Support for 3D Sound, PhysX and 2nd SSA

[badkarma9000]

When originally live I could play with a 5.1 sound setup, turn on the "3d Sound" option in "Graphics and Audio" and it was awesome.  I know COH stopped supporting it, but with Homecoming has it been re-enabled or are there plans to do so?

 

Also, the Physx I know has "sort of" been enabled.  I don't think we have full physics support yet, is that right?

 

Lastly, is the second Signature Story Arc (Pandora's Box) live?  It was on test server before the game was shut down.  I'm curious if it was implemented here on Homecoming.

[Zep]

The 3d sound not working is a windows direct x thing, direct sound or some such was dropped by Microsoft. Hopefully as time permits COH can be updated to a more modern api.

 

I believe, or so I have read, the full original PhysX has been moved from the old, no longer supported Nvidia api to a separate thread on the cpu --- as modern systems have more then enough spare cpu time on independent cores to handle the work.

[Ago]

3D Sound was a Creative EAX implementation, which was specific to their hardware.  That's still on there as far as I know, but it requires a Creative Labs sound card (which was still popular when the game came out.)  Now, you'd be hard pressed not to find a system with a RealTek on-board audio chipset that does 5.1 audio for far cheaper.

 

The PhysX API was actually before NVidia bought them: Ageia PhysX.  NVidia has adapted the tech to be in-line with their graphics card hardware and not a separate card like Ageia had it running.  Ageia's PhysX card was intended to be parallel to a graphics card of your choosing, running as a separate accessory.  That's why the old API is not useful on modern systems: without the Ageia card, it wouldn't work.

Edited November 19, 2019 by Tahquitz

[WanderingAries]

3 hours ago, Tahquitz said:

The PhysX API was actually before NVidia bought them: Ageia PhysX.  NVidia has adapted the tech to be in-line with their graphics card hardware and not a separate card like Ageia had it running.  Ageia's PhysX card was intended to be parallel to a graphics card of your choosing, running as a separate accessory.  That's why the old API is not useful on modern systems: without the Ageia card, it wouldn't work.

Didn't we used to be able to Choose which GPU to use for the PhysiX? I vaguely recall being able to set either my NVidia or my APU (i7) as the default PhysiX card. Unless that was something the 2010-2012 Nvidia/Win7 drivers allowed...IDK, I'm still using the same configuration I had back then, so I suppose I Could go driver poking.

 

Oh that's right, I disabled my APU in the UEFI I think...I'll go looking later (If I think about it) as I'm doing a last ditch partition recovery for someone right now and can't reboot.

Edited November 19, 2019 by WanderingAries

[Ago]

21 hours ago, WanderingAries said:

Didn't we used to be able to Choose which GPU to use for the PhysiX? I vaguely recall being able to set either my NVidia or my APU (i7) as the default PhysiX card. Unless that was something the 2010-2012 Nvidia/Win7 drivers allowed...IDK,

Yup.  The developers during Live never switched to NVidia's PhysX implementation.  Especially after they started courting AMD's "Gaming Evolved" labels during NVidia's in-fighting with Intel during the time.  It was stick to your guns to keep PhysX on the forefront and abandon the original Ageia implementation, or support those who got the original cards and leave the new stuff alone so people with AMD Graphics and Ageia cards aren't left in the cold... both choices have clear downsides.  But that's what they went with. 

 

Ageia stayed on the client and NVidia's CUDA-based PhysX was ignored.  As a result, most of the game's physics engine stayed software based and most users didn't bother with the extreme option on the slider.

 

You're remembering it right, but Paragon Studios never adopted it post-merger.

Edited November 20, 2019 by Tahquitz

[Ago]

On 11/14/2019 at 3:20 PM, badkarma9000 said:

Lastly, is the second Signature Story Arc (Pandora's Box) live?  It was on test server before the game was shut down.  I'm curious if it was implemented here on Homecoming.

I think this question slipped through the cracks.  Pandora's Box and all five of it's episodes are live right now. 

 

To begin, visit Waveform in Atlas Park (she's between the train and Wentworths.)  Like the other SSA arc (Who Will Die) every finished episode will have a reward table that resets once every 6 days or so.

Edited November 20, 2019 by Tahquitz

[xaix1999]

On 11/18/2019 at 9:29 PM, WanderingAries said:

Didn't we used to be able to Choose which GPU to use for the PhysiX? I vaguely recall being able to set either my NVidia or my APU (i7) as the default PhysiX card. Unless that was something the 2010-2012 Nvidia/Win7 drivers allowed...IDK, I'm still using the same configuration I had back then, so I suppose I Could go driver poking.

while i had 2 nvidia cards you could set the in windows nvidia tool to set the system defaults for you sli and physx

this was in the nvidia tool standalone and didnt reflect well in games as the tool would override your games selections (or block the game from seeing the second card)