OpenGL or Direct3D?

[Cannibal Corpse]

Does this game utilizes OpenGL or Direct3D?

What about the E3 demo? What it shown using OpenGL or Direct3D? The reason being that it looke amazing on a RADEON 9600/9800XT.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Goliath_1986]

it will use DirectX 8.1 or 9 (thats Direct3D right ?). i believe at E3 they were using a 9800pro

 

[Jhahn2k4]

it will use DirectX 8.1 or 9 (thats Direct3D right ?). i believe at E3 they were using a 9800pro

I believe it will use both OpenGL and Direct3D, yes, when you select Direct3D, it utilizes DirectX graphic features that are compatible with the game. (I tink so)

 

[Cannibal Corpse]

The vidoe clips from E3 are amazing. So you DO get an option to choose between the two API in the game? That is cool.

 

[Jhahn2k4]

With your Radeon 9800..

/me gets jealous

.. you should select Direct3D to take advantage of DirectX 9 features

 

[PvtRyan]

No the game is Direct3D only. No OpenGL.

 

[Jhahn2k4]

No the game is Direct3D only. No OpenGL.

Thx for helping me out there Pvt, I dont know really anything about that quite yet..

 

[Onions]

"it will use DirectX 8.1 or 9 (thats Direct3D right ?)"

DirectX is a collection of things, Direct3D being the 3D graphics part, DirectSound sound, etc, for those that were confused

It will use 9 as far as I know, but of course older card owners that don't support 9's features will still be happy. Maybe they'll patch it up to use 10 when it arrives.

 

[Bicka]

Hmm if the game runs using 8.1 as well then I see no reason why OpenGL won't be supported also.

 

[Skullhair]

I believe somewhere in the "Info from Valve" Gabe mentioned that it is D3D only.

 

[Chris D]

After the hardware survey they'll probably implement both

 

[MultiVaC]

I hope they don't delay it any further for OpenGL.

 

[bgesley426]

After the hardware survey they'll probably implement both

I doubt it. Most games that are out/coming out use only D3D. I think most people use OpenGL according to the survey is because thats what runs better 5 years ago on HL1

 

[snark^]

DX10 is a minimum 2 years away IIRC? HL2 will initially be DX only, from DX9 and supposedly scaling right back down to DX6 (GF2 cards) -- with a possibility of OpenGL support should that survey say it's warranted (translation: if there's too many people still with older nvidia cards which won't get the best out of the game).

I'd prefer OGL myself, although I am biased from the initial days of HL1 where the D3D looked so blurry in comparison to the crisp clear OpenGL. These days for HL the D3D looks as good as the OGL (albeit not as good FPS-wise).

Strange story time: I'd played Deus Ex quite well on my old GF2 GTS using DX8 but I'd started having trouble after upgrading to a 9700Pro -- glitchy moire-patterned wall textures and so on -- until I swapped the unreal renderer to OpenGL and suddenly it's all crisp clear graphics again. Bit of a reversal of the current situation that the game ran well with the nvidia card under D3D and then using OpenGL with the ATI card...

 

[psyno]

Voodoo users would like to see OpenGL as well, although the game will run on a Voodoo3...

 

[Mountain Man]

After the hardware survey they'll probably implement both

That'd be great! Much easier to emulate OpenGL games in Linux than Direct3D ones.

 

[PvtRyan]

DX10 is a minimum 2 years away IIRC?

Offtopic:
DX10, or like it's called DirectX Next, will be fully integrated in Longhorn, there will be no DX10 support for Windows XP or older.

 

[Wesisapie]

great. what was that anti-trust business again?

 

[Dr. Freeman]

Offtopic:
DX10, or like it's called DirectX Next, will be fully integrated in Longhorn, there will be no DX10 support for Windows XP or older.

not to totally go off topic but if that does happen.. all gamers will be shafted :|
meaning.. new games will support DX10.. and if a gamer wants that level of performance, hes force to upgrade.. more money for the rich.

wonderful, just wonderful.. :|

 

[bobvodka]

I very much doublt we'll see an OpenGL version, it all depends how much they have abstracted away from D3D as to how much hastle it would be to write an OpenGL renderer and given their target market was Windows and probably the XBox there isnt really a need to abstract away that much, not to mention the non-trivial act of re-writing all the shaders.

I'm a great fan of OpenGL, its my gfx api of choice for when i bother to code, but i dont see it being in Valves best intrest to spend the time writing a renderer when most people dont really care what is used as long as it looks good and plays well.

 

[bobvodka]

not to totally go off topic but if that does happen.. all gamers will be shafted :|
meaning.. new games will support DX10.. and if a gamer wants that level of performance, hes force to upgrade.. more money for the rich.

wonderful, just wonderful.. :|

Indeed, but thats how it works, end of the day we can keep using windows and do what MS tell us or switch to something like Linux or OSX.

Btw, the gamer wont be shafted, OpenGL will keep updating and expanding as long as the gfx chip makers support it, so if this is indeed true this could be a bonus to OpenGL over D3D, which i doubt MS will want..

 

[Dr. Freeman]

Indeed, but thats how it works, end of the day we can keep using windows and do what MS tell us or switch to something like Linux or OSX.

Btw, the gamer wont be shafted, OpenGL will keep updating and expanding as long as the gfx chip makers support it, so if this is indeed true this could be a bonus to OpenGL over D3D, which i doubt MS will want..

yes but OGL has not been updated regularly for a while now (at least thats my understanding of the situation) and theres no signs of the companies updating OGL in the future seeing that D3D is the popular choice now.

i hope some companies do take the path less travelled.. it will mean alot to us poor gamers.

 

[bobvodka]

Well, your wrong
OpenGL is on version 1.5 of the spec, I belive version 1.6 should appear in June and they are working towards the mythical '2.0' still. Infact, its been updated once a year for the last 4 years or so (it was 1.2 when i started learning it back i around 2000)
The reason you dont see upgrades is because they are pretty much silent, upgrade your gfx driver and you'll have the most recent version of OpenGL for your card, thats all there is to it.
ATI 4.3 Cats now have the 1.5 version internaly and have supported the 1.5 core for about 2 revisions now.
Both ATI and Nvidia keep their drivers upto date and i dare say the other gfx card makers do so as well and with Doom3 around they cant afford NOT to update their drivers.

However, the fact you didnt know just highlights the fact that the ARB needs to push OpenGL and what its doing more to the gaming people :|

 

[Dr. Freeman]

thanks for that informative post

i did know they were doing revisions and such but did not know its updated as frequently as u have pointed out.

at least u and i (and hopefully others) understand how important OGL is and will be in the future.. especially for those they may not have the cash to be buying new hardware/software

 

[bobvodka]

np, i like to keep others informed just as i like others keeping me informed

The last 3D API survey on the front page of Gamedev.net gave OpenGL a slight lead over D3D for people working with it, so quite a few are aware of it, and with a rise in the idea of crossplatform gaming it could well be back with a vengance sooner than you think

 

[FictiousWill]

heh. I recall that a texture in the old windows maze screensaver had an opengl plug in it.

 

[Majestic XII]

HL2 will use Dx 6 - 9... just so you know.

 

[Lobster]

Yeh and its completely based off DX, all the shaders are DX effects, it would be a monumental waste of time and resources making an opengl version at this stage, and compared to the API's used in HL1, directX runs alot better now.. BF, UT2003-4, FarCry etc are all using DX, i wouldnt be at all surprised if D3 was all DX to, although ID have always been OpenGL junkies.

 

[Arno]

i wouldnt be at all surprised if D3 was all DX too.

LOL... that would be a big surprise to me!