NVIDIA Beta Drivers With OpenGL 3.0 Support

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NVIDIA has released a new set of beta drivers for developers with support for the OpenGL 3.0 API and GLSL 1.30 shading language.

Just two days after the Khronos Group officially released the OpenGL 3.0 specifications, NVIDIA has deployed its first round of beta drivers (version 177.89) with support for the new API. By default, the new features are disabled and must be activated using NVIDIA’s NVemulate utility. In order to activate OpenGL 3.0 and GLSL 1.30 functionality, you must be using a GeForce 8 series or higher or one of several Quadro FX cards. Cards from both desktop and notebook lines are supported.

The drivers are available for both 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Windows XP and Windows Vista and will integrate into the standard ForceWare driver releases following the SIGGRAPH 2008 conference as part of NVIDIA’s Big Bang II.

Gavin Steacy
10 Comments Comment from the forums
  • jaragon13
    FUCK YEAH OPENGL 3...*realizes something* NO FUCKING PROGRAMMER WILL EVER USE IT'S AWESOMENESS *sulks in a corner*
    Reply
  • eklipz330
    and whatre the benefits of 3.0 over 2.0?
    Reply
  • jaragon13
    eklipz330and whatre the benefits of 3.0 over 2.0?2.1,actually...It has alot of the features of,say,DX9 over DX190,while not as drastic in some parts.Better in general.
    Reply
  • jaragon13
    Sorry,DX10*
    Reply
  • nukemaster
    Now if they would support DX 10.1(its only a minor hardware change) so game devs can start to improve DX 10 games we would be all set.
    Reply
  • jaragon13
    nukemasterNow if they would support DX 10 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DirectX .1(its only a minor hardware change) so game devs can start to improve DX 10 games we would be all set.Isn't that what direct-x 11 is supposed to be?

    I know AMD is focusing on Microsoft..which makes me think their future drivers will not be focused on OpenGL 3...which means I probably won't be buying from them if so.
    Reply
  • nukemaster
    9084511 said:
    Isn't that what direct-x 11 is supposed to be?

    I know AMD is focusing on Microsoft..which makes me think their future drivers will not be focused on OpenGL 3...which means I probably won't be buying from them if so.
    ATI's OpenGL drivers have improved allot. I do not think they are going to ignore OpenGL like they once did.

    DX 11 is going to bring DX 10.1 + some GPcpu features as far as I know. The 10.1 features where a part of the original DX10, but Nvidia did not support it so ms changed it to an optional requirement. Those extra features did give a decent boost to the only game to use it. Assassins Creed, Being a "way its meant to be played game" and running better on ATI hardware lead them to actually patched out the 10.1 features so it would run better on Nvidia hardware and worse on ATI's.
    Reply
  • jaragon13
    nukemasterATI's OpenGL drivers have improved allot. I do not think they are going to ignore OpenGL like they once did.DX 11 is going to bring DX 10.1 + some GPcpu features as far as I know. The 10.1 features where a part of the original DX10, but Nvidia did not support it so ms changed it to an optional requirement. Those extra features did give a decent boost to the only game to use it. Assassins Creed, Being a "way its meant to be played game" and running better on ATI hardware lead them to actually patched out the 10.1 features so it would run better on Nvidia hardware and worse on ATI's.Which is one of the other reasons I don't LIKE Nvidia...
    Reply
  • eklipz330
    jaragon, shouldn't you have emphasized don't instead of like?

    and yeah that was pretty bi***y
    Reply
  • Wheat_Thins
    To bad MS money hats have everybody converting over to DX........

    Even the biggest advocate ID software has walked away from OpenGL now.
    Reply