Descrizione

Cryostasis è uno shooter ambientato in atmosfera horror, previsto al debutto per inizio 2009, caratterizzato da un'ambientazione particolarmente tetra. Il demo tecnologico permette di evidenziare quali siano i vantaggi dell'implementazione della tecnologia PhysX con questo titolo, che può essere sfruttata utilizzando una scheda video NVIDIA della serie GeForce 8 o superiore in abbinamento a driver dotati di supporto alla tecnologia CUDA.

A seguire alcune note che meglio illustrano il funzionamento del tech demo:

1. What is Cryostasis?
Cryostasis is a first person, survival-horror shooter set for release in early 2009. The game is set in a dark and gritty environment where ice is constantly melting around you, making water a key theme in the game.

2. What is the minimum card that will run the Cryostasis demo?
To benefit from PhysX acceleration, a CUDA enabled GPU, such as NVIDIA's GeForce 8, 9 and 200 series of GPUs, is required. For good performance (above 30 FPS), we recommend a GeForce 9800GTX+ or higher graphics card.

3. What are the key PhysX features in Cryostasis?
Cryostasis is the first game to use the GPU to calculate fluid simulation using smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH). Unlike a regular particle system which typical only accounts for collision, SPH computes viscosity and repulsion forces which make the particles splash and puddle as if they were part of a real fluid. Additional PhysX features include tarps, curtains, rag dolls, rigid bodies.

4. How much PhysX workload is there in the Cryostasis demo?
In order to achieve lifelike liquid behavior, thousands of fluid particles must be simulated. The first room in the demo alone contains just under 30,000 fluid particles which interact realistically with the environment and other particles. The fluid simulation in Cryostasis is made possible by the PhysX engine, NVIDIA’s CUDA interface, and the parallel processing power of the GPU.

5. What happens when you don’t have a card that runs PhysX? Does the demo still run?
A user can run the demo even if GPU PhysX acceleration is not available. In such an environment the PhysX will be simulated on the main CPU and the performance may be below a level which most viewers would consider acceptable.

6. What kind of performance can I expect?
You can expect GeForce 9800 GTX GPUs to provide decent performance at 1280 x 1024. GeForce GTX 200 GPUs will excel at HD resolutions. Dedicating a GPU to physics produces solid performance gains.