Gaming Effects Versus Hollywood, Part II

Features
By Tino Kreiss
published

Physics Effects

With the current Nvidia graphics drivers, all CUDA-capable graphics cards with GeForce 8, 9 and GT200 can handle the calculation of physics effects via the stream processors. Nvidia uses the PhysX technology which previously belonged to Ageia. The current benefit is still limited, as many games are optimized for software physics and the physics hardware is neither required nor supported. One example here is Space Siege. It calculates the same explosions, flying debris and spinning gas tanks both with and without hardware support.

To see the hardware in action, there is a PhysX modification pack for Unreal Tournament 3, a benchmark of the game MKZ, and a demo named Warmonger. It will be interesting to see, in the coming weeks and months, what happens when the first games are released with proper support: Cryostasis, Huxley, Shadow Harvest or Brothers in Arms: Hell’s Highway.

Nvidia has a list containing all of the available PhysX games which contain benefits achieved by hardware. There is a lack of transparency, however, as this list still contains games from Ageia which are apparently supported by a patch that cannot be found anywhere. It is also not really clear what the hardware benefits entail, either. Are there additional effects, or is it just that the calculation process is transferred from the software driver to the GPU? Another complaint regarding the list is completeness: it contains games that are not yet available, and does not contain others which have been announced at Nvidia presentations as having PhysX support.

Nvidia’s list for PhysX games: http://www.nzone.com/object/nzone_physxgames_home.html

Tino Kreiss
29 Comments Comment from the forums
  • lucuis
    It can only get better :)
    Reply
  • roynaldi
    Wasser -1, Wasser -3, -5, Wasserfall, Bewegungsunscharfe*.....

    German Tab names for the pics... Very Nice guys!
    *movementSharpness!?!?
    Reply
  • neiroatopelcc
    Part 1 had german names for the images too. I don't see how that is of any importance though as the titles for the respective pages were translated. Some of the games were in german too in case you missed it btw (bioshock amongst others)

    Anyway. I read the article and can't help to somehow be disappointed. Sure it's well written and explained, but somehow there's something missing! it seems to be more of the first part and not enough hollywood somehow. There are like 85% gaming screenshots, 8% reallife and the remaining 7% are hollywood. Also the article only covers stuff hollywood uses and games do too - nothing mentioned of stuff that pc's cant do yet other than visual enhancements that aren't treated as manipulatable objects - but then hollywood doesn't really supply that either, as all their stuff is static each time it's displayed.

    In short : not enough hollywood, and too much pc tech.
    Reply
  • thr3ddy
    roynaldiWasser -1, Wasser -3, -5, Wasserfall, Bewegungsunscharfe*..... German Tab names for the pics... Very Nice guys!*movementSharpness!?!?Bewegungsunscharfe
    Reply
  • thr3ddy
    Crap sorry about the double post. Bewegungsunscharfe = Motion blur.
    Reply
  • Why are there no examples of the Source engine in these articles? The physics is unparalleled in a lot of ways. The new cinematic physics engine? Hello? What they do with characters alone (mostly in animation/facial animation) is amazing. I also don't notice any Gears/UT3 examples, which is just weird.
    Reply
  • Tis a shame you mention water graphics and have no references to Uncharted.

    @Anony-Guy the first example was UT3 engine (stranglehold. I must admit though gears 2 had better water graphics.
    Reply
  • hellwig
    I remember a cool water effect in Giants. If you ran through a body of water, the water would appear to react to your legs, and waves of water would rush up against the them. Of course, this wasn't really the water reacting, it was just a secondary effect being drawn at the point where the legs met the water. It still looked cool for a game from 8 years ago.

    I'm surprised there were no examples of water from Serious Sam. SS had transparent water, shadows cast underneath by the ripples on the water surface, etc..., and again, all back in 2000/2001. The Serious Engine was so impressive when it came out, far better than Quake III and UT, the other options at that time.
    Reply
  • cruiseoveride
    Where is the Playboy Mansion PC vs Real life comparison????
    Reply
  • JonnyDough
    What they need is better ripple effects now. When you walk through water, your character needs to slow and teeter more. Each stride should make noise, not just a general noise of sploshing. When you drop a gun in water, it needs come out dripping wet. When you swim, you need to do it in lunges, not smoothly. When the tide rolls in, the sand needs to change a bit over time. Your footprints need to disappear with each wave, etc. These little things aren't that hard to implement, and should not be taking up much system resources. I think it's just laziness on the part of most developers. There's always this "time limit" and "budget" that interfere as well...but then you have a monster giant corporation like EA who is spending money on stupid things like SecuRom instead of producing great games that will make sales.
    Reply