DirectX11 vs. OpenGL

Hello all.

I have a serious question regarding a not so serious problem.

In a year or so from now (nobody knows) the sequel to StarCraft will be released to the drooling fans, of which I am one.

A couple of weeks ago I picked up something in the StarCraft II Forums that a Blizzard representative said; namely that the users with DirectX11 (Windows) are going to be treated with a little bit more of extra eye-candy, than others (Mac users like me).

I'd like to know what exactly is meant by that, and why it is true, if it is.

Is Windows just better in 3D graphics than Mac?

Any kind of answer, simple or detailed, is appreciated!

mac mini, Mac OS X (10.4.10)

Posted on Nov 11, 2007 7:50 AM

Reply
4 replies

Nov 13, 2007 10:03 AM in response to temhawk

DirectX is actually a subset of OpenGL which has been rewritten for Windows. Does it mean "better graphics"? That's hard to quantify. I look at the Myst games for the Mac, and I've been impressed by their graphics. There is also Maya for the Mac which has incredible shadow effects which can be created on the Mac for movies. For all intents, Blizzard needs to contact Apple Developer relations to learn more about how to optimize their software for the Mac so people aren't complaining. One thing that is making it hard to convince game developers this is worth the effort is that Macs now have the ability to run virtualization such as Boot Camp, VM Ware and Parallels in some cases with graphics drivers which are native to Windows, and thus make it hard to justify making both a Mac and a Windows version. Get together all your Mac friends to write a petition directly towards Blizzard. Petitions on this board aren't allowed, but if you know some who really want better games from them, they are the ones to write.

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DirectX11 vs. OpenGL

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