[Resolved] PhysX SDK requires a special nVIDIA membership.

Hello.

The instructions given for installing "NxOGRE", point us to this nVIDIA Web site, for downloading the "PhysX SDK" first:

http://developer.nvidia.com/physx-downloads

However, even though nVIDIA claims that their SDK is free, their Web site demands that we apply for a special membership before we can do so. And nVIDIA has developed the habit of arbitrarily refusing a membership (without providing any explanations).

This means two things:

1) The information on NxOGRE Web pages, for how to install it, are already out of date, and

2) Using NxOGRE is a special privilege, which only people with good looks are admitted to partake in.

For that reason, NxOGRE should no longer be advertized as a resource which all OGRE users would have any access to.

Dirk

No,

You've always had to register for an account to download the SDK.

Hello.

The instructions given for installing "NxOGRE", point us to this nVIDIA Web site, for downloading the "PhysX SDK" first:

http://developer.nvidia.com/physx-downloads

However, even though nVIDIA claims that their SDK is free, their Web site demands that we apply for a special membership before we can do so. And nVIDIA has developed the habit of arbitrarily refusing a membership (without providing any explanations).

This means two things:

1) The information on NxOGRE Web pages, for how to install it, are already out of date, and

2) Using NxOGRE is a special privilege, which only people with good looks are admitted to partake in.

For that reason, NxOGRE should no longer be advertized as a resource which all OGRE users would have any access to.

Dirk

PhysX ever since the transfer to nvidia at least has always required human approved membership accounts. When I signed up for mine I they were on vacation or some other BS. Its weird but its their rules. Have you tried signing up yet? Have they explicitly refused to grant you an account? Sometimes it takes awhile. The SDK may also be floating around the net. As a last resort someone here may have an account at one of them uploading places and put it on for you.

Even since the library was called Novodex they've had manually processed registrations. Just fill in the form properly, and you'll get it.

I must warn everyone though, any hint of posting a link to the SDK on here, and I will ban you for piracy. Just because it's free, doesn't mean you have a right to distribute it.

The fact of the matter, is that I have not officially been refused YET. But one form of refusal which exists in the commercial world, can be just to give no reply, like the stereotypical response which some actors and rock stars got in the past of "Don't call us; we'll call you." There are essentially two reasons for which I don't approve of this process:

1) The whole point of OGRE, was not to be commercial and to be openly accessible to everybody, and
2) It's also a cushy part of my life, that I've had little trouble subscribing to services and memberships in my life. I'm not used to being turned down, and merely the anticipation of it can make me feel antsy.

But there is also an important reason for which nVIDIA has its system in place:

They want their SDK to be used by people, who will make them look good. They don't want it to be used to produce garbage, which would next be associated with "PhysX".

In any case, should they eventually tell me they feel I'm not up to their standards, I would not consider it an option to download another copy. The fact is that because their software is proprietary, it would actually infringe on their copyrights, to have somebody else download it for me. And I'm not going to have anything illegitimate happen. Certainly not on my behalf.

But I might go ahead and mope a bit, if I do get rejected...

Dirk

[Edit]: I believe that Betajaen has just replied to this thread, simultaneously with my reply.

[Just to state my position more clearly]: If it should happen that nVIDIA does grant me a membership, then this would not be one of those 'latest acquisitions' for me to brag about openly. Considering that (a) I came close to not getting it, and (b) It can also be taken away again...

If you explain fully what you intend to with it, in plain and well written English they should accept you.

I've never seen anyone be rejected before.

The reason which I stated for which I'd like to have permission to use their "PhysX SDK", was in order to be able to compile NxOGRE. I also stated clearly, that my more long-term goal was to teach myself privately, how the subject of game Physics engines truly works (as opposed to how they might work hypothetically).

Does this constitute an invalid reason? Would I have needed to state a specific game project? I felt that for better or for worse, I should be honest.

Also, it was my assumption that the people at nVIDIA would either know what NxOGRE is, or that they could just look it up as easily as anybody else - by Google-ing it.

But honestly: There's somebody at nVIDIA, who can either say 'Yes" or 'No'. What happens when that person says No?

Dirk

[Edit]: I applied for the 'nVIDIA Developer membership' on Sunday, August 7. As I'm writing this we have Thursday, August 11. And I never got any type of reply from them.

I feel so silly now.

The reason for my anxiety, had nothing to do with nVIDIA.

My ISP is a mainstream Montreal company, which outsourced its email servers to Hotmail servers in the USA years ago.

It seems that the Hotmail server caught the nVidia PhysX developer confirmation email in its spam filter, which nVidia had sent me on August 8, which was 1 day after I had asked for it.

This spam filter works externally to my own computer, and is in place even though my email service is not primarily set up as Web-mail.

In hindsight, I should have checked for that possibility sooner.

But now the fact is, that my password has been active, and available for me to use all this time. And I can now proceed to install the software, and to compile NxOGRE subsequently at my leisure.

Dirk