OpenGL

Goodbye glQuake, hello vkQuake!

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I remember Quake, excellent FPS of the time with excellent graphics of the time, then glQuake happened and it became even better. Now thanks to Novum we have vkQuake! A totally vulkanized version based off of the QuakeSpasm sourceport. Someone made a video showcasing the OpenGL (QuakeSpasm) version vs the Vulkan version.

The Vulkan version sports a nice performance increase (not that you really need it for Quake in this day and age, but still very nice. 😛 ) and it has a nice sharper look to it. I may have to retire Darkplaces and switch to this version, which can be downloaded here.

Tomb Raider: Linux vs Windows

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Gaming On Linux did a benchmark comparison between Linux and Windows 10 showing off framerate differences.

It’s kind of depressing. Great that people on Linux have access to these titles, but sad that the OpenGL optimization can be flat out sucky. I have noticed this with most games on Linux. And it’s one of the reasons why I still keep Win 7 on my system, especially since I like to record my gameplays for video projects, and the better the framerate the better the video output… those numbers aren’t good. We need games to move over to Vulkan… badly. We don’t want Microsoft to control our PC gaming realm, and Linux needs to fight the good fight.

A new generation of Open Source graphics?

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So it’s been announced that OpenGL has a successor called glNext. Details about it will be revealed on March 5th at the Developers Conference in San Fransisco. It will be presented in a panel called “glNext: The Future of High Performance Graphics (Presented by Valve)”. It will feature developers from other companies as well, like Epic Games, EA etc.

It’ll be interesting to see what unfolds. Ever since gaming under Linux has taken off I’ve been wanting to see an overhaul of OpenGL take place. It’s nice with some games, but really shows it’s age in newer ones. For example: I prefer playing Borderlands 2 under Windows because it keeps a better framerate, while under Linux it’s not as optimized even when you lower the settings. And that’s coming from someone who owns an R9 290. There should be no excuse for that kind of performance on a GPU that has an actual 4 GB of GDDR5.

Gabe Newell: Linux and Open Source are the future of gaming

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Gabe Newell made an appearance at LinuxCon in New Orleans:

In the video he makes an interesting point about today’s users being more like developers. Thanks to Valve people can make their own games with the Source Engine, game modes, game content for their favorite Steam Workshop games and of course videos with Source Filmmaker. Valve is an open minded company, and open minded companies benefit from Open Source programs. This is where Linux comes into play. At this point it has more of a future than Windows. Hell, even the Playstation 4 will be using a modified FreeBSD Linux distro. This could leave Microsoft at a bit of a disadvantage. If they’re not careful there is a large possibility that more developers will pull their focus towards OpenGL over Direct X. However, only time can tell us how that will pan out.

Back on topic, Gabe Newell also announced how Linux will be making it into our living rooms. Won’t that be kewl. :3