Graphics libraries.

[WILL]

So from what I read, it does it's own 2D magic, and also cranks out Direct3D and OpenGL, so I assume you can combine them to some extent, and basically to move on and up I will not have to change libraries or anything like that.

Yes and then not quite. SDL is it's own graphics API, input API, sound API, etc... You can use OpenGL with it, but you have to set it up as such. It then has functions that will help support OpenGL textures(sprites, etc) and different image formats, but that's it. The setup is a little different. There aren't any functions that help with Direct3D nor does it actually use it at all.

It is it's own hardware interface for graphics.

This does not mean that you cannot use Direct3D for graphics just because you are using SDL for user input and sound, but it's nicer to use OpenGL as it integrates better with it.

That said, go to the Free Pascal meets SDL site and just read about the setup instructions. It tells you everything you need to know. It's super easy to use and I know of at least one high school that uses it to introduce kids to CS using Pascal that is catching onto it quite fast.

[code_glitch]

However, I now find that OpenGl is just that much nicer than sdl. I can't quite put the words on it but the closest mumbo-jumbo to that would be that opengl is more refined. However, since it is that much more complex, I figured I'd come up with Prometheus to make it 'nice' or 'pretty'... And to be honest, I now officially use it as the basis for everything I code. ! line to get a window... 1 line to load an image, 1 line to rotate said image and etc. It's just so much nicer. And did I mention that thanks to using OpenGL, I get near OpenGl speeds?

But my point here is, sdl and opengl were practically made for each other. I think it is now fairly widely accepted that sdl isnt the fastest hare in the err... hare-holey-house-thing-that-looks-like-a-rabbits (word of the day there ) but it offers so many formats to load from, and OpenGL gives you that near baremetal speed Sdl doesnt, without many formats though. Combine the 2 though, and its as close to perfection as you are ever going to get.

So I guess what I am saying, is learn Sdl, Learn OpenGL, and then once that is done, take it a step further by mixing the two. Its an absolutely amazing mix. So basically, you want a graphics library? I say, make your own... You'll know what its designed for, who its designed for and it will be designed to suit your needs. Yay.

cheers,
code_glitch

PS: Sorry for the long post. =/

[czar]

Bad as before. Typical user with installed Windows XP/7 will have only GDI Generic GL_RENDERER. But if this user is a gamer, then official drivers could be installed. So, OpenGL is not a good solution for casual games nowadays.

Shame that nothing has changed. It is not in M$ to support OpenGL. I stopped with OpenGL based libraries because I was continually having to support people with the generic drivers.

[Andru]

I stopped with OpenGL based libraries because I was continually having to support people with the generic drivers.

Yeah, the only reason why I created ZenGL version with Direct3D renderer is commercial projects, where publishers want Direct3D instead of OpenGL. But I like OpenGL more than Direct3D, and OpenGL can run on my Linux and other OS's

So I guess what I am saying, is learn Sdl, Learn OpenGL, and then once that is done, take it a step further by mixing the two. Its an absolutely amazing mix. So basically, you want a graphics library? I say, make your own... You'll know what its designed for, who its designed for and it will be designed to suit your needs. Yay.

And as always, it will take you much time, which you can spend to develop game instead of library... but yeah, developing bicycles is always fun!

[WILL]

To what version of OpenGL are you guys coding that requires all these drivers that users wouldn't have an a current system? I've never had an issue with OpenGL on any of my XP-based systems unless the graphics card was ancient. What are these people running Windows 3.11?

[Chesso]

Strange problem with ZenGL.

I followed the steps though, I added one with just Delphi folder available (not i386 etc) then the rest i386-Win32, and when I try and run a program from within the IDE, any program (doesn't have to be related to anything within ZenGL) and it
refuses because zlib cannot find LibC.dcu (which does not exist in the package)?

[MuteClown]

To what version of OpenGL are you guys coding that requires all these drivers that users wouldn't have an a current system? I've never had an issue with OpenGL on any of my XP-based systems unless the graphics card was ancient. What are these people running Windows 3.11?

Thats what i was thinking.

Most Computers now from common companies such as HP and Acer come with the additional drivers. I think the only one im not sure on is if the computer is using an intel GPU, which Dell seems to like.

[Andru]

Chesso
For Delphi you must point only to lib/zlib/delphi and souce code of ZenGL. And as I said before - better compile dll and use it instead of separate units.
PS: but maybe you choose wrong place to point paths. Open one of demos and look where I set paths for Delphi 2010

Most Computers now from common companies such as HP and Acer come with the additional drivers.

In 2009 I bought my HP laptop, and guess what? There was no official drivers for Radeon HD 4650 inside(installed, I mean), so my system didn't support OpenGL and DxVA for video decoding using videocard.

WILL
You think so because you are programmer, a lot of people uses computers without understanding whole "system stuff", and because of that publishers prefer Direct3D. And if your game is not something very incredible, you will loose a lot of costumers because of OpenGL. But all this is related to casual/small games.

[code_glitch]

Can I just give some encouragement here: I have recently had to install windows 7 on my sis' PC... It has an old ATI radeon 9600 (mobility) series, which M$ has drivers for although ATI says it has not made them? (WDDM 1.1 ones). I am very pleased to announce that that card has OpenGl support with its' drivers out out of the box. Its unclear what version but it handled everything I tested on it. The same applies to my nVidia mobile card, ATI HD 4330, and those GMA 4500MHD chips. The importance being that I see every new chipset now has OpenGL support out of the box, meaning that the future has quite a bright light for OpenGL. Especially on those GMA chips by intel: they run OpenGL at about twice the speed as Direct3D.... Thank you intel. Although I still stand by what I said: dual core is not low end...

[Chesso]

I think I got it now, also took a look at that sprite demo with the penguins code, looks pretty sweet.

And if you can make it possible to load images etc from internal resources instead of external files that would be awesome, but loading from memory not saving resource as some kind of stream to file first (that's sucky way of doing it).

I managed to get BASS to load audio resources from memory, while most people did the save resource to file method using streams or something, I got it working straight from memory. I found it pointless to have it as an internal resource
and loaded into memory only to save it to file and then load it again..... lol.