Guild Wars 2

Do you think that the Havok physics engine is underused?

For those of you who don’t know, right on the back of the game box, it says that the game uses the Havoc physics engine. The same one you see in games like Halo, and we all know how much fun the physics there are (flipping warthogs with the blast from a missle, anyone?)

Here is where I see the amazing physics engine being used in game:

-Characters foot position
-Arah story, on the airships
-Super adventure box, World 2 Zone 1, on the moving logs in the water.
-Launch platforms.

And that’s it. ArenaNet, you have this incredible physics engine that you could do amazing things with, and yet, those are the only 4 places where I see it used.
Here are some ways I think it could be utilized better:

-Elevators
+The flying lifts in the Grove could be timed platforms that players can actually get into, and the door could close and take them up, and when the doors opened, players could walk out, which from my observation of that lift, is what is supposed to happen.
+Maybe make an elevator or two in Rata Sum that takes players between levels. So I could catch an elevator down to the next level, and from there catch another one down to the bottom level, something like that.

-Platforms we can stand on that move around an area

If anyone has more ways we could use the engine, please share it! I’d love to make this an ongoing thread of better ways to utilize the awesome engine, for Anet to see!

ArenaNet already uses Havok Cloth in their engine.

I’m not too technically inclined but I would think constantly calculating physical reactions in the game world and sending them over an internet connection might be a bandwidth issue.

Yeah, while it would be cool to get some more use out of the engine, I don’t think that most players have computers good enough to handle it. Remember, ANet wants/needs a very large amount of people to play this game, and if they add too much then they run the risk of have an overly demanding game.
Mind you that the game could use a bit a tone down in some regard…

I believe this would be a good ending for Scarlet. This game needs some ship on ship combat and a good farewell cutscene for it’s first villain. In her own way she is exactly like Cutler Beckett but more mad. However, yes, I do think it is quite underused. We’re getting some love with the next update.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MXcLybhbChQ

I have to agree with your points actually, about how it might overtax the game and become too demanding for many computers, but at least like, the sylvari plant lifts in the Grove should be updated.

Also, i like the idea about the ship battle haha, but with air ships of course

I suggested the use of TressFX for Hair months ago: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/suggestions/TressFX-for-Hair-Effects/first#post1646326

Not exactly related to Havok though, but just something else

Whatever newer engines are added though, I just hope PhysX isn’t even considered. If anyone thinks performance is low already, just think about slapping on another engine that’s purposely un-optimized, and grossly proprietary.

Havok would get my vote for being an unbiased engine (for the most part anyway; don’t use Intel’s compiler). Same with TressFX (DirectCompute works fine on both AMD and NVIDIA).

There’s no hope for physics in this game, Havok is only there for the show. Just look at how poorly walls in wvw are destroyed lol N64 had the same kind of destruction.

ah, no wonder GW2 put a lot of stress on CPU.. the havok engine algorithm calculation … if they use PhysX, the load will be transferred to the physic co-processor which is located at the Nvidia graphic card……