Funcom has updated their Dreamworld engine to incorporate NVIDIA PhysX technology, allowing for faster in-game physics processing and realistic collision effects. Their Age of Conan is the first game to make use of this updated engine. In a press release, they detailed the upgrade:
Funcom and NVIDIA have announced that Funcom’s proprietary Dreamworld 2.5, a leading game engine for massively multiplayer online games (MMOs), is the first game to incorporate server-side NVIDIA® PhysX®. This unique implementation into the Dreamworld engine results in more than a doubling in the speed-of in-game physics processing vs. traditional client-side PhysX technology, delivering realistic collision effects within the online gaming environments.
Dreamworld currently powers two of the world’s most popular massively multiplayer online games: ‘Age of Conan’ and ‘Anarchy Online’, with a third, ‘The Secret World’, currently in development. The updated Dreamworld Engine 2.5 with server-side PhysX is now live in ‘Age of Conan’.
“We are excited to be working closely with NVIDIA to integrate PhysX technology into our Dreamworld 2.5 engine,” said Rui Casais, Chief Technology Officer at Funcom. “Server-side collision using PhysX will allow us to add a new level of realism to our online worlds, and we look forward to implementing other enhancements as well, including NVIDIA APEX clothing and destruction, to make our games even more interactive and immersive.”
Recently, Funcom also introduced an entirely rewritten render engine to ‘Age of Conan’. You can download a video teaser that provides a look into the new improvements from the Funcom FTP site.
“We are also proud to have launched a fully rewritten render engine for ‘Age of Conan’, yielding major performance increase on high-end systems and enabling several new visual features for lower end machines”, said Casias. “We have been collaborating closely with NVIDIA in continuously improving the quality of the Dreamworld Render engine, resulting in fully new effects such as shader-based anti-aliasing techniques now being implemented in ‘Age of Conan’. The launch of the new engine is a major milestone towards the high requirements for visual performance in virtual adventures required for ‘The Secret World’.”
It’s nice to hear that Funcom continues to update their major MMO, Age of Conan, but what’s even nicer for me is to hear that the engine will make The Secret World (which I am hotly anticipating) that much more enjoyable.
