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PhysX goes open source

layte

layte

layte

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14 Jun 2008
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http://techreport.com/news/27910/nvidia-physx-joins-the-open-source-party

If I were a game programmer, I'd be salivating at the bounty of cutting-edge souce code that's available free of charge. Unreal Engine 4 and Unity 5 are open books for anyone who wants to take a peek, and they've now been joined by PhysX. Nvidia has put the full source for PhysX 3.3.3 and its clothing and destruction components on GitHub.

The release appears to be related to Unreal Engine 4's recent liberation. PhysX powers Unreal's "core game physics," according to Epic co-founder and programming guru Tim Sweeney, and the code is accessible via the engine's repository. Interestingly, Sweeney says Nvidia is providing the "CPU-based implementation" of PhysX. GPU-specific source may remain under wraps.

Nvidia will be accepting changes to the code, Sweeney adds, and it may roll modifications into the "main PhysX branch." PhysX updates then will be shared with the community through future Unreal Engine iterations.

In an apparently separate effort, the PhysX SDK has been expanded from its Windows roots to cover Android, OS X, and Linux. The SDK and source have been released through Nvidia's GameWorks repository, as well. Instructions to gain access are available here.
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Now this is interesting. I wonder if all those armchair coders who were berating Nvidia for having 'obviously unoptimised' x87 code in their CPU PhysX path can improve things like they said it would be easy to.
 
I mentioned this in the titian X thread, i found it odd that no one has made a thread untill now.

I wonder if AMD will try and get hardware PhysX working on GCN hardware. Since there all for open source free stuff :) Something tells me no
 
KillBoY_UK said:
I mentioned this in the titian X thread, i found it odd that no one has made a thread untill now.

I wonder if AMD will try and get hardware PhysX working on GCN hardware. Since there all for open source free stuff :) Something tells me no
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NVidia already offered amd PhysX licence and they sai8d no -much as amd offered mantle to NVidia
 
If it's PhysX on the CPU then there's little point unless they really change it. It runs like **** on CPU.
 
Harlequin said:
NVidia already offered amd PhysX licence and they sai8d no -much as amd offered mantle to NVidia
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AMD didn't offer Mantle to anyone they refused any requests on the basis that it was still in beta and then perpetually kept it there.
 
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I thought cpu PhysX was always free to use?

Thought I read on here the other day that gpu PhysX was evolving into GW's Flex and AMD would have use???

Harlequin said:
NVidia already offered amd PhysX licence and they sai8d no -much as amd offered mantle to NVidia
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Nvidia PR claimed they offered gpu PhysX to AMD, Nvidia PR also claimed they never discussed anything gpu PhysX with AMD, AMD PR claimed they never wanted it.

The probability is rinse and repeat for Mantle.

Which PR Fluff an indivdual believes, I can't help there.:)

mmj_uk said:
AMD didn't offer Mantle to anyone they refused any requests on the basis that it was still in beta and then perpetually kept it there.
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https://www.khronos.org/vulkan

IzPYKE5.png


Look familiar?:p


AMD originally stated that they would like to pass Mantle over to an open group, Khronos got Mantle access last year and have announced Vulkan.
 
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AMD may have given Mantle code over, but by all accounts huge chunks have been ripped out (for example the shader language). Mantle itself is dead, and AMD never lived up to (or likely never expected to have to deliver on) their promises. The next version of OpenGL has given them an easy out from delivering on their typically grandiose claims.
 
Not as stunning as first thought.

"Nvidia is providing the "CPU-based implementation" of PhysX. GPU-specific source may remain under wraps."

It will still run better on Nvidia GPU's as AMD cards will have to run it on CPU. It just make it a little bit better optimised now that it is open sourced.
 
Aye, but what I'm really interested in is what experts will make of the code. A few years back the usual suspects were making a huge song and dance about it being sub optimised x87 code, and that recompiling it would bring huge speed ups.
 
layte said:
Aye, but what I'm really interested in is what experts will make of the code. A few years back the usual suspects were making a huge song and dance about it being sub optimised x87 code, and that recompiling it would bring huge speed ups.
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While it's fully possible Nvidia have left it as a piece of crap, what they release today won't be three year old code anyway, regardless of how good or bad it is. Something people don't seem to get is that things change, something that was true three years ago in physx wasn't necessarily true a year ago, let alone today.

If someone was doing something sneaky three years ago, would you expect them to leave crap code in three years later when they make it open source or would you expect them to make a sensible non sneaky version to be released. What upside would there be to releasing obviously awful code and publicly announce they were screwing everyone including their own customers?

From what I recall of the thing years ago it was quite simple, someone was running it through debugging tools and logged all the instructions being used and it was most certainly done in the vast majority with x87 instruction set for no reason other than to be a bunch of ****'s.

As for comparing Mantle and Physx licensing. Nvidia claim they offered AMD to license it FOR A FEE.. we don't know the fee or if they even offered it, it WASN'T a public call for it and zero mention of it being free.

AMD went up record publicly saying there will be no licensing fee for it, Intel/Nvidia would be free to make a driver for it if they wanted to do so.
 
Edited this with some context:

Iz_PYKE5.png


I like the idea of OpenGL Vulkan, I have always been an OpenGL fan, but the issue is that every advantage it has over Direct3D, previous versions of OpenGL had too, and Direct3D still beat them.
 
drunkenmaster said:
AMD went up record publicly saying there will be no licensing fee for it, Intel/Nvidia would be free to make a driver for it if they wanted to do so.
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They might well have done, so why did they refuse to share with Intel when they enquired? No idea if nVidia did/didn't and don't care but you seem to be showing a massive bias to AMD for something they never actually did and after going on record for it.

AMD claiming cross vendor but never offered to share Mantle is how I see it and now Mantle is dead.

nVidia offered up PhysX with licensing fee's but no take up isn't nVidias's fault. They put a big sum of money to Ageia for PhysX and does that make them wrong to want to recoup some back?
 
Gregster said:
nVidia offered up PhysX with licensing fee's but no take up isn't nVidias's fault. They put a big sum of money to Ageia for PhysX and does that make them wrong to want to recoup some back?
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Of course it makes them wrong, AMD paid a lot for Trueaudio but they made it free hence why it's now available in Intel/Nvidia GPUs too!*

*For those who don't get it this is sarcasm.
 
ubersonic said:
Edited this with some context:

Iz_PYKE5.png


I like the idea of OpenGL Vulkan, I have always been an OpenGL fan, but the issue is that every advantage it has over Direct3D, previous versions of OpenGL had too, and Direct3D still beat them.
Click to expand...

Pretty much a spot on edit.
 
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