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GameStar 1998 October
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Gamestar_00_1998-10_cd1.bin
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gluReadme.txt
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1998-09-04
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Release Notes for the OpenGL for Unreal version 'D'
Authors: Keith Z. Leonard, Tom Holmes of DreamForge(R) Intertainment, Inc.
Date: 09/4/98
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If you already have the OpenGL patch working, then all you need to do is
replace your current ogldrv.dll with the current one. thanks.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
bugs fixed.
Z buffer bugs galore.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
PLEASE READ THE LIMITATIONS AND KNOWN BUG SECTION BEFORE REPORTING ANY
PROBLEMS. If you do encounter bugs, please e-mail info to
OpenGL@EpicGames.com
news://news.rendition.com/rendition.games.support.unreal
is a newgroup for bugs and problems encountered running Unreal on
Rendition hardware. I (Keith Leonard) will be periodically checking
the group to help resolve problems.
Or at Epic MegaGames try
http://megaboard.epicgames.com
for additional help.
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NOTE: THIS VERSION OF THE OPENGL FOR UNREAL DOES NOT WORK WITH VERSION
2.09. YOU MUST HAVE A FRESH INSTALL OF UNREAL. YOU ALSO NEED TO HAVE
AN OPENGL ICD DRIVER FROM YOUR VIDEO CARD COMPANY INSTALLED BEFORE
INSTALLING OPENGL FOR UNREAL.
"OpenGL is a patch currently intended for testing purposes only and therefore it needs
to be installed over the original retail version. This will avoid the situation where
OpenGL testers are reporting errors pertaining to experimental code in the other beta
patches that is not specifically related to OpenGL. At some point in the near future
once our OpenGL patch has been fully debugged we will integrate it into the base
source code so future non-OpenGL patches will be able to be tested by OpenGL users as
well."
Mark Rein,
Epic MegaGames
Install.
1. copy the ZIP file into your Unreal/system directory.
2. Decompress the zip.
3. Run glInst.bat
4. In the game, goto the options menu, under advanced options,
under drivers, GameRenderDevice, choose OpenGL for Windows.
That's it.
Note: If you have a rendition card, rename the included v2kgl.dll
to Opengl32.dll in your unreal/system directory. This beta requires
features that are in this version of Rendition's OpenGL that are not
yet included in their downloadable ICD.
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UnInstall.
Since this is a beta version it is very possible that you will encounter
problems, if you need to uninstall this driver, do the following.
1. In the game, goto the options menu, under advanced options,
under drivers, GameRenderDevice, choose Software Rendering.
2. Run glUninst.bat
that's it.
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Compatibility.
This version of the OpenGL for Unreal has been tested on many of the
OpenGL cards available to consumers. Some of these cards either lack
some of the functionality of OpenGL, or have rather slow drivers.
At this time there are only a couple of video cards that will run under
OpenGL correctly.
the Rendition v2100 and v2200 should work fine with the included OpenGL
driver. The Intel 740 chipset also runs well, however Intel has not made
their drivers public as of 8/21/98. A beta version of their driver is expected to be
released in the near future.
Chipsets that don't work, why, and their status as of 8/21/98 include:
ATI Rage Pro - The render works, but is slow. Other problems are that the lighting on
Rage Pro is reversed, red is blue and blue is red. Also the Rage Pro driver
is not reentrant, therefore after you change a setting you will need to exit
Unreal and restart. I would like to apologize to ATI for not including them
in this readme earlier, it was a simple oversight. ATI and thier driver
developers at Pyramid Peak Design have been EXTREMELY helpful in development
of this driver, and I hope that the ATI 128 has the muscle to push Unreal.
Riva 128/Permedia 2 - Lack of the blend mode that Unreal uses for lighting.
We are working toward a secondary lighting model to get these
cards to run in OpenGL for Unreal.
3Dfx Voodoo/Voodoo 2/Banshee - These cards do not currently have a stable
OpenGL driver. The latest beta from 3Dfx should work but is
crash prone, especially with Multi-Texture enabled.
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Limitations and known bugs.
*****IMPORTANT*****
The display mode must be set to the same color depth in which you want to
run the game. Therefore for a card supporting 16 bit rendering, you must
have your windows desktop set to 16 bit color mode before running Unreal.
Cards supporting 32 bit color should run fine in 32 bit in Unreal, but the
performance hit will be noticeable.
Some resolutions listed may or may not work. A given resolution must be
supported by both your video card and monitor. Suggested resolution for
the Rendition and I740 cards is 512x384.
There are currently several Z-buffer errors, this is due to the way that
Unreal handles drawing the world. Cards with W buffering will not suffer
as many errors in the Unreal rendering architecture, such as the Voodoo
series. W buffering is not supported in this release, it is pending an
extension for OpenGL. As soon as an extension becomes available, a new
release of this driver will be released supporting it.
Occasionally we have seen the driver start up on Rendition hardware
missing textures all together, this only lasts for a few seconds, then
the driver corrects itself. This is a known problem on our list to
look into.
You will need the latest display drivers as well as the latest OpenGL
drivers for any video hardware to have the best chance of all of the
features of OpenGL necessary for Unreal to be supported. A Rendition
OpenGL driver is included, but you should use any update that Rendition
posts after the release of this driver instead.
Many of the current OpenGL drivers have a problem with repeated switching
from the OpenGL render to the software renderer and back. If a card
stop rendering in OpenGL after such a cycle, just close Unreal and run
it again.
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Performance.
OpenGL is what I like to call a "clean" API. Whenever you change a texture,
or rendering mode, OpenGL checks to see if the change is valid. This takes
time. Therefore the more often that you change textures or rendering modes,
the slower the application becomes. Unreal requires many state changes,
therefore it is unlikely that you will be hitting your hardware's drawing
limits when running Unreal. DreamForge has been, and will continue to work
toward eliminating any state changes that we can while retaining the visual
quality of Unreal.
It is possible to "tweak" unreal to obtain a faster performance. There are
several adjustable options in the Advanced Options property page under OpenGL.
Playing with these options may result in higher performance on different cards.
Note: Contrary to many assumptions, disabling 8 bit textures does NOT increase
image quality in Unreal. So in general, you will want to leave the options
UseEightBitRGBTextures and UseEightBitAlphaTextures set to true. These options
are only in the property page in the event that an OpenGL driver reports support
for 8 bit textures, but does not draw them correctly. If your system seems to
be drawing incorrectly, try setting these to false.
We thank you for your patience and understanding, understand that this is a beta
and will likely have problems. We have been working toward eliminating as many
as possible. This port is aimed at making your Unreal experience even better.
Keith Z. Leonard
Tom Holmes
DreamForge(R) Intertainment, Inc.