SetGraphics

BlitzMax Forums/BlitzMax Beginners Area/SetGraphics

Boiled Sweets(Posted 2006) [#1]
Could someone please explain the differences between
GLGraphicsDriver, GLMax2DDriver and 3D7Max2DDriver

My understanding is the 3d7Max2dDriver uses the DirectX 7, so what is the differnce between the GLGraphicsDriver and the GLMax2dDriver?

Also which is the 'best' to use out of the 3?

Also will dx9 be supportedf?


Diablo(Posted 2006) [#2]
this is my understanding:
use GLGraphicsDriver if you want to use just raw opengl graphics commands. i.e you wont be able to use any max2d releated commands.

use GLMax2DDriver if you want to mix opengl and max2d (which is not always as easy as it sounds) I.e. if you dont want to write your own drawimage commands, etc.

Use D3D7Max2DDriver if you want to use direct 3d 7. Bare in mind that using directx will mean it will run only on windows.


Also will dx9 be supportedf?


I would have thought so. mabey before they release max3d or mabey after, but it will proly be suppored.

Also which is the 'best' to use out of the 3?

I'd stick with opengl just for the cross platform functionalty and it seems a bit faster.


Robert Cummings(Posted 2006) [#3]
Don't specify a driver is my advice. Blitzmax will try DX then fall back to opengl, this is the best of both worlds.


Grey Alien(Posted 2006) [#4]
So how long you had Max for? Gonna ditch B3d?

Yeah don't specify. I did some benchmarks on my Radeon 9800XT and found that in full-screen mode DirectX was quickest but in Windowed Mode OpenGL was quickest. Weird hey!

I guess you'd only use the pure openGL one if you wanted to make your own 3D engine or something.


Dreamora(Posted 2006) [#5]
Or use OpenGL if you want to prevent the bad mouselag on fast systems (caused by DX ability to render 8 frames ahead if the graphics card would be bored otherwise. OpenGL can only render 2 frames ahead, which means a mouse lag of <= 32ms with 60+ FPS)


Grey Alien(Posted 2006) [#6]
or use the latest mouselag fix which is fine but may reduce FPS slightly.


Boiled Sweets(Posted 2006) [#7]

So how long you had Max for? Gonna ditch B3d?



Some time (bought when it was first released) but was busy with B3d stuff plus wanted the initial buggy versions to be fixed :-)

I will probably end up ditching B3D when the 3d module is out and stable...

At the moment just geting a feel for what's new and I must say the IDE is horrid!


Dreamora(Posted 2006) [#8]
Community edition version of the IDE and Blide are better solutions to program in BM ;-)


Grey Alien(Posted 2006) [#9]
maybe I should get the community version then ... The MaxIDE is better than BPlus but I'm used to stuff like Delphi and Visual Studio so it's uh somewhat lacking... At least it loads quickly and works quicly, Protean took ages to load and was very slow for big projects due to all the clever stuff it tried to do.


SillyPutty(Posted 2006) [#10]
You really need to look at BlIde


Booticus(Posted 2006) [#11]
BlIde rules imho. I love it.


Boiled Sweets(Posted 2006) [#12]
BLide - wow!


Grey Alien(Posted 2006) [#13]
so it's cool is it? What's so good about it?


Robert Cummings(Posted 2006) [#14]
caused by DX ability to render 8 frames ahead
Actually make that 100's of frames ahead (there's no limit imposed other than the driver and amount of video memory).