PhysX and Torque, Recent Developments
by Jason Gossiaux · in General Discussion · 06/26/2008 (8:50 am) · 2 replies
With Nvidia (and soon AMD) now offering PhysX acceleration on their GPUs, are the licensing agreements of the PhysX extensions changed at all?
Previously it was something like this :
No cost if your game uses PhysX but requires a PPU to operate or the PhysX comprises a significant portion of the gameplay that would suffer if a PPU wasn't present.
A cost if the enhancements are optional or don't require a PPU
(correct me if these are off, I am going from memory).
Is it safe to say that if I make a game that requires PhysX support - but that support comes from a GPU not a PPU, I don't need to pay for the license?
Thank you in advance for helping me clarify this.
Previously it was something like this :
No cost if your game uses PhysX but requires a PPU to operate or the PhysX comprises a significant portion of the gameplay that would suffer if a PPU wasn't present.
A cost if the enhancements are optional or don't require a PPU
(correct me if these are off, I am going from memory).
Is it safe to say that if I make a game that requires PhysX support - but that support comes from a GPU not a PPU, I don't need to pay for the license?
Thank you in advance for helping me clarify this.
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#2
I think the PhysX license is slightly better than the Havok one, since you don't need to get nVidia/Ageia's approval and you can use it for non-game applications (educational, sim etc.) whereas Havok requires you to get their approval for games that will be sold for >$10 and you'd have to acquire a full license for non-game uses.
06/26/2008 (11:13 am)
Scott is correct, they removed the hardware requirement a while ago.... The license didn't change when nVidia bought them. It's essentially "Free for the binary version on PC, $50k for source license/consoles."I think the PhysX license is slightly better than the Havok one, since you don't need to get nVidia/Ageia's approval and you can use it for non-game applications (educational, sim etc.) whereas Havok requires you to get their approval for games that will be sold for >$10 and you'd have to acquire a full license for non-game uses.
Associate Scott Burns
GG Alumni
As to the current terms of the license, there's an existing thread around here from not too long ago where I answered that very question, a link to their FAQ is also in that thread. There is also the free version of Havok now, which I also went over the terms of its license in it's own thread on here.
I had a reply all typed up and ready to go for you, but I realized I was getting the licensing mixed up between PhysX and Havok. We've been discussing the licensing of both options pretty heavily here in the office, not to mention some other tech as well, so I'm starting to get some things mixed up.
Best answer I can give you is to either search for those threads on here where the answer is posted, or go to Nvidia's site and Havok's site to read their EULAs and FAQs. They're pretty straight forward, I'm just to busy at the moment to refresh myself on them to get them straightened out in my head.