by Rachael » Tue Jan 01, 2019 8:15 pm
I honestly don't expect the vintage version to stay around in any form whatsoever, not software or otherwise, by the first of January 2020. That's not to say it'll definitely be gone by then, but that if you're sitting on hardware that is pre-OpenGL 3.3 you're sitting on a quagmire in terms of support. This is the major drawback of living in an era where technology innovates at such a rapid pace - your computer simply isn't the stove your grandma had for the last 50 years that still works. It just doesn't work like that.
If it were *actually* *easy* to support such dated hardware - rest assured, no matter what appearances Graf or any other developers give - it would be done. There comes a time in every project where a cost-benefit analysis must be done in order to see if dropping old code would be worthwhile to supporting newer things. And these days, GZDoom typically favors newer hardware for its newer features which in turn allows GZDoom users to enjoy newer features, as well. This isn't the first time that's happened.
If you want to write an OpenGL wrapper that simplifies the support needed for older hardware and drivers using the newer code - by all means, have at it. But at this point, especially with progressively changing standards with newer hardware, it is simply infeasible for the developers to do so, themselves. And before you all go "you lazy bastards, fuck you, assholes for not supporting my 20 year old toaster" - just remember that NOTHING would even be here if the developers didn't enjoy doing it.
So what it really comes down to - the world moves on, with or without you. If you want to keep up then you're just going to have to upgrade the hardware. Otherwise, expect 3.7.x to be the last major series to support your ancient device.