Graphics To shade or not to shade, That is the question of shaders.

M

Misty

Guest
So I was thinking of optimizing my game using vertex_buffers.

But that needs shaders.

If I wanted to run my game on a Windows 95, 97/98...does it even support shaders?

Are shaders going to be that "thing" that breaks the compatibility of your friends computer? So it's like, you go to send the game to a friend, and there's this game-breaking glitch that pop-ups, due to him not being able to use your shaders?
 
G

Guest User

Guest
Shaders are great, in my opinion.
If a given OS or PC doesn't support shaders, I'd think it's old enough to not fret about.
I'm not sure how many people exactly still have anything before XP, and people interested in your game specifically would probably be running at least Vista when it comes to Windows.
 
M

Misty

Guest
Library computers are the main thing. Lots of folks log on to the Library comp to play GM games...some of these machines are Windows XP some as old as Windows 95.

There is a compatibility option in the Global Game Preferences for "fast, compatible, most compatible" vertex_buffer. Will Most compatible work for older systems and GPUs?

Also , I have an unrelated question. I have GM Studio Windows (I think I bought the 40 dollar version) Where do I find the YYC Compiler button?
 
M

Misty

Guest
Don't see a windows export, just see export project and create application.
I'm thinking I registered for this a long time ago and it no longer has my license key. How much is it for Studio Windows Module because I remember only paying 40 dollars for studio.
 

RangerX

Member
Browsing this forum from my Windows XP PC right now. :eek:
- You're the one in a million. (there's bound to be a Win98 user somewhere too!, doesn't mean we should mind him)
- You're a bad computer user. In the mean that you have an old OS that is clunky, lacks tons of features, gives you less compatibility and isn't supported my Microsoft anymore (therefore more chances of virus and bugs).

Get with the times, at least Win7 :p
 
P

Paolo Mazzon

Guest
Not only do they have to have GPUs good enough to run a shader (And maybe if it's OS related..?), but they also need the DirectX runtime installed. I don't think you'll be able to convince your librarian to install the DirectX runtime on like 30 computers.
 
K

Kris Hyre

Guest
https://www.netmarketshare.com/operating-system-market-share.aspx?qprid=10&qpcustomd=0

9.8% XP users.

I would not recommend supporting anything older than XP, and honestly, I wouldn't support that. XP is not supported by the people that made it, why should anyone else continue encouraging people to use an OS that is a walking security problem. You can give up <10% market share for peace of mind and freedom to not have to develop around a problem OS.

Unfortunately, this is also why Linux gets tablescraps of games, it has around 2% market share, although the number of games it gets has been improving over the last few years.
 
S

Shihaisha

Guest
- You're a bad computer user.
A really bad one. I don't want to buy a new OS, new software, and new ever more powerful graphics cards which are released like every other month. I'm sure that both Microsoft and hardware makers hate users like me. :p
 

BLang

Member
I'm all for making games as compatible as possible, as long as it is kept within a sane boundary. Anything below XP (and even XP itself, maybe), is outside of that boundary.

@Kris Hyre mentioned that 9.8% of pc users use Windows XP, but you have to consider how much of that is your actual market. How many people who use Windows XP actually use it for gaming? I'd be willing to bet a good chunk of that 10% isn't even interested in games, and if they are, they probably have a newer system for that and maybe use XP because of some legacy software. So, you're not even losing 10% of your potential market. You're probably losing less than 1%, if that.

The bottom line here is, you should make your games as accessible as possible. But you also shouldn't compromise your projects and waste significant amounts of time making them work on old systems because somebody thinks it's okay to use Windows95 and browse the internet with Netscape Navigator in 2016.
 
K

Kris Hyre

Guest
A really bad one. I don't want to buy a new OS, new software, and new ever more powerful graphics cards which are released like every other month. I'm sure that both Microsoft and hardware makers hate users like me. :p
There is not being an early adopter and wasting a bunch of money keeping up with the latest/greatest/whateverest...

...and then there is using a 15 year old operating system that stopped getting patched for security holes awhile ago.

There has to be some happy medium between those two extremes where you can realize that its time to upgrade.
 
M

Misty

Guest
Got a migraine and neck pain from overbrain...so I will not look through the manual and just take your word for it
 
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