Yay! New version!

Major new features:

• PH_FIXED joints
• support of NxJoint* pointers in Lite-C, so that you can store and pass them instead of using the entity - this is required from now on, if you establish more than one joint per entity. Of course, there are legacy functions that work always on the first joint; and all GS functions were modified to this behavior
• you can set the default number of iterations globally via pXSetDefaultSolverIterationCount
• typed access to joints (e.g. "give me the second ball joint of the my entity") and various helper functions
• fixed a memory leak when calling pXcon_add more than once on entities

changelog:

• bugfix: the userData member of actors wasn't resetted to NULL, so, it was not possible to detect if an actor already has an associated JointUserData object or not
• change: the functions pXconGetLimits, pXconGetAxis were changed, so that they work as described for the first joint
• change: pXconGetPrismaticLimits works now for the -first- prismatic (!) joint
• change: pXconGetType returns the type of the first joint, otherwise PH_WHEEL if it is a wheel, otherwise 0 if it has no constraints at all, otherwise -1 if it has no joints, but wheels, otherwise -2 when an error occurs
• new: pXconGetJointLimits returns the limits of a joint
• new: pXconGetJointType returns the type of a joint
• new: pXconGetJointAxis returns the axis of a joint
• new: pXconGetTypedJoint... returns the joint with a given type by index, first, or last
• new: pXconNumTypedJoints returns the number of joints of a given type, associated with an entity
• new: pXconGetPrismaticJointLimits works like pXconGetPrismaticLimits, but for a specific prismatic (!) joint
• new: pXcon_add support now the PH_FIXED joint constraint; a second entity is always required
• new: pXentGetSolverIterationCount(Ref) retrieves the number of solver iterations of an entity
• change: pXent_setiterations is deprecated now; use pXentSetSolverIterationCount instead
• new: new pX.cpp/.h for all upcoming system-related functions (internal)
• new: pXGetDefaultSolverIterationCount returns the default value for solver iterations, assigned to a new physics entity
• new: pXSetDefaultSolverIterationCount can be used to change the default value for solver iterations, assigned to new physics entities

Fixes lots of bugs compared to the prior version, please use this now; link for dll and header: ackphysx.20111101.dll.h.rar; source to be checked out as always.

Small but important update! At least for those people, who are interested in running it on customer PC's

• new: pXconHas(Joint)Limits returns if the -first- joint of an entity or a given one has limits or not
• change: the compiler settings were changed, so that dependencies to msvcp80.dll are gone - the dll should work now on every customer PC and not just on dev PC's
• added a todo list with some notes

ackphysx.20111102.dll.h.rar and whole source via SVN

- change: all joint types have been renamed, and defined again, to match the PhysX names and values (!!!)
- change: due to the joint type value changes, pXconGetType got a slighty different return

- new: spring parameters for revolute joints, either via pXcon_setparams2 or the new functions (see below)
- change: pXcon_setparams2 receives for revolute joints on vecParam5 x: spring force, y: damping, z: target in degrees

- bugfix: pXcon_setparams2 didn't processed the restitution factor properly

new general joint functions
- pXconSet(Joint)GlobalAnchor sets the point where the two actors are attached in global coordinates
- pXconSet(Joint)GlobalAxis sets the direction of the joint's primary axis, specified in global coordinates
- pXconSet(Joint)Breakable sets the maximum force magnitude that the joint is able to withstand without breaking
- pXconSet(Joint)SolverExtrapolationFactor sets the solver extrapolation factor
- pXconSet(Joint)UseAccelerationSpring switches between acceleration and force based spring
- pXconSet(Joint)Name sets a (referenced) name string for a joint
- pXconSet(Joint)LimitPoint(Ex) sets the limit point

new revolute joint functions
- pXconSetRevolute(Joint)Limits sets the limits of revolute joints
- pXconAddRevoluteJoint adds a revolute joint, with an unified, almost complete parameter list
- pXconSetRevoluteSpring sets spring parameters

new prismatic joint functions
- pXconSetPrismatic(Joint)Limits sets the limits of prismatic joints
- pXconAddPrismaticJoint adds a prismatic joint, with an unified, almost complete parameter list

- new: ackphysxHelloWorld() can be used to check, if the dll is connected to the engine (for debugging)

internal
- PercentToFloat & FloatToPercent can be used to convert GS percentages to PhysX percentages
- isPercentValid can be used to check if a percentage is valid
- NxForVecNormal converts a GS normal into a normalized PhysX normal
- NxForQuant, NxForVarQuant, NxToQuant and NxToVarQuant can be used to transfer quant measures into physx

Here you go: ackphysx.20111104.dll.h.rar or source in SVN.

One of the best projects here to bad almost noone cares.

if there were more active 3dgs users i would help you out a little bit with the svn, but sadly I'm pretty sure almost noone will be able to use this great plugin..

Nevertheless, thanks a lot christian.

Thank you Christian, I always enjoy working with your projects (fmod for example). Techmuc, will be great if you could help Christian a little bit I guess.

Thanks!

Well, I hope clicking on a download link to download the dll and header is not "too much"... almost all new features are described here and I try to document the header as much as possible, so "not being able" to use that is a bit.. well.. I hope that is not true, because that means my documentation abilities are like junk

i don't think this is what he meant.

"not to be able" in a sense of:

the common user:
1) does not understand physics
2) does not understand what you are posting at all (joints? what the fuck? )
3) thinks "waaa download sth. without a fantastic demo-- no"

Is there any existing project left here, which still needs complex physics - or even more harsh: If you are not using the contribution yourself, i highly doubt that there will be anyone left using your enhancements (really seriously using) besides a maximum of maybe 5 people

PS: 1st: Your documentations are probably the best docs i've ever read (especially for an open source product).

PS: 2nd: Actually as this is pretty senseless you can just ignore this post. It is not relevant to your enhancements, and i do NOT want to start a dumb discussion here.

OK, sorry, I was confused you are welcome

Well, I think that physics can enhance a game more than fancy shaders, they are the future (if done properly, of course)! So I am considering to keep on working on this after I finished my client work, well.. since I want to work again on some own games/tech stuff again in 2012, I especially want to have some fluid particles, wind, soft bodies and fracturing. So, after fixing the gaps in joints (which are VERY important imho), I will see what I can do.

I did not look into the code, but when i do and if i see i can, i will help here and there. I got something more like an physics util library sort of thing in mind, but that's another plugin/library.