I'm working on a game engine and I would like it to be cross platform, but at the same time offer the most that current hardware has to offer. I chose against using DirectX 11 to be cross platform, however I don't know much about OpenGL. Specifically, how does OpenGL 4.x compare to DX11 as far as exposing hardware capability? Secondly, is OpenGL 4.x supported by current drivers and operating systems (ie. Windows Vista/7, OS X 10.6, Linux with ATI HD 5/6000 cards or Fermi). Am I giving anything up by choosing OpenGL instead of DX11?
Thanks.
OpenGL Support
I'm working on a game engine and I would like it to be cross platform, but at the same time offer the most that current hardware has to offer. I chose against using DirectX 11 to be cross platform, however I don't know much about OpenGL. Specifically, how does OpenGL 4.x compare to DX11 as far as exposing hardware capability? Secondly, is OpenGL 4.x supported by current drivers and operating systems (ie. Windows Vista/7, OS X 10.6, Linux with ATI HD 5/6000 cards or Fermi). Am I giving anything up by choosing OpenGL instead of DX11?
Thanks.
in terms of hardware features DX11 and OpenGL 4.1 are equivalent and driver support exists for AMD and nvidia on Windows, Linux and OS X.
Intel tends to have fairly weak OpenGL support in general but i havn't looked at it recently, if you wish to support Intels integrated GPUs then DirectX is usually a superior option for Windows.
OpenGL 4.1 is supported on HD 5xxx and later and GeForce 400 and later.
Author
Thanks, that's what I wanted to hear. I'm not particularly worried about Intels poor support of OpenGL, since their integrated graphics solutions don't make the minimum cut as far as power goes anyway.
Author
Actually, are you sure about that? I can't find anything online about any version of OS X having support for OpenGL 4.1.
Actually, are you sure about that? I can't find anything online about any version of OS X having support for OpenGL 4.1.
Hmm i wouldn't know, Apple tends to manage drivers themselves, but you're right, it looks like you're limited to OpenGL 2.1 on OS X at the moment and the upcoming 10.7 version probably will only push it up to OpenGL 3.2. (Thats pretty darn awful to be honest), you might still be able to use extensions to access some newer functionality though.
problem with OSX is that it says it supports 3.0 but in reality it misses some of the extensions.
So they are lying about the Opengl version what u have to concider when developing for Mac. Don't take for granted that all Opengl 3.0 extensions are supported.
So they are lying about the Opengl version what u have to concider when developing for Mac. Don't take for granted that all Opengl 3.0 extensions are supported.
But it boils down to the same old question : what feature of GL 4.1 do you need? Perhaps you won't be even using them. Perhaps you just need the basic and GL 2.1 is fine. GL and D3D are not in the same field. GL adds features. The API doesn't go through some radical change the way D3D does.
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