NVIDIA Provides Physics Technology for PLAYSTATION 3

[alexp999]

NVIDIA Corporation today announced that it has signed a tools and middleware license agreement for PLAYSTATION 3 (PS3) with Sony Computer Entertainment Inc (SCEI). As a result, the binary version of the NVIDIA PhysX technology software development kit (SDK) is now available to registered PS3 developers for free download and use on the SCEI Developer Network.

The NVIDIA PhysX technology software development kit SDK consists of a full-featured API and robust physics engine, designed to give developers, animators, level designers, and artists unprecedented creative control over character and object physical interactions by allowing them to author and preview physics effects in real time. The continued adoption of NVIDIA PhysX technology by the world's leading content developers is resulting in games that not only look as realistic as possible, but also provides gaming experiences where the world's literally come to life: environments become highly interactive with effects such as persistent debris, including shattered glass and weapons ammunition, trees that bend in the wind, and water that flows with body and force.


"NVIDIA is proud to support PLAYSTATION 3 as an approved middleware provider," said Tony Tamasi, senior vice president of content and technology at NVIDIA. "Games developed for the PLAYSTATION 3 using PhysX technology offer a more realistic and lifelike interaction between the games characters and other objects within the game. We look forward to the new games that will redefine reality for a new generation of gamers."

The PhysX technology source code SDK for PS3 and all major gaming platforms are available for license directly from NVIDIA. For more information on licensing PhysX SDKs or NVIDIA PhysX technology, please visit: nvidia.com/physx.

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[v12dock]

yay I my PS3

 

[DrPepper]

I wonder if this will use the cpu or the g70 gpu ?

 

[ShadowFold]

Yay, now more developers can not use it!

 

[1Kurgan1]

Am I missing something here? Havok works awesome in GTA 4.

 

[Ravenas]

Yay, now more developers can not use it!

If a developer can't use it, they are probably just as lazy as Gabe Newell.

 

[alexp999]

IIRC, the PS3 GPU is based on a 7800, so afaik, Physx would have to run on the CPU.

It just gives developers more options, but I have to agree, Havok works great on games like GTA IV and Crackdown, etc.

 

[ShadowFold]

If a developer can't use it, they are probably just as lazy as Gabe Newell.

No I mean, no one uses it on PC so why would they use it on PS3?

 

[DrPepper]

IIRC, the PS3 GPU is based on a 7800, so afaik, Physx would have to run on the CPU.

Actually solaris got it working on a g70 which is why I was wondering.

 

[Ravenas]

IIRC, the PS3 GPU is based on a 7800, so afaik, Physx would have to run on the CPU.

It just gives developers more options, but I have to agree, Havok works great on games like GTA IV and Crackdown, etc.

Crackdown . That game was an embarassment, so many bugs. They need to give it another shot with Crackdown 2, and polish the game this time.

 

[Selene]

Yea, looks like they will be runing this on the G70 GPU, and this means that they will probably unlock it for Desktop GPUs as well.

 

[Ravenas]

No I mean, no one uses it on PC so why would they use it on PS3?

No one uses it on the PC because you have to have a seperate card to use it. The majority of people with PCs buy them from a manufacturer such as Dell... Dell (and other companies like Dell) usually don't give the option to install a physics card, thus the mainstream consumer doesn't have physics because their MOBOs are properitary.

As far as physics for us go, most people on these forums care more about benches, and physics cards don't really help with that... Plus you have to buy a seperate card, or dedicate one of your old cards to it.

 

[Selene]

No one uses it on the PC because you have to have a seperate card to use it. The majority of people with PCs buy them from a manufacturer such as Dell... Dell (and other companies like Dell) usually don't give the option to install a physics card, thus the mainstream consumer doesn't have physics because their MOBOs are properitary.

As far as physics for us go, most people on these forums care more about benches, and physics cards don't really help with that... Plus you have to buy a seperate card, or dedicate one of your old cards to it.

this is wrong.
All you have to have is a 8000 or better card, and drivers with physics and bam, no need for a 2nd card, and Dell has nothing to do with it, unless they have older or Dell only drivers with out it installed, wich you can change.

 

[ShadowFold]

No one uses it on the PC because you have to have a seperate card to use it. The majority of people with PCs buy them from a manufacturer such as Dell... Dell (and other companies like Dell) usually don't give the option to install a physics card, thus the mainstream consumer doesn't have physics because their MOBOs are properitary.

As far as physics for us go, most people on these forums care more about benches, and physics cards don't really help with that... Plus you have to buy a seperate card, or dedicate one of your old cards to it.

Err all geforce 8000 and above can use physx..

 

[Atnevon]

If a developer can't use it, they are probably just as lazy as Gabe Newell.

I had to look that guy up. Your insult has provided me on the path to enlightenment.

 

[Ravenas]

I had to look that guy up. Your insult has provided me on the path to enlightenment.

Valve is an awesome developer man (probably one of the greatest ever, besides Blizzard and iD), but when it comes to devoting recources to the PS3, they friggin blow.

DICE makes Valve look like a kiddy developer when it comes to the PS3.

 

[OnBoard]

Console port with built in PhysX support, I like that. Now just stick it in GT5 and port it finally to PC If nothing else use it in rain sliding off windshield based on speed and wind resistance

 

[Ravenas]

this is wrong.
All you have to have is a 8000 or better card, and drivers with physics and bam, no need for a 2nd card, and Dell has nothing to do with it, unless they have older or Dell only drivers with out it installed, wich you can change.

Yes, but dedicating your physics to one card is a bad approach in my opinion, and I would never be caught doing it.

 

[Cheeseball]

You do not need a secondary card. Current games that use PhysX run just fine even on the shader processor-lacking 8600GTs, 9600GTs and 9500GTs.

 

[Error 404]

If they've got this running on the G70 GPU, then I'd be interested in enabling it on my second rig; that would speed it up a fair bit for some games when I have LAN parties!

 

[DarkMatter]

Yes, but dedicating your physics to one card is a bad approach in my opinion, and I would never be caught doing it.

There are many benches out there that show little improvement when using a separate card, versus a single GTX2xx card (G80/G92 doesn't handle it so well, but it's good enough in my 8800, Mirror's Edge runs flawlessly maxed out, 1600x1200 4xAA/16xAF). You don't need a separate card.




As to the topic, PhysX can run on Cell processor's SPEs (remember one PPE, 7 SPEs), which pose a good array of FPU power, similar to a small GPU. A little bit more efficient (it has much less RAW power than a GPU, but it can use it more efficiently) than GPUs for such a task, it shouldn't have any problem handling PhysX and for the first time in PS3's history Cell can become useful.

 

[Ravenas]

There are many benches out there that show little improvement when using a separate card, versus a single GTX2xx card (G80/G92 doesn't handle it so well, but it's good enough in my 8800, Mirror's Edge runs flawlessly maxed out, 1600x1200 4xAA/16xAF). You don't need a separate card.




As to the topic, PhysX can run on Cell processor's SPEs (remember one PPE, 7 SPEs), which pose a good array of FPU power, similar to a small GPU. A little bit more efficient (it has much less RAW power than a GPU, but it can use it more efficiently) than GPUs for such a task, it shouldn't have any problem handling PhysX and for the first time in PS3's history Cell can become useful.

I also don't need 4 cores on my processor, but I like to have the extra 2 cores to handle the data better.

 

[Valdez]

I wonder if this will use the cpu or the g70 gpu ?

Cell for sure. The rsx in ps3 is so weak, all of its power needed for graphics, while many cores of cell isn't exploited.
Anyway, as far as i know g7x isn't cuda ready.

 

[Valdez]

Am I missing something here? Havok works awesome in GTA 4.

Euphoria was the real deal about gta4, not havok

 

[ShadowFold]

Valve is an awesome developer man (probably one of the greatest ever, besides Blizzard and iD), but when it comes to devoting recources to the PS3, they friggin blow.

DICE makes Valve look like a kiddy developer when it comes to the PS3.

They probably don't see the point since it probably wouldn't sell well on the PS3. I think Left 4 Dead and Orange Box on the PC outsold the 360 by quite a large margin.. I don't think the PS3 would do any better since the 360 is owned by more people.