Unreal Tournament on a Geforce GTS, should I use D3D or OpenGL

[cotton]

Hi
I just upgraded from a Voodoo 5500 to a Visiontek GTS 32. (Not sure if you can call that an upgrade)
Anyway, I was wondering whether Unreal Tournament looks and runs better using OpenGL or D3D.

 

[RoboTECH]

Try it and find out. Just make sure you use the 2nd CD of compressed textures.

As it stands, there are supported patches available to allow S3TC and DXTC support for that 2nd CD of textures.

Also, use 32-bit. UT looks like crap in D3d and OGL in 16-bit.

 

[pidge]

Use D3D. Unreal Tournament still considers OpenGL beta and won't provide support for it nor will any video card manufacturer when playing UT in OGL /w the GF2GTS.

 

[cmaMath13]

Go with D3D.

 

[Smith]

You will be happier with OpenGL IF...

* Your want the very BEST grahpics
* You system has enough horse power for hi-rez textures, 32 bit, 1024 x 768, most eye candy
turned on
* You will take the time to tweek your settings. OpenGL can be great but takes some time to tweek.

I personally prefer OpenGL to D3D its maks a BIG difference in the way the game looks and feels and will NEVER play it again in D3D. It is SUPERIOR !

Download the latestest OpenGL patch from Epic and change your unrealtournament.ini like this:

[OpenGLDrv.OpenGLRenderDevice]

RefreshRate=60
UseTrilinear=False
UseS3TC=True
UseTNT=False
LODBias=0
UseMultiTexture=True
UsePalette=True
UseAlphaPalette=False

You will also have to install the DXT1 texture support files from disk 2. It is very important to follow the configuration for this in order.
1) Install DirectX 8.0
2) Change the .ini file and save it
3) Install the texture files from disk2
4) Install the opengl driver you downloaded
5) Change the driver that UT uses (in game) from D3D to openGL

Also make sure you are at the latest version 436 BEFORE you do anything.

Go here for the download:
Epic OpenGL

One caveat: Its best with a GEFORCE card installed as the OpenGL video driver has full support, I'm not so sure this is the case with Voodoo cards so you better check this out first. (if anyone uses a voodoo card)

Go luck and enjoy...

 

[cmaMath13]

I will try this OpenGL stuff. I am getting great performance now, but what the heck! If it looks better and runs just as well, then I am all for it!

 

[demenion]

yeah, OpenGL w 2nd Disc looks sweet.

 

[oldfart]

RefreshRate=60
UseTrilinear=False
UseS3TC=True
UseTNT=False
LODBias=0
UseMultiTexture=True
UsePalette=True
UseAlphaPalette=False


Are you sure this works?? I've tested this and found that the UseS3TC=True needs to be UseS3TC=1 as does the UseTNT. I'm not sure on the other ones as I didn't spend a ton of time on it. There is much confusion on what LOKI (now Epic) S3TC OpenGL is supposed to do. You can run it in OpenGL with the standard textures. Unless UseS3TC=1 is set, you will be doing just that. I wanted to link some shots to illustrate this, but the site is down. If you look at CTF Lava Giant, the rock walls will look completly different with the high res textures. Also CTF Face will have a much crisper looking Earth. These are not subtle differences. They are very noticeable. Post some shots of Lava Giant if you can, and I'll tell you if the S3TC high res is working.

 

[Smith]

OLDFART -

The code for the .ini file is a DIRECT paste from the Unreal linked site I specified above.
Click on it and see...

My understanding is that TRUE is the same as 1 and FALSE is the same as 0. So I think the code is equivalant. But, I admit you could be right there.

I also ran the previous LOKI OpenGL you mentioned and yes that .ini config is different, but that was/is a different OpenGL.

I'm at work now but when I get home later on I'll see if I can find the LOKI .ini setting and paster them here also.

...and yes it works nicely for me !!!

 

[oldfart]

Yeah, I was confused that the Epic site had that info. I'm fairly positive on this. With True, it will run just fine in OpenGL, but with standard textures. With 1, you get the high res textures. I had this same "conversation" on this board with another guy (cant remember who). He changed it to 1 as well and then had high res textures. I wish that Gamebasment was up. I could link some shots that show the difference. Lava Giant is the easiest to spot. The cliffs will have a fairly smooth look in standard mode. In high res mode they look completely different. A much more detailed look.

 

[Smith]

So your saying change Trues to 1 and Falses to 0 then check it out for differences ?

Just want to clarify...

...and ya Gamebasement is where I orginially saw this info to...i'll coast over there laters myself.

 

[MSNY]

OK I'm home now.

SMITH = MSNY I'm the same person with 2 different user names, just so you know.

Here is the old LOKI settings for there OpenGL driver:

[OpenGLDrv.OpenGLRenderDevice]
//old settings saved from LOKI
UseGammaExtension=1
UseModulatedGamma=0
UseS3TC=1
UseTNT=0
MinDepthBits=16
MaxLogUOverV=8
MaxLogVOverU=8
UseMultiTexture=1
UsePalette=1
UseAlphaPalette=0
ShareLists=0
AlwaysMipmap=1
DoPrecache=1
Translucency=True
VolumetricLighting=True
ShinySurfaces=True
Coronas=True
HighDetailActors=True
DetailTextures=True
UseTrilinear=False
MaxAnisotropy=0
SupportsLazyTextures=1

[OpenGLDrv.OpenGLRenderDevice]
//new settings saved from EPIC
RefreshRate=60
UseTrilinear=False
UseS3TC=True
UseTNT=False
LODBias=0
UseMultiTexture=True
UsePalette=True
UseAlphaPalette=False

OK I see the differences, and will try them later changing the flags to 1 or 0 rather then TRUE or FALSE. As in:
[OpenGLDrv.OpenGLRenderDevice]
// True, false to 1, 0 mod
RefreshRate=60
UseTrilinear=0
UseS3TC=1
UseTNT=0
LODBias=0
UseMultiTexture=1
UsePalette=1
UseAlphaPalette=0

 

[oldfart]

The thing is I'm not sure which switches use 0/1 and which use TRUE/FALSE. If you are going play around with them, post what the best setup is.

 

[cmaMath13]

Smith, I went to UT site and download render. I followed directions perfectly and I must say the game looks much better.

Question:
Can I change refresh rate? I am limiting my fps to 60fps. I know that is fast enough, but....

Let me know if you figure anything out about High Resolution stuff.

Thanks. I think I a converted.

 

[oldfart]

Here is the article. Look at the screen shots. There is a big difference between the CTF Face shots on the first page. The Lava Giant shots are very obvious. If it doesn't look like this, you aren't running the high res textures.

 

[MSNY]

OLDFART - YES YOU ARE CORRECT !

I am seeing the hi textures when the flages are set to 1 or 0 and NOT when they are TRUE or FALSE. The Epic site must be mistaken.

I played on multiplayer for an hour then with bots on both face and lava giant. How do you take screen shots ? If I can do this I will post two showing the difference of the earth detail. Big difference I think.

I can reccomend that you try changing TRUE to 1 and FALSE to 0...

Like this:
[OpenGLDrv.OpenGLRenderDevice]
RefreshRate=60
UseTrilinear=0
UseS3TC=1
UseTNT=0
LODBias=0
UseMultiTexture=1
UsePalette=1
UseAlphaPalette=0

As far as changing the refreshrate setting, I'm not sure experiment !

 

[cmaMath13]

Ok, cool. I will modify UT.ini file for HIGH Resolution textures tonight.

Thanks guys.

 

[oldfart]

I've seen this come up many times here and at Rage3D. I'd say the majority of people who set up the Loki OpenGL dont have it working correctly. Most fire it up in OpenGL and think it works. They either dont have the right ini settings, the right dll file, or dont have the textures off the 2nd CD installed. Whats so odd is that the ini information posted by Epic is clearly wrong! Not only that, but it hasn't been fixed yet.

 

[Varborta]

Ok, I've used both OGL and D3d and experienced on Unreal and found out that D3d is better in terms of graphics and glitches and stabilization. OGL still need lots of work on the unreal it is abit faster than d3d but got some graphic glitches and stability problem.

 

[oldfart]

The ONLY reason to be using the Loki OpenGL is for the high res textures from the 2nd CD. If you aren't looking to do that, don't bother.

 

[cmaMath13]

Smith and Oldfart,

YOU THE MAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

All I can say is: "WOW!" I change the setting in my UT.ini file for the high textures and man it is unbelievable! First 1280x1024x32 runs SMOOTH! The textures make it look like an totally new engine.

First of all, if you have not tried it and you don't believe, then do it and play Lava Giant! The difference is remarkable. Oh my! I play Coret and I keep getting killed because I was too busy looking at all the textures on the walls. Plus, the colors are so much more vivid. OpenGL seems so more "sharp", too. I can't believe my eyes!

Thank you VERY much!

 

[oldfart]

Do me a favor, when you see someone posting about this, help them get it set up right. Posting the links to the Lava Giant shots helps. That makes it easy to see if its working right or not.

 

[cmaMath13]

I definately will. I really appreciate the information! UT has been my number one game for over a year, and you just helped me breath some fresh life into it!

Thanks.

 

[oldfart]

BTW, Ben Skywalker is the one who showed me how to set this up. I had no idea before this. Kudos to him as well.

 

[MSNY]

Yo guys ! Glad this is working nicely for all !!!

This is SMITH...A la MSNY (same person 2 logins)

I'm very glad this is resoved also. When I played the previous LOKI OpenGL
then moved to this new UT one I never bothered to check it closely. Glad this thread happened. Epic really needs to fix there config and get it right.

For all you OpenGL naysayers all I can say is try it and see what you are missing ! This is the way the game is MEANT to be seen and enhances gameplay. I also felt I finally got a good bang for my buck now. The game became worth the purchase price !

Also, I a few emails with benskywalker also, he gave a lot of insight on this setup...hats off to ben !