Nvidia makes its PhysX and Flow GPU code Open Source
Nvidia have made its PhysX and Flow libraries fully open source – GPU Code releases!
It’s official, Nvidia has freed its PhysX and Flow SDKs by making them Open Source using a BSD-3 license. While these libraries have been Open Source for some time, Nvidia didn’t release its GPU simulation kernel, giving developers the freedom they need to properly utilise these tools.
This Open Source release follows Nvidia’s abandonment of 32-bit PhysX support on its RTX 50 series (and newer) GPUs. With the release of these kernels, it is now possible for modders to re-enable PhysX support in classic games using a compatibility layer. Furthermore, this release could make it possible to use these features on AMD and Intel GPUs in the future.
Nvidia’s PhysX technology uses CUDA to deliver complex real-time Physics calculations using GPUs’ parallel processing performance. These calculations are optimised for GPUs, delivering performance levels that are much higher than CPUs. PhysX was used in games like Mirror’s Edge, Batman: Arkham Asylum, Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag, Metro 2033, and more.
Nvidia Flow is a similar technology designed with fluid dynamics in mind. As such, it is well suited to simulating smoke, fire, and water.
Since the release of PhysX SDK 4.0 in December 2018, NVIDIA PhysX has been available as open source under the BSD-3 license – with one key exception: the GPU simulation kernel source code was not included.
That changes today.
We’re excited to share that the latest update to the PhysX SDK now includes all the GPU source code, fully licensed under BSD-3!
With over 500 CUDA kernels powering features such as rigid body dynamics, fluid simulation, and deformable objects, GPU PhysX represents one of the most advanced real-time simulation use cases of CUDA and GPU programming. We hope this release will be a valuable resource for learning, experimentation, and development across the community.
In addition, we’re also open-sourcing the full GPU compute shader implementation of the Flow SDK, our real-time, sparse grid–based fluid simulation library.
We can’t wait to see what you build with it. Explore, experiment – and feel free to post issues or feedback right here on GitHub!
Honestly, it is good to see Nvidia opening up its older technologies for community use. If the gaming community utilises this code, classic PhysX game features may become usable on all modern GPUs thanks to community mods and compatibility layers. Furthermore, developers could utilise this code to add PhysX/Flow-like features in modern games.
You can join the discussion on Nvidia Open Sourcing its PhysX and Flow GPU code on the OC3D Forums.
