Confused about open GL, 3dfx. Please help!

Apostolos

unread,

Nov 27, 1997, 3:00:00 AM11/27/97

to

Hi I was wondering if you could help me. I recently bought a computer with
the riva 128 chipset on. The thing is that I want to play 3dfx enhanced
games like FIFA 98. Should I buy a 3dfx card? I asked someone about that
and he said that riva is coming out with open gl drives early next year.
Will that make my card a 3dfx card? What is the difference between open gl
and 3dfx? Thanks for all your replies. Please reply to am...@cornell.edu

Apostolos

Mr. Sheikh

unread,

Nov 28, 1997, 3:00:00 AM11/28/97

to

Oh, man. Ok, open GL and Glide, (3dfx's native thingy (word escapes me at
this point)) are 2 different things. OpenGL can be done by many different
cards-PowerVR, RIVA128, (and maybe the new Rendition?). Anyway, only 3dfx
works w/ Glide. Things like Fifa 98 are made w/ Glide. You may have been
confused by all the cards running GLQuake, but most pale in comparison to
the 3dfx. So, no, your card will NOT become a 3dfx card, it is only a card
which will run OpenGL programs, though uglier, so i've heard.

Burnnn

unread,

Nov 29, 1997, 3:00:00 AM11/29/97

to

On Thu, 27 Nov 1997 23:47:06 -0500, "Apostolos" <am...@cornell.edu>
wrote:

The Riva is a great board for any game that uses Direct3D. There are
quite a few titles that do so.

OpenGL has nothing to do with 3Dfx chips itself. Most of 3Dfx - only
games are written in Glide. Glide can only be run on 3Dfx boards.

OpenGL is a separate thing altogether, but with drivers for it, you
should be able to play Quake Engine games no problem.

Advice : Hold out a little bit. Voodoo2 is coming out beginning of
next year. Even if you don't want that card, I'm sure the older
Voodoos will drop in price like a stone.

If you have any questions, feel free to email me. Make sure to remove
the * from my email address.

----------
Burnnn

Burnnn

unread,

Nov 29, 1997, 3:00:00 AM11/29/97

to

On 28 Nov 1997 22:25:34 GMT, "Mr. Sheikh" <nos...@forme.com> wrote:

>Oh, man. Ok, open GL and Glide, (3dfx's native thingy (word escapes me at
>this point)) are 2 different things. OpenGL can be done by many different
>cards-PowerVR, RIVA128, (and maybe the new Rendition?).

Actually, none of those cards have OpenGL drivers yet. They tend to
have what has become known as "QuakeGL" drivers, as they do not
support full OpenGL.

----------
Burnnn

|fREoN|

unread,

Nov 29, 1997, 3:00:00 AM11/29/97

to

Actually I think what they are lacking is windows95 OpenGL drivers. NT
drivers are already available.

go...@berkelium.com.xyzzy

unread,

Dec 2, 1997, 3:00:00 AM12/2/97

to

burnnn*@*hotmail.com (Burnnn) writes:

>>
>> On 28 Nov 1997 22:25:34 GMT, "Mr. Sheikh" <nos...@forme.com> wrote:
>>
>> >Oh, man. Ok, open GL and Glide, (3dfx's native thingy (word escapes me at
>> >this point)) are 2 different things. OpenGL can be done by many different
>> >cards-PowerVR, RIVA128, (and maybe the new Rendition?).
>>
>> Actually, none of those cards have OpenGL drivers yet. They tend to
>> have what has become known as "QuakeGL" drivers, as they do not
>> support full OpenGL.

The Voodoo driver is in beta, and the Riva driver is in alpha - these
are both "real" OpenGL drivers, not just GLQuake drivers.

Ashley W. Bone

unread,

Dec 4, 1997, 3:00:00 AM12/4/97

to

>>> Actually, none of those cards have OpenGL drivers yet. They tend to
>>> have what has become known as "QuakeGL" drivers, as they do not
>>> support full OpenGL.
>
>The Voodoo driver is in beta, and the Riva driver is in alpha - these
>are both "real" OpenGL drivers, not just GLQuake drivers.

The 3dfx miniport openGL driver is not "real" openGL driver. It does
not fully implement openGL, only the subset needed to run glQuake.
Full implementation is required for openGL conformance.