In the context: Physx is a moderately popular middleware used to add complex interactions based on physics to 3D graphics in games and other software applications. Originally developed by the Swiss company Novodex and later acquired by NVIDIA, the technology is mainly designed to operate on GPU GEFORCE via the API owner of the CUDA software in NVIDIA.
Nvidia recently announcement that its Physx engine would become a fully open project. The developers have now published the source code under the BSD-3 permissive license and invite the community to experiment and tinker. Modders interested in keeping the older games alive will probably benefit the most from this development.
Part of the SDK PhysX has already been made open source in 2018, but Nvidia had retained the source code of the GPU simulation core – so far. The latest update of the Physx Github repository also includes the complete source code of the nucleus, giving the community a chance to transform Physx into a really “universal” game SDK.
Physx now has more than 500 CUDA nuclei supporting advanced graphic capacities, including the dynamics of the rigid body, the simulation of fluids and deformable objects, said Nvidia. The open source version also includes the complete implementation of the flow, a more specialized development kit focused only on the simulation of fluid in real time.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rsjknavac1y
NVIDIA noted that PhysX is one of the most advanced real -time simulation use cases of the CUDA API and GPU programming. With the new open source version, developers can now create personalized projects in addition to these proven foundations. In truth, however, Phyx has never become a real standard for physical simulation in PC games because of its owner dependence in Cuda, which Limited compatibility to the GPUS NVIDIA. Modern titles tend to promote alternative technologies that work on a wider range of equipment.
Physx is supported In around 1,000 games, most of which require that NVIDIA GPUs have the effects of advanced physics correctly.
Completely things, Nvidia has deleted the official support of the 32 -bit version of Physx on its new Blackwell GPUs. Players quickly discovered that older titles such as Mirror’s Edge and Borderlands 2 behaved clearly worse on the GeForce RTX 50 series compared to previous generations.
With the complete source code now available, the community has a real opportunity to develop a work translation that provides 32 -bit Physxx support to Blackwell and other GPUs.
After the confirmation by NVIDIA of the depreciation of the API, some dedicated (and nostalgic) players even chose to install a second NVIDIA GPU at low cost just to restore original phyx performance on systems equipped with a more recent RTX 50 card.