Reason behind the "31" prim max on phyical linked object?

Does anyone have a link to the reason why the lindens set this number to 31. I wish we had just a few extra prims to use. 35 would be sweet! I just want a better understanding as to why they set that number at 31. Any info would be great.

It's actually 32, but that includes your av while you're sat on it. It was/is a limitation of the physics engine.

The number is not random, 32 being one of the computer friendly numbers. Increasing the limit to 35 would not seriously affect the performance, but could entail a great deal of work re-writing the code to allow just 3 extra prims.

Once Havok gets upgraded to whatever version is 3 years out of date by the time they get around to it I'm sure one of the first things they'll do is look at the possibility of increasing the prim limit for vehicles, maybe to 64 or 128.

It used to be much higher but the physics engine couldn't cope.

Like Surina said, its 2 to the fifth power. Raise it to the sixth and you're talking 64, which really grinds on the (extremely outdated) physics engine.

Regards,

-Flip

Pssssst the pigeons have flown. Pass it on.

The reason is the current havoc system we have calculates ever object plus the avatar to find the center of mass for the object... more objects increases the calculation time and how it reacts to being bumped, going uphill or down, so basically thats why, too much to calculate.

Also, the good news is if they move their butts on havoc three we get the ability to mark things for calculation culling, meaning you can go up to 255 prims and only have 5 involved in mass calculations via a checkbox... So improved physics cant come soon enough

In the past when they talked about the havok update(tm), they also mentioned the possibility of a bounding box around vehicles that we would be able to create. So we would be able to make a very simple box that is used for the calculations around a complex structure.

I made a prim cow once, with plans to give him a halo and wings (you know, "holy cow"?). But by the time I built the basic shape he was already 31 prims and I couldn't rubberize him with more prims (so he bounced when he fell). I never planned to sit on him, but now I understand why I coulda if I'd wanted to

Would it be possible to join two multi-prim objects and circumvent the 31 prim limit?

(EDIT: spelling DUH!)

/me wish the return of joins, true wheels would cut a lot of the current vehicles problems

I was disappointed to learn this when trying to tear down a brick wall I made. The total wall consist of 75 prims & was linked into 2 groups of 30 prims & 1 group of 15 prims. The reason for the 3 groups was because of the length of the wall which has a limit for the distance a linked set can be.

I had the wall free standing as a non physical object until it was time to "Tear Down The Wall." I was able in the past to select each of the linked sets, go into edit, select the enable physical button, unlink them so they’re now an individual prim & had the wall fall. It was a great affect but no more.

Now I have to go through the process I explained above for each set. You’re no longer able to select multiple linked sets & select the enable physical button. When you try to select multiple linked sets, the enable physical button grey's out & becomes inactive. Kinda defeats the purpose for the setup we had for The Wall.

This link is a picture that was posted of the aftermath when the the wall crumbled successfully.

Ahh the cool memories.

Psst... it's 31 including the avatar.

Cubey is correct. It was supposed to be 32 but there is a legacy 'off by one' error in the code.

How about this:

Get a static pose, build a really primmy vehicle. Have that avatar sit on a 1 prim scripted vehicle.. and wear the primmy vehicle! :3

Genious!

I've seen some that do that!

Nothing new there.