Physics out of the box - Does Torque have it?

#1 You can use the limited rigid body physics system, but for some of the more advanced, or at least more recognizable, physics reactions, you would need to use a third-party lib.

#2 And don't forget that networked physics is a lot more challenging than for a single player game. I believe it is from this point of view that Torque's current physics model has developed from -- not that it couldn't be expanded upon, I'm sure. :o)

- LightWave Dave

#3 Just curious, can GG possibly looking a official plug for physics and ai. I have around for nearly 2 years now, and I see the same thing. 3rd Party apps, do it yourself, get a engine that offers a better physics engine. Now, dont get me wrong, I have been working with the current physics available, there is the ragdoll pack, but what i dont see is a official option, its all 3rd party, usually Physix, Of which there is only 1 or 2 tutorials

Note this is 2 years old and we have gone through 3 TGE engines (1.4.x,1.5.x,AFX 1.x
www.garagegames.com/index.php?sec=mg&mod=resource&page=view&qid=10258

there is the new one for 1.7
tdn.garagegames.com/wiki/PhysX_in_TGEA_1.7

but notice at the end of this TDN article
Known Issues
Animated DTS models don't move their PhysX collision hull with them.
I'm abandoning this project so version 0.4 will be the last from me.

Retrieved from "http://tdn.garagegames.com/wiki/PhysX_in_TGEA_1.7"

Can we get a updated solution for some of these items. And the same goes with ai, we had a small tussel over what is core and what is generic enough for use with a game. Does anyone have a official Ai pack in the works, or phyics pack in the works (i do note that the explosion pack has some extra code work and cheap particle tricks has helped with some of that).

But the point is even other "comparable" engines seem to have these features as a standard. I understand the complexities of networked physics, but i know GG can do much better. Even if its a add on pack. Same with Ai, Clean up the Gaurd, patrol, and add some more behaviours.
And before you go any further, about there is tons or tutorials and there is do it yourself stuff. I am not a programmer. Before Torque i did Basic. I bearly understand the C++ in the engine after a year and half. I do understand the torque script thank god.

But I know there is a call for these products. Look at the posts. there seems to be a new ai or physics question ever day if not every other day. Any thoughts.

#4 @ Edward

You do realize that those resources, including the AI ones you mentioned, were created by community members and are maintained by community members right?

I just thought I'd ask as your post seems to suggest that you're under the impression GG is responsible for maintaining those resources.

#5 Did you see me say anything about maintianing a resource?

Read what i said. First line.
Just curious, can GG possibly looking a official plug for physics and ai.

we have alot of partial and tidbits that true are free, most of use us them. How about something official that GG says will work with Torque. If i have to buy it so be it. But trying to wait for a fix or a request from someone who may not ever set foot back in GG. So they dont get updated. Or they may get busy on other products. Either way, GG isnt responsible for that. The point is. Torque needs some more options. There has been huge leaps with terrains and graphics. But its got the same choices for Physix and Ai for years now. Id like to see GG possible offer a official upgrade or pack that would at least address some of these issue to round out the engine a bit.

#6 Relax, no offense was meant. I only asked because your post was confusing as parts of it seemed to imply that GG was in charge of those resources. So I thought it best to ask to clarify it.

I know all too well how things can not quite come out right in the heat of the moment. :)

#7 Rather than a GG implementation of physics, I still think that the best solution is offering easy component hooks that allow the easy(ish) implementation of high-quality third-party solutions. PhysX, ODE, Tokamak, Newton, Bullet, and Havok are all nice physics engines.

I'll shut up now, though. Physics in games is one of my pet peeves. I love the idea, but rarely see an implementation regardless of the box fodder or licensing costs.

#8 My point exactly David.

#9 Thanks guys - so as far as I can tell there is something in there to do with rigidbody physics - how do I turn it on? Or how do I set up an object so it uses the rigidbody physics *note - TGEA doesn't come with rigidshape out of the box so I don't consider adding a resource a solution - I wanted to know what's already in the engine, because the resources I have tried so far don't work properly - out of the box.

#10 TGEA does come with RigidShape out of the box. You can see it in action in T3D (and Stronghold I believe) if you add Shapes->RigidShapes->BouncingBoulder to your scene.

#11 Oh - is that in 1.0.3 or 1.7?

#12 Thats in 1.7.

#13 Okay - thanks again. I guess I'll wait til I port to 1.7

#14 You might want to check out the Unity game engine. It has ragdolls, PhysX and rigidbodies out of the box.

#15 But Unity is also for Mac Development at this time only. While they are working on a windows version. Such a system is a small complication when Torque is mac, windows and linux compilable out of the box. (minus the items you mentioned.)

#16 Actually Edward, it's not for Mac Development only. You can publish to web for both Mac and PC with Unity Indie. If you want standalone windows builds you need the Pro version. Only the development platform itself requires osX. While macs are cheap these days, I splurged and bought a 2008 Macbook Pro to use with Unity.

You also mentioned Torque being mac, windows and linux compatible out of the box. You do know this is the TGEA forums, right? :)

#17 Lol, yes i do, no sorry, in the case of TGEa you right, its even worse. lol. Im waiting for TGEa to mature just a bit longer.Its got some rough spots and AFX usually has a cure for it.

#18 While Unity sounds promising, to export to Windows costs $1500 for the license, and I've invested alot of time and money in Torque, so until I get my money's worth I'm staying with Torque. I just hope it pays off in the end. But it's offtopic so I'll stop ranting - however why don't GG staff have a support ticket system? Why is it just the GG community that help each other out?

#19 There are GG employee's who read every post on the forum as part of their job. They know what's being asked and said.

#20 Don't tell my secrets!