Havok Tech Powering Assassin's Creed IV, Watch Dogs and The Division

[Leadbox]

Havok, a leading provider of game development technology, announced today that its Havok Physics is powering a number of next-gen Ubisoft titles, including Assassin's Creed IV Black Flag. Making use of Havok Physics, the Ubisoft Montreal development team was able to bring an unprecedented level of immersion to the massive world of Assassin's Creed IV Black Flag.

Havok's technology is also being used in a variety of future Ubisoft games, including action titles such as Watch Dogs and Tom Clancy's The Division, both slated for release on next-gen hardware platforms. The publisher is leveraging Havok technology across platforms to ensure a consistent experience on PlayStation4 computer entertainment system and on Xbox One, the all-in-one games and entertainment system from Microsoft, as well as across PlayStation 3 computer entertainment system, Xbox 360 games and entertainment system from Microsoft, the Wii U system from Nintendo and Windows PC.

"Assassin's Creed IV Black Flag had many specific challenges related to physics that Havok has been instrumental in solving - first and foremost was simulating early 18th-century ships on a roaring ocean," said Sylvain Trottier, associate producer at Ubisoft. "Making use of Havok Physics, we were able to ensure that the player's gameplay experience was just as rich and enthralling on sea as it is on land."

SourceTPU
Is this the future? :thumbsup:

 

[BallaTheFeared]

Wut?

Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag – Incoming Patch Will Add PhysX Effects

Nvidia has announced that an incoming patch will add some new PhysX effects in Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag. According to the green team, this patch will introduce APEX Particles that are manipulated by external forces such as gravity, wind, character movement, and explosions, courtesy of the APEX Turbulence system.

Do they have two physics api's or am I reading wrong?

 

[Arkadrel]

Wut?
Do they have two physics api's or am I reading wrong?

Sounds like it. Havok for everyone and PhysX for nvidia users.

Is this the future?

Isnt havok already the most used physics api? and has been for many years?
Im not sure id call it the future, its the here and now as well.

 

[ShintaiDK]

I would guess PhysX for the glitter physics and Havok for the interactive physics?

 

[ViRGE]

I would guess PhysX for the glitter physics and Havok for the interactive physics?

That's the way it's been done in a number of games before, so I'd say it's a good guess.

 

[Techhog]

So there are shared development resources? This makes me even less hopeful that Watch Dogs will be playable on anything better than medium on my PC. :/

 

[ShintaiDK]

So there are shared development resources? This makes me even less hopeful that Watch Dogs will be playable on anything better than medium on my PC. :/

Its not coming out of the blue. Something has to pay. Same with different renderingpaths etc. Everything got a resoruce cost in development.

 

[Techhog]

Its not coming out of the blue. Something has to pay. Same with different renderingpaths etc. Everything got a resoruce cost in development.

I know, but still I was hoping there was at least a chance of it being a a good port that doesn't requires a $1500 PC just to play on high at 1080p. Looking more an more like I'll have to completely avoid Ubisoft from this point forward.

 

[imaheadcase]

Even games as far out as 2015 have Havok planned for them. Its just another tool they can use, the overhead is not much since most games use it for cosmetic stuff in game.

 

[FiendishMind]

Wut?

Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag – Incoming Patch Will Add PhysX Effects

Do they have two physics api's or am I reading wrong?

It was already done here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJL63UNfNfA as a techdemo. I believe APEX as a framework, is separate from PhysX and can be integrated into any physics engine.

 

[monstercameron]

what ever happened to OCL accelerated physics from havoks? would be a great use for the igp in amd/intel apus...

 

[ShintaiDK]

what ever happened to OCL accelerated physics from havoks? would be a great use for the igp in amd/intel apus...

Was it from Havok or AMD? AMD have shown physics many times. Never materialized. Bullet and Pixelux hysics too. You might have had it from here.

But that was 2009. And assumed stillborn.

 

[monstercameron]

Was it from Havok or AMD? AMD have shown physics many times. Never materialized. Bullet and Pixelux hysics too. You might have had it from here.

But that was 2009. And assumed stillborn.

seems it died afterall

http://www.pcper.com/news/Graphics-Cards/AMD-and-Havok-demo-OpenCL-accelerated-physics

 

[Lonyo]

http://physxinfo.com/forum/index.php?topic=255.0

Tho showcase the computational capabilities of PS4, GPU accelerated physics demo was demonstrated, running on Havok engine and containing 1 000 000 particles, colliding against static level geometry.

 

[Ibra]

I would guess PhysX for the real time physics and Havok for the scripted physics?

Fixed.

 

[NTMBK]

As Lonyo pointed out, GPU accelerated Havok is available for the next gen consoles. I hope Intel do the smart thing and port it back to PC- it'd be very nice to run Havok on the Intel or AMD integrated graphics, while rendering on the discrete GPU. Plus it would finally give people a reason to upgrade from Sandy Bridge to Haswell :awe:

 

[ShintaiDK]

As Lonyo pointed out, GPU accelerated Havok is available for the next gen consoles. I hope Intel do the smart thing and port it back to PC- it'd be very nice to run Havok on the Intel or AMD integrated graphics, while rendering on the discrete GPU. Plus it would finally give people a reason to upgrade from Sandy Bridge to Haswell :awe:

Be careful claiming proof of concept demos as something that will happen. Specially in the physics department. There is still only 1 of many that actually made it to the GPU. And thats PhysX.

 

[Imouto]

Be careful claiming proof of concept demos as something that will happen. Specially in the physics department. There is still only 1 of many that actually made it to the GPU. And thats PhysX.

Yeah. Something eye candy only, Nvidia only, available in hardly half a dozen games a year, only included in games if the developer is bribed to use it and overdone most of the time because of that.

Such an achievement after all these years.

 

[zlatan]

As Lonyo pointed out, GPU accelerated Havok is available for the next gen consoles. I hope Intel do the smart thing and port it back to PC- it'd be very nice to run Havok on the Intel or AMD integrated graphics, while rendering on the discrete GPU. Plus it would finally give people a reason to upgrade from Sandy Bridge to Haswell :awe:

The next-gen Havok is relied heavily to shared virtual memory so it can't be ported to the actual OpenCL. Also it won't run well on Haswell and other APUs. It will require a Kaveri APU and maybe work with Broadwell-K.

I have to admit that the new Havok is amazing, but it exclusive to the new consoles for a limited time.

 

[sontin]

Yeah. Something eye candy only, Nvidia only, available in hardly half a dozen games a year, only included in games if the developer is bribed to use it and overdone most of the time because of that.

Such an achievement after all these years.

Ah, i see:
Graphics mean nothing today. :awe:

The next-gen Havok is relied heavily to shared virtual memory so it can't be ported to the actual OpenCL. Also it won't run well on Haswell and other APUs. It will require a Kaveri APU and maybe work with Broadwell-K.

Do you know that Intel owns Havok? It makes no sense for them to invest money into an enhanced framework which does not run on their own product...

 

[NTMBK]

The next-gen Havok is relied heavily to shared virtual memory so it can't be ported to the actual OpenCL. Also it won't run well on Haswell and other APUs. It will require a Kaveri APU and maybe work with Broadwell-K.

I have to admit that the new Havok is amazing, but it exclusive to the new consoles for a limited time.

OpenCL 2.0 has support for unified virtual memory.

EDIT: And from Khronos Group's publicity materials:

“Intel has been deeply involved in shaping new OpenCL 2.0 features like Shared Virtual Memory and OpenCL SPIR”, said Jonathan Khazam, vice president and general manager of Intel's Visual & Parallel Computing Group. ”We are very excited about the improved programmability of OpenCL 2.0 and the potential to create new experiences with Intel® Iris™ Graphics Products.”

http://www.khronos.org/news/press/khronos-releases-opencl-2.0

 

[zlatan]

Do you know that Intel own Havok? It makes no sense for them to invest money into an enhanced framework which does not run on their own product...

Intel just selling Havok for the developers, and they are want a physics engine that utilize the power of the next-gen consoles. If Intel won't do that than the developers will write their own engine or just modify Bullet for their needs. Intel just want to sell the software, and they want to sell it to the consoles. They don't want to harm the PC or you, they just want money.

 

[zlatan]

OpenCL 2.0 has support for unified virtual memory.

This is good for the PC, but we need new hardwares for that. Of course Intel will port the new Havoc to OpenCL 2.0, but it will take some time.

 

[SirPauly]

Other gpu physics from Edwin Coumans (Bullet):

http://www.rage3d.com/board/showpost.php?p=1337204504&postcount=1824

Rigid body Open CL, TressFX 2.0:

http://www.rage3d.com/board/showpost.php?p=1337378704&postcount=1895

Flex:

Right now we have a CUDA implementation and a DirectCompute implementation is planned. We are considering a CPU implementation.

I have also built FLEX for Linux (Ubuntu 12.04 64bit) and it works great, in some cases it is faster than Windows.

http://www.rage3d.com/board/showpost.php?p=1337378701&postcount=1894

Fur:

In addition to the nice look (especially in motion), Dynamic Fur feature is utilizing DX Compute, according to the information we have recieved, and thus should be available to AMD users as well.

http://www.rage3d.com/board/showpost.php?p=1337391338&postcount=1899