Sector-restricted dynamic lights

[Sussudio]

[have a look at some of the games from the era) if Graf had the disposition to permit so by avoiding shaders and other inefficient shortcuts.

Why should I invest work to support old and obsolete hardware? GF6xxx I see a point for and I won't drop support for it but Voodoo 5? Optimizing for such old hardware would mean to compromise the performance on current hardware which is much more important.

And where did I say you should? times change and I don't expect people to hold back. The Voodo5 comment was barely an example of how much hardware potential is being wasted. What today may only be practical to do with shaders that only newer, powerful, expensive video cards adequately support, was already possible with far less capable video cards back in the day. If programmers decided to continue supporting old hardware that still cuts it for the type application they're developing, the world would be a much better place

[Graf Zahl]

Dream on.

But you are wrong. All you'd get would be compromised software that would neither run well on these old cards nor exploit the features of modern hardware.

Programmers are like most other people: They don't want to waste time. Keeping support for old hardware at all costs is sooner or later going to become an obstaclethat will either make further development needlessly hard or causes bugs that are hard to fix due to the complexity of the code. I just reached that point with the current renderer which tries to handle different hardware ranging from old Geforce 2's to the very latest stuff. The result is an unmaintainable mess in which I can't see the problems anymore because everything can be done 3 different ways or so.


There's a reason why OpenGL just deprecated all the old cruft for the 3.x standard. It's time to move on. The installed base of such old cards will decrease rather than increase. It's not the place where the future lies and if you stick too long to the old ways you may just be left behind in the dust eventually.

[Sussudio]

Dream on

Nah, wouldn't get me anywhere.

But you are wrong. All you'd get would be compromised software that would neither run well on these old cards nor exploit the features of modern hardware

I think you got it wrong again. It's all about programmers compulsively switching to newer video cards and most likely dropping support for older ones that still provide the required performance and flexibility; compromising the quality of a software by seeking compatibility for older and newer hardware alike, is indeed pointless.

Maybe you'll remember what computers used to be 20-something years ago? I acquired an A500 back in 1987 and software was still being developed for exactly the same hardware almost a decade later (maybe that's a bit extreme, but point is, it wasn't like 1, 2 or 3 video cards a year). The good thing about it? programmers had to be creative and talented to get the best out of the limited resources, which often resulted in the machines being pushed beyond safety, achieving amazing visuals, reaching performance levels once ruled impossible. And last but not the least, programmers didn't have to waste time supporting a thousand different models while people were given the chance to enjoy the fruits of their investment another day.

If a programmer plans to take a project a step further but the hardware it was originally being developed for is genuinely no longer up to the challenge, I say go for it, get something better, no point in being left behind, but if you can take that step with the current hardware yet you decide to partially or completely drop the support for it so that the application is more compatible with newer hardware even though it wouldn't run any faster/better, I say bullshit.

Programmers must also take their main target into account, specially those maintaining ports for older video games. A game like the original Doom is much more likely to appeal to retro video game players, and retro video game players tend to pursue compatibility with their favourite obsolete software when it comes to hardware upgrades, something that inevitably forces them not to get the latest and the most powerful. As for me, potentially having to let go of my ancient geforce in order to continue running GZDoom at acceptable framerates when the new renderer is out, would translate as purchasing a brand new computer I won't be able to use for anything else.

Whatever happens, happens, no big deal, I just can't be happy to trash anything that still retains a certain degree of useful life.

[Graf Zahl]

Well, the old hardware can't do what I plan to do with the new renderer so yes, I'd have to compromise my plans if I designed the new renderer to the same hardware specs as the existing one (which won't go away) that's still working fine for old hardware. Creating redundant code which would have the same basic capabilities of what's already there is a colossal waste of time in my book. I'd end up with the same mess I already have - just a bit different.