OpenGL startup problems (GLQUAKE)

[devil]

I am having trouble on my new laptop (with ati mobility radeon 3470HD)

glquake wont start (glezquake as well) and the sticky thread says look at the guides

I cannot find the guides on this site. Its very frustrating please help

[Baker]

Try Direct3DQuake:

mhquake

Or the d3dpro399.exe in the ProQuake download

ProQuake 4: The official continuation of ProQuake

OpenGL and Direct3D are opposites; sounds like your OpenGL drivers are messed but one of the above should work fine as I assume you can play other games and most games use Direct3D (but GLQuake and almost all other Quake engines are OpenGL, hence the "GL").

[MH]

It might be worth giving more info. Are you getting any error message, and if so, what is it?

A common cause of GLQuake not starting is the presence of an "opengl32.dll" file in your Quake folder. Depending on how you installed Quake, and where you installed it from, this file may or may not be hidden, so you'll want to turn on "Show hidden files".

Long story short - this was used for old 3DFX Voodoo cards back in the 90s, as they did not properly support OpenGL. Modern cards will kick and scream if it's there, so delete it and try again.

GL engines really should test for the presence of this file and display a warning (along with instructions on what to do) rather than just crashing.

[devil]

Thanks guys

I used to play quake and qw a lot in the past so I am familiar with what you guys are saying

the .dll file is already renamed/deleted so thats not the problem

the problem occurs when i start glquake, it gets stuck on the quake console (right when the console is supposed the fade upwards, and the main menu (single player/multiplayer/options) is displayed). however the sound keeps coming and i can start a single player game by constantly pressing enter - only I cant see anything except for the stuck console.

when I try to start EZQUAKE-GL i get the GLW_StartOpenGl() - could not load opengl subsystem error message.

I am aware by reading the forums here that a Direct3d client exists, but my main hope was to get gl-ezquake started so that I can play on qw servers. and I am assuming the GLquake and the ezquake-gl use the same protocols for starting the game. so i think there is a problem with the opengl stuff.


on the other hand, the software rendered version ( winquake.exe) works.

[MH]

Have you tried running windowed then? I've been testing on Windows 7 and have found that regular GLQuake runs fine in windowed mode, but not fullscreen. It may not be the OS you're using, and it may not get you the end result you want, but it's all useful info for diagnosing the problem.

Also, there are other engines which are more friendly to modern graphics cards, so qRack, FitzQuake or ProQuake could be worth a look (the ProQuake D3D engine is actually probably a very good bet here, as it will give you the server compatibility you want but with a better chance of running).

[Baker]

FTEQW has a Direct3D renderer and you can play Quakeworld with it:

FTE QW (Fore Thought Entertainment) - That magical Quakeworld client. -

[Mindf!3ldzX]

If none of these solutions work for you, you can try downloading riva tuner and forcing OpenGL to run in an older mode. I had to do this in order to get Chronicles of Riddick EFBB to run,I havent tested this yet for Quake because I havent had any problems with Quake running in quite some time.

here is a link for Riva Tuner.. RivaTuner v2.24 download from Guru3D.com

[devil]

hey guys
thanks again

mindfieldzx, i downloaded rivatuner but I cant figure out to software very well : ) and how to put it into an "older OpenGL" mode - can you tell me how?

in the meanwhile I will download FTE Quake - im at work now but it looks very sweet. However I still prefer to use ezquake for its features,speed and customizability options (and wider audience). again, im trying to play multiplayer mostly

mhquake, I forgot the syntax for the command line setting to use with quake.exe for windowed mode... was it -window? -windowed?

some people suggest using omegadrivers for ATI - anybody have experience with those?


Much appreciated!!!!

[MH]

-window will do it.

Another suggestion - have you tried any other OpenGL-based games (say Quake II or III)? This would help determine if the problem is with Quake or with your drivers.

[Mindf!3ldzX]

When you run RivaTuner you'll see this screen


Click on OpenGL , click on the customize drop arrow,and it will popout the menu like you see in the above image, from there click on OpenGL , go to Compatibility in the menu by scrolling right, click on Compatibility tab, then find OpenGL String Override , which may or may not help. I cant test it due to not having the problem,but maybe you'll have luck with it. Sorry it took so long to get back here and respond, if you need any more help send me a PM and I'll respond within a day or two.

hey guys
thanks again

mindfieldzx, i downloaded rivatuner but I cant figure out to software very well : ) and how to put it into an "older OpenGL" mode - can you tell me how?

in the meanwhile I will download FTE Quake - im at work now but it looks very sweet. However I still prefer to use ezquake for its features,speed and customizability options (and wider audience). again, im trying to play multiplayer mostly

mhquake, I forgot the syntax for the command line setting to use with quake.exe for windowed mode... was it -window? -windowed?

some people suggest using omegadrivers for ATI - anybody have experience with those?


Much appreciated!!!!

[Mindf!3ldzX]

PS , Omega Drivers are the SHIT (good) for ATi cards, but with you having a much newer generation of graphics card compared to my experience with OmegaDrivers + ATi gpu's , they rock when coupled together.

Once you get Quake up and running how you like it you can benchmark for raw performance discrepencies and compare results using your supplied drivers vs forceware or modified drivers. also keep in mind that running modified drivers means you'll be squeezing more performance which will entail things heating up either slightly,none at all,or meltdown. I suggest using the built-in Over-Driver that comes with your ATi Catalyst installer, it will run your video card through its paces and was designed for getting more bang for your buck.

Read more about that here : ATI Overdrive FAQ

[devil]

the windowed mode worked on GLQuake (HORRIBLY slow - like im playing on a 486). It is unplayable.

Mindfieldzx, thanks a lot for the screenshot - on the riva tuner I have the same screen but when I click customize there is no OpenGL button like there is on your screen- There are only 4 buttons - "low level refresh rate, low leve desktop, diagnostics, reload driver"

the omega drivers couldnt install because it said my video card was incompatible while obviously ATI Radeon 3470HD is on the list.. its probably because im on a lenovo laptop...

I do not have a q2 or q3 cd handy but I really think ill get the same error message

i think my only solution is to play around with older drivers from Lenovo itself as ATI drivers and omega drivers did not work well for me...

[MH]

OK, it sounds to me as though you're not getting hardware accelerated OpenGL. Whatever software emulation path your card is running through is not providing sufficient framebuffer memory for a fullscreen mode, but does so for a low res windowed mode.

First place to check is your driver, and this is where things can become sticky. Lenovo may have locked down your laptop so that it can only accept their drivers (I've seen Toshiba do that too), so Google will be your friend for resolving that. Whatever driver you're using anyway, it doesn't seem to support hardware OpenGL. Your card is good for OpenGL, I don't see any dire "DO NOT USE THIS CARD FOR OPENGL" warnings anywhere. You need to get rid of your current driver and get a proper certified one. That way you're ruling out another variable.

The Q2 or Q3A demos should be sufficient for confirming this is the case, but right now my money is on lack of hardware OpenGL rather than a Q1 problem, so there doesn't seem much need to test.