PhysX Doors?

[applejaxc 2500]

This is going to be my standard pros-and-cons format. If you feel the ensuing paragraph will incite a tl;dr response, just scroll down.

So I was taking a shower a few minutes ago, and naturally thought about DayZ, and what might make it better. I got to thinking about how the new PhysX in A3 are fanfreakingtastic! and how they could apply to more than vehicles and ragdolls. But what exactly would I like to see PhysX used for?

I'm sorry if this idea has been suggested already; I'm sure just about everything already has:

Doors. On cars and buildings.

Seriously, I hate scroll-wheeling a door open. A2 is already jittery enough when it comes to buildings that I can hardly walk up to the damn things, let alone quickly scroll-wheel enter (changed now to scroll-wheel space, A3!!) during a firefight or whilst chased by the infected.

Here is my proposal for building doors:

Players should be able to walk into a door and "Push" it open, causing their gun to lower or their shoulder to come up, or something to that effect. Using this, doors could be barricaded against the undead, who would have to *push* the door open instead of clipping through it. Items could be pushed in front of the door, such as tables. The more zombies stacked against the door, the more barricading required.

PROS:

• Reinforceable doors
  
• Simpler/more convenient ways of entering/exiting a building
  

KHANS:

• Glitchy PhysX/server lag could result in instant death via door collision
  
• Unforeseeable glitches to effectively make a building "Zombie proof," IE barricade the doors through dishonest measures, such as false-positive hit box detection seen in other "Survival" games (namely, Nazi Zombies and Project Zomboid, though they don't use PhysX)
  

Past buildings, I would very much enjoy some sort of GTA IV-esque "You failed to close the door" flopping during high-speed turns and chases. Damage inflicted to the door (zombie hits?) or specific parts of the door (shooting the lock/handle) could result in doors flopping open. Maybe in this way, doors could be opened and used for cover for .45 and smaller pistols?

PROS:

• More realistic doors; you now have to deal with a flaming engine AND doors that swing open/closed uncontrollably
  
• If you shoot at a car and miss the driver, you can at least feel good knowing you messed up his door!
  
• Easier to tell if the zombie outside your window is actually damaging you or not if your car door is opened
  

CONS:

• More strain on low-medium end PCs, now having to deal with PhysX doors
  
• Coming to a sudden stop to make your doors fly open could make killing zombies a lot less challenging (think of zombie land's method of swerve-and-open-door)
  
• ​Not really necessary to improving overall game quality
  
• Faulty coding hitbox detection between bullets/the door/the car/the part of the door that must be damaged/et cetera can cause the well-known "What the fvck?" reaction of Halo titles, Gmod, and other such games where two items touch, then suddenly going flying into the sun, killing everything nearby
  

[-Gews- 7443]

Meh, could work, although:

-you can't just run full speed into a door and instantly smash it open it in real life

-could be problematic while waiting poised outside a door about to clear a firehouse, etc

-is PhysX even making it into the standalone? Not up to date on that.

I like the scroll-wheel space idea. It would also be nice if you didn't have to aim precisely at the handle on gates and fences and such. Just aim anywhere on the entire thing...

[h3retic 224]

does bohemia even have rights to use physx?

i always thought it was a trademark...

Edited April 24, 2013 by h3retic

[applejaxc 2500]

I like the scroll-wheel space idea. It would also be nice if you didn't have to aim precisely at the handle on gates and fences and such. Just aim anywhere on the entire thing...

Are you saying that if I shoot my fence in any plank, that will open the gate? If I shoot my door dead in the center, it will unlock...?

does bohemia even have rights to use physx?

i always thought i was a trademark...

PhysX, I believe, is owned by Nvidia. It's a leased use thing, like if I wanted to make a game that used PhysX, I'd be like, "Hey Nvidia. I'm making this thing. Here's some money." Coincidentally, PhysX runs best on GeForce cards (made by Nvidia) and games that use PhysX say as part of the opening credits sequence "Powered by Nvidia PHSYX"

[h3retic 224]

I dont think dayz should 'waste' money on physx

it is a nice addition, but as you said yourself its not necessary to the gameplay.

they should rather invest the money into something actually really worth it

Edited April 24, 2013 by h3retic

[-Gews- 7443]

Are you saying that if I shoot my fence in any plank, that will open the gate? If I shoot my door dead in the center, it will unlock...?

Shooting? No, I mean right now if I want to get the option to open a gate, for example, I have to be looking right at the little lock in the center of the gate. It can waste valuable time messing around.

[applejaxc 2500]

Shooting? No, I mean right now if I want to get the option to open a gate, for example, I have to be looking right at the little lock in the center of the gate. It can waste valuable time messing around.

You missed... like... a lot.

Shooting something something so that it cannot lock closed applies to car doors only. ONLY car doors being SHOT by a GUN. I said *NOTHING* about having to aim at a specific part of a door to open it.

[-Gews- 7443]

You missed... like... a lot.

Shooting something something so that it cannot lock closed applies to car doors only. ONLY car doors being SHOT by a GUN. I said *NOTHING* about having to aim at a specific part of a door to open it.

I have no idea what you mean by that, I never mentioned shooting anything either. I just said I dislike how you have to aim at specific parts of certain doors to get them to open.

[applejaxc 2500]

I just said I dislike how you have to aim at specific parts of certain doors to get them to open.

Do you currently have to do so? I don't have that problem; I just flatten myself against the door until the option pops up.

I hate ladders that make you waste half an hour to climb.

[-Gews- 7443]

Do you currently have to do so? I don't have that problem; I just flatten myself against the door until the option pops up.

I hate ladders that make you waste half an hour to climb.

On some gates it has been an issue, not on doors. I haven't tested it much. Last time was the blue gate outside the Elektro power station firehouse.

[radrussian1 (DayZ) 23]

physx is just particle effects.... collision "physics" are all over the place. it would be cool to just walk through doors automatically like in gta. they use the euphoria physics engine tho which is why they are able to do those things. its really adept at collision physics and it is very expensive.

Also in arma 3 opening doors is a breeze, it all work really smooth you just walk up to the door and hit the default action key and it opens. im sure dayz will be the same way so just get it out of your head.

Edited April 24, 2013 by radrussian1

[applejaxc 2500]

On some gates it has been an issue, not on doors. I haven't tested it much. Last time was the blue gate outside the Elektro power station firehouse.

I just hit V...

[colekern 1364]

I already suggested almost the exact same thing, and it gets a yes from me!

[HKilf 15]

What do you think of some kind of physics implementation like in Amnesia: the dark descent?

It is the most immersive door opening experience I've had.

[OrLoK 16186]

Hello there

If physx is in SA and the over heads (cpu/gpu) are low, Id like to see this too, or at least a rainbow six (original) door opening mechanism.

The amount of times Ive tried to get through a door and not located its "operaiting hit box" is vast.

Rgds

LoK

[koze 113]

You have my support, I find it annoying that everytime I look some barracks I always find myself closing and opening the wrong doors. There should be something more simpler, like you walk up to a door, look at it and press a button to open it.

[Element47 2481]

the implementation of interaction with objects in arma2 and subsequently in dayz is probably the worst i have ever seen, and it would really be a game- and dealbraking issue if the dayz SA didnt improve heavily on that.

i agree with applepony that the game needs a push/pull mechanic it would be nice to have a push/pull, maybe similar to the one used in penumbra

Edited April 25, 2013 by e47

[badluckburt 974]

I don't think you actually need PhysX to animate doors and gates but the activation of the buggers should be made a lot easier. I never really understood why it's so hard in Arma to find those hot-spots, it seems to me they could've made the whole collision-box an activator or something along those lines but maybe I'm stupid.

Off-topic: I think I played Penumbra once, it looks very familiar. Maybe I should play it again.

Edited April 25, 2013 by BadLuckBurt

[Ken Bean 175]

Locked doors would also be great. They could bring the crowbar to new glory.