NVidia PhysX in Console Games

[Arwin]

I was reading about the delay for Batman on PC due to a deal with NVidia about PhysX integration, when I realised I'd seen the PhysX logo in PSN game Fat Princess on the PS3.

Was that the first console title to use it, or are there others that I've missed? Any thoughts on this development?

 

[AlNom]

I'm not sure which was the first PhysX title on consoles, but it is worth noting that nVidia PhysX is one of Unreal Engine's integrated partners.

 

[Arwin]

Yes, and I've seen it mentioned as being part of the PS3's SDK as well, independent of UE3. But Fat Princess isn't an UE3 game I'm fairly certain ... Well, let's see what Nvidia has to say on the subject (runs off browsing)

EDIT: ok, there's a tonne of games using it out there, and a fair few on the consoles as well - in fact even on Wii and iPod! A lot of those do seem to be UE3 games. And the list is far from complete as well.

T.B., if you're reading this, Sacred 2 was also mentioned. Care to share your thoughts on your experience with it, if you have any?

EDIT: I'm a bit of an idiot ... PhysX used to be Agaeia of course, and that's been around since the start of this generation with support for the Cell processor. So nothing to see here really.

 

[chris100]

List of PhysX games(console&PC)
http://physx.cwx.ru/

As Scared 2
http://physx.cwx.ru/data/vreview_sacred2.html

 

[nightshade]

Does Sacred 2 console ver. has this as well ?
If no then I wonder why not ?

 

[Mobius1aic]

Didn't know the Wii Nights game used it, though I remember seeing the PhysX logo on the back of the Red Steel box and going "WTF?" not knowing that PhysX was licensed out like Havok, and being able to run on systems without the dedicated PhysX processing card.

BTW do the old PhysX cards work with games that are made for Nvidia CUDA GPGPU based PhysX like Mirror's Edge, or does it HAVE to be an actual Geforce 8800 or higher?

 

[Brad Grenz]

BTW do the old PhysX cards work with games that are made for Nvidia CUDA GPGPU based PhysX like Mirror's Edge, or does it HAVE to be an actual Geforce 8800 or higher?

IIRC, no. The old cards won't work for titles made for GPU acceleration. But I don't believe it has to be an 8800, just an 8 series GPU or later.

Also, it seems to me that hardware accelerated physics is already in the PC demo, so I doubt that's the real reason for the delay of that version.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

Yes, and I've seen it mentioned as being part of the PS3's SDK as well, independent of UE3. But Fat Princess isn't an UE3 game I'm fairly certain ...

How certain? Developed by Titan Studios, owned by Epic Games China, who license the Unreal Engine throughout Asia. And theres an Unreal Engine logo on the Titan Studios website too. This perhaps explains the rough framerate and lack of AA? Which is OT.

 

[T.B.]

T.B., if you're reading this, Sacred 2 was also mentioned. Care to share your thoughts on your experience with it, if you have any?

Yeah, we use PhysX for all of our physics needs on all platforms. The original integration was done on the PC and getting it to run on the consoles was pretty painless(*). Parts of it are SPU accelerated, which is nice.

In general, a good number of people seemed to be using it, so it's certainly not rare.

Anything specific you are interested in?

 

[marcus_rocks]

Hi TB,

I didn't play Sacred 2 but can you verify if the console versions have the leaves behaving like in this video (most likely not)?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JK7BkiNboRU

If they do not, what is the reason of leaving them out?

Thanks,

 

[T.B.]

Hi TB,

I didn't play Sacred 2 but can you verify if the console versions have the leaves behaving like in this video (most likely not)?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JK7BkiNboRU

If they do not, what is the reason of leaving them out?

Thanks,

No, they are not in there. As far as I remember, this was put in after the source was branched off to prepare the console master. But that was after my time.

 

[TheD]

If they do not, what is the reason of leaving them out?

Thanks,

Other than what T.B said, it would be because the highend Physx effects need a Nvidia 8XXX (or higher card) or a Physx Card to accelerate them to get good frame rates (yes it might be possible on something like the cell but it would eat into everthing else the cell is running).


BTW: Yes the Physx cards can accelerate games that have been made for GPU Physx (but sometimes not the other way round).

 

[Neb]

Hi TB,

I didn't play Sacred 2 but can you verify if the console versions have the leaves behaving like in this video (most likely not)?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JK7BkiNboRU

If they do not, what is the reason of leaving them out?

Thanks,

The physics calcualtions for those leafs is extremly taxing (and realistic). I get with my E8400 @ 3.6GHz doing the work 2-3fps by just those leafs swaying around versus 60fps+ without leafs.. However someone with a 8800GT would get above 30fps. Reason why you need something beefy like the GPUs to handle the task.

EDIT: Nvidia needs to release a a PhysX dedicated GPU card for us ATI users... I would buy it ASAP. I always cringe when I see what I miss in Sacred 2, Cryostasis, Cryostasis HW PhysX, Mirrors Edge, Batman AA, Cellfactor, UT3, etc.

 

[BRiT]

EDIT: Nvidia needs to release a a PhysX dedicated GPU card for us ATI users...

I doubt that will ever occur, given Nvidia's current antics. They took steps to disable the working setups where Nvidia wasn't the main graphics card.