Better player movement collisions

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imec
Posts: 37
Joined: 13 May 2012, 22:03

Re: Better player movement collisions

Post by imec »

Wow, I didn't even think this was possible in a game with so much weird geometry. Almost have to try and find odd slopes and overhangs to get caught on now. Just a few more changes to player movement (high speed momentum oddities, sudden snapping to low height surfaces, inability to jump when pressing against something, etc) and it will be first time a Bethesda game has had player movement that is actually satisfying.

In fact, even with current issues I prefer movement now to Fallout 4 and Skyrim. I can almost walk backwards and move up against an object and figure out its shape. Have rarely felt that level of responsiveness in anything outside of Source games. Great job!
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psi29a
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Re: Better player movement collisions

Post by psi29a »

@imec, that is interesting feedback. :)

So here is a physics roadmap breakdown for future development:
[*] high speed momentum oddities
[*] sudden snapping to low height surfaces
[*] inability to jump when pressing against something

Thanks to the recent advances, it seems OpenMW does it better than some recent games already. Great work! :)
lambda
Posts: 70
Joined: 11 Sep 2016, 17:10

Re: Better player movement collisions

Post by lambda »

Been doing a few tests of the physics patch and I still experiment a lot of lag in some situations.

First my setup:
arch linux, 64 bit
I7-4770S Intel quad
7.7Gb RAM
GeForce GT 630; proprietary nvidia drivers
openmw 0.41.0 revision 421f967ef1

openmw is installed via the aur package openmw-git that clones the repo, compiles and installs everything, taking care of any needed dependencies. No changes made to the build process (therefore default compiler flags, etc.).

I am running a fairly heavily modded game, but most mods are gameplay and extra content mods. None of those mods that revamp exterior cells and dramatically raise the fps.

Anyway, my issues probably fall under what imec described as "high speed momentum oddities" (although to be fair, I really do not know what I am talking about). Crossing Sadrith Mora along the path Wolverine Hall - Gateway Inn - Council Hall the physics thread spikes madly, dropping fps from 30-50 to 4-5. At first, I thought disabling the guards patrolling the place and bumping around would solve the lag issues, but after systematically disabling them all (between 10 and 15) as well as the 3 slaves inside the pods, while the situation improved, it did not improve that much. Simply crossing the path Wolverine Hall - Gateway Inn - Council Hall, running middle of the road, the physics thread spikes sinking with it the fps.
Lamoot
Posts: 176
Joined: 22 Apr 2016, 12:03

Re: Better player movement collisions

Post by Lamoot »

@lambda, I believe the issue is with the notorious slave pods in Sadrith Mora. Can't find a link right now, but it's a known issue with physics and Sadrith Mora lags on my machine as well.
lambda
Posts: 70
Joined: 11 Sep 2016, 17:10

Re: Better player movement collisions

Post by lambda »

Lamoot wrote:I believe the issue is with the notorious slave pods in Sadrith Mora. Can't find a link right now, but it's a known issue with physics and Sadrith Mora lags on my machine as well.
As I said in my post I disabled the 3 slaves inside the pods, along with all the patrolling guards, and it did not make that much of a difference.
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Pherim
Posts: 140
Joined: 27 Aug 2014, 15:37

Re: Better player movement collisions

Post by Pherim »

Lamoot wrote:@lambda, I believe the issue is with the notorious slave pods in Sadrith Mora. Can't find a link right now, but it's a known issue with physics and Sadrith Mora lags on my machine as well.
viewtopic.php?f=2&t=3696

I also get this a lot when I run against the bellows next to the forge in Sadrith Mora (or in other parts of the game world). It is a fairly complex mesh by Morrowind standards and does not have its own collision mesh.

By continually running against it it is even possible to make the physics value increase to extreme heights, significantly decreasing FPS. See the screenshot below (click to enlarge):

Image
Last edited by Pherim on 06 Jan 2017, 20:14, edited 4 times in total.
raven
Posts: 66
Joined: 26 May 2016, 09:54

Re: Better player movement collisions

Post by raven »

lambda wrote: ..dropping fps from 30-50 to 4-5.
In your case it might be worth trying the change suggested here: https://github.com/OpenMW/openmw/pull/1184
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silentthief
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Location: Currently traversing the Ascadian Isles

Re: Better player movement collisions

Post by silentthief »

Pherim wrote:I also get this a lot when I run against the bellows next to the forge in Sadrith Mora (or in other parts of the game world). It is a fairly complex mesh by Morrowind standards and does not have its own collision mesh.
Has anyone ever tried PyFFI-ing the morrowind meshes? I ask becuz it is a thing in Oblivion, and to quote one of the posts from the following link -->
That is specifically what PYFFI is for (simplify, or in other words, reduce my computer's amount of work with the meshes... [to] improve my frames per second) - it simplifies the meshes so the computer has less work to do, which should edge up the FPS a bit.
at the following link: https://forums.nexusmods.com/index.php? ... ewildered/

Asking because I wanted to see if optimizing the meshes could help with this.

ST the optimal

PS -- asking this on fliggery.com as well, because perhaps someone knows. If not, I may try this myself and report back to let everyone know.
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Pherim
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Re: Better player movement collisions

Post by Pherim »

silentthief wrote:
Pherim wrote:I also get this a lot when I run against the bellows next to the forge in Sadrith Mora (or in other parts of the game world). It is a fairly complex mesh by Morrowind standards and does not have its own collision mesh.
Has anyone ever tried PyFFI-ing the morrowind meshes? I ask becuz it is a thing in Oblivion, and to quote one of the posts from the following link -->
That is specifically what PYFFI is for (simplify, or in other words, reduce my computer's amount of work with the meshes... [to] improve my frames per second) - it simplifies the meshes so the computer has less work to do, which should edge up the FPS a bit.
at the following link: https://forums.nexusmods.com/index.php? ... ewildered/

Asking because I wanted to see if optimizing the meshes could help with this.

ST the optimal

PS -- asking this on fliggery.com as well, because perhaps someone knows. If not, I may try this myself and report back to let everyone know.
I think I tried it once and it didn't work (in vanilla Morrowind, though). Anyway, these are MORROWIND meshes we are talking about, it barely gets any more simplified. There is no reason why any of these meshes should cause problems, and polygons alone are not really an issue with current hardware. In any way, this would also not fix the collision issues, I believe. Also, OpenMW is aimed to be a more modern engine than the vanilla one, I think it should be able to handle a little more complex (collision) meshes.
Of course, one way to fix this exact problem I show above would be to make a simple collision mesh for the bellows, which would certainly not be difficult, but that would not change the fact that the original engine does not have any issues in this situation. Further simplifying vanilla meshes cannot be the solution.
Lamoot
Posts: 176
Joined: 22 Apr 2016, 12:03

Re: Better player movement collisions

Post by Lamoot »

lambda wrote:
Lamoot wrote:I believe the issue is with the notorious slave pods in Sadrith Mora. Can't find a link right now, but it's a known issue with physics and Sadrith Mora lags on my machine as well.
As I said in my post I disabled the 3 slaves inside the pods, along with all the patrolling guards, and it did not make that much of a difference.
Right, my bad. Didn't ready your post carefully enough.
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