Ogre 14.5.0 was just released. This release contains some significant bug-fixes and feature additions, which we will discuss in more detail below. We recommend all users of the 14.x branch to update.
For a full overview of the changes, see the changelog.
Table of Contents
- Correct Colors: Automated Linear Workflow
- Unified Relaxed Shader Precision
- Smarter MSAA Memory Use & Mobile Gains on OpenGL
Correct Colors: Automated Linear Workflow
The “Linear Workflow” as described in GPU Gems 3 is now fully supported, finally resolving the “washed-out” look previously associated with “sRGB Gamma Conversion” Option. The RTShader System’s new setTargetLinearColours feature automatically generates shaders that convert color values to linear space before lighting calculations, ensuring physically plausible results for both PBR and classic Phong shading. Additionally, the new setUseLinearColours option in GpuProgramParams enables efficient CPU-side gamma correction for custom shaders. These updates allow you to adopt a mathematically correct lighting pipeline using your existing gamma-space materials without manual modification.
Unified Relaxed Shader Precision
Ogre is unifying shader behavior across platforms by defaulting to relaxed precision (16-bit) in fragment shaders. This update aligns desktop rendering with mobile standards (GLSL ES), unlocking performance gains on Vulkan and D3D11. By defaulting to mediump we are ensuring consistent behavior and making it easier to catch precision-related bugs on desktop hardware.
This feature is enabled in the RTSS and available now on Vulkan and GLES, with D3D11 support guarded via the USE_OGRE_FROM_FUTURE macro. This paves the way for Ogre 15, where relaxed precision will become the unconditional standard.
Smarter MSAA Memory Use & Mobile Gains on OpenGL
RenderTexture MSAA across our GL RenderSystems got a significant enhancement, focusing on memory efficiency and cross-platform performance. By adopting a robust pooling strategy similar to our existing depth buffer system, we’ve optimized MSAA RenderBuffer sharing to minimize GPU memory waste while eliminating artifacts in complex “ping-pong” rendering scenarios. This release also brings MSAA support to Multi Render Targets (MRTs) in GL3Plus and GLES3 – a major win for deferred shading G-buffer passes – alongside the introduction of TEX_TYPE_2D_MULTISAMPLE to allow for custom, shader-based resolving. Finally, mobile and tile-based GPU performance sees a boost through the implementation of glInvalidateFramebuffer, which eliminates costly memory write-backs to ensure your applications run more efficiently than ever.