Why is there no plan for an Open Library interface for physics libraries? This would be very important since ODE is one of the biggest weaknesses of Gamestudio. PhysX won't be a solution either for everyone if you don't get the source code license and include it without the silly driver requirement.

How will this work in the future? Will the default Gamestudio networking/audio/physics features use this interface? Will they be included in separate DLLs which can simply be replaced? It would be awesome if the engine was modular like that.

Wish already fulfilled. You can add any physics engine to the current version. There are already Newton and PhysX physics for Gamestudio. A lot of AAA games also use the PhysX driver without having any problem with that.

but you can also add any audio library or networking library to the current version. why a special interface for them and not for physics?

i also think that a fully modular engine would be nice. why carry ODE around if it isn't needed at all for my game? and couldn't such an interface also have advantages like better integration with stuff like the load/save game system, event system,...?

You can also add audio and networking without Open Library - but an Open Library interface makes a lot of sense here: it allows to replace one library by another without changing your application. F.i. when you replace DirectPlay by Enet, your online game will still work without modification.

But this is different for physics libraries. Physics engines use different equation systems and thus behave different. You can not just replace one physics library by another. Therefore no one needs an Open Library interface for physics engines. The current API is fully sufficient for implementing physics libraries, as you need to adapt your app to the used physics library anyway.

hm... what is the advantage of replacing one library with another if you have exactly the same behavior and features afterward?



what is your plan regarding the ODE replacement in the future? i think collision detection also uses parts of ODE (OPCODE). will this be replaced too? will you use PhysX for collision detection then? it makes a lot of sense if physics and normal collision detection use the same collision detection system.

Yes this is what I'm currently missing.
A way to hook collisions detected by the physics engine (in my case Newton) to the A7 collision system so that I can use all the event functionality as if it was native physics.

Yes, this makes sense. The replacing of ODE by PhysX won't affect the c_move or c_trace collision detection - but an alternative PhysX-based collision detection, or even a collision Open Library interface is certainly feasible.