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Top 23 C++ Simulation Projects
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"Emulator" is the wrong word, but the answer is yes. The word you actually meant was "re-implementation" - writing a completely new, clean-room program which reads Source data files (levels, assets, scripts) and allows the user to play a Source game is perfectly legal.
It is necessary to avoid distributing any copyrighted material, so the user must provide the game assets from a legitimate copy for using the program to be legal. In addition, the 'clean-room' must be maintained by ensuring that no contributors to the re-implementation have ever seen the source code for Source, or they become tainted with forbidden knowledge.
Indeed, it's quite common for beloved old games to be re-implemented on new codebases to allow easy play on modern OS's and at high resolution, etc.
See https://github.com/Interkarma/daggerfall-unity, https://openrct2.io/, https://github.com/AlisterT/openjazz
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InfluxDB
InfluxDB – Built for High-Performance Time Series Workloads. InfluxDB 3 OSS is now GA. Transform, enrich, and act on time series data directly in the database. Automate critical tasks and eliminate the need to move data externally. Download now.
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Bullet
Bullet Physics SDK: real-time collision detection and multi-physics simulation for VR, games, visual effects, robotics, machine learning etc.
Physics and Game Engines: Implement high performance physics with Wasm-compiled versions of well established engines. For instance, Ammo.js is a Wasm version of the popular bullet physics engine written in C++.
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JoltPhysics
A multi core friendly rigid body physics and collision detection library. Written in C++. Suitable for games and VR applications. Used by Horizon Forbidden West.
Project mention: Jolt: Physics and collision detection library, used by Horizon Forbidden West | news.ycombinator.com | 2024-09-03 -
Not it is the free software or open source version of this game, but OpenLoco https://openloco.io/ is great, and I hope that this game in near future will have a free assets like as OpenTTD https://www.openttd.org/ .
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The-Powder-Toy
Written in C++ and using SDL, The Powder Toy is a desktop version of the classic 'falling sand' physics sandbox, it simulates air pressure and velocity as well as heat.
Project mention: Defibrillation devices save lives using 1k times less electricity | news.ycombinator.com | 2024-11-07 -
FluidX3D
The fastest and most memory efficient lattice Boltzmann CFD software, running on all GPUs and CPUs via OpenCL. Free for non-commercial use.
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OpenCat
An open source quadruped robot pet framework for developing Boston Dynamics-style four-legged robots that are perfect for STEM, coding & robotics education, IoT robotics applications, AI-enhanced robotics application services, research, and DIY robotics kit development.
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CHRONO
High-performance C++ library for multiphysics and multibody dynamics simulations (by projectchrono)
Project mention: Projectchrono - an Open Source Multi-Physics Simulation Engine | news.ycombinator.com | 2025-03-29 -
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Project mention: Gem5: Advanced Computer-System Architecture Simulator | news.ycombinator.com | 2024-08-06
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Blender-FLIP-Fluids
The FLIP Fluids addon is a tool that helps you set up, run, and render high quality liquid fluid effects all within Blender, the free and open source 3D creation suite.
The addon you're referring to is already a polished product: https://github.com/rlguy/Blender-FLIP-Fluids/wiki/Mixbox-Ins...
It works as a kind of extension supplied with the paid FLIP Fluids addon. Note that the fluid solver built into Blender is also an implementation of FLIP, but "FLIP Fluids" is a separate product. I've played with fluid simulation in Blender quite a bit. The bundled FLIP is very limited, FLIP Fluids is great, and the color mixing is amazing!
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Not it is the free software or open source version of this game, but OpenLoco https://openloco.io/ is great, and I hope that this game in near future will have a free assets like as OpenTTD https://www.openttd.org/ .
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NOTE:
The open source projects on this list are ordered by number of github stars.
The number of mentions indicates repo mentiontions in the last 12 Months or
since we started tracking (Dec 2020).
C++ Simulation discussion
C++ Simulation related posts
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OpenSim: An Open Source Engine for Biomechanics Simulation
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Webots: Open-Source Robot Simulator
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Projectchrono - an Open Source Multi-Physics Simulation Engine
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When Should I Use WebAssembly?
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Eclipse Sumo – Simulation of Urban MObility
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Railroad Tycoon II
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SpaceSim
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Index
What are some of the best open-source Simulation projects in C++? This list will help you:
| # | Project | Stars |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | OpenRCT2 | 14,327 |
| 2 | Bullet | 13,347 |
| 3 | engine-sim | 8,908 |
| 4 | JoltPhysics | 7,854 |
| 5 | OpenTTD | 6,894 |
| 6 | The-Powder-Toy | 4,787 |
| 7 | FluidX3D | 4,414 |
| 8 | OpenCat | 3,970 |
| 9 | webots | 3,584 |
| 10 | lammps | 2,468 |
| 11 | CHRONO | 2,394 |
| 12 | AntSimulator | 2,305 |
| 13 | unrealcv | 2,002 |
| 14 | gem5 | 1,989 |
| 15 | moose | 1,933 |
| 16 | Blender-FLIP-Fluids | 1,784 |
| 17 | pioneer | 1,724 |
| 18 | SPlisHSPlasH | 1,696 |
| 19 | reactphysics3d | 1,612 |
| 20 | openmm | 1,598 |
| 21 | jsbsim | 1,560 |
| 22 | OpenLoco | 1,498 |
| 23 | zeno | 1,316 |
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