Question about Glide plugin

[Zera]

I know the Glide team have their own website and forums, but I don't feel like registering there just to ask a simple question.

What I want to know is what exactly is GLSL Combiner in the Glitch64 wrapper used for. I did noticed that some minor effects in Zelda were missing without it (like the glow in the Nintendo text, or the magic in the sword being yellow instead of red) but I didn't see any problems in other games.

The reason I want to know that is because I can't use that option. The games run impossibly slow with that turned on (no idea why, my system is very capable AND it has OpenGL 2.0 support). So I have no other choice but to turn it off. I just want to know if there will be any major negative effects without it.

Also, is it possible to get around that with the Glide Plugin? Like having the effects GLSL Combiner provides without actually using it? Thanks in advance.

[rswedlow]

The question is only simple to an extent. To get unique information directly from wrapper developers over at emuxhaven you could ask Hacktarux / koolsmoky / Gonetz / mudlord. Anyone over there is more likely to be able to trace a source behind this fixing parts, even if only in one game.

I didn't work on the wrapper, so I could just link to general notes.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GLSL

To get information about the combiner functions you would have to read into development.

Here are some notes I have found specific to the Glide64 wrapper over at the forum. They all mention "GLSL combiner" somewhere.
http://www.emuxhaven.net/forums/showpost.php?p=66708
http://www.emuxhaven.net/forums/showpost.php?p=66936
http://www.emuxhaven.net/forums/showthread.php?t=6029
http://www.emuxhaven.net/forums/showthread.php?t=6123&highlight=GLSL+Combiner
http://www.emuxhaven.net/forums/showthread.php?t=6123&page=18
http://www.emuxhaven.net/forums/showthread.php?t=6123&page=33
http://www.emuxhaven.net/forums/showpost.php?p=74514
http://www.emuxhaven.net/forums/showthread.php?p=78007&highlight=glsl+combiner

The support team recently has given feedback that Glide64 will in time not be needing the option to disable its GLSL combiner due to this being a compatibility option for older video cards.

There might be something you can do to improve your situation though depending on what your video card is. Can you get that information?

[Squall_Leonhart]

I know the Glide team have their own website and forums, but I don't feel like registering there just to ask a simple question.

What I want to know is what exactly is GLSL Combiner in the Glitch64 wrapper used for. I did noticed that some minor effects in Zelda were missing without it (like the glow in the Nintendo text, or the magic in the sword being yellow instead of red) but I didn't see any problems in other games.

The reason I want to know that is because I can't use that option. The games run impossibly slow with that turned on (no idea why, my system is very capable AND it has OpenGL 2.0 support). So I have no other choice but to turn it off. I just want to know if there will be any major negative effects without it.

Also, is it possible to get around that with the Glide Plugin? Like having the effects GLSL Combiner provides without actually using it? Thanks in advance.


Graphic Library Shader Language (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GLSL)
A Combiner, is a way in which the N64 gfx pipeline is emulated accurately using techniques available on the GFX hardware.

[Zera]

My video card is a 7600GS 512mb.

So it IS needed for accurate emulation, huh? Hopefully they will find another way to emulate those effects in the future.

Thanks for the replies anyway guys.

[rswedlow]

They have no intention to replace GLSL combiner because they are looking at removing the option to disable it as I noted. They expect a proper setup when using Glide64, where RiceVideo by contrast has low-end implementations--some of which in older versions.

Have you tried [re-]installing [or updating] drivers for your card?

[Zera]

Have you tried [re-]installing [or updating] drivers for your card?

I'll try updating to see if it makes a difference.

EDIT: I updated to 190.38 forceware, and it worked! it runs full speed even with GSLS now. Thanks for the help guys!

[Squall_Leonhart]

They have no intention to replace GLSL combiner because they are looking at removing the option to disable it as I noted. They expect a proper setup when using Glide64, where RiceVideo by contrast has low-end implementations--some of which in older versions.

Have you tried [re-]installing [or updating] drivers for your card?

um what???

considering many glide effects can only be done using the GLSL.......

[rswedlow]

The option is to disable it.
GLSL-combine is not to be removed.

[Squall_Leonhart]

nvm, i see what you said now lol.

[magmarock64]

What is GLSL combiner? if I disable it in glide64 things run better

[rswedlow]

Turning on the option to disable combiner is for compatibility and is probably also nice for me to have.

I've seen enough to know squall can better explain about GLSL and combiner methods than myself, and he did give a summary if you check back.

[mud]

What is GLSL combiner? if I disable it in glide64 things run better

The GLSL rendering pipeline is needed for blending operations. Its needed to simulate how the Voodoo 5 does certain things. And plus, normal GL operations (as Jabo knows) are absolute crap. Shaders is the only way for decent quality/emulation.

So it IS needed for accurate emulation, huh? Hopefully they will find another way to emulate those effects in the future.

Not. Gonna. Happen.

Shader support is a given on modern cards. And as explained above, without shaders, blending operations with OpenGL without shaders can be absolute crap at best.