Nice 3dfx Q&A w/Alf Covey

[NFS4]

Phew, thank god it's not with Bubba. Alf has wayyyyyy more class


<< HWSW: As NVIDIA has just won over Epic Games for their cause, one of the last bulwarks of 3dfx's excellent API (Glide) seems to be threatened by a lethal siege. The Unreal-engine of the future will be optimized for NVIDIA GPUs. Many analysts suggest that we should begin digging the grave of Glide. However, I guess you are not planning on distributing spades. Am I wrong?

Alf: You are not wrong at all! Glide is still a very strong API. Just because one future game engine at this stage in the game says it will not support Glide does not mean no other games will be released with Glide support. It certainly does not invalidate any of the many, many Glide titles that are on sale and in use today. As for &quot;winning over&quot; Epic games, I think that's a bit of a misnomer and one that should be addressed due to its popularity. NVIDIA is in a position that is not uncommon and certainly not exclusive... it is standard for technology to be submitted to developers during the design phase. By no means does it mean that the game will only work with an NVIDIA card. All that this means is that instead of developing for Glide and D3D or OpenGL, they will instead spend more time focusing on D3D or OpenGL instead of Glide. We open-sourced Glide last year and have announced that we would be focusing the vast majority of our time on D3D and OpenGL; just like Epic games. >>


3dfx Q&amp;A

 

[Rigoletto]

I don't care about the news today but I like Glide. It's fast and has good effects like fog. Compare it to D3D and you soon change back.

 

[KarlHungus]

NFS4 -

I've got to agree. It's nice to see a 3dfx interview with no name calling.

 

[Doomguy]

Glide blows considering Opengl and D3d are much more powerful.

 

[BFG10K]

OpenGL and Direct 3D are more powerful and have more features than Glide. Just because Glide looks better in Unreal based games means nothing, given these games were built around Glide from scratch.

 

[BenSkywalker]

As usual, Alf demonstrates how PR people should act in an interview, too bad they all don't have as much class:|

 

[NaughtyusMaximus]

That interview leaves feeling much more respectful of 3DFX than has any previous. Alf has shown what good PR really is.

 

[Midnight Rambler]

BFG10K: You obviously are not a flight or driving sim fanatic. There's a lot of Glide use out there besides U/UT-based games.

 

[NFS4]

I think that Bubba has a new mentor

 

[Soccerman]

BFG10K you can't just go around these threads stirring it up..

People have noticed, and have started calling you an nVidia zealot.

&quot;Just because Glide looks better in Unreal based games means nothing, given these games were built around Glide from scratch.&quot;

does that mean that OpenGL looks better in Quake 3 based games only becuase they were built around it from scratch?

 

[RagingGuardian]

Well said soccerman.

Glide is an excellent API and I'm sorry it has to go.

 

[HaVoC]

Blech...proprietary APIs make me sick. I'm glad 3Dfx open-sourced Glide and is moving away from it. It tied their architecture down too much in my opinion, limiting innovation because they had to worry about Glide compatibility with older games.

 

[BFG10K]

BFG10K: You obviously are not a flight or driving sim fanatic. There's a lot of Glide use out there besides U/UT-based games.

True I am not a big fan of these games. But I have played Rollcage and it had Glide and Direct 3D support. In my opinion Direct 3D looked better.

People have noticed, and have started calling you an nVidia zealot.

And this concerns me how?

does that mean that OpenGL looks better in Quake 3 based games only becuase they were built around it from scratch?

Better than what? Quake 3 based games only use OpenGL. What are you comparing it to? UT runs in Glide, Direct 3D and OpenGL hence the comparison can be made. What API are you comparing to OpenGL in Quake 3?

Glide is an excellent API and I'm sorry it has to go.

Small textures, 16 bit colour, no texture compression, etc, etc. The 286 was a good CPU. I am sorry to see it go.

 

[nippyjun]

Those of you who piss on glide probably haven't seen it in action. Imagine playing whatever games you play now on your gefarce at 32 bit and make them look better and run faster, there, that's it.

 

[NFS4]

The only thing about Glide is that it was made for just one card. That's not a way to promote &quot;unity&quot; among cards like Direct3D and OpenGL. And it was nice of 3dfx to open Glide up while it was on its deathbed....yeah good idea:disgust:

Reminds me of Al Gore during the debates &quot;My opponent wants to spend the money on the top 1%, what about the rest of American people?&quot;

 

[BFG10K]

Imagine playing whatever games you play now on your gefarce at 32 bit and make them look better and run faster, there, that's it.

You don't have a freakin clue what you are talking about. 32 bit colour is far superior to 16/22/24 bit colour, or whatever the heck 3dfx calls it.

You've obviously tried Unreal in Glide, switched over to Direct 3D/OpenGL and thought &quot;man this is crap, Glide looks much better so it must be better&quot;. This is simply an invalid deduction on your part.

 

[Rigoletto]

I wouldn't have imagined that my innocent praise of 3dfx would have stirred people up so much!
I admit I don't play the latest games except on demos very infrequently. Most of my games are on budget or compilation, so are two years old.
On these games the Glide mode is usually fastest, and there are some nice effects. like in Jane's WWII fighters, you get clouds on all cards, but on Glide it looks like I am in varying degree of cloud and it's very pretty and realistic. So people who criticise Glide and Voodoo by comparing FPS of new cards on D3D etc are not telling us the full story of practical use- which is, I think, that hardly anyone is a dissatisfied owner of a Voodoo card.

 

[NaughtyusMaximus]

Wasn't there something about an interview in this thread somewhere?

 

[Sephiroth_IX]

Alf is awesome, when bubba screwed up hardcore, ALF came in here and bailed him out...

 

[NFS4]

I would have let Bubba drown I wonder how he is as a person? :Q

 

[Hardware]

I am glad glide is dead now! it slows down all nonglide cards (just see ut) there is no way to play a glide written games with a d3d card so I am glad glide is history now
glide was ok in limited times when you have to cheat alot do do some 3d effects but today its just crap

 

[Deeko]

My 16 bit glide looks better than 32 bit D3D in UT on my V5. Just thought I'd point that out. It's faster too. And if FSAA is on, that's faster too.

 

[Wingznut]

Wow, Hardware and BFG10K in the same thread.

I guess they aren't the same person.

 

[RagingGuardian]

Hardware actually bought a Radeon and he thinks it sucks. I know the W2K drivers aren't up to snuff with the competition but I wonder what other reasons could lead to this conclusion?

 

[NFS4]

Maybe because he is still a diehard nVidiot