Witcher and Physx

[harkinsteven]

Witcher and Physx

I just recently discovered that the hair simulation is not Physx but actually runs in direct compute. So my question is does the witcher have hardware physx and will I benefit from a dedicated physx card? Personally I don't think so any more but I'd like to know for sure before I buy one.

 

[Borch3Dohlen.380]

I think physx arent in he game yet but at release they should be,
if they will look much better we cant know at this moment.

 

[DuranA.111]

I don't think Witcher 3 will have PhysX implementation to the point a dedicated PhysX card is worth it. An Nvidia card vs AMD though certainly would.

 

[Vigilance.492]

Considering all the PhysX effects will still have to work on the consoles, I agree with @DuranA . If they're able to fit them all on the hardware inside the PS4/Xbone, even your CPU should be able to handle it, and if you have a Nvidia card then it should be fine.

I guess I'm just lucky that when I upgrade I'll have 2 spare GTX680's, so I'll be keeping at least 1 just to have as a dedicated PhysX card.

There's still definitely still PhysX effects planned for the game, or at least that I'm aware of.

 

[harkinsteven]

Considering all the PhysX effects will still have to work on the consoles, I agree with @DuranA . If they're able to fit them all on the hardware inside the PS4/Xbone, even your CPU should be able to handle it, and if you have a Nvidia card then it should be fine.

I guess I'm just lucky that when I upgrade I'll have 2 spare GTX680's, so I'll be keeping at least 1 just to have as a dedicated PhysX card.

There's still definitely still PhysX effects planned for the game, or at least that I'm aware of.

Most people seem to think physx just means fancy particles but that is not the case. Physx also handle the physics of the game environment (weight, collision, gravity etc). There will be NO physx particle effects on the consoles but will have physic handled by physx.

 

[sidspyker]

Well let's clear up any confusion that anyone that reads the thread MIGHT have by any chance.

Nvidia PhysX is a physics SDK just like any other(Havok, Bullet) and TW3 is using that entirely and ditched Havok. The SDK also happens to have certain effects that are GPU Accelerated(meaning they need NVIDIA GPU) but otherwise everything else runs on CPU. The GPU accelerated effects(if present) will not run on non NVIDIA systems obviously unless they're specifically non-CUDA.

HairWorks is not a part of that and it runs on DirectCompute so it will run on both NVIDIA and AMD. It did for CoD Ghosts although if there were any quality differences I don't know but it did work. It is however PC only according to the site so unless that has changed consoles won't be getting hair and fur tech.
https://developer.nvidia.com/hairworks

And then there's the APEX modules:
Destruction
Clothing

These run on both PC and the consoles.
(Obviously if there's something wrong and someone knows better, correct me.)

 

[harkinsteven]

Well let's clear up any confusion that anyone that reads the thread MIGHT have by any chance.

Nvidia PhysX is a physics SDK just like any other(Havok, Bullet) and TW3 is using that entirely and ditched Havok. The SDK also happens to have certain effects that are GPU Accelerated(meaning they need NVIDIA GPU) but otherwise everything else runs on CPU. The GPU accelerated effects(if present) will not run on non NVIDIA systems obviously unless they're specifically non-CUDA.

HairWorks is not a part of that and it runs on DirectCompute so it will run on both NVIDIA and AMD. It did for CoD Ghosts although if there were any quality differences I don't know but it did work. It is however PC only according to the site so unless that has changed consoles won't be getting hair and fur tech.
https://developer.nvidia.com/hairworks

And then there's the APEX modules:
Destruction
Clothing

These run on both PC and the consoles.
(Obviously if there's something wrong and someone knows better, correct me.)

Apex is hardware physx based. It will not run on consoles. Mafia 2 has apex clothing. Even if it was compatible with consoles the performance hit would be too large.

 

[sidspyker]

Apex is hardware physx based. It will not run on consoles. Mafia 2 has apex clothing. Even if it was compatible with consoles the performance hit would be too large.

That was the old APEX Clothing when it was still under the PhsyX 'moniker' so to speak, the new one runs on "PC, XBOX, PS, Android":
https://developer.nvidia.com/apex-clothing

 

[harkinsteven]

That was the old APEX Clothing when it was still under the PhsyX 'moniker' so to speak, the new one runs on "PC, XBOX, PS, Android":
https://developer.nvidia.com/apex-clothing

The consoles are already weak enough, to throw this type on processing on top would bring them to their knees. Not gonna happen on the Witcher 3 consoles that's for sure.

 

[Vigilance.492]

The consoles are already weak enough, to throw this type on processing on top would bring them to their knees. Not gonna happen on the Witcher 3 consoles that's for sure.

Well the Griffin Hunt Demo had the APEX clothing going on (The Herbalists skirt was flowing wonderfully) and games like Order: 1886 and Bloodborne are using it... So clearly it's running just fine on consoles.

 

[sidspyker]

There's no intensive processing required for APEX Clothing, Bioshock Infinite used it for example and the lady in the MS Stage Demo Griffin Hunt(which was played on an Xbox One) had the effect so it's already running.

 

[ONLY_ONCE]

Well let's clear up any confusion that anyone that reads the thread MIGHT have by any chance.

Nvidia PhysX is a physics SDK just like any other(Havok, Bullet) and TW3 is using that entirely and ditched Havok. The SDK also happens to have certain effects that are GPU Accelerated(meaning they need NVIDIA GPU) but otherwise everything else runs on CPU. The GPU accelerated effects(if present) will not run on non NVIDIA systems obviously unless they're specifically non-CUDA.

HairWorks is not a part of that and it runs on DirectCompute so it will run on both NVIDIA and AMD. It did for CoD Ghosts although if there were any quality differences I don't know but it did work. It is however PC only according to the site so unless that has changed consoles won't be getting hair and fur tech.
https://developer.nvidia.com/hairworks

And then there's the APEX modules:
Destruction
Clothing

These run on both PC and the consoles.
(Obviously if there's something wrong and someone knows better, correct me.)

I dont know.. but I still think console gets some kind of hair works, just look at Geralt's hair.
Yeah.. the Griffin's fur/hair in the XB1demo cut seen, did look like last gen poop. But Geralt's hair looks way better

 

[prince_of_nothing]

I just recently discovered that the hair simulation is not Physx but actually runs in direct compute. So my question is does the witcher have hardware physx and will I benefit from a dedicated physx card? Personally I don't think so any more but I'd like to know for sure before I buy one.

I'd wager the answer to that question is yes, it will benefit from a dedicated PhysX card.

The hair and fur physics uses DirectCompute, but everything else will use PhysX for the underlying solver (including Apex), and PhysX is scalable.. I would expect the Witcher 3 to have fog, smoke, water simulation, turbulence and other advanced particle effects as well which will benefit from, or be exclusive to hardware acceleration.

Cloth and destruction will use Apex, which is just an artist tool to speed up development but still relies on PhysX to do the processing... Apex can be designated to run on either the CPU or GPU (so the consoles can use Apex), the difference is of course the amount of computational power. On the CPU, the cloth simulation will be good, but not as awesome as on the GPU which can afford a lot more processing power for simulation.. So basically, hardware acceleration should give you better cloth simulation, and likely MORE as well. There can be multiple instances of high level cloth simulation on screen at the same time, such as environmental cloth effects that would be absent on CPU only Apex..

Same for the destruction effects. On CPU, the destruction effects will be good, but with GPU acceleration they will be greater and use more particles and debris..