OpenGL Vs Direct X

[lapta]

Before i even start this thread i thought i would point out that is a going to be a total geek thread.

OpenGL (short for Open Graphics Library) and DirectX are the 2 major players when it comes to graphics within the gaming world.

DirectX cover both Graphics and sound where as OpenGL only covers Graphics.

Directx only works on Mircosoft oparating systems, ie Windows XP, vista, 7 etc.

OpenGL works on any oparating system. So bascally if you create a game using DirectX then it will not run on a Mac or Linux system.

There has been a long running battle between DirectX and OpenGL ever since the 2 were released.

There is a point to this thread:P The point being that @ the moment Mir uses DirectX 7, which is a very old verison of direct X, the fact that it uses directx 7 might explain why some people had problems loading the old EXE. Along with the upgrading of the exe as i explained in another thread, we have to ugrade directx to at least verison 9, although the current verison of directX is verison 10, there still seems to be a few problems with direct x 10. But... we have decided to change to OpenGL:|

We are still not 100% sure we are going to be using for sound at the moment, but we are sure that openGL is the best option for the exe.
There are a few reasons for this, and i will list them now

People will be able to play mir on Mac's and linux and other non Mircosoft OS's.
As OpenGL is open source software we will be able to do alot more 2D stuff, without having all the 3D code in the EXE.
People with lower spec PC's will be able to run mir without having to go and buy a new Graphics card.
It's another way to stop other people steeling our EXE and using it for them selfs for their server.
It should stop the stupid "lag" of character and spells in game when there are 5 or more monsters on the screen.
There are a few more reasons, but i really can't remember them from the 4 hour chat the 4 of us had over this issue.

Well there you ago, another boaring thread to read.

I am trying to post some sort of news everyday, here and on the website, in the effort to keep our Google ranking, as at the moment, the top spot is switching between, [¹Ì¸£ÀÇÀü¼³3] - Ep4. ¿ùÇÏ¿¬(êÅùÁæÐ) - and www.gamepot.com when you search legend of mir.

Anyways thats pretty much it.

/Lapta

[Wacey]

now iv got a haf decent pc and i still hate mac's i would go with direct x

but... looking at it logically for every1 open gl would be best i guess

didn't you say in the ninja thread you was adding an element of 3D though??

[lapta]

now iv got a haf decent pc and i still hate mac's i would go with direct x

but... looking at it logically for every1 open gl would be best i guess

didn't you say in the ninja thread you was adding an element of 3D though??

LOL, well now your ok, let stop everything and stick with dirctx:P

Won't be adding any thing "3D" to mir, just new moves.

We have talked about being about to spin the town maps round, which is sort of a 3D effect, but still 2D.

/Lapta

[Kurgan]

The 3D additions initially will just improve lighting/atmospheric effects and maybe certain weapons/spells. The actual graphics will remain as 2D sprites for now.

[Wacey]

sorry this kinda confused me :

Climb, allow you to climb on to walls and do a jump/dive attack. This is a 2d game?!? so people will be on top of store and stuff? lol climb on the side off walks like side of building to get ready for an attack, not on top off roofs. On a side note, we are sort of making the maps 3d, so u can walk under a bridge and over the same bridge, to make some very sexy maps.
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being able 2 walk over and under the bridge will surely have people on the same x,y position but a different z position.

and as i said in the second line "but... looking at it logically for every1 open gl would be best i guess"

[lapta]

sorry this kinda confused me :

being able 2 walk over and under the bridge will surely have people on the same x,y position but a different z position.

and as i said in the second line "but... looking at it logically for every1 open gl would be best i guess"

Making the maps sort of 3d is totally differant to making the game 3d.

[ezzo]

technically speaking i see lot of misunderstood information in your thread.

using openGL doesn't mean game can be played on other platforms as it's just the graphic subsystem that will be portable but rest of it will based on Windows libraries the fact that it's .EXE means it will work only in windows to achieve full portability you will have to move all the code from Delphi to a more portable programming language (JAVA for example).

the other point is actually openGL could be more headache on the system over DirectX as DirectX is already built into Windows and most of the libraries and components you will use could be already loaded with the OS.

also OpenGL doesn't provide direct hardware acceleration on windows so players should have openGL hardware acceleration on their graphics cards for DirectX it's done by the OS.

one more thing In general, Direct3D is designed to virtualize 3D hardware interfaces. Direct3D frees the game programmer from accommodating the graphics hardware. OpenGL, on the other hand, is designed to be a 3D accelerated hardware rendering system that may be emulated in oftware. These two APIs are fundamentally designed under two separate modes of thought

[Wacey]

allowing Jamie to make a geek thread. 1st error lol.

on your info Ezzo it seems clear that we should be using Direct X

[ezzo]

moving to openGL will just means more work before client is ready without much benefits

[lapta]

technically speaking i see lot of misunderstood information in your thread.

using openGL doesn't mean game can be played on other platforms as it's just the graphic subsystem that will be portable but rest of it will based on Windows libraries the fact that it's .EXE means it will work only in windows to achieve full portability you will have to move all the code from Delphi to a more portable programming language (JAVA for example).

the other point is actually openGL could be more headache on the system over DirectX as DirectX is already built into Windows and most of the libraries and components you will use could be already loaded with the OS.

also OpenGL doesn't provide direct hardware acceleration on windows so players should have openGL hardware acceleration on their graphics cards for DirectX it's done by the OS.

one more thing In general, Direct3D is designed to virtualize 3D hardware interfaces. Direct3D frees the game programmer from accommodating the graphics hardware. OpenGL, on the other hand, is designed to be a 3D accelerated hardware rendering system that may be emulated in oftware. These two APIs are fundamentally designed under two separate modes of thought

You microsoft loving ****.

Of course to allow the exe to run on Mac or linux we would need to change it to a non exe, cant think what it's called on Mac. We are able to complie the program pretty easily to work on Mac and linux, but if we carry on using DirectX then we would not be able to complie the prgram to work on non Microcock systems.
OpenGl can use software support rather then hardware to run, but most cards and systems work with both systems.
As mir is made up of 100% pure still images which the exe uses, rather rending the images as the game is running, the differance between directX and openGL would not be noticed at all.

I thought u was in the chat when we said we were going to use openGL.