Box2D: How to use b2ChainShape for a tile based map with squares - ios

Question

Im fighting here with the so called ghost collisions on a simple tile based map with a circle as player character.
When applying an impulse to the circle it first starts bouncing correctly, then sooner or later it bounces wrong (wrong angle).
Looking up on the internet i read about an issue in Box2D (i use iOS Swift with Box2d port for Swift).
Using b2ChainShape does not help, but it looks i misunderstood it. I also need to use the "prevVertex" and "nextVertex" properties to set up the ghost vertices.
But im confused. I have a simple map made up of boxes (simple square), all placed next to each other forming a closed room. Inside of it my circle i apply an impulse seeing the issue.
Now WHERE to place those ghost vertices for each square/box i placed on the view in order to solve this issue? Do i need to place ANY vertex close to the last and first vertice of chainShape or does it need to be one of the vertices of the next box to the current one? I dont understand. Box2D's manual does not explain where these ghost vertices coordinates are coming from.
Below you can see an image describing the problem.
Some code showing the physics parts for the walls and the circle:
First the wall part:
let bodyDef = b2BodyDef()
bodyDef.position = self.ptm_vec(node.position+self.offset)
let w = self.ptm(Constants.Config.wallsize)
let square = b2ChainShape()
var chains = [b2Vec2]()
chains.append(b2Vec2(-w/2,-w/2))
chains.append(b2Vec2(-w/2,w/2))
chains.append(b2Vec2(w/2,w/2))
chains.append(b2Vec2(w/2,-w/2))
square.createLoop(vertices: chains)
let fixtureDef = b2FixtureDef()
fixtureDef.shape = square
fixtureDef.filter.categoryBits = Constants.Config.PhysicsCategory.Wall
fixtureDef.filter.maskBits = Constants.Config.PhysicsCategory.Player
let wallBody = self.world.createBody(bodyDef)
wallBody.createFixture(fixtureDef)
The circle part:
let bodyDef = b2BodyDef()
bodyDef.type = b2BodyType.dynamicBody
bodyDef.position = self.ptm_vec(node.position+self.offset)
let circle = b2CircleShape()
circle.radius = self.ptm(Constants.Config.playersize)
let fixtureDef = b2FixtureDef()
fixtureDef.shape = circle
fixtureDef.density = 0.3
fixtureDef.friction = 0
fixtureDef.restitution = 1.0
fixtureDef.filter.categoryBits = Constants.Config.PhysicsCategory.Player
fixtureDef.filter.maskBits = Constants.Config.PhysicsCategory.Wall
let ballBody = self.world.createBody(bodyDef)
ballBody.linearDamping = 0
ballBody.angularDamping = 0
ballBody.createFixture(fixtureDef)

Answer 1

Not sure that I know of a simple solution in the case that each tile can potentially have different physics.
If your walls are all horizontal and/or vertical, you could write a class to take a row of boxes, create a single edge or rectangle body, and then on collision calculate which box (a simple a < x < b test) should interact with the colliding object, and apply the physics appropriately, manually calling the OnCollision method that you would otherwise specify as the callback for each individual box.

Answer 2

Alternatively, to avoid the trouble of manually testing intersection with different boxes, you could still merge all common straight edge boxes into one edge body for accurate reflections. However, you would still retain the bodies for the individual boxes. Extend the boxes so that they overlap the edge.
Now here's the trick: all box collision handlers return false, but they toggle flags on the colliding object (turning flags on OnCollision, and off OnSeparation). The OnCollision method for the edge body then processes the collision based on which flags are set.
Just make sure that the colliding body always passes through a box before it can touch an edge. That should be straightforward.