Author Topic: OpenGL versions and Attract Mode  (Read 2892 times)

zpaolo11x

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OpenGL versions and Attract Mode
« on: September 14, 2018, 08:37:01 AM »
I'm on a Mac, which of course is a PITA for emulation but I don't want to use Parallels anymore for this :D

My question (maybe a stupid question) is how is OpenGL support implemented in Attract Mode for Mac? I ask this because technically Mac OS supports OpenGL up to a certain level, but for example XQuartz (the X11 display server for Mac OS) only support certain versions of OpenGL, and to add insult to injury in the future Apple is going to deprecate OpenGL in favor of its own Metal framework. I'm not an expert or a programmer, but I'm wondering what would happen of laouts using GLSL filters if Apple removes OpenGL support altogether, and how can I tell what version of GLSL I can use with my setup? Is AttractMode for Mac running on XQuartz?

keilmillerjr

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Re: OpenGL versions and Attract Mode
« Reply #1 on: September 14, 2018, 08:49:52 AM »
Mac is unix, so maybe try this? I am not at my mac at the moment to test.

To Check OpenGL Version,
glxinfo | grep "OpenGL version"
You will get the output as follows,
glxinfo | grep "OpenGL version"
OpenGL version string: 1.4 (2.1 Mesa 7.7.1)
Edit:
You may have better luck with modern OpenGL just grepping for "version" instead of "OpenGL version" given the differences between the core and compat profiles, as well as the various GLSL and GLES versions:
glxinfo | grep 'version'
server glx version string: 1.4
client glx version string: 1.4
GLX version: 1.4
    Max core profile version: 4.1
    Max compat profile version: 3.0
    Max GLES1 profile version: 1.1
    Max GLES[23] profile version: 3.0
OpenGL core profile version string: 4.1 (Core Profile) Mesa 11.1.2
OpenGL core profile shading language version string: 4.10
OpenGL version string: 3.0 Mesa 11.1.2
OpenGL shading language version string: 1.30
OpenGL ES profile version string: OpenGL ES 3.0 Mesa 11.1.2
OpenGL ES profile shading language version string: OpenGL ES GLSL ES 3.00
Notice that the actual version is presented by the "core profile version" (4.1), whereas the "OpenGL version" is presented as 3.0.

zpaolo11x

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Re: OpenGL versions and Attract Mode
« Reply #2 on: September 14, 2018, 11:24:19 AM »
Thank you, I tried the second command and one of the output lines is:

OpenGL shading language version string: 1.20

now I understand why I can't use some 1.30 commands in GLSL shaders :D

keilmillerjr

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Re: OpenGL versions and Attract Mode
« Reply #3 on: September 14, 2018, 05:38:31 PM »
Thank you, I tried the second command and one of the output lines is:

OpenGL shading language version string: 1.20

now I understand why I can't use some 1.30 commands in GLSL shaders :D

Good to know! I am useless with shaders. If you are proficient, feel free to add to or change the shaders module I started on github! We have some people using good effects lately, but not enough time to keep up on everything.