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Do we know yet whether OpenGL ES is going to be supported on Windows Phone 8 or only DirectX?

marshray 14y ago
There's no information that it will be. Considering that native code isn't allowed it's unlikely that any form of OpenGL will be allowed either. Unless Microsoft sees how many app developers they've lost with this policy and has a change of heart.
- contextfree 14y ago
  Native code is supported on WP8 (it wasn't supported on WP7 because they were afraid it would make it harder to port to the NT kernel).
  - marshray 14y ago
    OK so there's compilation to native code, but no Win32. This article http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2012/06/windows-nt-coming-to-phones-with-windows-phone-8/ http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2012/06/windows-nt-coming-to-... says explicitly "OpenGL ES, the 3D API used by iOS, won't be included, and so 3D applications will have to be rewritten to use Direct3D."
    - contextfree 14y ago
      I think there might actually be a subset of Win32 available (the same subset exposed to Windows 8 Metro style apps, or a further subset of that subset), they've not made any of this clear yet though. You are right that the lack of OGLES support will probably continue to be off-putting to many mobile developers.
      - marshray 14y ago
        I'm sympathetic that they don't have all their decisions made yet, but as a developer it's a bit off-putting that they're asking everyone to develop for this platform for which there will be all these new limitations and restrictions but they won't say what they are. It's really difficult to answer basic questions like "do apps for Metro/WP8/WinRT/Windows RT have to be managed code?" Typically the information is provided like "Use Visual Studio 2012 to code in C++, C#, or VB ..."
randomfool 14y ago
My understanding is that Windows 8 Metro apps are DirectX only, thus there's almost no chance that WP8 would support OpenGL ES. (Rationale: WP8 is based on W8 core, WP7 doesn't support OpenGL ES and if they'd do the work to support OpenGL I'd assume that they'd do it in W8 first, since W8 is where the big money is).

There's no information that it will be. Considering that native code isn't allowed it's unlikely that any form of OpenGL will be allowed either. Unless Microsoft sees how many app developers they've lost with this policy and has a change of heart.

contextfree 14y ago
Native code is supported on WP8 (it wasn't supported on WP7 because they were afraid it would make it harder to port to the NT kernel).
- marshray 14y ago
  OK so there's compilation to native code, but no Win32. This article http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2012/06/windows-nt-coming-to-phones-with-windows-phone-8/ http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2012/06/windows-nt-coming-to-... says explicitly "OpenGL ES, the 3D API used by iOS, won't be included, and so 3D applications will have to be rewritten to use Direct3D."
  - contextfree 14y ago
    I think there might actually be a subset of Win32 available (the same subset exposed to Windows 8 Metro style apps, or a further subset of that subset), they've not made any of this clear yet though. You are right that the lack of OGLES support will probably continue to be off-putting to many mobile developers.
    - marshray 14y ago
      I'm sympathetic that they don't have all their decisions made yet, but as a developer it's a bit off-putting that they're asking everyone to develop for this platform for which there will be all these new limitations and restrictions but they won't say what they are. It's really difficult to answer basic questions like "do apps for Metro/WP8/WinRT/Windows RT have to be managed code?" Typically the information is provided like "Use Visual Studio 2012 to code in C++, C#, or VB ..."

randomfool 14y ago

My understanding is that Windows 8 Metro apps are DirectX only, thus there's almost no chance that WP8 would support OpenGL ES. (Rationale: WP8 is based on W8 core, WP7 doesn't support OpenGL ES and if they'd do the work to support OpenGL I'd assume that they'd do it in W8 first, since W8 is where the big money is).