Archive for the ‘Batman’ tag
Getting GPU PhysX effects into games: interview with NVIDIA Content Team
Certainly, many of you will agree that the addition of GPU PhysX effects to PC games has a positive influence on overall gaming experience and immersion in such titles. But how difficult is to attach hardware accelerated physics effects to a game?
Today, with the help of David Schoemehl, Manager of GPU PhysX Content in NVIDIA, and Johnny Costello, Technical Artist, we will try to give you a brief “behind the scenes” view on the process of enhancing games with extra PhysX content.
PhysXInfo.com: Hi, Johnny and David. Can you please introduce yourself?
Johnny Costello: My name is Johnny Costello, I’m 29 years old and am a native to the Midwestern United States. I went to college at Savannah College of Art and Design and received my B.F.A. in game development. I have been a technical artist at NVIDIA for about two and a half years. During that time I have worked on several GPU PhysX titles such as Batman: Arkham Asylum, Batman: Arkham City, Mafia II, Dark Void, and Alice: Madness Returns.
David Schoemehl: My name is David Schoemehl, I joined AGEIA in 2006 as an applications engineer and was the project manager on Warmonger. Since the purchase of AGEIA by NVIDIA in 2008 I have led or supported several shipping GPU PhysX titles and demos including Batman: Arkham Asylum, The Samaritan Demo, Sacred 2, The Great Kulu Demo, and Alice: Madness Returns.
My current title is Manager of GPU PhysX Content and I am responsible for aligning NVIDIA’s engineers and artists to support developers on GPU PhysX engagements. I also work closely with Epic Games to ensure a solid integration of GPU PhysX/APEX features in UE3.
PhysXInfo.com: Johnny, what is your task as a PhysX technical artist?
Johnny Costello: My tasks can change a lot from day to day, but usually I’m working on a game title in some capacity. Our goal at NVIDIA is to provide the tools that developers need in order to add great GPU features to their games. So I spend much of my time working with developers to help guide them as they use our technology to create exciting content.
Depending on the structure of a particular engagement I may also work alongside the developer to create GPU PhysX content. Then there are other days where I help design and review our tools and production workflows.
Investigation: boosting fps in Batman: Arkham City with APEX .dlls from Mafia II
Today we have stumbled upon following article (and related post), that is promising huge framerate boost in Batman: Arkham City with GPU PhysX effects enabled by replacing certain APEX .dll file with same .dll, but from Mafia II title (which is also featuring APEX based GPU PhysX effects). We decided to perform a little research on this effect:
Author of this method is suggesting to replace original file APEX_Clothing_x86.dll, located in Batman: AC folder, with renamed APEX Clothing.dll from Mafia II installation. Both those libraries are used by APEX Clothing module (and are responcible for cloth and clothing simulation), but have different version – Batman’s .dll is related to APEX 1.1 and the one from Mafia II – APEX 1.0.
Thus, with APEX 1.0 library cloth assets in Batman are not recognized and not simulated – they are simply appearing on level in frozen state, hovering above the ground (like carpets and posters on a screenshot below).
Disabled cloth simulation is giving you desired fps boost, but you can achieve same effect by setting “Hardware Accelerated PhysX” option to “Normal” – this will switch off all cloth and clothing simulation, leaving only particle PhysX effects, without necessity to mess up the .dlls.
Comparison PhysX screenshots for Batman: Arkham City
We have added a set of comparison PhysX screenshots for Batman: Arkham City, which in pair with previously released comparison video are completing our GPU PhysX Profile for this title.
You can view comparison screenhots, video and additional info at Batman: Arkham City – GPU PhysX Profile page .
Batman: Arkham City PhysX benchmarks roundup
Time to update PhysX performance metrics of NVIDIA GPUs with newest title with Hardware PhysX support – Batman: Arkham City.
In following article we’ve tried to gather all the benchmarks and tests, published on the web.
[25.11.2011] Batman Arkham City im Technik-Test: Grafikkarten-, DirectX-11- und Physx-Benchmarks by PCGamesHardware.de
German article with graphics benchmarks, overview of DX 11 and PhysX features, and a superficial PhysX tests.
GPU PhysX in Batman: Arkham City
Batman: Arkham City, sequel to award winning Arkham Asylum title and second GPU PhysX game this year, has finally hit the shelves worldwide.
Update: Batman: Arkham City – GPU PhysX Profile
As usually, we are proud to present you our PhysX review and comparison video, showcasing extra physical effects that can be found in PC version of the game.
Can't view the video ? Watch alternative variant on Vimeo
Some technical details, like difference between PhysX settings, were already revealed in our preview article, so let’s give a score to different aspects of GPU PhysX implementation and compare them to previous Batman: Arkham Asulum title:
| QUALITY | 8/10 |
All effects are done accurately, with diligence – you will not see jerky or buggy behaviour (within physics engine limitations, of course), art is fine, almost everything is configured correctly. However, some particle effects could be done better – for example, it is not appealing to see when glass shards are jumping all over the place like they were made out of rubber.
| AMOUNT | 9/10 |
PhysX effects are scattered all over the game and accumulated in a places you will visit during main storyline (for example, you won’t see dynamic paper sheets on a random street).
Overall amount of extra physics content is similar to Arkham Asylum, but the components differ: you won’t see many “environmental” cloth objects, like all those banners and flags that can be teared appart with batarang, but in return APEX Clothing module is used extensively to simulate dynamic clothing on characters, including hoodies and coats on thugs, pants on russian twin-clowns, costume of Bruce Wayne, etc.
SPH smoke, steam and fog are rare in this game, but other particles (physical debris, shards, splinters, sparks) can be encountered much more frequently. All boss battles are enhanced with unique particle effects, for example.
As a good tradition, there is psychedelic level with lots of GPU Rigid Bodies. Looks gorgeous, actually, without PhysX effects this scene feels not nearly as vivid and spectacular.
Batman Arkham City: PhysX Benchmark comparison
Continuing the good tradition of it’s predecessor, Batman: Arkham City provides built-in benchmark with GPU PhysX (and also DX11) effects, however this time sequence is significantly shorter and less diverse.
Update: GPU PhysX in Batman: Arkham City - review and comparison video
For those who is interested how it looks like, we have prepared following video which is showcasing the difference between minimum and maximum PhysX settings.
Meanwhile, full-scale comparison PhysX video is in the works and should be available next week.
Stay tuned.
What to expect from GPU PhysX in Batman: Arkham City ?
Batman: Arkham City tests the patience of PC gamers with several release delays, but will try to wheedle them with DX 11 Graphics and PhysX Technology.
Update: GPU PhysX in Batman: Arkham City - review and comparison video.
Recent comparison trailer gave us a glimpse of extra physics effects, and now we want to provide you with some additional details on what to expect from GPU PhysX content. In addition, new comparison PhysX video was released as well.
As usually, it will be possible to adjust level of in-game physics via “Hardware Accelerated PhysX” option in game’s launcher. There will be three settings:
PhysX Off: all GPU accelerated effects are disabled, only standart CPU physics (like ragdolls) is used.
PhysX Normal: enables additional particles effects (debris, volumetric smoke and steam, etc) and destructible environments.
PhysX High: includes all effects enabled withing “Normal” settings as well as realtime cloth and clothing simulation.
PhysX Comparison Trailer for Batman: Arkham City
First trailer, showcasing supplementary GPU PhysX content for upcoming Batman: Arkham City title in comparison to normal “console” physics layer, was revealed today.
Update: PhysX in Batman: Arkham City article at GeForce.com
Some effects, like SPH smoke, cloth banners and “dynamic” paper, are familiar for us from previous Batman game, others, like intense particle effects, are promising new experience and immersion.
Slightly delayed PC version of Batman: Arkham City is set to be released at November 18, 2011.
More details about PhysX support in Batman: Arkham City
In a recent interview to PCGamesHardware.de, Ben Wyatt, technical director at Rocksteady Studios, has revealed some technical details about PhysX implementation and GPU PhysX support in upcoming Batman: Arkham City title.
Let’s overview disclosed facts briefly:
- Batman Arkham City won’t use PhysX 3, but PhysX SDK 2.8.4 instead.
- GPU PhysX content will be able to run on CPU, but with significant performance drop (typical GPU exclusive content type, we presume).
- APEX Destruction (destructible objects and walls) and APEX Clothing (clothing simulation on characters, dynamic paper and leaves) modules will be utilized.
Since APEX Particles module was not mentioned, it seems that GPU accelerated particles (smoke, debris) will be based on default PhysXParticleSystem implementation (like in Alice: Madness Returns).
First screenshots showcasing GPU PhysX in Batman: Arkham City
At Gamescom 2011, Rocksteady Studios have released a new set of screenshots, featuring new “Mr. Freeze” foe, for higly-anticipated Batman: Arkham City. Previous game, Batman: Arkham Asylum, was one of the best titles with GPU PhysX support, and sequel is promised to support PhysX feature too, as well as DX11 and tesselation.
However, attentive user may notice that some of those screenshots are already containing GPU PhysX effects. Let’s take a closer look:
Description for this screenshot at GeForce.com states “Broken shards of ice will really pop out with PhysX enabled”. Looks similar to APEX Destruction effects we saw in other GPU PhysX games.
