New RadeonHD 2.4 drivers from A-EON Technology

[Hans_]

So, if I understand correctly, Amiga OS4.1 FE disc will come with a lite version of these drivers on it so Sam460CR can at least get a picture out of the box, right?

Yes.

Hans

[Hans_]

Can Hans or AmigaKit explain the current work on the graphics drivers with regard to 3D support?  I thought that there was some discussion many months ago about Warp3D support being updated as a temporary solution, until true 3D support for the newer HD Radeon video cards with Gallium, or some other kind of 3D support could be incorporated into the new drivers.  

Development of a Warp3D driver for Radeon HD 5xxx/6xxx cards was announced a while back. It's been so long, that some people thought that it had silently been cancelled. However, Trevor said at AmiWest that it's still being worked on, but various problems (incl. developer health and at least one major roadblock) have delayed it. Progress is being made.

I also thought that I read that no work has even started on true 3D support in any of the video card drivers (unless work is being done on the Gallium system), but I am probably confused on what exactly is happening with AmigaOS4.x 3D support and what is actually being worked on, or planned for (which is why I am asking these questions).    I don't even understand exactly what Gallium is, or how it will work to give us 3D support.

You probably just read wild speculation. Gallium3D is the new driver system for mesa. One of its goals is to make it easier to write platform independent 3D drivers. Mesa is an open-source implementation of the OpenGL specification. It currently implements everything up to OpenGL 3.1.

Can any of you give us a "Layman's" version of the current state of 3D for AmigaOS4.x, and describe what the plans are for future 3D support, and if this future support will be available before AmigaOS4.2 is released?

In brief:
Warp3D is the current 3D system. It's already supported on old Radeon cards (up to Radeon 9250) and various other old cards. It works, but it's old and doesn't support modern features like shaders.

A Warp3D driver is in the works for Radeon HD 5xxx/6xxx cards. It's meant to be a stop-gap while we wait for Gallium3D. We're all hoping that this will be released ASAP.

Mesa + Gallium3D is the future of 3D that will arrive with AmigaOS 4.2. It will give us full modern OpenGL support, including shaders. Gallium3D is also a prerequisite to using the video decoder that's built into Radeon HD cards.

Hans

[Hans_]

OpenGL support is rather old, at least from my limited understanding.  Aren't most 3D games now using DirectX for 3D features, and how does DirectX differ from OpenGL?  It seems to me that most modern 3D games require at least DirectX version 10 or 11 to work, so how far beyond OpenGL3.1 is DirectX v11?

Microsoft would love you to believe that OpenGL is outdated, but the truth is that it is not. The latest OpenGL specification (v4.5) was released in August, just a few months ago. On Windows games tend to use DirectX. However, those same games use OpenGL on other platforms such as MacOS X.

BTW, Gallium3D also has a DirectX state tracker, although I don't know which version. Plus, Valve Software was kind enough to release the code to their DirectX to OpenGL translation layer.

How close are we to ever seeing OpenGL and/or DirectX support that will allow some of the 3D software and games to be ported to AmigaOS4.x?

I'm not sure exactly what you're asking. Blender (3D modelling and rendering software) runs on AmigaOS 4.x today, as do various 3D games (e.g, Jedi Academy).

If you're asking about newer games that require shaders, then the answer is: when we have Mesa + Gallium3D.

Does the type of 3D support currently provided for MorphOS3.7 and Radeon R400 based video cards make it easier, or possible to port better, or more recent 3D software and games?

My understanding is that MorphOS' TinyGL and drivers are faster than MiniGL + Warp3D on OS4, but we're also talking about an OpenGL 1.5ish feature set. So, no shaders, and no newer games.

Do any of you know the current state of the AROS video card drivers and what kind of ports are capable for AROS users?

They have Gallium3D up and running. AFAIK, it's kind of bolted onto the system with a *nix compatibility layer, but you can't argue with the results.

Will any of our NG Amiga platforms be able to get 3D games like Guild Wars 2 ported to them any time soon, or have new 3D games similar to that style, written for our NG platforms?

I've never seen Guild Wars 2, so I can't answer this. Obviously, the whole point of integrating Gallium3D is to make porting/writing more modern games possible.

My understanding (and this is not a knock on any platform, or an advertisement for any of the 3 NG Amiga systems) is that AmigaOS4.x uses one method for faster graphics and some kind of (is simulated the right word) 3D features,...

Warp3D provides genuine 3D acceleration, so "simulated" is definitely the wrong word. It's just rather dated.

while MorphOS provides a different type of 3D support in their drivers, which to some users and developers is considered better, or more complete than the 3D support in AmigaOS4.x at this time,...

I don't know about "more complete," but their drivers are certainly faster. Do note that both use the 3D GPU onboard the card, so "different type" is probably the wrong term. I have no idea about their 3D system's internals, but their driver API design is probably newer than Warp3D.

while AROS has even more 3D support features or functions.

AROS has Gallium3D, which gives them a more modern version of OpenGL with shaders.

Hans