Engine rendering

It is certainly better to batch rendering into a small number of drawing calls. As far as I know the preferred drawing method is glDrawRangeElements.

Ok, I've found out glDrawRangeElements needs OpenGL 1.2. I need to update my OpenGL headers (and, I assume, my GX drivers). My headers state their version 1.1. I'm using a Geforce 4 card, but I can't find anything useful on the nvidia site. Can anyone help?

EDIT: O, and, for example, would it be bette, if two objects used the same texture, to use GL_TRIANGLES and render both in one go, or to render each using GL_TRIANGLE_STRIP? Assuming, say 16+ primitives/triangles each

Unfortunately, the latest OpenGL lib Microsoft has released is for version 1.1 (as you already know). You have to grab the function as an extension. See the FAQ for more details. Also, you may consider using an extension loading helper library, such as GLee.

Thanks. I've made a small edit to the last post

Quote:

Original post by Dougie EDIT: O, and, for example, would it be bette, if two objects used the same texture, to use GL_TRIANGLES and render both in one go, or to render each using GL_TRIANGLE_STRIP? Assuming, say 16+ primitives/triangles each

Texture switching is generally more expensive than rendering a few more primitives. I would probably just render both in one call using a triangle list.