Odd issue when using fonts with vista and win 7 with gl4java

OpenGL Development
#1

Hey Everyone,

I have been using openGL for a couple of years now and during that time I have been developing some software. I integrated gl4java quite heavily into my code as I have been using an swt interface and so, that is where I went with it :slight_smile: Of course, it seems to be outdated now and support is minimal. But I thought maybe you guys might recognise my problem and hopefully have a solution so here it.

With win 98 fonts displayed absolutely fine…no problems. With vista the fonts disappeared (well, they are there but they became "invisible, i.e. see through, no colour but they still render and hence cast a “shadow” on objects behind). I assumed something had become outdated or was not supported anymore and my feelings on this were reinforced when I installed windows 7 on another machine and my font still would not display properly.

But then I installed another version of windows 7 on another pc and hey presto fonts reappeared. Woo hoo I thought, something here is still working. But I cannot figure out why this is the case. I thought it might have something to do with permissions as I sometimes used to save the dll files into the systems folder rather than pointing to them in the args when compiling. But no, this isn’t it.

I have tried fiddling around with the access rights on the folders giving full permissions, setting integrity levels using some code called chml…bu to no avail.

I have tried running in xp compatible mode, no look. If I run xp through virtual box the fonts work, but opengl through a virtual machine is slow (I also need to be running a VR games engine in conjunction).

So here I am…any ideas guys? Maybe it is a simple thing with permissions and windows, but I can’t fix it. I am finishing a Ph.D. at the moment, so the thought of re-implementing this part of the code is a pain.

Please please please, if anyone can help…or has seen this problem…let me know!

Thanks,

Kris.

#2

You’re unlikely to get much help for a library that has been dead for over 10 years. Its probably got plenty more issues that you’ll run into sooner or later. IMO your best bet is to just bite the bullet and move to one of the supported OpenGL bindings like JOGL or LWJGL.

#3

Hi

I agree with kappa and basing your program on an obsolete library was a bad idea. GL4Java’s maintenance had been stopped in 2002 as far as I know. Its author is now the main contributor of JOGL:
http://jausoft.com/gl4java/

JOGL has been inspired by several obsolete OpenGL bindings for Java including GL4Java.

#4

Howdy Gouessej, kappa,

Thanks for your replies, appreciate it. Yeah, that is what I have always suspected :slight_smile: and exactly what I was trying to avoid. I need to run one or two more experiments and after that I should have a lot more time and intend to port the entire code base over to something like WebGL. This will be a process and a half, so was really hoping there might be someone out there who recognised the issue so I could get a quick fix in the mean time.

Can anyone think of why the problem might be arising? It just seems odd that it would work sometimes, and other times not. I suppose I hate not knowing as much as anything…so much with computers these days seems so arbitrary. Computers are getting more capricious than humans it seems! :smiley:

Thanks again!

Kris.

#5

A “port” to either LWJGL or JOGL is trivial from gl4java. I’d advise you bite the bullet and just do it.

Cas :slight_smile:

#6

Maybe contact Sven. He is currently very busy with the RC 3 of JOGL. Why do you speak about WebGL whereas any Java binding for OpenGL could do the job?

#7

On the desktop Java is a fine choice, but if he wants the project working in the browser, I’d recommend WebGL over a Java applet. Terrible startup times, random caching errors, security alerts and being blocked in Chrome is just some of the fun you have to live with.

Getting back on topic, I don’t believe file permissions is in any way connected to this issue.

The PC’s you are testing on, do they all have different hardware? Which graphics cards are they using? There are things you can do with OpenGL which will work fine on one PC, but fail on another. So I am thinking you are doing something in your code (or not doing something) which is now failing when you have moved to another PC. If so, then the same issue would most likely occur with JOGL and LWJGL too (since it is not gl4java to blame).

My recommendation would be to start a new project on one of the failing machines whose sole purpose is to render some text to the screen. It might be that you are missing something obvious, and this is the issue. If you can get that working, then clearly it can be done, and it should help you work out why it works in that project and not in your main project. Without more information, that’s the best suggestion I have.