Difference between OpenGL & DirectX?

[jamesdietz]

I've been playing this sim for years & don't know the difference..Confusing me even more is that I have an old FX5800 card in my rig which seems to like OpenGL better than DirectX...Now that I am getting updated will it be a good idea to see if I should change settings & keep updated on DirectX? Confused,as stated above.

[Thunderbolt56]

Definitely keep updated on your DirectX, but use OpenGL for this sim. Even the newer hardware likes it better for this sim.

[K_Freddie]

The last time I looked sometime ago..
From a software perspective, OpenGL is suited for realtime graphics apps, like games whereas DX although more user friendly, makes it slower and more suitable for non-realtime stuff.

A real life comparison would be Linux and Windoze, each have their uses.

[Thunderbolt56]

DirectX is actually a simple wrapper for OGL thus using OpenGL for high-demand apps (like games) circumvents a series of processes and resultantly speeds things up.

[Feuerfalke]

It's not as simple as that. DX may be a wrapper for what is the basis of OpenGL, but it uses a different approach and optimizes rendering for effects and quality.

The outcome is, that with OpenGL you got to program many things manually that you get for free in DX. You can see the effect in IL2, as under DX the textures are smoother and look more real, though the engine was optimized for OpenGL!

So depending on the application you can be faster with OpenGL, leaving out some of the routines of DX, while on other applications and especially when working for games and such renders, it's often more practicable to use DX, as you will more easily see, what you'll get in the end.

OpenGL has just the advantage, that it is widely opensourced, while you make yourself a "slave" to M$ when using DX.

[96th_Nightshifter]

[QUOTE=Feuerfalke;44553] You can see the effect in IL2, as under DX the textures are smoother and look more real, though the engine was optimized for OpenGL!

QUOTE]

I know nothing about either of them but I do get entirely the opposite effect here; when I use OpenGL my game looks smoother and more real?

I get better fps with DX so I use that when online and I use OpenGL for flying offline and taking screenshots etc. since as far as I know you can only use "perfect" settings under OpenGL.

[Feuerfalke]

[QUOTE=96th_Nightshifter;44555]

Originally Posted by Feuerfalke

You can see the effect in IL2, as under DX the textures are smoother and look more real, though the engine was optimized for OpenGL!

QUOTE]

I know nothing about either of them but I do get entirely the opposite effect here; when I use OpenGL my game looks smoother and more real?

I get better fps with DX so I use that when online and I use OpenGL for flying offline and taking screenshots etc. since as far as I know you can only use "perfect" settings under OpenGL.

The textures get filtered with DX so you can see the IL2s 8bit-textures with just 256 colors looking much smoother. DX also eliminates microstutters experienced during online-play largely.

That has little to do with FPS, though. You get better FPS because you can only run the game in perfect mode under OpenGL, as you posted correctly, which directly effects rendering-distance for the landscape, for example.

So while the whole game looks better under OpenGL at perfect mode, the TEXTURES look smoother and more realistic under DX.

[Codex]

DX is a wrapper for OpenGL Where on earth did you hear that from?

[Thunderbolt56]

Originally Posted by Codex

DX is a wrapper for OpenGL Where on earth did you hear that from?

From an anorexic heroine junky behind the downtown convenience store that was drinking something from a paper bag...

[KG26_Alpha]

Originally Posted by Thunderbolt56

From an anorexic heroine junky behind the downtown convenience store that was drinking something from a paper bag...

Hey that's the v4.09m beta guy .............


Here's a list of popular Open GL games


* America's Army
* Baldur's Gate 2 – Defaults to D3D
* Call of Duty
* City of Heroes
* City of Villains
* CodeRED: Alien Arena
* Counter-Strike (not Counter-Strike: Source)
* Darwinia - Patched to default to D3D
* Doom 3
* Dwarf Fortress
* Earth 2150
* Enemy Territory: Quake Wars
* Far Cry – Defaults to D3D
* Frets On Fire
* FlightGear
* Half-Life (not Half-Life 2)
* Homeworld 2
* IL-2 Sturmovik: 1946
* Neverwinter Nights
* Penumbra: Overture
* Prey
* Quake series
* Rage
* Scorched3D
* Second Life
* Serious Sam
* Serious Sam 2 – Defaults to D3D
* Soldier of Fortune series
* Spring
* Starsiege: Tribes
* Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy
* The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay
* Trainz - Also runs in D3D
* Tribes 2
* Tux Racer
* Ultima IX: Ascension
* Unreal series
* Warcraft 3 - Defaults to D3D in Windows
* Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory
* World of Warcraft - Defaults to D3D in Windows
* Wurm Online
* X-Plane