Will DirectX10 kill OpenGL?

[PryGuy]

Peace to all of you!
I've read a story about the upcoming Microsoft's DirectX10 in our local Russian computer magazine and it surprised and scared me. Yes, the upcomping DirectX10 games such as Crysis (http://www.crysis-online.com/Media/Images/) look amazing and I doubt you can do nearly the same with OpenGL. Think that the ID Software team did their best in their OpenGL Doom III engine, but that's about all, folks. They'll probably have to change the platform to DirectX for the future projects to be able to keep up with the upcoming titles. Does that mean the death of OpenGL? Will it seriously affect the Linux world?

[chaosgeisterchen]

I do not think that OpenGL will die. Altough all the new games are running under DirectX 10, OpenGL is still an option.

Do you have proof to point out that OpenGL is not as capable as DX10 is?

[PryGuy]

The first one and the main one is that DX10 will be supported by NVIDIA/ATI. Think that they will leave OpenGL just for the compatibility purposes. DX10 and OpenGL are not compatible so the game developers will have to write two different versions for both platforms and that is hard and costly. I've read a big article about DX10 and it appears that it's way easier to program for DX10. So literally you'll have to write one line of code where you'll have to write 10 or even more. I'll try to find some info on DirectX10 for you.

[nalmeth]

Any reference? More info?

Are the new-gen consoles using DX10? I'm in the line of thinking even more dedicated PC-gamers are switching to consoles. So what they are using is a major factor.

Why is Doom 3 the best its going to get?

[ComplexNumber]

i voted "no". whilst direct x is getting better and better, so is open GL. direct X is now on version 10 and it hasn't managed to kill it yet, so draw your own conclusions.

[shining]

Nvidia and Ati support for Linux is already pretty bad. By supporting DirectX and leaving OpenGL, they will just make it worse. So what?
DirectX is dead as far as I'm concerned, and Nvidia and Ati were already dying, because of the lack of open source drivers. By leaving OpenGL, they will just die even more :)

[PryGuy]

Any reference? More info?Here you are please:

[PryGuy]

Any reference? More info?Here you are please:
http://windowsvistablog.com/blogs/windowsvista/articles/447226.aspx

[Moobert]

Looking at the newer games coming out, the unreal engine 3 sounds like its going use opengl and directx (with ut2007 getting a linux port), quakewars is id based so opengl only :) (again getting a linux port) and all blizzard's games should continue to support opengl due to them liking the mac. Also ps3 has moved to using more open standards, like opengl for its development. Crytek are the only ones to have dropped opengl support as of late, which is a shame as the far cry engine was rather good.

[PryGuy]

I'm not going to say that OpenGL is worse than DirectX10, it's like saying that machine code is worse than C#. Micro$oft is very strong in API field. Who says it is not possible to make the same visual effects in OpenGL. But in comparison it will be more like writing say desktop applications in assembler, that is possible in theory also. Hope you understand what I mean.

We are talking about game industry that is business. Just imagine you're a game company CEO and ask yourself what API will you choose.

[Houman]

Hi there;

This is not news to me really, DirectX has always been ahead of OpenGL in terms of the new features. The hottest and newest features from the ATI/Nvidia chips are always supported first on DirectX and then on OpenGL. You have to realize OpenGL is an open development effort and the comiittee gets together once in a while to add new stuff to it whereas DirectX is a commercial project with a ton of money and people behind it.

So yea DirectX is better in terms of new features and what not, but that in no way means OpenGL is gonna die. Mainly because people who want an open and cross platform 3D graphics platform will always look to OpenGL. But the hot games will probably use DirectX, as usual.

Also one of the posters said Nvidia has no support for Linux (or something on that line). Have you loooked at the developer section of Nvidia? they are putting a lot of effort for creating tools for Linux. ATI is very Linux unfriendly but Nvidia is at least trying.


regards

Houman

[PryGuy]

So yea DirectX is better in terms of new features and what not, but that in no way means OpenGL is gonna die. Mainly because people who want an open and cross platform 3D graphics platform will always look to OpenGL. But the hot games will probably use DirectX, as usual.I do not think it will die but it will be killed by DirectX10 that's what I'm afraid of. The game developers will turn their faces away from OpenGL.

[mips]

There are alternatives to dx10,

http://www.opengl.org/
http://www.libsdl.org/index.php
http://www.openal.org/

[B0rsuk]

Id Software explicitely said on this year's QuakeCon that they're primarily PC developer, and even their yet-to-be-anounced game in production will use OpenGL. They say they maintain both DirectX and OpenGL renderers, but all of their development tools are in OpenGL.

[Beamerboy]

I actually think you will see the opposite. I think you will see more game developers using OpenGL simply because the windows market share has been slipping pretty much constantly for some time now. Further to this, Vista is going to be a huge failure for Microsoft (yes I genuinly believe this) as more and more people are getting pi$$ed off with drm. Furthermore, Microsoft EULA has been in the press almost every week for the past couple of months not to mention their WGA rubbish.

All in all MS have had a great deal of bad press and people are more educated as to the implications of running windows in the future and a lot of people are switching to Linux. The growth of the Ubuntu community alone over the past 6 months is testament to that, but this is not limited to Ubuntu, pretty much all the mainstream Linux distros seem to be experiencing similar growth patterns.

It would be in the best interests of the gaming industry to start seriously thinking about creating games which they can then port to Linux easily, which would mean using OpenGL.

Paladine

[PryGuy]

I actually think you will see the opposite. I think you will see more game developers using OpenGL simply because the windows market share has been slipping pretty much constantly for some time now. Further to this, Vista is going to be a huge failure for Microsoft (yes I genuinly believe this)Let's face the facts, Micro$oft can sell and sells anything. So we can only say that Vista is a failure from the technical point of view and we are just a few percents of the potential computer users (and game players) around. They will spend billions on ads and so millions will be caught by the 'Genuine Advantages' of Windows again. So technical failure is not necessarily a commercial failure.

[Beamerboy]

I firmly believe that Vista will be a commercial failure, there have been numerous articles over the past 12 months stating that microsoft have failed to pursuade their corporate partners to upgrade to Vista.

Furthermore, Vista is too large a leap for businesses and domestic users alike. The hardware requirements are excessive meaning in order to fully benefit from the OS you need to make significant hardware upgrades which cost money, especially on a corporate level.

The only immediate revenue MS will see from Vista will be through the domestic market where companies like Dell and HP will probably ship new machines with Vista pre-installed. The majority of money MS make is from corporate licenses and this is going to create a huge blackhole in their revenue when it comes to Vista.

Paladine

[Choad]

why on earth would it kill openGL

all directx10 does is reduce the number of people who can use it, and split their market between XP and VISTA

openGL on the other hand will seemlessly translate to VISTA and also is being used in the ps3 and wii (not to mention mac and linux)

if anything, it the balance will shift (slightly) towards openGL

[WalmartSniperLX]

I honestly don't know which one will kill who. But all this news that dx10 is gonna cause problems since its a diff arc than dx9 isnt necessarily true, since we all know when MS released a new os, it takes years (maybe 2-3) for a total adaption. But after a while the prices will flux and more people are going to own dx10 compatible cards. No not all people will be able to get their hands on vista and dx10 right away, but a few years after the launch of vista, it will almost completely replace xp (remember what happened when XP was launched?). Also remember there is a home/basic version of vista that wont require as much spec to run it.

Ok im rambling on. But I think in the long run Dx10 may push aside opengl (not completely kill) since it has the mainstream support, and where the mainstream is there is cash. Developers like cash :D

PS: and no Im not a MS fanboy :D Im just saying what I think regardless :D

[peak_performance]

Just never, ever underestimate what the guys at id Software can come up with in terms of graphics. I would be very disappointed if their new game isn't much better looking than anything else on the way. Of course, it's a couple of years away, but we're still talking graphics.

OpenGL or not.

[jleemc44]

At the risk of getting shot……Direct X will always rule over openGL because it will always be the software with the most money invested in it. The hardware vendors (ati, nVidia, ect.) are going to develop for where the market masses are. Right now that’s windows os. Linux in general is just too confusing for home pc users to adapt to. Since home users are the major high end graphic market and windows is the os of choice for them, direct x will be the platform of choice for developers.

Kind of a vicious cycle, you need hardware support for a strong os but hardware needs strong user support to invest time and money in. On top of that, Linux throws in the open source curve ball and hardware developers really loose interest.

Not saying it’s a bad thing, just saying I don’t see Linux as being a major contender to Microsoft for the battle of the desktop pc.

[mrgnash]

Nvidia and Ati support for Linux is already pretty bad. By supporting DirectX and leaving OpenGL, they will just make it worse. So what?
DirectX is dead as far as I'm concerned, and Nvidia and Ati were already dying, because of the lack of open source drivers. By leaving OpenGL, they will just die even more :)

What are you talking about? DX10 cards still support OpenGL 2.0

[bobbybobington]

I doubt that opengl will die because...

1. apple,linux, and xp can't use dx10
2. it is continually improving,
3. easier to code in
4. safer (in terms of market risk).