SDL2 gles on armv7 status [0.4.5, working]

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meverik
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SDL2 gles on armv7 status [0.4.5, working]

#1 Post by meverik »

Should I expect a working build on Odroid boards that I own? (arm, Opengl ES, SDL2, Linux)

thx
Last edited by meverik on Tue Sep 08, 2015 10:52 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Dilvish
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Re: SDL2 gles on armv7 status

#2 Post by Dilvish »

It seems to me that the ARM architectures are specialized enough that the only way to really know will be to try compiling it (see here and here), and I haven't heard of anyone doing that yet.

Please keep us updating on your attempt.
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Re: SDL2 gles on armv7 status

#3 Post by meverik »

I take it OpenGL is not a prerequisite then? (I could probably build a software Mesa version without a problem but I'm after Mali accelerated GLES)

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Geoff the Medio
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Re: SDL2 gles on armv7 status

#4 Post by Geoff the Medio »

All FreeOrion rendering is done using OpenGl calls. Immediate mode and vertex buffer or array calls are used in various places. Exactly what version of OpenGL is required, I don't know, but I'd guess you'd have trouble with the immediate calls if using a mobile-targeted / limited subset of GL.

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Re: SDL2 gles on armv7 status

#5 Post by meverik »

Thanks, in that case it would require porting to gles first.

Does freeorion use OpenGL directly or through SDL?

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Geoff the Medio
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Re: SDL2 gles on armv7 status

#6 Post by Geoff the Medio »

Not sure what you mean by that.

Rendering is done with direct GL API calls.

Setup, I'm not sure, but perhaps have a look at

https://github.com/freeorion/freeorion/ ... I.cpp#L635

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Re: SDL2 gles on armv7 status

#7 Post by meverik »

I meant SDL2 unlike SDL "knows" about OpenGL, GLES etc.

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Re: SDL2 gles on armv7 status

#8 Post by Geoff the Medio »

That did not clarify what you want to know. You'll probably need to look at the source code yourself to check...

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Re: SDL2 gles on armv7 status

#9 Post by Vezzra »

I guess what meverik meant was if FO only ever uses the SDL API, and never accesses the OpenGL API directly. If I assume correctly, then, meverik, AFAIK FO indeed does use OpenGL directly.

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Re: SDL2 gles on armv7 status

#10 Post by Apo »

meverik wrote:Should I expect a working build on Odroid boards that I own? (arm, Opengl ES, SDL2, Linux)

thx
Yes, that is possible. FreeOrion can be built on arm64, armhf and armel. Debian does that already.

https://buildd.debian.org/status/packag ... =freeorion

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Re: SDL2 gles on armv7 status

#11 Post by meverik »

I'd said as much in my second post of the thread - you'd need an accelerated OpenGL Arm platform, e.g. Nvidia Tegra to have any fun with those builds.

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Re: SDL2 gles on armv7 status

#12 Post by meverik »

That's a good starting point for anybody wanting to try:

pandorawiki.org/Porting_to_GLES_from_GL

Could the devs run the script on the latest source and post how much work there'd be?

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Re: SDL2 gles on armv7 status

#13 Post by Dilvish »

meverik wrote:Could the devs run the script on the latest source and post how much work there'd be?
The link is a good reference to have here, thanks, but I think whoever is going to do the actual porting needs to be able to run the script and assess the work themselves, and I don't think any of the current devs have the time/interest for it.
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Re: SDL2 gles on armv7 status

#14 Post by MatGB »

Dilvish wrote:I don't think any of the current devs have the time/interest for it.
To expand on this, meverik: Until you started this thread, I'd never heard of Odroid. We have a very small core team and a larger group of occasional contributors and testers.

When I started playing the game regularly I discovered that while it was very good, a lot of the costings internally were completely out of whack. Several existing devs were aware of this but had higher priority stuff for the project, balancing would come later. I couldn't do the higher end stuff, so I taught myself how to edit the scripts and did a lot of work balancing the game to make it better and more strategic. Two years ago I'd never even considered the idea of compiling a game from source, now I do it several times a week.

Basically, Odroid is a niche product that'll need contributions. If you're unable to do the work yourself you basically have two options, either a) learn how to do it or b) find someone with the kit, ability and time necessary in order to do it for you.

None of the current core team of devs is able to do it, for a start, to my knowledge none owns an Odroid device.

I have found over the last two years that many of the devs have been very helpful in taking me through the learning curve needed, if there's stuff we can help with or give advice, we will, but I suspect if it's going to happen, you're going to need to do it.
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Re: SDL2 gles on armv7 status

#15 Post by meverik »

We're talking about the arm mini computers here (Raspberry Pi, Openpandora, Cubieboard, etc) not just specifically Odroid.

It's Linux on GLES (possibly android) which is a great idea to expand the game's reach and not just my personal wish to have the game running on some exotic platform.

As for porting the renderer you don't need to own a board like this - it's possible to use the mesa versions of EGL and GLES on x86 and have a working implementation.
Last edited by meverik on Mon Aug 24, 2015 4:49 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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