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Reply 40 of 50, by UWM8

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There are also many UE3 games that can run PhysX on GPU, but after some tweaking :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ajr9ovQwk5I 2011 - Hunted - The Demon's Forge
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6Ajp9_KbSg 2015 - Life Is Strange

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Reply 41 of 50, by UWM8

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Technically speaking, RTX 4090 is the ultimate NVIDIA PhysX GPU; so (in teory) in order to get the best hardware accelerated experience, you should get this GPU for PhysX only!

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Reply 42 of 50, by eddman

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UWM8 wrote on Yesterday, 15:04:

There are also many UE3 games that can run PhysX on GPU, but after some tweaking :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ajr9ovQwk5I 2011 - Hunted - The Demon's Forge
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6Ajp9_KbSg 2015 - Life Is Strange

That indicator doesn't mean the physx code is running on the GPU. Based on the game, that config option either does nothing or just disables the physics effects.

Reply 43 of 50, by UWM8

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eddman wrote on Yesterday, 16:06:
UWM8 wrote on Yesterday, 15:04:

There are also many UE3 games that can run PhysX on GPU, but after some tweaking :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ajr9ovQwk5I 2011 - Hunted - The Demon's Forge
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6Ajp9_KbSg 2015 - Life Is Strange

That indicator doesn't mean the physx code is running on the GPU. Based on the game, that config option either does nothing or just disables the physics effects.

The NVIDIA PhysX indicator is reliable!
Some officially NVIDIA PhysX GPU accelerated, get GPU acceleration only if PhysX is set to high, please see Cryostasis.
The option on the config file speaks clearly : bDisablePhysXHardwareSupport= true or false; false means use dedicated hardware, if on the NVIDIA control panel is set a GPU, it will run on GPU otherwise you're free to set CPU;
true means software support , and software support means CPU ONLY!
If this option increase performance or change visual graphic quality, is the ACTUAL question.
To establish once and for all, the answer, we must run some test on a dual gpu configuration, both NVIDIA and at least one PhysX hardware acceleration compatible; and see if a dedicated PhysX GPU would increase in usage.
Obviously this just for science 😀
PS
old games were used to ask if you would run software mode or hardware accelerated, and guess what? Software was intended to run CPU only...

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Reply 44 of 50, by RetroGamer4Ever

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RandomStranger wrote on 2022-04-01, 09:46:

To be fair, they are probably focusing with PhysX to the professional market rather than gaming. The professional market loves proprietary crap and accurate physics simulation is more important there then in gaming.

The only professional products that used PhysX were programs for animation and game-making and it was almost always done with Nvidia GPU and not PPU, with PhysX support beginning to land in programs right around the time Nvidia bought Ageia and increasing rapidly, as Nvidia GPUs evolved into the early 2010s and the company pushed CUDA hard. Even without PhysX, Nvidia was already pushing physics stuff in CUDA-enabled professional applications that were used in science and industry.

Reply 45 of 50, by eddman

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UWM8 wrote on Yesterday, 17:25:

The NVIDIA PhysX indicator is reliable!

The indicator only shows that the game is calling the GPU, but it does not necessarily mean the code is actually executed on it.

UWM8 wrote on Yesterday, 17:25:

Some officially NVIDIA PhysX GPU accelerated, get GPU acceleration only if PhysX is set to high, please see Cryostasis.

Because in such games that setting is specifically coded to run on the GPU. Cryostasis is not a CPU-only game.

UWM8 wrote on Yesterday, 17:25:

The option on the config file speaks clearly : bDisablePhysXHardwareSupport= true or false; false means use dedicated hardware, if on the NVIDIA control panel is set a GPU, it will run on GPU otherwise you're free to set CPU;

It doesn't. Even if you try to force it to use dedicated hardware, if there is no GPU specific effect in the game code, it will not run on the GPU, regardless of what you set in the control panel. One example is Xcom 2, where setting that option to false simply disables the physics effects.

UWM8 wrote on Yesterday, 17:25:

If this option increase performance or change visual graphic quality, is the ACTUAL question.
To establish once and for all, the answer, we must run some test on a dual gpu configuration, both NVIDIA and at least one PhysX hardware acceleration compatible; and see if a dedicated PhysX GPU would increase in usage.

So if you haven't properly tested this, why are you claiming with such certainty that it works? If your only reasoning is the nvidia physx indicator, that's not enough. There are many posts on the internet where people have used that unreal engine option and it didn't work.
I'm not saying there's no game out there that can't be forced to have its physx code run on the GPU, but it requires proper testing to determine that, and I haven't seen it yet.

UWM8 wrote on Yesterday, 17:25:

old games were used to ask if you would run software mode or hardware accelerated, and guess what? Software was intended to run CPU only...

Only those games that have dedicated CPU and GPU modes. Those physx games that do not offer a specific GPU mode, seemingly run on the CPU, regardless of that bDisablePhysXHardwareSupport config.

Last edited by eddman on 2025-07-19, 19:33. Edited 1 time in total.

Reply 46 of 50, by eddman

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RetroGamer4Ever wrote on Yesterday, 18:36:

The only professional products that used PhysX were programs for animation and game-making and it was almost always done with Nvidia GPU and not PPU, with PhysX support beginning to land in programs right around the time Nvidia bought Ageia and increasing rapidly, as Nvidia GPUs evolved into the early 2010s and the company pushed CUDA hard. Even without PhysX, Nvidia was already pushing physics stuff in CUDA-enabled professional applications that were used in science and industry.

It seems since physx 5 (and mainly as part of omniverse), nvidia is focusing on non-game related applications, industrial, robotic, etc. I don't know if there is any game out there that uses version 5.

Reply 47 of 50, by UWM8

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eddman wrote on Yesterday, 19:29:
RetroGamer4Ever wrote on Yesterday, 18:36:

The only professional products that used PhysX were programs for animation and game-making and it was almost always done with Nvidia GPU and not PPU, with PhysX support beginning to land in programs right around the time Nvidia bought Ageia and increasing rapidly, as Nvidia GPUs evolved into the early 2010s and the company pushed CUDA hard. Even without PhysX, Nvidia was already pushing physics stuff in CUDA-enabled professional applications that were used in science and industry.

It seems since physx 5 (and mainly as part of omniverse), nvidia is focusing on non-game related applications, industrial, robotic, etc. I don't know if there is any game out there that uses version 5.

Stellar Blade has PhysX : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xx-AUMsqI-I
I'm not sure about which version has been used, but it is still used nowadays.

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Reply 48 of 50, by UWM8

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eddman wrote on Yesterday, 19:08:
The indicator only shows that the game is calling the GPU, but it does not necessarily mean the code is actually executed on it. […]
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UWM8 wrote on Yesterday, 17:25:

The NVIDIA PhysX indicator is reliable!

The indicator only shows that the game is calling the GPU, but it does not necessarily mean the code is actually executed on it.

UWM8 wrote on Yesterday, 17:25:

Some officially NVIDIA PhysX GPU accelerated, get GPU acceleration only if PhysX is set to high, please see Cryostasis.

Because in such games that setting is specifically coded to run on the GPU. Cryostasis is not a CPU-only game.

UWM8 wrote on Yesterday, 17:25:

The option on the config file speaks clearly : bDisablePhysXHardwareSupport= true or false; false means use dedicated hardware, if on the NVIDIA control panel is set a GPU, it will run on GPU otherwise you're free to set CPU;

It doesn't. Even if you try to force it to use dedicated hardware, if there is no GPU specific effect in the game code, it will not run on the GPU, regardless of what you set in the control panel. One example is Xcom 2, where setting that option to false simply disables the physics effects.

UWM8 wrote on Yesterday, 17:25:

If this option increase performance or change visual graphic quality, is the ACTUAL question.
To establish once and for all, the answer, we must run some test on a dual gpu configuration, both NVIDIA and at least one PhysX hardware acceleration compatible; and see if a dedicated PhysX GPU would increase in usage.

So if you haven't properly tested this, why are you claiming with such certainty that it works? If your only reasoning is the nvidia physx indicator, that's not enough. There are many posts on the internet where people have used that unreal engine option and it didn't work.
I'm not saying there's no game out there that can't be forced to have its physx code run on the GPU, but it requires proper testing to determine that, and I haven't seen it yet.

I beg up your pardon but, what bDisablePhysXHardwareSupport should be used for?
Why when bDisablePhysXHardwareSupport is put to false, GPU is detected by the PhysX indicator, if there is no actual GPU implementation?
I will test dual gpu setup, when i find proper hardware.
Do you know about any other strange case like Xcom 2?

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Reply 49 of 50, by eddman

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UWM8 wrote on Yesterday, 20:11:

Stellar Blade has PhysX : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xx-AUMsqI-I
I'm not sure about which version has been used, but it is still used nowadays.

Any UE4 game that uses the default physics engine is using phsyx, so that's not surprising. Stellar Blade isn't the only new one.

UWM8 wrote on Yesterday, 20:19:

what bDisablePhysXHardwareSupport should be used for?

Nothing? There are hundreds of settings in engine config files. That doesn't mean all of them are supposed to be doing something in a given game. Developers do not always implement every feature an engine offers.

UWM8 wrote on Yesterday, 20:19:

Why when bDisablePhysXHardwareSupport is put to false, GPU is detected by the PhysX indicator, if there is no actual GPU implementation?

You need to ask nvidia's driver team.

In any case, this is going off-topic. If you want to have a focused physx discussion, better to create a thread in Milliways.

Reply 50 of 50, by UWM8

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eddman wrote on Yesterday, 21:16:
Any UE4 game that uses the default physics engine is using phsyx, so that's not surprising. Stellar Blade isn't the only new one […]
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UWM8 wrote on Yesterday, 20:11:

Stellar Blade has PhysX : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xx-AUMsqI-I
I'm not sure about which version has been used, but it is still used nowadays.

Any UE4 game that uses the default physics engine is using phsyx, so that's not surprising. Stellar Blade isn't the only new one.

UWM8 wrote on Yesterday, 20:19:

what bDisablePhysXHardwareSupport should be used for?

Nothing? There are hundreds of settings in engine config files. That doesn't mean all of them are supposed to be doing something in a given game. Developers do not always implement every feature an engine offers.

UWM8 wrote on Yesterday, 20:19:

Why when bDisablePhysXHardwareSupport is put to false, GPU is detected by the PhysX indicator, if there is no actual GPU implementation?

You need to ask nvidia's driver team.

In any case, this is going off-topic. If you want to have a focused physx discussion, better to create a thread in Milliways.

Thank you!

UltraWide PC gamer running old and fine games at high refresh rate https://www.youtube.com/@UltrawideM8
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