OpenGL Error after GZDoom 3.4 update even on software render

[TheGameratorT]

I updated gzdoom to version 3.4 and I got an OpenGL error so I changed:

vid_rendermode=4

to

vid_rendermode=0

As everyone would do.

But for my surprise I still got the opengl problem
In older versions that doesn't happen.

[Graf Zahl]

What kind of problem did you get?

[TheGameratorT]

Code: Select all

Execution could not continue.

R_OPENGL: OpenGL driver not accelerated!

Even with vid_rendermode set to 0

On older versions that doesn't happen

[drfrag]

Which hardware? What's your graphics card?

[TheGameratorT]

Intel Core i3 M380
Intel HD Graphics
4GB RAM

I don't have my computer at hand now but tomorrow I can give more information about the hardware if needed.

[Rachael]

I'm almost certain that the hardware you're trying to run this on is too old, and is within that 1% whose support got completely dropped with the release. I am very sorry to say that.

If my hard drive didn't die, I'd at least offer you Mesa - your processor is fast enough to handle it. Maybe someone else can grab links for you. My computing power is so limited right now that I can't even do research properly without crashing.

Do note that if you use it, you will have to launch GZDoom with -glversion 2 and continue using the software renderer, or the FPS will be unplayable for you.

[Graf Zahl]

This CPU should have a GL 2.1 compatible GPU. Maybe it's just an old driver. When this CPU was released (in 2010) Intel only supported GL 1.4, if I remember correctly. Even for the chips that could handle it they were years late with a GL 2 compatible driver.

[drfrag]

If my hard drive didn't die, I'd at least offer you Mesa - your processor is fast enough to handle it.

You know there's a much better alternative...
But i think this is a problem with some win10 update.
@The GameratorT: were you using the hardware renderer before (vid_renderer 1) with the old version? If so does it still work? Which version was that?

[TheGameratorT]

No, I used vid_renderer 0 with the old version.
Now on vid_rendermode=0 it doesn't work.
It worked on version 3.3.2 I think.

If I use WTFI.exe (the GZDoom manifest patcher) I am able to run both OpenGL and Software Render

[drfrag]

So it was that old manifest thing, i was about to mention that. Problem solved then.

[TheGameratorT]

Sorry for bumping this thread again but I think GZDoom should be able to work on software render without initializing OpenGL because that dropped support on one of my computers and I don't want to use Zdoom because of the lack of SoftPoly.

Is there a way of starting gzdoom 3.5 without initializing OpenGL? Because the manifest patcher doesn't work on this computer.

I tried the old method I already told wich used to work but now doesn't after the change of vid_renderer to vid_rendermode (stopped working on 3.4).

And I don't really want to stick to old GZDoom 3.3

[Graf Zahl]

Sorry for bumping this thread again but I think GZDoom should be able to work on software render without initializing OpenGL because that dropped support on one of my computers and I don't want to use Zdoom because of the lack of SoftPoly.

Is there a way of starting gzdoom 3.5 without initializing OpenGL? Because the manifest patcher doesn't work on this computer.

No. Since 3.4 GZDoom uses OpenGL exclusively as its video backend, even for software rendering.
The DirectDraw and Direct3D backends were removed because the survey that was run with GZDoom 3.3 indicated that a mere 0.3% of all users had hardware this old. This was simply not enough to justify the added amount of work to support three additional backends any further.

[drfrag]

I think GZDoom should be able to work on software render without initializing OpenGL because that dropped support on one of my computers

What Graf said, it shouldn't. GZDoom must move forward.
That said, you'll have to wait for the release of LZDoom. I can't release it right now (the idea was to release it before 3.5) since i don't want it to compete with the legacy build. For now just use 3.3.2 if your hardware really doesn't support GL 2.0 that is.
BTW i'd like to add a D3D11 backend so if some competent programmers want to help... (the initial work by dpJudas is very incomplete). I wonder if that would be worth.

[Graf Zahl]

BTW i'd like to add a D3D11 backend so if some competent programmers want to help... (the initial work by dpJudas is very incomplete). I wonder if that would be worth.

For some hardware it would be worth it, no question. But you must never forget: This code needs to be maintained in the future. The recent reduction of backend code was done so that more focus can be put on productive endeavours. In the end all this legacy support is not going to do have much of an impact because the target audience is too small, and will only shrink further

The last non-GL-2 compatible graphics chipset was released in 2007 and probably sold until 2008 - that's 10 years ago and mostly low end hardware back then.

[Gez]

And I don't really want to stick to old GZDoom 3.3

Sorry but you will have to. You have to understand that keeping the old DirectX routines wasn't free: like all interface code, it has to be actively maintained to keep working, because hardware and software changes means that the interface doesn't stay static. If we reach a point where we have to choose between running on Windows XP and running on Windows 10, the choice is easy. (And I don't even like Windows 10). Getting rid of the old DirectX interfaces meant that the code could be simplified and needed less redundancy for cross-platform support (Linux, after all, never had DirectX) and also that it was possible again to switch between hardware and software rendering without having to quit and restart. (Previously, if you had initialized DirectX for software rendering, you couldn't initiate OpenGL in the same application, and inversely. The reasons for this are rather obscure and poorly documented so it wasn't possible to write a workaround.) So even if you lose on using the latest versions on your old computer, do not think there are no benefits to dropping support for old hardware.

In fact there's a general rule that what's good for old hardware is bad for new hardware and inversely. We've seen that with old optimizations that slowed down performances on computers fifteen years more recent than those they were written for... And we've seen it again and again. This is what resulted in the "vintage build" for GZDoom 3.5.