Rendering a game in OpenGL

[kimmer]

SuperTux 0.1.3 (Universal Binary)

Sneakers plays this game on his linux box and it looked like a fun way to waste time, and he said it was available for the Mac, so I downloaded it and the read me file says:

QUOTE

Running the Game

SuperTux can be run with software rendering or OpenGL rendering.  Since OpenGL rendering noticeably improves performance under Mac OS X, it is advisable to enable OpenGL in Options.

SuperTux relies on three SDL frameworks (SDL, SDL_image, and SDL_mixer), which have been bundled with the application.  If you already have the latest versions of these frameworks installed in /Library/Frameworks or <Home>/Library/Frameworks, you can remove them from the application bundle by control-clicking SuperTux, selecting "Show Package Contents", opening the Contents folder, and removing the Frameworks folder therein.

I'm guessing "software rendering" is just running the game as is? But what the heck is OpenGL and how do I launch it?

[Xairbusdriver]

OpenGL is supposedly incorporated in Tiger, at least. Even more use will be made of it in Leopard. Other than removing those items from the game package, I wouldn't do anything but see if it runs. Your hardware will also have an effect on whether you can use the features such as OpenGL. It's a 'standards-based' way of rendering 2/3-D 'objects' on a computer ( whether Microsoft uses it is another matter, they always want to do things their way... ). It is obviously being used in Linix.

Here's some 'puff' from Apple: <http://www.apple.com/macosx/features/opengl/>

[kimmer]

Thanks.

I'll just go launch this game and see what happens. Can't be any worse than the jigsaw puzzle I downloaded (that shut itself down before I was finished because my "demo" minutes were up!)

[tacit]

QUOTE(kimmer @ May 15 2007, 12:30 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

SuperTux 0.1.3 (Universal Binary)

Sneakers plays this game on his linux box and it looked like a fun way to waste time, and he said it was available for the Mac, so I downloaded it and the read me file says:
I'm guessing "software rendering" is just running the game as is? But what the heck is OpenGL and how do I launch it?

You should be able to set a prefernce in the computer's Preferences command to determine this.

"Software rendering" means that the computer game calculates the way that everything should look, draws everything, and then sends the drawings to your computer screen.

OpenGL is a part of MacOS. It is a computer programming language that computer programmers use to write programs that draw things. The programs do not run on your computer's processor. They run directly on your computer's graphics card.

A 3D accelerated graphics card is actually a full-fledged computer in its own right. It has its own processor, it has its own memory, and it can run computer programs all on its own without using your computer's main processor. Applications that do heavy 3D work are designed so that they run part of the program on your computer's main processor, and part of the program on your graphics card processor. The main processor says to the graphics processor, "This is what a tank looks like. This is what color it is. Now draw a tank here, and draw another one there." Then the main processor goes off to do its own thing, and it does not need to spend any time drawing the graphics. The processor on the graphics card takes care of that.

All of this is nothing that you need to interact with or be aware of directly. All you need to know is that the preferences command in your game has an option called "OpenGL" and an option called "software rendering." Software rendering means use your computer's main processor for everything, including drawing the graphics. This will be slower and your graphics will not look as good. OpenGL means use the processor built into your computer's graphics card as well as the main processor in your computer. The game will be faster and the graphics will look better.

[kimmer]

Thanks, tacit!!!!!!! Nice, simple, easy to understand explanation. Appreciate it very much.