The OpenGL successor "glNext" is going to be shown off at the GDC this year, with Valve, Epic Games, Electronic Arts, Frostbite Engine Team, Unity Technologies and Oxide Games.
It certainly will be interesting to see what they have so far, and to see how interested in it companies like EA are. It could be fantastic, but I'm keeping my enthusiasm in-check for this, as there may not be too much to show right now, and it certainly doesn't mean that we will see any Linux ports from EA any time soon even with them backing the spec.
The other half of me is very keen to see what "live demos" they have. If, for example, EA have some sort of engine demo of Frostbite running on glNext that could be pretty important for us.
Another thing that would be fantastic, would be to see Unity really hammer down on their OpenGL support, so that games built using their engine won't be so poor performance wise, and considering they are getting in early with support for it, it could be good news for us.
The problem is that we have had a promise of a new OpenGL API before, and it didn't really happen. Still, with big companies backing it like Valve and the others mentioned, maybe this time things will be different.
You can see the full details here.
It's worth noting that the session was originally being present by Khronos group, and now Valve, interesting! Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
QuoteJoin us for the unveiling of Khronos' glNext initiative, the upcoming cross-platform graphics API designed for modern programming techniques and processors. glNext will be the singular choice for developers who demand peak performance in their applications. We will present a technical breakdown of the API, advanced techniques and live demos of real-world applications running on glNext drivers and hardware.
It certainly will be interesting to see what they have so far, and to see how interested in it companies like EA are. It could be fantastic, but I'm keeping my enthusiasm in-check for this, as there may not be too much to show right now, and it certainly doesn't mean that we will see any Linux ports from EA any time soon even with them backing the spec.
The other half of me is very keen to see what "live demos" they have. If, for example, EA have some sort of engine demo of Frostbite running on glNext that could be pretty important for us.
Another thing that would be fantastic, would be to see Unity really hammer down on their OpenGL support, so that games built using their engine won't be so poor performance wise, and considering they are getting in early with support for it, it could be good news for us.
The problem is that we have had a promise of a new OpenGL API before, and it didn't really happen. Still, with big companies backing it like Valve and the others mentioned, maybe this time things will be different.
You can see the full details here.
It's worth noting that the session was originally being present by Khronos group, and now Valve, interesting! Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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Johan Lejonborn Feb 3, 2015
GDC is shaping up to be a really interesting event for Steam OS / Linux gaming. glNext is the next part in getting developers to go cross platform for future games which hopefully means more games for us. Seems like perfect timing to try to steal some of Microsofts DX12-thunder with a API that works everywhere. Would not be suprised to see glNext in Android as a response to Apple's "Metal".
Since EA is onboard i would guess that Mantles days are counted, DICE has been perhaps the biggest proponent for Mantle besides AMD, and if they go glNext...
It's a bit interesting that Valve's strategy for Steam OS, as far as i can tell, is quite different from what Sony and Microsoft are doing. Instead of exclusives and hype they seem to aim make it effortless to port games to Steam OS and then working with partners to gradually grow the platform. I hope we will hear more about Valve's "Plan" from GDC aswell.
Since EA is onboard i would guess that Mantles days are counted, DICE has been perhaps the biggest proponent for Mantle besides AMD, and if they go glNext...
It's a bit interesting that Valve's strategy for Steam OS, as far as i can tell, is quite different from what Sony and Microsoft are doing. Instead of exclusives and hype they seem to aim make it effortless to port games to Steam OS and then working with partners to gradually grow the platform. I hope we will hear more about Valve's "Plan" from GDC aswell.
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Quoting: SoltrummanIt's a bit interesting that Valve's strategy for Steam OS, as far as i can tell, is quite different from what Sony and Microsoft are doing. Instead of exclusives and hype they seem to aim make it effortless to port games to Steam OS and then working with partners to gradually grow the platform. I hope we will hear more about Valve's "Plan" from GDC aswell.
I still have tough times to imagine that companies can work like this: Building up a solid technological base and a base of one thousand games over several years with very little hype compared to other companies.
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YESSS!!! I have been waiting for glNext news so I can plan my next graphics card purchase! =D
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I don't want to be an a**, but even if EA ports some of their games to Linux, I won't be first in que to buy them for sure...
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Quoting: iMicqI don't want to be an a**, but even if EA ports some of their games to Linux, I won't be first in que to buy them for sure...
For me it depends what they port :). But to steam machines to be successful it needs help from big developers like EA, Ubisoft ore Blizzard because many still buy they're games.
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Quoting: ImantsFor me it depends what they port :). But to steam machines to be successful it needs help from big developers like EA, Ubisoft ore Blizzard because many still buy they're games.
Agree! Even if you don't want a single game from them, it would great news for all of us if they are porting them!
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I find it a bit worrying that they have nobody from NVidia nor ATI at the presentation.
They can dream up as amazing API as they want; if the GPU makers don't bother with good driver implementation, it will be perfectly worthless.
They can dream up as amazing API as they want; if the GPU makers don't bother with good driver implementation, it will be perfectly worthless.
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Windousico Feb 3, 2015
Off-Topic: Lords of Xulima, Crimsonland and ClusterPack 99 now available on Linux.
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@Teal: I didn't have any issues with nVidia drivers lately... With 3 different GPUs. (One of them was on a laptop)
@Imants: I didn't say it's bad. I just said that I wouldn't buy any games from EA. I'd rather support Valve, CD Projekt Red, Feral, etc... Tbh, I'd like to see some Blizzard games on Linux, as well, like Hearthstone or Overwatch.
@Imants: I didn't say it's bad. I just said that I wouldn't buy any games from EA. I'd rather support Valve, CD Projekt Red, Feral, etc... Tbh, I'd like to see some Blizzard games on Linux, as well, like Hearthstone or Overwatch.
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Quoting: iMicq@Teal: I didn't have any issues with nVidia drivers lately... With 3 different GPUs. (One of them was on a laptop)
I don't have "issues" either, aside of performance being worse than on Windows with DirectX, and aside of missing features, like Shadowplay, which I hugely miss.
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Those are issues if we compare Linux and Windows. Gaming related third-party apps are issues too. Middle-ware... Bunch of issues...
We cant be ignorant, if we ignore problems they wont be fixed, they probably wont be fixed even when we dont ignore them.
We cant be ignorant, if we ignore problems they wont be fixed, they probably wont be fixed even when we dont ignore them.
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"Valve, Epic Games, Electronic Arts, Frostbite Engine Team, Unity Technologies and Oxide Games"
*Valve = OK, although not exactly experts on Linux (that wonderful bash script that wipes out your user data, among other things).
*Epic Games = Unreal Engine Rocks! And Linux is at least supported in UT2k4, and the upcoming F2P "Unreal Tournament" (although most of the rest of their games are non-Linux, there is hope).
*EA = Hated even by Windose users. Only care about high profits with minimal effort, resulting in buggy games with plenty of design flaws. With their abandonment of ever so many of their customers after GameSpy shutdown, the hatred grows, but the money just keeps filling their pockets.
*Frostbite Engine Team = Battlefield series, also with EA. That's the series where much of the hatred for EA comes from.
*Unity = Have NO intention whatsoever of supporting Linux in any way more than they do now: Windows users can make Linux binaries for their games, and that's it. Look at their FAQ if you don't believe me.
*Oxide Games = Who? I can't even name a game they've made, and I see only Microsoft, AMD, DirectX, and performance and technical issues with all of those: http://www.oxidegames.com/2014/01/31/star-swarm-faq/
So, if it were just Valve and Epic Games, I would have said "Yeah, sounds good!" BUT, with this motley crew of sadists and mostly idiots, I'd say it's VERY BAD NEWS! No way in hell it's gonna be able to replace anything Linux or high-performance! If anything, they're scheming to force this OpenGL replacement onto everyone, deliberately making it as crappy as possible so people will stop using Linux, otherwise known as sabotage. With Microsoft's and EA's records, it perfectly reasonable to assume this.
EDIT: I completely forgot. With the line-up of companies, and no mention of open anything, this is gonna be proprietary, and you will never see any source code.
*Valve = OK, although not exactly experts on Linux (that wonderful bash script that wipes out your user data, among other things).
*Epic Games = Unreal Engine Rocks! And Linux is at least supported in UT2k4, and the upcoming F2P "Unreal Tournament" (although most of the rest of their games are non-Linux, there is hope).
*EA = Hated even by Windose users. Only care about high profits with minimal effort, resulting in buggy games with plenty of design flaws. With their abandonment of ever so many of their customers after GameSpy shutdown, the hatred grows, but the money just keeps filling their pockets.
*Frostbite Engine Team = Battlefield series, also with EA. That's the series where much of the hatred for EA comes from.
*Unity = Have NO intention whatsoever of supporting Linux in any way more than they do now: Windows users can make Linux binaries for their games, and that's it. Look at their FAQ if you don't believe me.
*Oxide Games = Who? I can't even name a game they've made, and I see only Microsoft, AMD, DirectX, and performance and technical issues with all of those: http://www.oxidegames.com/2014/01/31/star-swarm-faq/
So, if it were just Valve and Epic Games, I would have said "Yeah, sounds good!" BUT, with this motley crew of sadists and mostly idiots, I'd say it's VERY BAD NEWS! No way in hell it's gonna be able to replace anything Linux or high-performance! If anything, they're scheming to force this OpenGL replacement onto everyone, deliberately making it as crappy as possible so people will stop using Linux, otherwise known as sabotage. With Microsoft's and EA's records, it perfectly reasonable to assume this.
EDIT: I completely forgot. With the line-up of companies, and no mention of open anything, this is gonna be proprietary, and you will never see any source code.
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Quoting: MajorLunaCSo, if it were just Valve and Epic Games, I would have said "Yeah, sounds good!" BUT, with this motley crew of sadists and mostly idiots, I'd say it's VERY BAD NEWS! No way in hell it's gonna be able to replace anything Linux or high-performance! If anything, they're scheming to force this OpenGL replacement onto everyone, deliberately making it as crappy as possible so people will stop using Linux, otherwise known as sabotage. With Microsoft's and EA's records, it perfectly reasonable to assume this.
How can someone take these conspiracy theories seriously? Sabotage? Really?
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@MajorLunaC,
You're expressing distrust from companies (which to some extent, I understand), but I'm afraid that doesn't translate to "Bad news" when there is no news to begin with. At least wait for the number crunching before going off the handle with speculations.
You're expressing distrust from companies (which to some extent, I understand), but I'm afraid that doesn't translate to "Bad news" when there is no news to begin with. At least wait for the number crunching before going off the handle with speculations.
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Well, even if these game companies don't start making linux ports as long as they have glNext in their new games there's hope for linux. It shouldn't be that hard for wine developers to pass the glNext commands to the drivers like they currently do with other OpenGL implementations which will give close to native level performance with games. But if these game companies decide to exclusively support DX12 then linux users will be completely screwed. Of course, if the game companies decide to support glNext AND have proprietary DRM solutions in place that's still a pretty bad scenario for linux users because DRM doesn't play so nice with Wine.
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Quoting: godlikeQuoting: MajorLunaCSo, if it were just Valve and Epic Games, I would have said "Yeah, sounds good!" BUT, with this motley crew of sadists and mostly idiots, I'd say it's VERY BAD NEWS! No way in hell it's gonna be able to replace anything Linux or high-performance! If anything, they're scheming to force this OpenGL replacement onto everyone, deliberately making it as crappy as possible so people will stop using Linux, otherwise known as sabotage. With Microsoft's and EA's records, it perfectly reasonable to assume this.
How can someone take these conspiracy theories seriously? Sabotage? Really?
I know right, what a silly post.
It's fantastic news to have companies like EA taking a look at it, and while they do get a lot of deserving flack, having their future games being close to supporting Linux is good news for our platform.
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I completely forgot. With the line-up of companies, and no mention of open anything, this is gonna be proprietary, and you will never see any source code. How can that replace Open-Source OpenGL? It shouldn't.
Do you ppl even play most of the EA games? I stopped at BF2142, which I only recently got running on Wine, and even online with cracked exe's made by clans, no thanks to EA saying "go screw yourselves" to those that lost online game support after the GameSpy shutdown. Why is every new thing that happens in Linux considered good news? Tell me one single reason EA would want anything to do with Linux, when even Unity wants nothing more to do with Linux because it's "not a viable market." And don't give me any optimistic bs, I'm talking business-wise. What do these companies stand to gain? (The most important question in anything "Who stands to gain?") Especially considering their view of Linux. Microsoft has been aiming to tear down or profit from Linux since its beginning:
http://techrights.org/comes-iowa-trial-exhibits/
http://techrights.org/category/novell/
EA has been involved with Microsoft plenty, as have some of the other companies.
Personally, I think I'm very lax and nowhere near paranoid enough. I don't even come close to those that know the full extend of what's going on behind the scenes. Even I fall for many of the propaganda headlines, just out of hope that somehow things will work out, even though few people are even aware of the hidden agendas of these companies. Who stands to gain? Business is all about gain, after all. Don't tell me you think businesses are about being helpful, friendly, cooperative, etc., unless you're talking about price-fixing and such among many companies.
Do you ppl even play most of the EA games? I stopped at BF2142, which I only recently got running on Wine, and even online with cracked exe's made by clans, no thanks to EA saying "go screw yourselves" to those that lost online game support after the GameSpy shutdown. Why is every new thing that happens in Linux considered good news? Tell me one single reason EA would want anything to do with Linux, when even Unity wants nothing more to do with Linux because it's "not a viable market." And don't give me any optimistic bs, I'm talking business-wise. What do these companies stand to gain? (The most important question in anything "Who stands to gain?") Especially considering their view of Linux. Microsoft has been aiming to tear down or profit from Linux since its beginning:
http://techrights.org/comes-iowa-trial-exhibits/
http://techrights.org/category/novell/
EA has been involved with Microsoft plenty, as have some of the other companies.
Personally, I think I'm very lax and nowhere near paranoid enough. I don't even come close to those that know the full extend of what's going on behind the scenes. Even I fall for many of the propaganda headlines, just out of hope that somehow things will work out, even though few people are even aware of the hidden agendas of these companies. Who stands to gain? Business is all about gain, after all. Don't tell me you think businesses are about being helpful, friendly, cooperative, etc., unless you're talking about price-fixing and such among many companies.
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Quoting: MajorLunaCI completely forgot. With the line-up of companies, and no mention of open anything, this is gonna be proprietary, and you will never see any source code. How can that replace Open-Source OpenGL? It shouldn't.
Do you ppl even play most of the EA games? I stopped at BF2142, which I only recently got running on Wine, and even online with cracked exe's made by clans, no thanks to EA saying "go screw yourselves" to those that lost online game support after the GameSpy shutdown. Why is every new thing that happens in Linux considered good news? Tell me one single reason EA would want anything to do with Linux, when even Unity wants nothing more to do with Linux because it's "not a viable market." And don't give me any optimistic bs, I'm talking business-wise. What do these companies stand to gain? (The most important question in anything "Who stands to gain?") Especially considering their view of Linux. Microsoft has been aiming to tear down or profit from Linux since its beginning:
http://techrights.org/comes-iowa-trial-exhibits/
http://techrights.org/category/novell/
EA has been involved with Microsoft plenty, as have some of the other companies.
Personally, I think I'm very lax and nowhere near paranoid enough. I don't even come close to those that know the full extend of what's going on behind the scenes. Even I fall for many of the propaganda headlines, just out of hope that somehow things will work out, even though few people are even aware of the hidden agendas of these companies. Who stands to gain? Business is all about gain, after all. Don't tell me you think businesses are about being helpful, friendly, cooperative, etc., unless you're talking about price-fixing and such among many companies.
Yeah no you are plenty paranoid. The point of OpenGL is that it's open and there's no reason why it should suddenly be proprietary; it's actually practically impossible. Khronos is not exactly a thing that formed just now and it doesn't anyhow change how OpenGL operates, except for maybe actually pushing for it's further widespread adaptation.
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Quoting: GuestOpenGL is not open source. It's an open standard (that also comprises has some patent encumbered components).
Anyone is free to implement OpenGL, but it doesn't make that implementation open source, nor does it make anything using OpenGL open source.
Just wanted to clarify that.
Well to be perfectly exact OpenGL cannot be properly "open source" because it's not a piece of software, it's a language, a description of API, and such. It doesn't have any source code that could be open, it has abstract definition of functions and of how should they operate.
Individual implementations may or may not be open source but for instance the binary Nvidia driver which most people here are probably using, isn't.
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