quote:Original post by draqza
Wow... an OpenGL vs. DirectX thread that hasn''t turned into an out-and-out flamewar and hasn''t been closed by a mod.

Personally, I prefer DX, but I''m biased because OpenGL programs don''t run right when I compile them on my computer.

I have the exact opposite problem: OpenGL apps run perfectly but DX apps don''t.

quote:Original post by xlauvillx
hmm, where can i find info on OpenAL, HawkNL and SDL for use in my games? anyone?

SDL, HawkNL, OpenAL (also see this for the OpenAL SDK for Win32). SDL and OpenAL are great libraries (I''m going to be using both in my current project), I haven''t tried HawkNL, but it looked pretty good from what I saw.

[Resist Windows XP''s Invasive Production Activation Technology!]

quote:Original post by zedzeek
unfortunatly the future of openal aint looking to good at the mo

Actually, it's pretty good.

Quake III
SDL
Mac OS X
NVidia

And lots of others. Opengl isn't going to die any time soon.

Whoops. The letter a does look a little like the letter g, doesn't it?

Edited by - gph-gw on August 24, 2001 12:43:43 AM

I''ve never posted in reply to a DX v OGL post before so here''s my first

Just as almost everyone has been saying... they are the same!! Regarding performance at least. Certain cards run certain api''s better but I think you get the idea by now.

I think there are just 2 main differences that forced me to use OpenGL for my project.

The first is the most important. OpenGL will run on almost any card (run, does not mean compile ). I had an OpenGL app run on a 4mb integrated video card. A similar app, with a few less features, in DX8, I have only known to run on 2 computers. Mine (Geforce) and another (unknown). So for compatibility sake with older cards as well as new, OpenGL kicks ass.

Secondly there''s the cross platform milarky. I''m not too bothered about this since win32 is currently the main gaming platform (and the way things are going, is likely to stay that way), but the option''s there.

Oh - and for the beginner, you will find many more OpenGL resources than DX. Probably cause DX changes so much each year, it makes it difficult to keep up.

So both API''s are good, but if you want to support older cards, or have cross platform functionality, OpenGL it is. If your just using a Win32 system and only plan to support the latest cards you can go for either API, or better still, both.

Dachande