OK, I found the AmigaMerlin and FastVoodoo2 drivers, but I also found these WickedGL, MiniGL and OpenGL drivers?  What are all these about? ???  I'll break my question down into smaller pieces.

WickedGL
~~~~~~
I have no idea what this is. Will I need it, even if I have AmigaMerlin or FastVoodoo2? Is it a utility or is it a driver? If it's a driver is it preferred over AmigaMerlin/FastVoodoo2, or am I better sticking with those ones?

MiniGL
~~~~
I know very little on this one.  I may have seen this when playing Half-Life with my V2's a few years back, but I don't know if it's the same thing, or am I talking about something completely different? Again, same as WickedGL, what is it? Will I need it?

OpenGL
~~~~~
When I last used the V2 cards, I had heard of OpenGL v1.1 software (from http://www.opengl.org). Now things have progressed on a little (up to v1.4 are we not?).
Here is a quote from OpenGL's website:

Quote:

OpenGL v1.1 software runtime is included as part of operating system for WinXP, Windows 2000, Windows 98, Windows 95 (OSR2) and Windows NT. So you only need to download this if you think your copy is somehow missing . The OpenGL v1.1 libraries are also available as the self-extracting archive file from the Microsoft Site via HTTP or FTP. OpenGL v1.2, 1.3 or 1.4 are included with the drivers for your OpenGL video cards. So you only need to make sure you have the latest OpenGL driver for your video card. Each OpenGL accelerator manufacturer writes their own OpenGL drivers. So if you need a new or updated driver, go to the manufacturer's web site for your OpenGL accelerator board and download and install their latest OpenGL driver.

So am I right in thinking that the latest OpenGL libraries (v1.4 preferably?) will be included in the AmigaMerlin and FastVoodoo2 driver packages?

Sorry, I know, it's a long one.  Just wanted to clear these few things up.  I'd much appreciate any feedback on these issues.

Cheers,

Janskjaer.

Well, a short reply:  Voodoos don´t have native support to openGL (a set of drivers used to play 3d games, just like DirectX), so, to play OGL powered games you must add one of these third part drivers set, WickedGL(superb graphics), MiniGL, etc, to the main directory of the game. Amigamerlin does have native support to OGL too.
Enjoy yourself !

OpenGl:
refer to the 'VooDoo 5 & openGL v1.2 ---?!' in the drivers section of this forum  ;)

MiniGL:
These one were little drivers mainly developed by 3dfx to enhance the performance of your voodoo. each one was specialised for only one game. actually you won't need them anymore because wickedGL is more useful and you won't play the most games which had a minigl driver. in some but seldom cases you should make us of...get them in the falconfly archive.

WickedGL:
An openGL special driver package (just as the minigl drivers are) developed by metabyte. very useful in most quake3arena based games which mostly don't run properly on a voodoo natively (medal of honor etc.). you should have noticed that wickedgl ships with fastvoodoo2 drivers.

naguall,

So WickedGL and AmigaMerlin are the same kind of thing? But if they are both drivers, how can you have both installed?

Which ones are better?

Hm, 3dfx Drivers do have native OpenGL 1.1 support (that's what the 3dfxogl.dll is for ;) ).

And WickedGL is to be considered as an add-on, a supplemental OpenGL Driver (rather : a Utility) that can replace the native 3dfx Driver functions, and add some useful control features via its Control Applet...

The OpenGL Core contained in the AmigaMerlin Driver is not to be confused with WickedGL or vice versa.

MiniGL's were 3dfx's way to realize their first, partly implementation of OpenGL back when they did not yet have a full OpenGL support in their Drivers.
Those MiniGL's were specifically written to support only those features required by popular OpenGL games of their time (primary GLquake, later Quake II and eventually Quake III, after which they stopped further improvements to Voodoo1, Voodoo Rush and Voodoo2 OpenGL basically).

Nowaday's, theyre not normally used anymore (although still a good choice for very old OpenGL Games sometimes, or those that have native MiniGL support)

WickedGL (by MetaByte) was for a period of time the only OpenGL substitute, that was still developed to improve the situation for 3dfx Users with OpenGL limitations, even after 3dfx itself went down.

Use it when you encounter Bugs or Performance issues, specifically it is working extremely with Games using the HalfLife Engine (e.g. Counterstrike etc.)...
But if the default 3dfx OpenGL Driver runs the show okay, it is absolutely Optional (you can always try it, to see if you get better Image Quality or Performance)

The current development of OpenGL is explained in the Thread that Micha pointed out ;)