Physics Engine: Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 16:04, 19 June 2013

A physics engine is an approximate simulation of certain simple physical systems. These includes objects collisions and fluid dynamics.

GTA III — GTA Vice City Stories

From GTA III up to GTA Vice City Stories (excluding GTA Advance), their physics engines are most likely similar with very little improvements over the year. The engine is probably built in house since Renderware was mostly used for models and textures in these GTA games.

Object collisions were extremely crude. Dynamic objects and vehicles will obey the perceived laws of physics under normal conditions. They can bounce of other objects and slide against other objects. Dynamic objects will not experience gravity unless affected by the environment. If a dynamic object is placed incorrectly above ground, the object can appear to hover above the ground. The collision models were made not to match the model of the object exactly. This caused many anomalies, including the appearance of going through objects, invisible walls, and the appearance of standing on air. Dynamic objects also have problems when colliding at high speeds. This can cause objects to get stuck within other objects or can cause objects to go through other objects entirely.

The physics of the vehicles has improved with each iteration of the games. In GTA III, the engine fully supports the basic physics of four-wheeled land vehicles and a crude support of airborne vehicles like the Dodo and the police helicopter. GTA Vice City introduced support for two-wheeled motor vehicles and a more proper way to support airborne vehicles.

GTA IV

Grand Theft Auto IV uses the Rockstar Advanced Game Engine, which includes a proprietary physics engine, Bullet, and runs along with the Euphoria animation engine. Improvements to the physics engine has been vast. The engine still suffers from some anomalies experienced in previous games but they have been dramatically reduced.

Most dynamic objects will experience gravity, even if not acted by the environment. Dynamic objects placed above other dynamic objects will travel in tandem. The water has been dramatically improved. When objects land in water, the water will ripple and create a wave in response.

The introduction of Euphoria lets characters be able to interact with the environment in a physically realistic way. Dead characters will conform with the environment instead of laying flat. Characters bailing out of vehicles or falling off a building will bounce off objects.

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+A '''physics engine''' is an approximate simulation of certain simple physical systems. These includes objects collisions and fluid dynamics.
+==GTA III — GTA Vice City Stories==
+From GTA III up to GTA Vice City Stories (excluding GTA Advance), their physics engines are most likely similar with very little improvements over the year. The engine is probably built in house since [[Renderware]] was mostly used for models and textures in these GTA games.
+Object collisions were extremely crude. Dynamic objects and vehicles will obey the perceived laws of physics under normal conditions. They can bounce of other objects and slide against other objects. Dynamic objects will not experience gravity unless affected by the environment. If a dynamic object is placed incorrectly above ground, the object can appear to hover above the ground. The collision models were made not to match the model of the object exactly. This caused many anomalies, including the appearance of going through objects, invisible walls, and the appearance of standing on air. Dynamic objects also have problems when colliding at high speeds. This can cause objects to get stuck within other objects or can cause objects to go through other objects entirely.
-A '''physics engine '''is the primary mechanism for the gameplay of a video game which comprises the algorithms for collision detection, gravity, motion, effects of these on the geometry, etcetera. It is responsible for determining the physical aspects of a game and those aspects' effect on the dynamics of the game.
+The physics of the vehicles has improved with each iteration of the games. In GTA III, the engine fully supports the basic physics of four-wheeled land vehicles and a crude support of airborne vehicles like the [[Dodo]] and the [[Helicopter (GTA III)|police helicopter]]. GTA Vice City introduced support for two-wheeled motor vehicles and a more proper way to support airborne vehicles.
-==GTA III Era==
-From [[Grand Theft Auto III]] to [[Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories]], the physics were limited due to hardware. Pedestrians would lie on top of vehicles, staying in the same position until they fell off, where they would later get up. Every pedestrian and character would use a specific animation for each action. Some of these actions were updated to look more realistic (for example, running in San Andreas, and throwing a person out of a car in Liberty City Stories.) San Andreas' physics were a little different than previous games, but they were still prerecorded. Players would often fall in a straight line. However, this was changed in [[Grand Theft Auto IV]], with the series' new RAGE and Euphoria physics system.
+==GTA IV==
-==GTA IV Era==
+[[Grand Theft Auto IV]] uses the [[Rockstar Advanced Game Engine]], which includes a proprietary physics engine, [[Bullet Physics Library|Bullet]], and runs along with the [[Euphoria]] animation engine. Improvements to the physics engine has been vast. The engine still suffers from some anomalies experienced in previous games but they have been dramatically reduced.
-[[Grand Theft Auto IV]] uses the Euphoria engine as its proprietary physics engine. This engine uses information on the human muscle and skeletal systems and the physics of the real world, combined with new software that uses more accurate techniques for collision detection to deliver more realistic movement than regular animations. This engine creates animations that never repeat. New animations include [[Niko Bellic|Niko]] crashing from the windshield of his car, and realistically falling off a bike. Cars also feel like they have some weight on them. Rather than feeling like gliding on rails. Falling as mentioned above is a lot more realistic. Falling from helicopters and hitting a building on the way down will send the player spinning and spiraling to the ground. As most people may have noticed in the game, animations are created "on the fly", which means that the players' falls, crashes, and any other impacts depend on speed, angle, and force of the crash, instead of prerecorded animations. Light impacts would push people out of the way, while large, forceful impacts send people hurling several feet in the direction of the crash.
+Most dynamic objects will experience gravity, even if not acted by the environment. Dynamic objects placed above other dynamic objects will travel in tandem. The water has been dramatically improved. When objects land in water, the water will ripple and create a wave in response.
+The introduction of Euphoria lets characters be able to interact with the environment in a physically realistic way. Dead characters will conform with the environment instead of laying flat. Characters bailing out of vehicles or falling off a building will bounce off objects.
 [[Category:Gameplay]]
 [[Category:Game Engines]]