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Why Doesn't SDL 2 Use OpenGL On PC Windows? |  |
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JeZ-l-Lee
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Why Doesn't SDL 2 Use OpenGL On PC Windows?
Hi, I am starting to show interest in SDL 2 because it's being officially released in a few weeks. I read the introduction on the wiki and am wondering why SDL 2 does not use OpenGL on PC Windows? OpenGL is used on all the other supported platforms, but not PC Windows? Just wondering why DirectX was chosen over OpenGL. Thanks! |
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Why Doesn't SDL 2 Use OpenGL On PC Windows? | |
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Jonny D
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That's for the rendering API. Are you using OpenGL directly? If so, then no need to worry. I think there's an API or hint to choose OpenGL as the rendering API backend anyhow. Simply put, DirectX is better supported by the vendor (Microsoft) than OpenGL is on Windows.
Jonny D On Thu, Apr 18, 2013 at 12:15 PM, JeZ-l-Lee wrote:
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JeZ-l-Lee
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Hi,
I feel more comfortable with OpenGL over proprietary DirectX, but if using DX will make my game run on more PC Windows computers then I guess I'll use it... |
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Why Doesn't SDL 2 Use OpenGL On PC Windows? | |
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Stephen Anthony
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On April 18, 2013 1:55:31 PM Jonathan Dearborn wrote:
This is actually one of the main drawing cards for me with SDL2. In at least one major project I maintain (Stella, 2600 emulator), I've been forced to add OpenGL support simply to get acceptable performance. And OpenGL definitely isn't supported as well in Windows. I'm really looking forward to actually dropping OpenGL, and instead using the SDL API directly. That way, it will still use the best-available hardware acceleration on each platform, and I can abstract away all those (irrelevant) details. Steve A. Stella maintainer _______________________________________________ SDL mailing list http://lists.libsdl.org/listinfo.cgi/sdl-libsdl.org |
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Why Doesn't SDL 2 Use OpenGL On PC Windows? | |
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Sik
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I think you can force SDL to use OpenGL without resorting to hint
overrides, but I don't remember the exact procedure right now. They're the SDL_GL_* functions though. If you're using just the renderer then don't bother and let SDL choose what's best. If you're using OpenGL directly then look into those functions to ensure it creates an OpenGL window. 2013/4/18, Stephen Anthony:
SDL mailing list http://lists.libsdl.org/listinfo.cgi/sdl-libsdl.org |
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Why Doesn't SDL 2 Use OpenGL On PC Windows? | |
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eclectocrat
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IME even if you use the SDL renderer only, you should give the user the option to switch between OpenGL and DirectX. There are a helluva lot of PC configurations out there and on some of them one system will be unstable.
On Thu, Apr 18, 2013 at 11:13 PM, Sik the hedgehog wrote:
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Why Doesn't SDL 2 Use OpenGL On PC Windows? | |
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Stephen Anthony
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On April 19, 2013 10:25:12 AM Jeremy Jurksztowicz wrote:
Not sure if this was directed to me, but if so, I agree. I have no issue with letting the user choose the backend that SDL will use. My main concern is that I don't want to maintain the backend code *myself.* This is becoming a problem in my project, since (a) OpenGL isn't as well supported in Windows, and (b) isn't supported at all on some newer tablet- type devices. The latter probably use OpenGLES (1 or 2), or something else. Basically, that stuff belongs in abstraction library like SDL, and is my primary reason for wanting to move to SDL2. All I personally want is to create a window and send some data to it, and have it stretched accordingly (with hardware acceleration). It doesn't *have* to be OpenGL doing it, and I look forward to killing approx 2000 lines of code and no longer having to maintain that stuff. Steve A. Stella maintainer _______________________________________________ SDL mailing list http://lists.libsdl.org/listinfo.cgi/sdl-libsdl.org |
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Why Doesn't SDL 2 Use OpenGL On PC Windows? | |
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Sik
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Technically SDL2 already lets the user choose the backend by setting
an environment variable, it's just cumbersome for the normal user 
(and it affects all SDL2 programs, not just any specific one) Making it a program setting involves using hint overrides, which makes SDL ignore the environment variables of the overriden hints. What do you mean by tablet-type? Because if you mean iOS and Android, those *never* supported anything but OpenGL ES. 2013/4/19, Stephen Anthony:
SDL mailing list http://lists.libsdl.org/listinfo.cgi/sdl-libsdl.org |
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Why Doesn't SDL 2 Use OpenGL On PC Windows? | |
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Stephen Anthony
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On April 19, 2013 11:52:38 AM Sik the hedgehog wrote:
OK, to be clear. I currently have to maintain OpenGL-specific code in my project (Stella, using SDL1.2) to get good performance for image stretching and alpha-blending, v'sync, etc. I've even brought in VBO stuff. OpenGL (often) doesn't work as well as Direct3D in Windows, and like you say, isn't present at all in iOS/Android/etc (what I call tablet-like or 'small' systems). If SDL2 hadn't come along, my only option for expanding support for all platforms would be to write backends myself (Direct3D/OpenGL/OpenGLES/etc). Basically, I would be duplicating what SDL2 is doing. In fact, over the years (as I've been maintaining this project since 2002), I've already added to Stella much of what is in SDL2, such as different backends, multiple framebuffer surfaces, window centering, etc. I *really* look forward to removing all this code, and letting SDL2 do the work. It is literally 1000's of lines of code that I will no longer have to maintain, and at the same time Stella will become available to many more platforms. It may seem strange, but I look forward to SDL2 so I can delete large parts of my codebase 
Steve A. Stella maintainer _______________________________________________ SDL mailing list http://lists.libsdl.org/listinfo.cgi/sdl-libsdl.org |
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