FAQ

This page lists some of the most frequently asked questions about OpenGL and/or Delphi.

• How can my program find out if the user has OpenGL hardware acceleration?

• Help! My program crashes whenever I call glutInit()!

• When I try to load and call an OpenGL extension function, my program crashes! How come?

• I want to use the depth/stencil/accumulation buffer but it won't work!

• Why is it that Photoshop can't read the BMP files my app generates?

• I downloaded some source code from the net, but when I open it in Delphi, it says "Invalid stream format" and refuses to display the form!

• Where can I find the latest Detonator drivers for my NVidia card?

• How do I enable hardware T&L?

• How can I read back the coordinates of my vertices after they have been transformed by the modelview matrix?

• How do I read 3D file format X?

• How can I draw a 2D overlay or background image?

• My drivers should support OpenGL 1.2, but my opengl32.dll doesn't expose the new 1.2 functions. Where can I find an updated openg32.dll?

• How do I render text to the screen?

• How does OpenGL manage texture memory? Can I override this behavior?

• Which is better, Direct3D or OpenGL?

• How does OpenGL do collision detection?

• How do compiled vertex arrays work?

• Is there a shadowing function in OpenGL?

• I want to write a 3D engine like Doom 3, only better. How do I do this?

• How do I use SGI's OpenGL ICD? Is it faster than Microsoft's?

• How do I enable the NV20 emulation mode on my GeForce256 or GeForce2?

• I tried to compile one of the demos on this site, but the compiler says it can't find Variants.dcu. What gives?

• I want to recompile the demos on this site, but I don't have DotWindow.pas, DotMath.pas, GL.pas,(insert random list of unit names here). I've looked everywhere, but I can't find them. Where can I get them?

• When using vertex arrays, is it possible to supply different-sized arrays for each vertex attribute (i.e. texcoords, normals, colors and coordinates)? For example, can I reuse a single pair of texture coordinates for multiple vertices?

• Can I print an image with OpenGL?

• Can you (or may I) translate your articles into Mandarin Chinese/Swahili/Latin/(insert language here)? I will host the translations on my own site.
This site is written and maintained by Tom Nuydens.
All comments, suggestions or questions are very welcome. Best viewed in 800x600 @ 16 bpp or better.