it rules doesnt it?
have u finised it yet. I have and i really like it. And the graphics are amazing for it. I bought it almost day of release now. Got the first one and liked that too.
openGL is by far better, but you also have to take into consideration the card that you are using also. if you have a voodoo card (esp. an older one, i can't remember if the v5500 supports openGL) the only way you're going to run openGL is with a wrapper, which will suck your will to live. the performance will be worse than just running in D3D.
if you are using an nvidia card your openGL performance will rule D3D with a vengeance.
the thing is games ship with 2 api's either D3D and GLide or D3D and openGL. D3D is that cross platform thing that they throw in so that no matter what card you have, you can run the game.
since D3D is a "jack of all trades" it is also a "master of none."
Direct x is easier to implement for game producers. Also its in many cases less stable. Open Gl doesnt work well on older graphics boards but is rock stable when it does work..
I find openGL much easier to develop with (especially at a low level). What makes you think D3D is easier for game developers? Has MS produced some utility to make it easier?
when i say cross platform i meant across different chipsets.
nvidia chipsets can't run GLide app.s
3dfx chipsets (except for the v5) can't run openGL app.s (at least not without a wrapper that hinders performance)
both chipsets can run D3D.
i think the answers to your OS questions would depend on what chipset your v.card had and if you had drivers that were optimized for that OS. (i.e. i've never heard of mac's using nvidia chipsets.)
I've gotta vote open GL. Maybe it's jusy me, but i have never bought high end graphics cards as money is scarce and i simply can't justify it, But i also have never felt the need. I still happily run an S3 Savage 3D 8Mb agp card. (go on, everyone baggs them, take a swing ) And i used to think it laked a bit of guts, but i was running it with a Celleron 366. I recently replaced this with a Duron 650 on a DFI AK76 m/b and it runns much better now, The bottle neck seemed to be the processor, this swap increased my open GL performance markedly but the D3D only slightly. Open GL seemed to be happy to fill the gap left by a slightly gutless graphicss card provided there was some decent power behind it. But i still choose D3D for Half Life.
OpenGL is written by people who <b><i>know</i></b> graphics and are devoted to doing them well.
D3D is written by people who <b><i>like</i> $$$</b>, and are devoted to making a lot of it.
Never-the-less, I think that D3D (although still less elegant than OpenGL) has improved quite a bit and has the big M$ standing behind it (or shoving it down everyones throat, depending on how you look at it).
A real world example?... well, let's see... Homeworld runs waaaay <i>better</i> on my Voodoo 3 3000 AGP with OpenGL, and in D3D it runs <i>faster</i> (but with glitches). That game is developed for OpenGl though.
I have to say I <i>like</i> OpenGL much better, but I <i>have to use</i> D3D.
<b><font color=green> Have a day </font color=green></b>
well pardon the holy hell out of me. i didn't realize the voodoo3 line also supports openGL. of course i don't care.
the whole thing to BEGIN WITH was to point out that there is more than D3D and openGL. and depending on your video card your results would vary, since, as you so astutely made MY POINT again, only 3dfx cards can run GLide.
of course now that nvidia laid the smack down on 3dfx, i'm looking forward (maybe) to nvidia chipsets supporting GLide.
OpenGL definitely. D3D is OK in BZ2 and HL, but my favorite games all seem to be utilizing GL for their eye-candy needs. I think what pisses me off the most about D3D is how MS used it in their own Flight Simulator 2000. I've never seen such a crappy frame rate for such crappy graphics in a flight simulator period--and especially on my geforce 2 gts! I run FS2K at 1024x768x32 with all detail at the lowest settings, D3D, and it's still choppy. Now when I run FlightGear, a freeware OpenGL flight simulator, I get about 500fps with prettier terrain. It's just too bad that the flight model is not very realistic...
<font color=blue>What good is 200fps in Quake III Arena when my monitor will only refresh at 85Hz? =)