GDI Generic vs Intel Cantiga

OpenGL Development JOGL Development
#1

Hi,

I’ve run into a problem with JOGL on Windows. I have two applications that are launched through Web Start, both using a GLCanvas. I run both applications on the same machine but get different OpenGL renderers!

  1. A simple tool that analyzes whether the graphics card supports the VBO extension (which it does):

renderer = Intel Cantiga
version = 2.0.0 - Build 7.15.10.4980
vendor = Intel
VBO extension = yes
VBO functions = yes
capabilities = HardwareAccelerated: true, DoubleBuffered: true, …, Multisample: false

  1. A complex app for visualization of high-dimensional data:

renderer = GDI Generic
version = 1.1.0
vendor = Microsoft Corporation
VBO extension = no
VBO functions = no
capabilities = HardwareAccelerated: false, DoubleBuffered: true, …, Multisample: false

I request exactly the same capabilities in both applications when I create the GLCanvas.

Does anyone have an idea what could cause this problem? The card obviously supports hardware acceleration and the drivers are available, too. I must be doing something in the second application that causes the selection of the GDI Generic renderer. Any idea what that could be?

I’d very grateful for any hints regarding the cause of this issue.

Thanks in advance,
Nils

#2

Hi!

Are you sure you don’t force software rendering by any mean?

#3

Thanks for the prompt reply.

No, I’m definitely not forcing the second application to use software rendering. I forgot to mention that both apps work just fine (with hardware accelerated rendering) on a recent MacBook Pro.

Any other ideas?

Nils

#4

If you have any demos available, I’d be happy to test them on my Macbook Pro.

#5

Hi all,

I figured out what the problem is: My main application was called with -Xmx1024M, while my test tool wasn’t. When I added the JVM argument to the test tool the renderer there also ended up being the GDI Generic software renderer, similarly to what had been described in this thread: http://www.java-gaming.org/index.php/topic,16453.0.html

I assume that this is a weird driver problem and will not try to find a solution to this other than using machines where is problem doesn’t occur …

Best wishes,
Nils

PS. If someone wants to try this out on their own machine:

http://www.ebi.ac.uk/~nils/analyzer

Cards that I have found to be affected by this problem:

Intel Cantiga in a Dell Latitude E6400 laptop (with manufacturer-specific drivers according to Intel Driver Update Utility)
Intel Q963/965 in a Dell Optiplex 745 (with manufacturer-specific drivers according to Intel Driver Update Utility)