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So I've been MIA for awhile, but now I'm back and I just noticed "Dark Dynamix."

What makes this different from Dark Physics? They look like the exact same thing to me.

They both use Nvidia's PhysX so what's so special?

To use Dark Physics you MUST install the erm api driver... Regardless of GPU...

With DDyn it is a wrapper in that it has the api embedded removing the requirement to install the individual api driver... Also note you do not need an NVidia GPU to use PhysX... And also note DDyn can not utilise the hardware without the GPu present and to use the GPU you still have to manually install the api driver...

Yes I too am still confused aside from that it also uses a newer api than what DP is based on...

Hope that helps somewhat...

Everything that didn't work in Dark Physics is supposedly fixed, especially the ability to create boned rag doll models.

What else does not work in Dark Physics ? Paying 60 US dollars to get just ragdoll feature working is not worth it ( in my opinion ).

So please (veterans) tell us what are things that do not work in Dark Physics and works in Dark Dynamix. Any list on that ? Because I am hesitating whether to buy it or not.Paying for overlapping features really hurts and the plugin price is not low. Hope I am making sense here.

I would like to think that Dark Dynamix handles vehicles better as well as character controllers.

There are other small things too, the 'debug renderer', not sure Dark Physics has that, I can't imagine life without it. Dynamix uses later version of PhysX too which means no system software requirement for the end user which is less hassle.

There was also a 'potential' issue with meshes, not sure it was confirmed but there were complaints that you can't release the triangle mesh from memory with Dark Physics. I must stress that this is not confirmed by any official source and could be down to user error.

Lastly, Dark Dynamix is still being updated, not sure about Dark Physics.

I'm sure you can get Dark Physics really cheap now if you buy a bundle, that's what I did.

I know Dark Dynamix is expensive but it has to be that price for me to continue to support it, if I stop supporting it I will drop the price, but that is a long way off

TGC have stated on one of their web chats that Dark Physics will never be updated. In fact I requested a refund as soon as this was announced because they promised features that were not provided (main of which was ragdoll support)

I can't really compare the two because I currently do not own Dark Dynamix at the moment but I would say if your project is at a point in which you really need physics then buy dark dynamixs. It is cheap for what it is and of course its still being updated which is a huge bonus

Whats more its a bit rare for a developer to actively support their product to the point of helping out in the forum and adding new features and updates based on feedback especially so quickly. Matty H has done this and has been brilliant with support.

I'll just reiterate what has been said already, from my own perspective:

1. Rag Dolls are supported. You can't make a professional looking animation system without rag doll deaths these days. If you're making an RTS, or maybe a strategy game, where character animation is not particularly important, you can get away with it. For a professional looking FPS or third person game, you need rag dolls.

2. You don't need to get your user to install a driver. It feels quite unprofessional to me to force a user to download and install a driver which leaves various EXES and stuff in your start menu. With Dark Dynamix you just bundle the DLLs and you're done.

3. Matty has put more effort into the vehicles and although I've only played with the demos he's produced, they feel more solid already. I think better vehicle simulations will be easier to achieve with Dynamix.

4. Matty is around supporting this product. I'm pretty sure he dreaded the problem of boned rag dolls, but after the forum (probably me mostly! ) made it clear we wanted them, he went off and tackled the problem and got them into the next update. So basically we have a capable developer who is listening and actively working on the product. That's like gold dust, because it's impossible for all the bugs to be ironed out in the first version.

Having said all that, if you just want to dabble with basic primitives and joints and mess around, Dark Physics will be more than enough.