Well, while browsing the internet for elder scrolls oblivion stuff, i came across a card coming out from a company called ageia. Its a card dedicated to physics processing and it looks pretty awesome.

http://physx.ageia.com/

At the moment it is fairly small but i wonder in the next couple of years whether or not it will be taken up by game developers and so on.

Now the question i purpose is the benefit of such a card with the physics of LFS? According to a review, it takes an enormous load of the CPU (this in turn can be turned over to stuff like AI etc). It also boasts 2 terabits of bandwidth. I also wonder just how real the physics may become with a dedicated chip for physics alone.

Review:

http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=2376

It certainly looks promising, have a look

hmmm....that thread just goes in depth into the uses, and how it could be used in LFS, its expense and so on. What i'm really looking for is the general opinion on the benefits for LFS with this chip (lets say if scawen was to code the SDK into LFS), if there are any at all....Would it be worth coding every nick and cranny of the world into lfs? :S

You want to know the "benefits for LFS" of the chip, and are completely uninterested in "how it could be used in LFS"? I don't understand you. Really, I don't.

Vain

Plain and simple truth is Ageia fakes the physics in a way that LFS would never stoop to.

"Ayee Captn'! We have spotted a search button."
"Gharrrr! Ignore it and be prepare to board enemy forums!"

pirate:

Quote from spankmeyer :

"Ayee Captn'! We have spotted a search button."
"Gharrrr! Ignore it and be prepare to board enemy forums!"

pirate:

:ices_rofl :biggrinfl

Quote from Forbin :

Plain and simple truth is Ageia fakes the physics in a way that LFS would never stoop to.

Errr... How so?

Quote from Forbin :

Plain and simple truth is Ageia fakes the physics in a way that LFS would never stoop to.

Aegia is base on Novodex physics engine, wich is one of the most accurate and efficient one i tested. The physics engine and constraint solver is as good as Havok one.

LFS would gain GREAT behaving from this engine, especialy in the collisions parts.

regards,

Quote from MagicFr :

LFS would gain GREAT behaving from this engine, especialy in the collisions parts.

Quote from South Park: "And I base my conclusion on absolutely no evidence at all."

Simply put, we have no idea how totally gargantuan rewrite the LFS source would need to ram something of that magnitude in without either horrible performance or new bugs.

Hi Sebastien, long time no hear

The Novodex engine is very impressive to me in regards to collision detection/response. The constraint system for multiple contacts and joints and so forth is wickedly fast too. I don't get the claims many make about "fake physics" at all though. Seems rather unfounded.

Here's a neat video:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3103103511684048644

Quote from spankmeyer :

Quote from South Park: "And I base my conclusion on absolutely no evidence at all."

Simply put, we have no idea how totally gargantuan rewrite the LFS source would need to ram something of that magnitude in without either horrible performance or new bugs.

For our racing games i tested :
Havok
Render Ware Physics
Novodex
ODE.

I tested :

High velocity object vs thin objects with 0 bounce param.
Multiple constraint ( contacts, hinge,balls,etc.. ) stability
CPU demanding
Resting state detection and optimisation
Penetration behaving.
Other stuff ( like API interface )

My statment is based on fact and tests I made.

I also made my own dynamics and collisions engine, so from my experience, i'm sure of my statments.

Now.. i'm pretty sure Scawen will not use this kind of stuff.
1) They are pretty expensive
2) Scawen like to do everything himself, and i respect that.

regards,

Quote from jtw62074 :

Hi Sebastien, long time no hear

TDU is near the ending

Quote :

The Novodex engine is very impressive to me in regards to collision detection/response. The constraint system for multiple contacts and joints and so forth is wickedly fast too. I don't get the claims many make about "fake physics" at all though. Seems rather unfounded.

Here's a neat video:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3103103511684048644

From the last version i tested, 1 year ago.
The 2 main problems of novodex
1) the API was pretty closed and it was quite difficult to plug special stuff ( for exemple, modifying normal contact and friction contact on the fly )
2) The deep penetrating behavior was less elegant and interesting than Render ware physics for exmple.

In renderware physics, you can put 2 objects at the same place, and they just unpenetraing gently from each other without flying all other the place

In Novodex, ( last year version again ), it was force base and so could be quite violent.

Havok act like Novodex for this case ( penetration ) .. What is great in Havok , is the API, it is just pure marvelous for programmers, you can plug your code whenever you want in the process and modify contacts info/params on the fly

Quote from MagicFr :

Now.. i'm pretty sure Scawen will not use this kind of stuff.
1) They are pretty expensive

Even ODE? :smash:

Quote from Kegetys :

Even ODE? :smash:

bah... playing with words


And, i dt think ODE is free with you use it for non-free products

Quote from MagicFr :

And, i dt think ODE is free with you use it for non-free products

It is licensed under the BSD license, so it is.

Quote from Kegetys :

It is licensed under the BSD license, so it is.

Didn't knew.

Quote from Vain :

You want to know the "benefits for LFS" of the chip, and are completely uninterested in "how it could be used in LFS"? I don't understand you. Really, I don't.

Vain

hmm....I really don't know where you came to this conclusion? It was a simple case of asking a question that hasn't been put forward yet...but nevermind.

I must say, looks like the benefits of this chip at the moment are somewhat limited (bit of an understatement). Perhaps next mainstream thing who knows? I look forward to what the next coming years with the various games that come out that support this technology. Would be highly interested in racing titles, but don't think none of these will touch on LFS however