Box2D Forums

I've made an editor for a game I'm producing, the problem is that when the level starts there's movement as the level settles or the bodies either slightly fall into each other and then pop back out. I've added a function which allows me to run the simulation for a while until the level is settled but when I start the level I still get the penetration issue. I've done some searching but can't find much, has anyone come across this problem before? Is there a solution?

Thanks,

Why not run the simulation as fast as possible (independent of frame rate, without rendering) for a bit as the last stage of "loading"?

You'll need to create a tool that loads a level, settles it, and saves it back to disk.

pTymN, the OP said that he already does this (probably within the editor, since there's no reason to use a separate tool).

His problem (as I understand it) is that when he loads a pre-settled level the dynamic objects all penetrate slightly and then everything pops back out of the ground.

My guess would be that Box2D stores state regarding settled bodies and their points of contact, and this state is lost when the level is re-loaded and the bodies are re-created.

The solution I offered was simply to quickly "re-settle" the level by running the simulation "behind the scenes" at the last stage of loading, before presenting it to the user.

I'm not really sure if it would help, but you could try running one step with a timestep of zero - afaik that would set up the contacts again but without actually moving anything.

The binary file could also contain the warm starting values, this is the first culprit I can think of.