Project news

Hello,

Three month passed since the latest Public Release. Time to report about most noticeable changes.

Massive code refactoring

GLideN64 currently supports the following graphics API: OpenGL, GLES2, GLES3, GLES3.1
OpenGL support also divided on GL 3.3 and GL 4.3+. API functions called directly from any place in code. It causes the following problems:

• The code contains lots of GL version - specific code, separated by #ifdef (or if() for OpenGL versions)
• Android emulator distributes 4 GLideN64 binaries for each supported CPU family. 

I refactored GLideN64 code to totally remove direct calls to graphics API from main code. All core GLideN64 classes use special proxy class graphics::Context to manipulate with textures , shaders, buffers and so on, and to draw objects. Context passes calls to back-end class. Currently there is one back-end, which uses OpenGL. If somebody wants to add Vulkan API or DirectX API support, it can be made much easier now: just write new back-end.

OpenGL backend designed as dynamically adoptable for available GL version. It may use different functions for the same task. For example, if available GL supports glTexStorage2D the new texture will be initialized with glTexStorage2D and with glTexImage2D otherwise.

Another example is polygons drawing. Core OpenGL 3.3 requires to pass vertex data from application to GL via Vertex Buffer Object (VBO). GLideN64 used immediate mode rendering with data stored in client side arrays. Thus, it could not use core profile. New back-end implements primitives drawer, which uses VBO and supports core profile. However, we found that many Android devices work better with old immediate mode rendering. So, the back-end also has primitives drawer, which uses immediate mode. Back-end decides which drawer to use in run-time and does it transparently to main code.

The amount of code changes was huge. I totally rewrote many parts of code. As the result, the code is much more clean now. Logan McNaughton and Francisco Zurita helped me to tune the back-end and select most effective GL functions for each GL version. In most cases refactored code works as fast or better than before refactoring. Android port now uses only one binary for all versions of GL ES.

VSync support

GLideN64 version for Zilmar-spec emulators does not support vertical sync. I thought that necessity in that option gone with analog monitors. However, users asked me to add it, because they experienced tearing on their monitors without it. VSync is not part of OpenGL specifications. Use of WGL extensions required to enable it on Windows. I haven't time for it until recently. The code refactoring made it possible to use OpenGL core profile on Windows. Core profile also requires use of WGL extensions. I made necessary changes. Adding VSync support was a matter of few lines after that. Ryan Rosser added new control to the GUI.

MacOsX port

While GLideN64 successfully works on Linux and Android, Mac port was impossible until now. Mac OpenGL driver requires from application to use core GL profile if it needs to work with OpenGL 3.3 or above. That implies VBO support. GLideN64 did not support VBO until the refactoring. I made new attempt to port the code to MacOsX after refactoring completed. This attempt was successful:

I don't know how well the port works: I have no Mac. I got remote access to Mac mini via command line and just made code compilable. The video provided by Brent Woodruff, who built plugin from sources and run on his Mac.

Anti aliasing without frame buffer emulation

Frame buffer emulation is enabled by default. It can be disabled, but it also disables many features, including anti aliasing and gamma correction. This is because anti aliasing and gamma correction requires rendering with Frame Buffer Objects (FBO), which is enabled only with frame buffer emulation. I changed it: now plugin always uses FBO for rendering. This made possible to use anti aliasing and gamma correction even when frame buffer emulation disabled. This was done as preliminary step for another large code refactoring, which I will describe next time.

Donations

Donations are welcome. Two options are available: Yandex Money (the form above) and PayPal: https://www.paypal.me/SergeyLipskiy. Both methods work well, my thanks to people, who used them. Also, does anybody know how to place my paypal.me link as widget/gadget on blog layout? I'm helpless in web design. Another side note: it seems that my mail server has problems with sending mails to AOL mailboxes. I tried to say thanks by email, but it probably was not delivered.