Graphics recently upgraded: JOGL v2

[MagicManICT]

First, let me point you to the patch notes for the 21st of February: viewtopic.php?f=2&t=4450

The important point I'd like to address is the upgrade to JOGL v2. This shouldn't have any changes for most of the players here. The OpenGL version is still 1.4. There may be issues for some players with any change like this that didn't exist before. If you were able to run Salem prior to the update and suddenly find yourself with graphics issues, please report it.

What I would like to ask is this: please try out the original client for a while in various situations where you've had graphical issues in the past. Some of the improvised fixes for various graphical issues may have been resolved with this upgrade. Other issues may crop up. Since I'm not an OpenGL guru, and not well versed in the client design for Salem, I'm not really sure how much of an impact this has had, but it is worth testing to make sure things still work.

If you do find an issue is resolved, I would ask that you find the old thread of the issue, the issue listed on the bug tracker, or other relevant posting to reply to so the information is kept together.

I'm leaving this stickied in Bugs & Technicalities for a period of about 30 days. At that point, awareness should be enough it can drop out of view.

[Brucewil]

Well, all I can say is thatnk-you for an update that says "Sorry, you can no longer play".
I have 2 computers that need to have perfectly good video cards replaced to play now. I am NOT impressed at all.
Thanks and it looks like goodbye to Salem

[MagicManICT]

Sorry to hear you don't want or are unable to replace your hardware. However, the gaming world passed by this tech mark a few years ago. The only saving grace for older systems is that so many smaller games don't need the highest end processors, large chunks of RAM, or DX 10/OpenGL 3.x/4.x.

Believe me, I feel for you. I've had to give up on MMOs due to engine upgrades that no longer supported the hardware I have and I couldn't afford to replace it.

[imrielle]

As an addendum to your post, some additional information regarding OpenGL support, and graphics cards (onboard, mobile and AGP/PCI cards).
OpenGL 2.0 is eight year old technology. Most modern video cards support it. Eight year old cards are not modern. This information also assumes that you have the most up-to-date drivers for your video card, and for your system (Macs).

As for cards that support it (Windows):
For nVidia (mobile): All cards past, but not including, GeForce FX Go 5 have OpenGL 2.1 support. Geforce FX Go 5's have limited, but not full, OpenGL 2.1 support.
For nVidia (AGP/PCI(-e)): All cards past, and including, Geforce FX 5xxx models support OpenGL 2.1.

For ATI (mobile): Mobility Radeon 9500-9800, Mobility Radeon X300, X600, X700, X800, and all chipsets past, and including, Mobility Radeon X1xxx series have OpenGL 2.0 support.
For ATI (AGP/PCI(-e)): All cards past, and including, the Radeon R300 series have OpenGL 2.0 support. These start at Radeon 9500 for AGP cards, and the X3xx, X5xx, X6xx, X1xxx series for PCI-E. Because ATI's GPU card naming schemes can be a little awkward, here is a WikiPedia link listing cards and their names, starting with those that have OpenGL 2.0 support: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison ... 300_series

For Mac users: Apple handles things a little differently than Windows (ok, a lot differently). What little I could find for Mac users (I'm not one, personally) includes this link: https://developer.apple.com/graphicsima ... index.html

For Intel OnBoard Video Users (including Mac's): See this page - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_GMA and this page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison ... generation


Hopefully this helps narrow down where the problem lies for those who cannot play Salem with this update.

[JinxDevona]

Thats the first time I've logged in with the default client, it took about a minute for my front door to appear, thought I was going to end up stuck inside. I might have to do something else... hope Ender knows it needs fixing and is working on it... I've only ever used his clients. Good work btw.

lol the default client did the same thing to me. I so hope Ender gets a fix out soon as I'm totally spoiled from using his wonderful, beautiful client. His client is so much better than the default one I'm not sure I can play without it. So I say ... Pleas save us Ender.

[MagicManICT]

I believe the difference is that after an update, the original client downloads and verifies resources after logging in a character. It only does this once, though, as long as the resources are still cached. With the third party client, most of the resources are already cached and so the client just verifies the correct version of them. (I'm pulling this from memory and it could quite well be wrong. Apologies if it isn't.)

[Brucewil]

Thanks for your help, managed to find an inexpensive used video card and can login now

[Hans_Lemurson]

With a laptop that uses an Intel GMA 965 chipset, the JOGL update caused my FPS to drop noticeably across the board in all situations. It is not possible to play the game without the use of Chiprel's LowGFX mod (which I am very greatful for).

With the reduced textures, the game is playable, but occasionally stutters. I have also noticed a graphical error where drying hides have fine black striping on them which shifts as the camera angle changes. It looks to be some sort of moiré pattern. This did not occur until the graphics engine was changed.

Edit: The moiré patterns were only in Ender's client, which has now been fixed.

[loftar]

Oh, I hadn't seen this sticky.

The upgrade to JOGL 2 does not affect compatibility with OpenGL 1.4. JOGL is just a thin glue layer between Java and OpenGL, its version number is entirely unrelated to the version of the OpenGL implementation, and upgrading JOGL should have left the client's actual interactions with OpenGL completely unaffected. The client should still support OpenGL 1.4 as well as it has previously, though it should be said that I don't own any computer that has OpenGL 1.4 so it's a bit hard for me to test and keep making sure that it works properly.

That having been said, though, not supporting OpenGL 2 is a rather sure sign that your GPU sucks and probably won't perform overly well. :)

[Hans_Lemurson]

That having been said, though, not supporting OpenGL 2 is a rather sure sign that your GPU sucks and probably won't perform overly well.

Indeed! Truer words have not been spoken. In fact I am grateful for every day that the integrated graphics card on a 2008 laptop continues to draw 3D objects to the screen.