Question about OpenGL / the 3.0 GFX release

[maxpower]

The roadmap says that 3.0 requires "Hardware-accelerated OpenGL 2.1 or higher".

I thought OpenGL can run on any system that has an up-to-date OpenGL driver? By the graphics card not directly supported features are emulated by the CPU.

Did I miss-understood something, or why is Hardware-accelerated OpenGL 2.1 a must?

[Zarel]

The roadmap says that 3.0 requires "Hardware-accelerated OpenGL 2.1 or higher".

I thought OpenGL can run on any system that has an up-to-date OpenGL driver? By the graphics card not directly supported features are emulated by the CPU.

Did I miss-understood something, or why is Hardware-accelerated OpenGL 2.1 a must?

Because software OpenGL drivers are far too slow to do most of the things Warzone requires.

It gets really obvious when OpenGL isn't hardware-accelerated, because even Warzone's menu system lags (including the older versions).

[maxpower]

Yeah, but let's take the example WZ requires OpenGL 2.1, but you hardware only can 2.0.
Would this still be a huge difference if only some smaller functions had to be emulated by the CPU?

[Zarel]

Yes, because they aren't "smaller" functions.

I'm not entirely sure about the specifics, so I'll leave this question to another dev.

[maxpower]

But independently from that, if I recall correctly there was a discussion whether OpenGL 2.0 or 2.1 should be used at all.

I think yes, it should: One major problem with OpenSource games is the often very outdated graphics sector (what stops lot of the average players from even testing the games). WZ2100 is one of the very few games that has the ability to make a huge step in the 21st century by using modern 3D graphics. And this can only be done with OpenGL2+ (or DirectX, but that's out of question).