Difference between renderers?

[MiG29TangentBoy]

So I went to fire up my Half-Life: Blue Shift game, and I saw a setting under video that I never noticed before. It has software, OpenGL and D3D as renderer choices...what are these and is there a best choice? Just wondering...thanks for looking.

 

[HaMMerHeD]

Software is a non-hardware accelerated renderer. Definitely a no-no. It will run and look like crap.

Direct3D uses...well...Direct3D, a part of the Microsoft DirectX API, to render the game.

OpenGL uses...surprise...OpenGL, a free and open graphics API, to render the game.

Don't use software: Try Direct3D and OpenGL. If the game looks or performs better on one than the other, use it.

 

[Sly]

Skip the software.

Choose either OpenGL or DirectX

The differences i've experienced are the latency and decals.

In my older video cards, DirectX draws slightly slower than OpenGL, even tho the frame rate stays high, the difference became less prominent with each card generation.

The decals are the bulletholes, paint, blastmarks, etc. For some reason, bulletholes don't appear in DirectX mode on my machine while playing CS1.5 which is basically the same engine.

 

[dotK]

Use Open GL for the original HL + mods.