It's not just simpler, it's the only rational solution. You can't load data to the card and render at the same time with OpenGL, at least not with version < 3.2. On higher versions you can use fence sync objects (http://www.opengl.org/registry/doc/g...e.20100725.pdf - section 5.3). With your current method, you may be loading the data in seperate thread, but your main thread will be locking on GL calls until this load is complete and the context is switched back.
Your method will crash a PS3 and most older ATI cards too. Sorry I'm really not trying to be a killjoy but you're quite clearly a good developer and I feel your time would be better spent on learning about fence syncing, it was designed exactly for what you're trying to do.
EDIT : But I do agree, sometimes the best solution isn't the most fun
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