Sorry your browser is not supported!

You are using an outdated browser that does not support modern web technologies, in order to use this site please update to a new browser.

Browsers supported include Chrome, FireFox, Safari, Opera, Internet Explorer 10+ or Microsoft Edge.

Program Announcements / Dark Physics - PhysX Driver Workaround

Author
Message
N3wton
14
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 3rd Jun 2009
Location: Leeds, UK
Posted: 4th Sep 2009 20:35 Edited at: 6th Sep 2009 12:48
How many people like the idea of Dark Physics, like using the PhysX SDK... but when it comes to releasing your game you find your user has to download the 40mb drivers, or worse include it with your game making it massive!

but what if there was away to make darkbasic install the 5 required dlls and add the require registry information?...

Well now there is with "N3wtons PhysX Workaround"

basically,
it installs the registry information,
installs the PhysX drivers to the programs files directory,
and installs the PhysX dlls to the system32 directory.

Instructions

1 - Include "Install_Physx.dba" to your project

2 - Have the "Physx" folder along side your application (See "Build" Folder)

3 - Add the following code

if CheckPhysx() = 0 then InstallPhysX()

to the first line of your project.

4 - Copy contents of "Registry Plugin" to your DBpro install directory.

5 - Compile

simple you see any problems let me know

A small project has been attached showing how it works even if you dont have PhysX installed

UPDATE
Project removed due to legal reasons, currntly contacting nvidia to resolve problems


Yours
N3wton

_Pauli_
AGK Developer
14
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 13th Aug 2009
Location: Germany
Posted: 5th Sep 2009 02:32
Wow, gonna try this soon and if it works: BIG UP N3WTON!!!
thanks a lot!

They say it's better to burn out, than it is to fade away...
Duke E
15
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 10th Mar 2009
Location:
Posted: 5th Sep 2009 13:43 Edited at: 5th Sep 2009 13:53
When i see the source (don't think you had that in the original thread on the DarkPhysics & Ai board) i have a few more pointers...

You can't assume people to just have v2.7.3 of the drivers, it's a few versions old. If you run that code on someones machine it can potentially crash the existing Physx installation (probably not with the HwSelection failsafe check). With the Physx installation pack you get all versions from 2.3.1 and up to the latest 2.8.1 (on the computer i am at now) installed. However someone may have a similar custom driver installation (say 2.8.0 only) then you will revert back to version 2.7.3.

You could enumerate the directory's in the AEGIA directory. But you need the corresponding registry version code in the "PhysX Version" key. And that version code is abit cryptic to say the least.

Regards
N3wton
14
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 3rd Jun 2009
Location: Leeds, UK
Posted: 5th Sep 2009 15:06
Quote: "If you run that code on someones machine it can potentially crash the existing Physx installation"


If you already have physX installed then it doesnt install this version, so there for it couldn't.

and it only installs the 2.7.3 drivers so it would just overwrite them if it did somehow install it when you already have PhysX installed, so still no errors would happen.

So basically it doesnt install anything unless you dont have physX there for no problems would happen, if you then played a different game that installed the full physX drivers, it would just overwrite the workaround, once again causing no errors.

Yous
N3wton

Mista Wilson
15
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 27th Aug 2008
Location: Brisbane, Australia
Posted: 5th Sep 2009 15:37
I think its a good idea, but one thing you may want to check is the legality of distributing the DLL's without their proper installation/setup programs....

I cant say as I havent read NVidia's licensing agreement, but I know from some advice that IanM gave a bloke a while back that distributing DirectX DLL's without their installer is illegal any shouldnt be done.... might not be an issue for the PhysX drivers, but I think you should probably check just incase, you dont want to open yourself up to any legal issues down the track lol

If it ain't broke.... DONT FIX IT !!!
N3wton
14
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 3rd Jun 2009
Location: Leeds, UK
Posted: 5th Sep 2009 21:27
Good point... I've found the license, Why do people never write it in plain english lol

http://www.nvidia.com/content/DriverDownload-March2009/licence.php?lang=us

I can't work out what that means, but I think it means I can't do this and you can't include the installer with your project? you have to download it, which is silly if you have dial up? but if someone could work out what it means lol

yours
N3wton

Monk
15
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 25th Sep 2008
Location: Standing in the snow =D
Posted: 6th Sep 2009 00:42
I see your bother trying to understand words like contemporaneous (I had to copy and paste that =( )

However, I think these lines may apply to what you're doing.

Quote: "No Separation of Components. The SOFTWARE is licensed as a single product. Its component parts may not be separated for use on more than one computer, nor otherwise used separately from the other parts."


Quote: "may make one copy of the SOFTWARE solely for backup or archive purposes."


I think that means you can't download it, make something from it and then distribute that project. Sorry =(

Mista Wilson
15
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 27th Aug 2008
Location: Brisbane, Australia
Posted: 6th Sep 2009 08:52
Its pretty much the same as the directX one, im sorry, it does mean that you cannot legally do this unfortunately

Perhaps you could email the PhysX guys at Nvidia and ask permission, explain what you are doing etc.. worst they can say is no, they may even have some compromise that could suit you available lol

Also I dont think there should be any issues with distributing the software installer along with your app though, as I believe TGC include a driver installer along with DarkPhysics dont they ? (at least they used to..it was an old version)

If it ain't broke.... DONT FIX IT !!!
N3wton
14
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 3rd Jun 2009
Location: Leeds, UK
Posted: 6th Sep 2009 12:49
Thanks guys...

Tis a shame so i'll email them

Yours
N3wton

_Pauli_
AGK Developer
14
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 13th Aug 2009
Location: Germany
Posted: 6th Sep 2009 15:34
Maybe there is an older version of the PhysX drivers around, which is smaller??
i have DArkPhysics and i hate to include those 40mb with every game

They say it's better to burn out, than it is to fade away...
N3wton
14
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 3rd Jun 2009
Location: Leeds, UK
Posted: 6th Sep 2009 17:33
_Pauli_

good idea, i'll look, but by reading the terms and conditions you cant even include the drivers, they have to be downloaded, which is stupid but whatch this space, im still waiting for a reply from nvidia

yours
n3wton

N3wton
14
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 3rd Jun 2009
Location: Leeds, UK
Posted: 7th Sep 2009 00:29
Right i've emailed them...

got this reply

Quote: "
Hello,

Thank you for contacting NVIDIA Customer Care.

Please accept our apologies for any inconvenience this may cause, as, we would need some time to research on this query to provide a suitable solution. For this reason I request you to bear with us for a response within the next 24 to 48 hours.

Thank you for your co-operation.

Regards,
Farzana,
NVIDIA Customer Care
"


Yours
N3wton

_Pauli_
AGK Developer
14
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 13th Aug 2009
Location: Germany
Posted: 7th Sep 2009 12:32
Thanks for your effort N3wton!
Hmm, i hope they really come up with a "suitable solution"!
Although i think the guys at Nvidia could have thought about this issue earlier...

They say it's better to burn out, than it is to fade away...
_Pauli_
AGK Developer
14
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 13th Aug 2009
Location: Germany
Posted: 10th Sep 2009 22:32
so N3wton, have you received any further response from Nvidia?

They say it's better to burn out, than it is to fade away...
N3wton
14
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 3rd Jun 2009
Location: Leeds, UK
Posted: 10th Sep 2009 23:38
Well they emailed me back basically saying they dont know, and that I should email someone else, so im gonna do that asap, been abit busy at the moment, with uni stuff

Yours
N3wton

Herakles
15
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 6th Mar 2009
Location: Lost in my own head
Posted: 11th Sep 2009 01:49
PhysX is Nvidia's intellectual property, isn't it? Who else would you have to email?

Swordfight! My cheesy little first game!
http://forum.thegamecreators.com/?m=forum_view&t=147808&b=36
N3wton
14
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 3rd Jun 2009
Location: Leeds, UK
Posted: 11th Sep 2009 01:54
I emailed there customer support, they told me to email developer support, I've done that, so the waiting game starts again

Yours
N3wton

Silvester
18
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 7th Dec 2005
Location: Netherlands
Posted: 11th Sep 2009 10:52
Let's hope they allow this, because the PhysX drivers are just a little too big if all we need are some registry entries.


EDP Map Editor[2D]
_Pauli_
AGK Developer
14
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 13th Aug 2009
Location: Germany
Posted: 14th Sep 2009 23:16
i've found this older version of the PhysX drivers (system software),
which was included in the setup files of an indie game from around 2006.
it's just about 8 MB.
But i don't know about its license or anything since you can't enter its setup with the new PhysX drivers installed...
hope this helps.

They say it's better to burn out, than it is to fade away...

Attachments

Login to view attachments
N3wton
14
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 3rd Jun 2009
Location: Leeds, UK
Posted: 15th Sep 2009 15:22
Still waiting for a reply...

so i thought i'd post on there forums, but when you register it never sends the register email... grrr at them!

yours
N3wotn

N3wton
14
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 3rd Jun 2009
Location: Leeds, UK
Posted: 15th Sep 2009 16:28
@ _Pauli_

I've tried the drivers you found, but they didnt work i've looked around for older versions that work but there 33 mb, so its not really worth it

Yours
N3wton

_Pauli_
AGK Developer
14
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 13th Aug 2009
Location: Germany
Posted: 15th Sep 2009 21:13
ok, good to know anyway so i can throw them away...
damn, i was hoping they would work, 8mb would have been ok i guess.

i hope we can work out another solution soon!

They say it's better to burn out, than it is to fade away...
TheComet
16
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 18th Oct 2007
Location: I`m under ur bridge eating ur goatz.
Posted: 15th Sep 2009 21:49
Hey, how about just telling us how you did it? Is there much to describe? Telling how you did it isn't illegal as long as you don't include copyrighted material. So the registry items should also not be illegal, I don't think...

As long as no one that hasn't got DarkPhysics can get it for free by using your program, it is legal. So why not post your program, but take out the dll's and the drivers required and tell us where to get them and where to put them, so only those people that have Dark Physics can do it.

TheComet


Make the paths of your enemies easier with WaypointPro!
N3wton
14
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 3rd Jun 2009
Location: Leeds, UK
Posted: 15th Sep 2009 22:32
Here's the .dba file



Login to post a reply

Server time is: 2024-04-20 02:50:11
Your offset time is: 2024-04-20 02:50:11