What's with the odd lack of rope physics?

inlimbo

Newcomer
On one hand, they're probably now more present than ever, with simulated power lines popping up in open world games like GTA5, Fallout 4 and Watch Dogs 2, but on the other there's been a weird and distinct lack of that kind of simulation in games you would otherwise expect it to appear. It's been on my mind for a while but watching that IGN First of Destiny 2's new social space got me thinking again.

Simulated ropes/cables were once a hallmark of the Source Engine and they've been absent from every Valve game since L4D1. I mean they still use the same code to rig them but they're static in the world unless attached to another moving object - no more idle simulation. I can't imagine Valve needs any extra overhead for CSGO that the very known, very efficient quantity that is the basic spring physics governing their power line simulation couldn't be switched on.

Power lines were also noticeably static in Uncharted 4, though it seems that's been corrected for The Lost Legacy. It's true that those basic constraint physics that run rope physics also govern cloth and foliage simulation - and there's a TON of that in Uncharted 4 - but is that really the reason the power lines don't sway?

There are other games worth mentioning but I'll save that for now. The question is, shouldn't rope physics be efficient enough in code at this point that you'd rarely have to squeeze them out to make room for another effect? Game development is always a tradeoff, but still...
 
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Probably just one of those "attention-to-detail" items that's low on priorities.

In the Destiny 2 vid, the foliage sways; maybe they just didn't think to do it for the cable lines
 
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Hmm, power lines where I live dont really sway much if at all that I notice. They're up high, and pulled tight mostly. If they're lower and bowed, they still dont move that I notice. I mean I guess if it was storming or something and I looked.

But yeah the normal state of power lines is stillness.
 
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Lazy consumers not getting a second job to increase the amount they can spend on a game and decrease the amount of time they have to play games, allowing publishers to invest more money into each product and lengthen development times, permitting the implementation of more rope physics.

:mad:
 
I realize this is an absurd topic but it is kinda odd, right? In Valve's case even more so considering the functionality is built into Source and they're still using that code to rig cables and such, but not switching on the idle simulation for whatever reason

And yeah power lines are generally pretty still in normal life but they will sway in decent wind, especially those strung looser. But a little exaggeration in gaming never hurt anybody
 
You know it slipped my mind that L4D1/L4D2, Portal 2 and CSGO all made their way to 360 and ps3. I guess that could explain the need free up some resources
 
That UC4 gif has physics defying momentum. :oops:

Yeah it bugs me a little bit how many games have either exaggerated physics (the Michael Bay effect, MOAR is better), or just plain wrong physics (games still can't seem to get the weight of physical objects correct, for example) or it's applied inconsistently. But it's probably better than nothing.

Regards,
SB
 
Whether it was strictly realistic or not - and it wasn't necessarily that exaggerated - one of the cooler things about Valve's cable physics is how interactive they were. Nothing you did as a player affected them, sadly, but the updraft of passing combine ships did and that was and still is an amazing thing
 
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