Benefits of Havoc 4

What improvements or benefits can we expect from the new Havoc 4 physics engine?

I have not seen much different in SL except that possibly my attack sharks as swimming a little slower and pushing a little softer. Occasionally for fun I have taken a linked build into an empty water sim, unlinked it and set it to physical so I could watch it explode from the collisions. That seemed to work pretty much the same as it did before. I could not really see much difference.

I have heard in the past that people expected vehicles to work better. Has anyone seen any improvements?

It fixed a bug where if I sat down on the same couch as my sculpty kitty and changed the couch pose, the entire sim would stall for 10-15 seconds.

I'm sure my neighbours are pleased that no longer happens .

(Edited to add that Havok4 was required for future projects such as returning prims where the center of the root prim isn't on your parcel which is supposed to one step along the way of LL allowing arbitrarily large prims. I'm too lazy to dig up my longer summary of a Q&A on it, it's in search )

There are a few bugs I've seen (and reported) but overall it seems like the behavior is all the same. As far as I am aware, the main improvement is simply speed; Havok 4 handles physics calculations faster than Havok 1.

I've noticed a few things.

My backyard is gently sloped and when I stand in the right spot I gently drift down the hill.

Sim crossings are MUCH better for me than before, I don't lose my hair and my shoes don't go up my bum.

I seem to fly better and more accurately too. But maybe thats a perceptual thing? Not sure on that one

On the other hand, I've had a few scripts die on me.

I think over time this will be a big improvement for SL.

FaTeke

The biggest improvements are in the realm of stability. Havok 1 was the source of a *lot* of sim crashes. Just before the Havok 4 early adopters program started, I had a sim which was literally crashing 2-3 times a day due to god knows what (we spent weeks trying to track it down). As soon as I joined the Early Adopter program and we put Havok 4 on it, It never crashed again, not even once since, for over 6 months. And we constantly have 20-30 avatars on the sim, its always loaded. That says it all in my book.

The nice part is, later, once all the fine tuning and remaining bugs are done, Havok 4 will allow new features to be brought in. (omg, I said that forbidden phrase, new features)

I went for a swim and was slower - but probably more like RL swim speed.
Other than that I haven't noticed any real differences.

For now, mainly less crashy-crashy.

This is *exactly* the sort of thing people have been asking for: more stability.

Don't be surprised if it only comes in the same flavour for a while as we had before - but it will get better and more featureful.

A pavilion build I have that took 3 objects before linked up as one object with nary a whimper. Reportedly with a viewer update building up to 4K altitude will be possible.

I am so going to bring my skybox up to 4k when it becomes available. Hopefully no one in the area will figure it out for months.

Havok 4 poisoned the fish pond I'd built for the owner of the island where I live. Yesterday all my scripted swimming kois had all floated up to the top of the phantom prim water, where I'm told by said island owner that their splashy death throes made such a racket, she had no choice but to return them.

Hugs seem to be closer and more "intimate".

We can now cam on mega prims without the cam centering elsewhere which is SO nice!

I found I don't fly through floors and ceilings at fast speed anymore (still do in "god" mode though).

/me claps hand over Darien's mouth..."Shhhhh, what were you thinking"!!


Stability sounds GOOD!!!


Ohhh, farther linking would be fantastic. And building higher should reduce the clutter in the sky's. Unfortunately, it will also probably increase the complaints from pilots about security systems. LOL


I can't wait to try this for my self!

I can link my objects a lot easier. It also tells me how many objects were able to be linked.