darry wrote on 2025-03-22, 04:53:

I don't disagree, but I'm still hoping for a wrapper,

The peak of hardware accelerated PhysX usage was in 2010 (after Intel released software based Havoc)
At that time AMD had about 50% of the gamers and many AAA games were released.
If it wasn't created then, it certainly won't be created now.

Also, Arasaka Nvidia corp is not very friendly to open source software.
I think the first attempt to create a repository on GitHub will get a strike.

shevalier wrote on 2025-03-22, 09:38:

Also, Arasaka Nvidia corp is not very friendly to open source software.
I think the first attempt to create a repository on GitHub will get a strike.

They already did that themselves. https://github.com/NVIDIA-Omniverse/PhysX

SDK and documentation are there. With copyright saying you can use and distribute binary if you include the copyright notice.

shevalier wrote on 2025-03-22, 04:44:

...Well, no one is complaining that Microsoft doesn't make more 32-bit systems.

Well, but everyone would complain if legacy 32-bit code completely stopped working on current 64-bit Windows systems... (The PhysX problem is more analogous to this situation.)

shevalier wrote on 2025-03-21, 16:45:

GemCookie wrote on 2025-03-21, 16:04:

The RTX 5090 doesn't leave much room for a second video card, especially on recent motherboards.

So it's time to do as Mondodimotori does 😀

Mondodimotori wrote on 2025-03-21, 15:22:

I'm planning in getting either a 1060 or a 1070 for my Win7 retrobox.

PLS Don't! I'm alredy picturing hoardes of people going after these cards, and prices skyrocketing towards the stratosphere! At least wait for me to get the card.

*hoards GTX 980 Ti, which also works in Windows XP*

On March 25th NVIDIA updated the repo. The GPU simulation kernel source was added, along with the Flow SDK all fully under the BSD-3 license.

With this is it should be possible to port from CUDA over to OpenCL or some other technology that's supported on AMD and Intel GPUs.

https://github.com/NVIDIA-Omniverse/PhysX/discussions/384

Nvidia: "I don't want to play with you anymore"

NVIDIA doesn't give a shit, they're AI company now, right?

Why drop 32-bit PhysX/CUDA specifically, though? They could drop entire 32-bit support, if they wanted, right? No more 3D for 32-bit apps!

UCyborg wrote on 2025-04-07, 11:16:

Why drop 32-bit PhysX/CUDA specifically, though? They could drop entire 32-bit support, if they wanted, right? No more 3D for 32-bit apps!

Probably because those libraries require the biggest workarounds to get 32-bit apps talking to a 64-bit driver, especially with regards to memory allocation/sharing.

jmarsh wrote on 2025-04-07, 11:29:

UCyborg wrote on 2025-04-07, 11:16:

Why drop 32-bit PhysX/CUDA specifically, though? They could drop entire 32-bit support, if they wanted, right? No more 3D for 32-bit apps!

Probably because those libraries require the biggest workarounds to get 32-bit apps talking to a 64-bit driver, especially with regards to memory allocation/sharing.

Yeah, ^This.
CUDA it's a whole developement environment. I'm a 3D and Rendering artist, and CUDA acceleration was pretty swell if you have the right hardware.

Of course, I also haven't used a 32bit CUDA application in more than 15 years. No point using 32bit applications when RAM is of the essence. The second I got a PC with 4GB of RAM in 2009, it was all 64bit for me. Only games remained the exception for years.

Deleted off topic post

https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/geforce/news/bat … e-ready-driver/

Support For Select, Classic, 32-Bit GPU-Accelerated PhysX Games […]
Show full quote

Support For Select, Classic, 32-Bit GPU-Accelerated PhysX Games

GeForce RTX 50 Series GPUs launched at the beginning of the year, alongside the phasing out of 32-bit support for CUDA. This meant that PhysX effects in a number of older, yet beloved games were not GPU-accelerated on GeForce RTX 50 Series GPUs.

We heard the feedback from the community, and with the launch of our new driver today, we are adding custom support for GeForce gamers’ most played PhysX-accelerated games, enabling full performance on GeForce RTX 50 Series GPUs, in line with our existing PhysX support on prior-generation GPUs.

By installing our new GeForce Game Ready Driver, the full GPU-accelerated PhysX experience can now be enjoyed in:

Alice: Madness Returns
Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag
Batman: Arkham City
Batman: Arkham Origins
Borderlands 2
Mafia II
Metro 2033
Metro: Last Light
Mirror’s Edge

Support for Batman: Arkham Asylum is planned to be added in the first part of 2026.

*sarcasm* Christmas miracle!

DosFreak wrote on 2025-12-05, 01:23:

https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/geforce/news/bat … e-ready-driver/

I wonder how they achieved that, i.e. through some sort of wrapper, or did they somehow add native support.

Good news in any case.

Thunking is the usual trick.

Old things on new hardware don't have to be efficient.
There's performance headroom for days.

Joseph_Joestar wrote on 2025-12-05, 08:13:

DosFreak wrote on 2025-12-05, 01:23:

https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/geforce/news/bat … e-ready-driver/

I wonder how they achieved that, i.e. through some sort of wrapper, or did they somehow add native support.

Good news in any case.

Probably some sort of translation layer to convert the 32bit CUDA calls to 64bit. Afterall, they had completely scrapped the hardware part on Blackwell cards for 32bit CUDA.
Me and a few friends have a bet if it was really nVidia listening to a niche part of the gaming community, or just a bored nVidia engineer that managed to just work on this thing on their spare time.
Afterall it was surprising that nVidia solved this thing before the community did, since they did open source the library a few months ago.

I just hope they keep the games coming.

Mondodimotori wrote on 2025-12-05, 12:00:

I just hope they keep the games coming.

According to reddit users, it can be forced for some additional games that aren't on the list.
https://old.reddit.com/r/nvidia/comments/1pe3 … _32bit/ns9f8ic/

Comparisons are starting to come out. For example this video shows Mirror's Edge running on an RTX 5090 with the old driver vs. the latest one.

In scenes which use PhysX extensively, the game literally goes from sub 30 FPS on the older driver to 300+ FPS on the new one. That said, GPU load exceeding 50% while playing a game from 2009 on an RTX 5090 is kinda wild.

Lol it was as low as 15.

I think that's why they fixed it - it was an absolute embarrassment.

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