[tnathan475]

i recently upgraded my video card from a nvidia 8800GTS to a nvidia GTX 260 and ive noticed when i play freespace (mediaVP version 3.6.10, ive tried several builds and all have this problem) now it says in game that i am using openGL instead of Direct3D 8 (which is what i have it set to in the launcher) with my old video card i remember it said in game that i was using direct3d 8, so my question is why am i stuck using opengl now and why cant i set to direct 3d? thanks for any help

[FUBAR-BDHR]

3.6.10 builds do not support Direct 3D.   If you want to use the 3.6.10 MediaVPs you need a 3.6.10 build.  So the answer to your question is yes it's OpenGL only from here on out.

[tnathan475]

3.6.10 builds do not support Direct 3D.   If you want to use the 3.6.10 MediaVPs you need a 3.6.10 build.  So the answer to your question is yes it's OpenGL only from here on out.

I am using a 3.6.10 build, nightly build 5048 i believe. Why only OpenGL from now on?

[FUBAR-BDHR]

It's multi-platform and no one wanted to do the programming for D3D. 

[tnathan475]

It's multi-platform and no one wanted to do the programming for D3D. 

ah....too bad

[Herra Tohtori]

Expanding on FUBAR's post: Because the SCP team has not managed to attract a platoon of skilled Direct3D programmers, and because of the multiplatform nature of the game, Direct3D support was dropped after 3.6.9.

As far as I know, it was hideously broken and resources to fix it are better spent on other things than re-writing the D3D code up to the level of OpenGL currently, and it would've only really benefited those Windows users with no proper OpenGL support.

Additionally, even keeping it available for selection in the Launcher was diverting effort from more important things, so it was simply disabled in the 3.6.10 builds.

Besides, between Direct3D 8 and OpenGL with GLSL shaders... there's hardly any reason why you would want to run it in D3D. You have a good GPU with very good OpenGL drivers, so you'll likely have no problems at all... but if you tried D3D you would very likely have a plethora of problems and graphical glitches, even crashes. Not to mention that OpenGL graphics are on way higher level than D3D graphics ever got to, so I wouldn't say you're "stuck" with OpenGL anyway.

Your graphics card has nothing to do with the disabled Direct3D graphics on the new FS2_Open builds.

[tnathan475]

Expanding on FUBAR's post: Because the SCP team has not managed to attract a platoon of skilled Direct3D programmers, and because of the multiplatform nature of the game, Direct3D support was dropped after 3.6.9.

As far as I know, it was hideously broken and resources to fix it are better spent on other things than re-writing the D3D code up to the level of OpenGL currently, and it would've only really benefited those Windows users with no proper OpenGL support.

Additionally, even keeping it available for selection in the Launcher was diverting effort from more important things, so it was simply disabled in the 3.6.10 builds.

Besides, between Direct3D 8 and OpenGL with GLSL shaders... there's hardly any reason why you would want to run it in D3D. You have a good GPU with very good OpenGL drivers, so you'll likely have no problems at all... but if you tried D3D you would very likely have a plethora of problems and graphical glitches, even crashes. Not to mention that OpenGL graphics are on way higher level than D3D graphics ever got to, so I wouldn't say you're "stuck" with OpenGL anyway.

Your graphics card has nothing to do with the disabled Direct3D graphics on the new FS2_Open builds.

Thats the thing, i heard on how people would have tons of problems on D3D i never had a single one. In fact on my 8800GTS D3D looked and played a hell of faster then it played on OpenGL (this is when i was still playing 3.6.10 beta, i didnt install 3.6.10 release until i got my new card). But oh well i guess i just got used to playing on D3D and wanted to know really if i was having some sort of issue that was preventing me from running it in D3D. game plays and looks great on my new card on OpenGL (plays at about 50-60fps average with the advanced effects and all other visual options topped out) so im definately not complaining

[Nuke]

i have the same card and i never can get the game to run below the monitors maximum refresh rate, and thats with everything on

[Jeff Vader]

if you tried D3D you would very likely have a plethora of problems and graphical glitches, even crashes. Not to mention that OpenGL graphics are on way higher level than D3D graphics ever got to

And Direct3D's inability to play cutscenes.

[quadrophoeniX]

And don't be mislead...OpenGL is limited to a max refresh rate of 60Hz..that doesn't mean it's a limitation of your card! Your system is not maxed out with FSCP by far, that I can tell. I am running on 2560x1600 with a single 8800GTX and just commented the LOD out completely in an asteroid mission - what a sight, and still running almost at full tilt! Also even with 3.6.9 OGL looked way much more enhanced than DX.

[Herra Tohtori]

I'm not completely certain, but I think you need to disable VSync on the FS2_Open Launcher command line options in order to get frame rates bigger than 60. It appears as though 60 FPS is the maximum that the hardcoded vertical synchronization can use. You still can use VSync to avoid page tearing, but in the graphics card driver settings rather than the game's settings.

Disabling the vsync on the Launcher will take the frame rates up to maximum of 120 FPS (at least according to the FPS counter on the game when you use -no_vsync and -fps cmdline flags, and when the VSync is disabled on the GPU. When VSync is enabled on the GPU, the frame rate should settle to your monitor's correct FPS.