shows up on each clients computer really as long as it's in the same general area. A giant boulder that fell down and could be used as cover however, needs to be in the exact same spot for everybody.
 
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#7
Here is a topic on the Epic-forums.

Got the video from this topic.

I have a NVidia card that meets the requirements - Geforce8-series - but mine has the new G-92 core, which I believe is a must...could be wrong though, but that's what I read a bit longer ago, in this topic.

Edit* Yoshiro, you're right, obviously. Yeah I wasn't aiming at the excisting RO game, but at an upcoming game. Should probably have put TWI in the topic title, instead of RO,.
 
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#11
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#13
fiftyone said:
...
EDIT : Oooh, Maybe its possible to dedicate a card to PhysX if you have a SLI/second card...
Click to expand...

When I built my comp this winter, the NVDIA MB had three graphics slots and at the time only dual SLI was available. I am using dual SLI at the moment. According to the manual, you could use the third slot for a (graphics) card dedicated to physics.
 
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#14
from that video i conclude that even in a highly optimised box map, the system seems to have trouble making all these blocks move at a realistic speed. it rather seems like they move under water in slow-mo.
now take a verry complex map with alot of buildings details, vehicles and players. then i think the physics system will probably have to reduced to a minimum. stuff like doors, a few boxes or barrels will probably be the few only objects the game will allow you to move.
at least thats what i saw in most newer games i saw, you have these objects that you can move, but after a while you can spot these objects in a blink of an eye, and it gets verry old quickly. don't even think of destroyable houses and stuff like that, and if its implemented it will be by using some sort of trick. and after a while everybody will be able to spot the destroyable parts of houses and it will again get old quickly.
 
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#16
Define "full physics"!
Do you want everything destructible? If yes, how should it work? Should everthing be comprised of smaller segments which can be broken off, if yes, how small should they be? Do you want something like the old geomod engine where you just dig through stuff? If yes, how detailed should that digging be? Should stuff you dig out stay around? If yes, should it be destroyable too? If yes, to how small pieces?
With physic, do you just mean stuff flying around or do you mean being able to deform stuff? Like smashing a dent into a can, ripping apart cardboard or shattering glass? Again: How detailed do you want these things to be?

Or do you simply mean -> real life but on a pc? Because that's not going to happen any time soon! Just take a look at a crappy piece of road and how many pieces of gravel there are on one. Everyone would have to be taken into account and apart from having all of them have physics: They can't even be modeled on regular hardware. And here the question again: How detailed should it be? 10tris per piece of gravel? 100? 1000? The abstraction has to start somewhere. Until you define that abstraction by saying what you mean with "full physics" no accurate answer can be given (even then I doubt anyone here would be able to take an accurate guess, but still).
 
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#18
Britney said full physics. Your definition includes how the turtles fall over in Mario on the GBA, to pick an extreme example.
As to your comment about ripping bricks apart: I've seen enough complaints about HL2's way of handling splintering wood where people complained that it always breaks the same and the small pieces can't be hacked anymore. Who cares? I can destroy a barricade and that's all that's necessary, right? According to your definition it is, and I agree with that, but that's not what we are debating here.
It's what the topic is about, maybe, but not what my response to Britney is about.
 
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#19
Murphy said:
Britney said full physics. Your definition includes how the turtles fall over in Mario on the GBA, to pick an extreme example.
As to your comment about ripping bricks apart: I've seen enough complaints about HL2's way of handling splintering wood where people complained that it always breaks the same and the small pieces can't be hacked anymore. Who cares? I can destroy a barricade and that's all that's necessary, right? According to your definition it is, and I agree with that, but that's not what we are debating here.
It's what the topic is about, maybe, but not what my response to Britney is about.
Click to expand...

Yes like destroying a wall into 100 pieces then using the bricks as weapons to throw at the enemy.
 
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