But what does it all mean: OpenGL

[Arya]

Pretty much what the title says. I'm curious about what OpenGL is, and what sort of differences there are between it and DirectX-since I've never encountered an OpenGL game before(that I'm aware of)

Apologies if that's a stupid question, but I'm a fairly recent PC convert, and my knowledge of the platform's nothing like that of most people around here. That's why I'm keen to learn.

[BrackPoop]

Google is your friend!

[[RIP] UnrealDJ]

Direct3D and OpenGL are competing application programming interfaces (APIs) which can be used in applications to render 2D and 3D computer graphics. Hardware acceleration of this process has been commonplace since approximately 1999. As of 2005, graphics processing units (GPUs) almost always implement a particular version of both of these APIs, such as these examples: DirectX 9 and OpenGL 2 circa 2004; DirectX 10 and OpenGL 3 circa 2008; and most recently, DirectX 11 and OpenGL 4 circa 2011. GPUs that support more recent versions of the standards are backwards-compatible with applications that utilize the older standards; for example, one can run older DirectX 9 games on a more recent DirectX 11-certified GPU.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_OpenGL_and_Direct3D

[PooFlinger]

not for this game but its a start for some info
http://blog.wolfire.com/2010/01/Why-you-should-use-OpenGL-and-not-DirectX

Originally posted by BrackPoop:

Google is your friend!

beat me to it

[XDarkPhoenix]

Simple answer in relation to starbound is:

If the normal version has issues like FPS drops etc.. Try the OpenGL version. For alot of people it has reduced/eliminated the FPS drops.

[Arya]

Thanks a lot guys, that answers all my questions. Much appreciated.