thenailedone

Was reading around about the up and coming (ok, now available) title "The Witcher" and one of the sites (stuffed if I can remember now) had a table of information about it and one of the things that caught my attention was that it supported OpenGL... so now what are the implications of that? Will it work under Linux? Will it require less tweaking to make work?

How exactly does OpenGL fit into the whole setup (and what is its relationship with DX9 and/or DX10?)...

edit: Just read this

Quote:

GH: Can you describe what has been done to enhance the game engine for The Witcher? Michal: As I have already mentioned, there have been some significant changes – around 80% of the original engine has been rewritten. Out of this, probably the most noticeable is the change of the rendering module – from OpenGL to a the new DirectX 9, where the latter’s superiority shows in pixel-shading, normal mapping, and full screen effects among others. Moreover, we reformulated the whole game mechanism – going from the d20 turn based system to real time combat. The last thing I would like to mention is the game’s edition environment, which had a complete makeover. The Aurora Toolset simply did not meet the efficiency and stipulations we were looking for. The new toolset is fully integrated with “The Witcher” and, among other things, permits us to detect glitches and implement changes in real time. In addition to all this, there have been many other smaller changes and modifications, which I have simply not mentioned due to lack of space.

Source... so The Witcher isn't OpenGL... still no idea of the implications...

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SpuddGunn

OpenGL should work fine under Linux

As for where it sits with DX9/10, I believe (correct me if I'm wrong) that it has nothing to do with them and runs its own way. Same way as Glide used to be different to OpenGL and DX

Check out these links

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenGL

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compari...t3D_and_OpenGL

Hope these help

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thenailedone

Thanks for the links... actually had a read on Wikipedia just after posting... still doesn't help me to much (just serves to confuse me more...)

So OpenGL is in direct competition with Direct3D... and Direct3D is that part of DirectX that handles graphics (if I follow)... so when creating games the developers choose to create for either OpenGL or DirectX... and a game like The Witcher that is now written for Direct3D won't necessarily be playable under Linux (lot's of tweaking etc. needed)... Or am I mistaken?

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SpuddGunn

Yeah think thats about right.

Back in the days of 3dfx, most games would let you choose between D3D, OpenGl and Glide (3dfx only). So in effect they were all competing against each other. D3D back then was pretty poor so moost users went for either OpenGL or Glide.

When 3dfx went belly up, Glide was just left behind leaving only OpenGL and DX.

If The Witcher is purely DX now then I doubt very much it would work under Linux. However if it has the option to switch to OpenGL then I think it should.

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G|F.E.A.D|Killa

open GL has nothing to do with direct X. it is its own system. i think were at 2.0 now.and the graphics are way better than with DX

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DuckieHo

Correct. OpenGL games will not always immediately work with Linux or Mac. However, they can usually with a bit of tweaking.

OpenGL and DirectX are sets of APIs or commands. Instead of the programmers worrying about how to tell the CPU/video card/memory to work, they just use a pre-defined command. These commands differ in OpenGL and DirectX. Instead of writing in code with 20+ lines of set register commands like: "MV R1 R2 1, MV R1 R2 3, ect" (machine code), developers can write "DrawLine([X1,Y1,Z1],[X2,Y2,Z2]) using an API.


OpenGL and DirectX are APIs, not systems. The graphics are not way better than DirectX3D. Each have strengths and weaknesses. OpenGL is working on 3.0 but was recently delayed.

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The Hundred Gunner

So will someone please answer this question which I always ask in DX/OGL threads but never get an answer:

If OGL and DX are different "libraries," why does a game like Doom 3 or Q4 (which I hear are "OGL games) need to have DX installed? The D3 comes with a DX installer and has DX9 written as a requirement on the box.

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thenailedone

Good question The Hundred Gunner... and thx for the advice to all...

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moward

It probably needs DirectX for its sound processing?

DuckieHo

Yup.... To run in Windows, it probably needs some certain non-graphical APIs. Don't forget when comparing OpenGL vs DirectX.... you are really only comparing OpenGL vs DirectX3D. DirectX also contains APIs for sound and keyboard/mouse controls

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