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Apple Progressing Toward Full Support for OpenGL 3.0 in Mac OS X 10.6.3

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Apr 12, 2001
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Hardmac today points to a netkas.org posting revealing that Apple has built nearly all of the required support for OpenGL 3.0 into Mac OS X 10.6.3, with 22 out of 23 extensions now supported. Most of the associated OpenGL 3.0-specific functions, however, are reportedly not yet supported.


110927-opengl_3_500.jpg


The public release of Mac OS X 10.6.2 supports only 15 of the 23 OpenGL 3.0 extensions, suggesting that Apple is moving rapidly toward full support for OpenGL 3.0, which would offer increased graphics performance for the company's Mac computers. The graphics cards used in current Mac models already support OpenGL 3.0, which was released in July 2008, but the required software support in Snow Leopard to take advantage of the specification has not yet appeared.

Article Link: Apple Progressing Toward Full Support for OpenGL 3.0 in Mac OS X 10.6.3
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2010/01/12/apple-progressing-toward-full-support-for-opengl-3-0-in-mac-os-x-10-6-3/
So, is this sort of a confirmation that the next MacBook and Mac mini won't go back to having crappy GPUs such as the GMA950 in my Core 2 Duo Mac mini?
 
I wish that all game developers switched to OpenGL instead of DirectX crap. If everyone made games with OpenGL, there would be a lot more games on OS X that run at native speeds.

Most people tend to think that OS X sucks at anything 3D which is not the case obviously... it's the crappy porting of games from DirectX to OpenGL.
 
TheSpaz said:
I wish that all game developers switched to OpenGL instead of DirectX crap. If everyone made games with OpenGL, there would be a lot more games on OS X that run at native speeds.

Most people tend to think that OS X sucks at anything 3D which is not the case obviously... it's the crappy porting of games from DirectX to OpenGL.
Click to expand...

thank you!!! want to see some latest PC games made for mac :)
 
Let's hope that Mac OS X gets OpenGL drivers that are good, too. I've heard people say on these forums that the current drivers are total ****. I'm not much of a gamer or anything, so I don't know. Just want Macs to run 3D apps (and every kind of app for that matter) great so that more people & the big development companies write more native apps for Macs.
 
Want to hear less fan noise when I open a full screen picture or video. My MPB sounds like a hoover vacuum watching Justin.tv and my Mac pro makes a "wheeeeeee" whine which has the 2600XT.
 
Then developers should develop natively, instead of porting.


TheSpaz said:
I wish that all game developers switched to OpenGL instead of DirectX crap. If everyone made games with OpenGL, there would be a lot more games on OS X that run at native speeds.

Most people tend to think that OS X sucks at anything 3D which is not the case obviously... it's the crappy porting of games from DirectX to OpenGL.
Click to expand...
 
MacRumors said:
The graphics cards used in current Mac models already support OpenGL 3.0, which was released in July 2008, but the required software support in Snow Leopard to take advantage of the specification has not yet appeared.
Click to expand...

Is there a list of supported cards/machines floating about anywhere?
 
Don't care.

The real missing GPU-stuff in OSX is an API like DXVA (Windows) or VDPAU (Linux) that allow the GPU to hardware accelerate x.264 MKVs in third party players.

The MacMini would be a lot better HTPC with such an API.
 
gianly1985 said:
Don't care.

The real missing GPU-stuff in OSX is an API like DXVA (Windows) or VDPAU (Linux) that allow the GPU to hardware accelerate x.264 MKVs in third party players.

The MacMini would be a lot better HTPC with such an API.
Click to expand...
I've been waiting for 5 years.
 
TheSpaz said:
I wish that all game developers switched to OpenGL instead of DirectX crap. If everyone made games with OpenGL, there would be a lot more games on OS X that run at native speeds.

Most people tend to think that OS X sucks at anything 3D which is not the case obviously... it's the crappy porting of games from DirectX to OpenGL.
Click to expand...

They probably go with DirectX so they can easily cross port things to the 360. It's sad to say but the Mac is low on most game developers priorities. :(
 
All they need now are some good games to show up on OS X, not just the iPod Touch and iPhone.
 
Too bad Mac gaming is just about dead.

Why bother with shoddy ports of two year old games when you can install Windows and play the latest and greatest with a simple reboot?

Call me when Apple gets serious about bringing fun and exclusive titles onto Mac OS that perform well.
 
saikyan said:
Too bad Mac gaming is just about dead.

Why bother with shoddy ports of two year old games when you can install Windows and play the latest and greatest with a simple reboot?

Call me when Apple gets serious about bringing fun and exclusive titles onto Mac OS that perform well.
Click to expand...
They're much more interested in promoting games for the Touch and iPhone.
 
TheSpaz said:
I wish that all game developers switched to OpenGL instead of DirectX crap. If everyone made games with OpenGL, there would be a lot more games on OS X that run at native speeds.

Most people tend to think that OS X sucks at anything 3D which is not the case obviously... it's the crappy porting of games from DirectX to OpenGL.
Click to expand...


Mmm why is DirectX crap?

Anyways I think if you asked most people they would say Macs do it better since many people seems to think that Mac is better for graphics art/modeling than a Windows computer...
 
If you are a gamer, just dual boot.

Makes the most sense in my opinion. Now if you are a SERIOUS gamer...just custom build a Windows desktop and keep an Apple laptop for on the go stuff.
 
libertyforall said:
Then developers should develop natively, instead of porting.
Click to expand...

They do. They develop natively for Windows and XBox ;)

A lot of the comments written so far in this thread seem to be by people who don't realize that DirectX is so much more than OpenGL, and the two aren't equivelent. DirectX also includes full support for Sound, Input, Networking and a bunch of other useful stuff. That's why it took off and became the defacto standard. OpenGL is simply concerned with graphics, and needs other libraries to do that other stuff.
 
Anyone bashing DirectX is a fanboy, plain and simple.

I'm a former OpenGL developer, and the Khronos Group ROYALLY screwed up the release of GL3.

They basically decided to please CAD developers instead of game developers when they released GL3.

Originally they promised to rewrite the state-based model of OpenGL into an object-based model. They didn't.

DirectX (Direct3D) is object-based, and there are many benefits (performance and others) that arise from an object-based system.

Hell, geometry shaders in GL were STILL an extension until a few months ago. Geometry shaders have been in hardware for YEARS now :rolleyes: Anyone saying that you should just use the extensions has never been bitten in the ass by different GPU vendors supporting extensions to varying degrees. I recall one experience where I needed functionality (fp16 blending of framebuffers) and I couldn't even query the hardware via GL to see if the functionality was supported in hardware. I sent an email to the developer relations of ATi and their response was to maintain a list of cards that support it(!)...

GL is so messed up, its really sad now. It could have been AWESOME. Khronos told us it would be :(
 
It's too bad that Microsoft won't license their DirectX on anything else. Imagine if there was a Mac version of DirectX so that games could be ported easily and require very little re-write.
 
If developers stopped emulating their games on OS X and started actually porting them then maybe we'd see a performance increase from this, but that'll never happen - it's too easy and cost effective to wrap games in an emulator and push it out than to actually take the time to build a native binary.
 
TheSpaz said:
It's too bad that Microsoft won't license their DirectX on anything else. Imagine if there was a Mac version of DirectX so that games could be ported easily and require very little re-write.
Click to expand...

Its a big selling point of windows for some (gaming that is).


They would be foolish to license it.
 
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