Hi all,
I just downloaded the specs for the NV_vertex_program extension … it looks pretty funny to use, so I was wondering if this extension is supported by current Det3 drivers, and if no, when will it be supported ? I want to play !! 
Thanx
Hi Nicolas !
Unfortunately, Detonator 6.18 (last official driver in the Detonator 3 series) does not support this brand new extension.
I have tried to contact some people at nVidia in order to know when the drivers will be made available… I am waiting for their answer !
Note that the new driver that will support this extension is not available on their Registered Developer Web Site either…
Hope it will come soon !
Regards.
Eric
Actually, Im not sure that this will be available on current cards. Vertex shaders/program was one of the feautres that was (according to information/rumors available) targeted for NV20/25. Of course, if this feature did appear on the GeForce cards, it wouldnt be the first time we got a brand new feature months after the card came out (S3TC, anti-aliasing, fences…). However, Im thinking this info was just released to stir our imagination a bit. Its actually quite a complex feature (did you read the entire 70-some page PDF?), and needs some time to digest. Perhaps they just want us to be able to start thinking of things we can do with it. I know Im getting some ideas (but yes, it would help to have something to actually play with).
I’m sure well find out soon enough. Cass (who works for nVIDIA) often monitors these board and will probably pop in on this thread soon enough.
hmpf, I’m quite sorry not to hear any immediate good news !!
I really hope that NV plans to support this extension in the very near future on GeForce products ; I can’t wait By the way, I agree it is quite complex, but in a way, it only looks like GPU-assembly code, so I suppose NV could already make it available in GeForce series.
Anyway, this stuff really makes me want to take time to play with ‘NV specific’ toys … though I should already have done it! Glup…
Hey all. The NV_vertex_program extension will be supported in a future driver release. GeForce (and probably TNT) will
support it.
Cass
That’s great news to me Cass!
Can you tell us any planned, approx., release date for these ?!
Well, Im glad to hear it will be available, though Im surprised to hear it may go back as far as the TNT. Thats just a tribute to how well nVidia hardware is designed.
Originally posted by LordKronos:
Well, Im glad to hear it will be available, though Im surprised to hear it may go back as far as the TNT. Thats just a tribute to how well nVidia hardware is designed.
Well, a TNT driver does all its vertex processing in software, not on the card, so the driver writers can do pretty much anything they want…
Major kudos to NV for supporting their older cards though.
Ooops, guess it kinda slipped my mind that not every card has hardware T&L. What was I thinking???
Oops! It was a dream…
Nvidia deleted this documentation:
Error 404
HTTP Web Server: Lotus Notes Exception - Document has been deleted
Lotus-Domino Release 5.0.3
> Oops! It was a dream…
> Nvidia deleted this documentation
DON’T PANIC!!!
and check their web site: Programming Resources
Hi!
The NV_vertex_program spec includes a reference to NV_fragment_shader (and CULL_FRAGMENT_NV) in the ‘Issues’ section of the document. Can anyone tell me something about this extension ? Ok, I know register combiners, but how will fragment shading work?
Thanks,
Gordon
NVidia’s developer site is under their ‘Marketing’ directory on thier web server. That always makes me wonder. Have all these features always been available to these cards but just disabled in the software drivers? Is it some sort of marketing scheme to prolong the market life of their cards? To give the developers a new feature to play with every two months or so to keep our ever devoted attention? I this is true, I don’t really think it’s a bad thing. I think it’s cool. It is a) genius. b) something to keep me from being bored and c) insurrance that the $300 GeForce 2 I bought about 2 months ago is continuing to grow in features and will be supported and developed upon for years after my purchase. All I can say is ‘Yay Nvidia!’ I don’t see any other card manufacturers giving as much as NVidia does to our ‘scene’.
Originally posted by fenris:
insurrance that the $300 GeForce 2 I bought about 2 months ago is continuing to grow in features…
I think that this extension is suported in HW
by NV20 or NV25 GPUs only. From nVidia .pdf
presentation:
Summary -Vertex Programs Rock!
…
Accelerated in Future Generation GPUs!
…
>The NV_vertex_program spec includes a reference to NV_fragment_shader (and CULL_FRAGMENT_NV) in the ‘Issues’ section of the document. Can
> anyone tell me something about this extension ? Ok, I know register combiners, but how will fragment shading work?
I guess it corresponds the DX8’s Pixel Shader, you can download some presentations about that at http://www.microsoft.com/HWDEV/meltdown/
[This message has been edited by inet (edited 09-19-2000).]
Sorry, I can’t be specific on when the extension will show up in the Detonator drivers. It’s definitely a priority, but not the only priority.
Thanks -
Cass