[CP5670]

What are the ranges for and default values of the ambient_factor and ogl_spec options? I can't seem to figure that out.

[Fineus]

Raa, Taylor, Cheers guys - I switched over to OGL and tweaked the ambient lighting. It looks superb once again. My thanks to both of you (and everyone else) for all the help in sorting me out

[Wanderer]

If i read code correctly:

-ogl_spec has default value of 80 and accepts values from 0 to 128

-ambient_factor has default value of 128 and wiki states it uses percentage values... (0 to 100) recommended is something about 70. I must have gotten something wrong here though...  128 ?

[MiniSiets]

You guys seriously gotta fix shine mapping for radeon drivers! Please? It really makes a difference, and I can't stand using OpenGL... especially since it can't handle environment mapping...

[Davros]

not that i know much about gfx but ive got a few opengl sceensavers that have env mapping
the 3dtext screen saver that comes with xp has it ????

[Jokke_r]

env mapping and cube mapping the same thing?

[FireCrack]

Not necesairly.

A cubemap is a method of Env-mapping, but there are others.

[Nuke]

like sphere mapping, which looks better on curvy models.

[knn]

You guys seriously gotta fix shine mapping for radeon drivers! Please? It really makes a difference, and I can't stand using OpenGL... especially since it can't handle environment mapping...

Ahem... OpenGL CAN handle environment mapping. It's just that it is not implemented in FSO (taylor's working on it, read his post)
You should really try OpenGL, it's a better API than D3D (and you'll live without env. mapping).
In a normal world, D3D would've been a massive failure, but M$ tricked hardware manufacturers into using their code to make driver development easier, and then M$ did not allow them to release their OpenGL drivers (because they contained M$ code) when 3d acceleration first appeared, giving D3D a headstart (imagine the frustration of the dev working on an OpenGL game). OpenGL has been around since 1992 IIRC, or even before (not primarily on PC's and of course not using 3d cards). D3D is just a(nother) crappy attempt to take over another segment of the computer industry and wipe out the competition, just something M$ always does. And they stuff stupid things in people's heads such as OpenGL is not good for gaming, it's for graphical design and it's slower and D3D is for fast graphics and games etc.
To me, D3D is and obsolete API: it supports one platform and OGL outperforms it even there, plus it's uglier to program (that's just my personal opinion though, some people can't stand the extension system in OGL).
Rant off

Oh, and by the way, been playing games like Quake or Doom or SW Jedi Knight recently? Well if you have, you've been using OpenGL

[Nuke]

im actually starting to like ogl, ive been using it ever sence env was broke (the only reason to use d3d). so im actually looking forward to env working in ogl.

[CP5670]

I haven't noticed much of a difference in the performance since switching to OGL, and the image quality is the same as D3D after playing around with those parameters a bit (the default value for ambient_factor is really bad, by the way). It's good to not have those big popup delays anymore though. While the D3D environmental mapping is very nice, the last build that worked correctly with it and had no other problems was the 9/17 one, which is missing some newer additions that I am using in my missions.

Although on ATI cards D3D would be a better choice if the specular lighting worked, since they are significantly slower with OGL in general.

[knn]

I have an NVidia, and one thing that is noticeably different is mouse responsiveness.

[Turambar]

the sooner we get env with opengl, the sooner i can fix up alpha channels for all my shinemaps

[MiniSiets]

Well my main problem with OpenGL before was that it made the graphics of games look too "grainy" so to speak around the edges. However, I went into advanced graphics settings under properties on my desktop and modified the OpenGL settings to have some Anti-Aliasing and such so now it looks even better than D3D, AND for the love of god the game no longer has massive slowdowns! I love OpenGL now, never mind about fixing it for Radeon drivers. I don't care anymore, OpenGL > D3D.

[CP5670]

I just noticed something rather annoying about the OGL mode. I can't minimize the game with it; if I go back into the game after alt-tabbing, it actually crashes my machine (BSOD and auto-restart). The alt-tabbing works fine in D3D though. I tend to do this a lot when debugging a mission, so I might have to stick with D3D when I'm testing out stuff.

[karajorma]

Alt-Tab works fine for me but as an alternative try running in a window when debugging.

[taylor]

I think I'm going to fix OpenGL so that it never minimizes.  I would instead just switch between fullscreen and windowed modes (probably dropping back to the nearest standard resolution when going from fullscreen to windowed).  This would allow Alt-Enter switching between windowed and fullscreen modes too.  The constant minimizing is just plain irritating.

[MicroPsycho]

How do I upgrade my Open GL from 1.0 to 1.2 or greater for my Radeon 9800?

[karajorma]

If you're refering to an error that FRED or FS2_Open is giving you don't bother. Just update them instead.

[knn]

How do I upgrade my Open GL from 1.0 to 1.2 or greater for my Radeon 9800?

Even Microsofts software driver is 1.2, so you can't have 1.0. Which program told you that?
With NVidia, if you download the newest drivers, you get OpenGL 2.0. The same should be true for ATI, but I can't see OpenGL in their drivers' feature list.