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Geek Culture / cell factor without a PhysX card..

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mm0zct
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Joined: 18th Nov 2003
Location: scotland-uk
Posted: 8th Aug 2006 20:51
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i've just been trying the demo of cell factor from last months pc gamer and just thought some people would be interested at how well it ran on my fairly modest rig without a PhysX card.
although the cloth and liquid effects are disabled i found the game very playable with it's hundreds of objects and only my cpu calculating the physics.
imo the engine handled the physics a lot better than half life2's havok implementation when there were lots of objects colliding.
i didn't even have the graphics down too low, i had hdr off and dynamic shadows off but for my system i really don't see a PhysX card making any improvement on my framerate, as the only slowdown issuues were graphics based.

all in all it was a fun playable experience and goes to show we don't really need dedicated physics processors for basic object movement yet.
apparently the cloth can be enabled without a PhysX board, but it brings powerful systems to their knees, so maybe some things do need dedicated physics processing.. but who wants to pay £200 for a flag?

AMD athlon 64 3000+, 1GB ddr400, 400GB total hdd, ati radeon x700pro 256mb (pci-e) 17" tft(@1280x1024).
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Mike Johnson
TGC Developer
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Location: United Kingdom
Posted: 8th Aug 2006 21:02
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It's not just a case of having the AGEIA PhysX accelerator installed for a few flags There is so much more to it than that.

When a game takes advantage of the AGEIA PhysX accelerator it can make all the difference. The level of objects being simulated can be dramatically increased and this can allow for all kinds of interesting scenarios. As an example by using the accelerator you could potentially take your game from having a fairly static world into having a completely destructable environment with all kinds of jaw dropping effects and interactivity.

Of course it's early days with the technology and it's going to take some time before we see the accelerators used to their full potential in games but there's certainly a lot of potential here.
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Cash Curtis II
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Location: Corpus Christi Texas
Posted: 8th Aug 2006 21:21
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This speaks well for this physics system. This is a demonstration of just how good it really is. It clearly competes with Havok. Yet, we have an opportunity to use it for free. Couldn't be better


Come see the WIP!
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mm0zct
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Joined: 18th Nov 2003
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Posted: 8th Aug 2006 21:38 Edited at: 8th Aug 2006 21:39
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i wasn't saying there's no point in it i just meant that even the numvber of object in cell factor doesn't need it.. so how many could we have WITH a card

edit: i seem to remember geomoding in red faction.. we need to see more of that in my opinion

AMD athlon 64 3000+, 1GB ddr400, 400GB total hdd, ati radeon x700pro 256mb (pci-e) 17" tft(@1280x1024).
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Richard Davey
Retired Moderator
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Location: On the Jupiter Probe
Posted: 8th Aug 2006 21:47 Edited at: 8th Aug 2006 21:47
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Quote: "all in all it was a fun playable experience and goes to show we don't really need dedicated physics processors for basic object movement yet."


We've had 'basic object movement' for years, and it's getting boring.

I'd like to see a FULLY destructable environment (edit: Red Faction doesn't count, that was terrible), where you can blow the crap out of everything, picking little chunks off the walls, smoke and fire billowing from the smallest item, liquid errupting from taps/tanks (and watching it wash away other objects in the scene, or have an 'acid like' effect, burning through stuff), and that's just for starters.

It's these kind of things that will make the next gen. As fun as Cellfactor is, it's still just throwing stuff around - i.e. a good demo of how to include PhysX in a 'current gen' style game. But if you really believe the future is limited to flinging crates around for the rest of your gaming life, I pity your lack of vision as to how dedicated physics systems can help (be it a PhysX card, 2nd GPU, Havok board, whatever)

Bite my shiny metal ass
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Xarshi
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Joined: 25th Dec 2005
Location: Ohio
Posted: 8th Aug 2006 22:08
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Quote: "Red Faction doesn't count, that was terrible"


I hope your not talking about the 1st one,otherwise I'll cry

Woohoo. DP is finally released!
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BatVink
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Joined: 4th Apr 2003
Location: Gods own County, UK
Posted: 8th Aug 2006 22:13
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Quote: "I'd like to see a FULLY destructable environment "


At this stage, a game that was nothing but an arena with a destructible environment would be novel. Imagine Unreal Tournament, but blowing a hole through the wall to find your enemies rather than running around them. Or burying your mate under a collapsed roof. Epic!



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Richard Davey
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Posted: 8th Aug 2006 22:43 Edited at: 8th Aug 2006 22:44
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Quote: "I hope your not talking about the 1st one,otherwise I'll cry"


Let the tears commence! I bought Red Faction 1 on the PS2, and later played it on my PC, and it just wasn't all it made out to be. The 'destructable' environment really wasn't - it was more like 'you can destroy SOME of it, but only when we let you, and only if it helps the level carry on'. A real shame imho given all the advertising hype around it at the time.

Bite my shiny metal ass
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