[ODE] Infinite sliding... ?

[David Walters]

> This subject comes up a LOT. Would it be worth implementing a
> fixed-update loop within ODE itself? Something like
> dWorldStep(new_world_time, step_size) - which will step multiple times
> under the hood until it catches up with the world time?

I think that removing the step time argument from the stepping
function call and having a global function to change the time step
would be, IMHO, the best way to do it.

Using this approach you would call dWorldSetTimeStep( 0.016 ) at the
start of the program when you initialise gravity, etc. (a sensible
default of 0.01 would be used just in case )

This change would make it very obvious to newcomers that the time step
is a global, intentionally static value but still allows for
functional compatability with existing code if it wanted to use a
selection of timesteps or (against general opinion) a dynamic one by
calling 'dWorldSetTimeStep' before every call to dWorldStep - which
would just be setting a global value and thus free.

That's what i'd do :-)

Dave.