Direct3D vs. revised OpenGL renderer

Dr. Dumb_lunatic on 5/1/2006 at 16:38

Re: D3D winning hands down:

I dunno, I'm finding the openGL renderer to be amazing in comparison, if only for smoothing everything out. All the not-really-noticable-till-they're-gone jaggy edges to curved surfaces are marvelously smooth.

The only thing I've noticed is that augTarget at max level doesn't work properly anymore. Annoyingly.

(radeon 9600, XP)

ralentor on 5/1/2006 at 18:59

Quote Posted by ralentor

Performance doesn't seem to be an issue (so far, but I've only just started), so I'm only interested in the visual quality between the two renderers.

I retract my earlier statement. Surprisingly, Deus Ex is taxing my system far more than I thought it would. I fired up FRAPS to track my FPS, and viewing the Manhattan skyline brought me down into the lower 30s. I am running the game maxed out (1024x768 with 32-bit color depth and detail textures on) but with absolutely no AA or AF, so I expected better. Is this typical of Deus Ex or is something wrong with my rig?

Athlon XP 2000+
512 MB PC2700
GeForce Ti 4600
SoundBlaster Audigy
DirectX 9.0c

voodoo47 on 5/1/2006 at 23:47

this was always the problem with D3D.it looks way better than opengl,but performs awfully.it sucked so hard on my radeon8500 (going as low as 15-20FPS sometimes),that I have replaced the card with a voodoo5.now I have it running under 3dfx glide,and its smoooth :ebil:

D3D performance sucked so horribly that the game was actually faster when I used a (http://www.zeckensack.de/glide/) glide to opengl wrapper,you may want to try it out as well..

Livo on 6/1/2006 at 01:33

I have GOTY and the only stable driver besides the Software renderer is the default OpenGL, which has transparency issues with models and other glitches.

D3D, Chris' OpenGL renderer, even the Glide Wrapper, whilst looking better, stutter and freeze after a few minutes, requiring me to have to turn the computer off to resolve it.

What really annoys me is that D3D and Chris' OpenGL renderer worked perfectly fine on the Deus Ex demo :confused:

voodoo47 on 6/1/2006 at 07:27

have you tried patching/not patching the game?

moop on 6/1/2006 at 13:36

If you dig through this (http://www.techspot.com/tweaks/deusex/print.shtml) Tweaking Guide, you can really boost your performance for whatever rendering method you choose.

Personally, I choose OpenGL for all my apps, given the choice. The Glide wrapper does work well too though.
If you get transparency artifacts while using OpenGL, your .ini settings need to be tweaked. Getting the latest drivers for your video card used to be another solution, but I don't think any driver neglects OpenGL anymore like they did 5 years ago.

voodoo47 on 6/1/2006 at 14:33

..just tried the updated opengl renderer on deus ex demo,and it doesnt work.the game runs,I can hear the music and the main menu sounds,but the screen is black (radeon9600,latest drivers).I'll try out the full game as soon as I get home from work..

ralentor on 6/1/2006 at 16:01

Quote Posted by voodoo47

have you tried patching/not patching the game?

There is no patch for the GOTY edition. It is already up-to-date.

voodoo47 on 6/1/2006 at 16:21

:sweat: right.

edit: tried with my deusex v1.0,same problem (black screen),updated to the latest version,enhanced opengl is working great.except for that stupid gamma problem (ati related).

moop on 7/1/2006 at 20:55

Quote Posted by voodoo47

:sweat: right.

edit: tried with my deusex v1.0,same problem (black screen),updated to the latest version,enhanced opengl is working great.except for that stupid gamma problem (ati related).

You may be having the same gamma issue as I had. I use the latest (http://www.dna-drivers.com/list.php?c=files) DNA drivers which are based on ATI's Catalyst drivers. In your Display Properties panel, Advanced settings, you will find a tab for Color, in which you can select Full Screen 3D, which has hotkey options to raise or lower your gamma and brightness while in DX, or other full-screen apps. Here are the screenshots of where to look:

(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v105/onwardknave/DNAdisplay1.jpg) Image 1: DNA Drivers display properties panel

(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v105/onwardknave/DNAdisplay2.jpg) Image 2: Full Screen hotkey settings menu

As you can see, mine are set to Alt-U, Alt-I, Alt-O and Alt-P (just for convenience sake on a QWERTY keyboard), but you can set them to anything. Hope that helps.

Edit: As far as I know, that's not an OpenGL related issue, either. I think maybe it's my relatively old motherboard.