Need help initializing OpenGL 3.0+ in Allegro
chex_5

Hello, I have been trying to search around the internet for info or tutorials on OpenGL 3.0, but every tutorial I've found requires extra libraries. I figured that with Allegro 5, I can completely skip GLUT altogether. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to get even a simple blue window to pop up.
Could anybody help me out with this? :-/

#SelectExpand
1#include <cstdio> 2#include <allegro5/allegro.h> 3#include <allegro5/allegro_opengl.h> 4#include <GL/gl3.h> 5using namespace std; 6 7#ifndef FPS 8#define FPS 60.0 9#endif 10 11bool initAL(); 12void initGL(); 13 14int main() { 15 if (initAL()) { 16 initGL(); 17 } 18 else { 19 return -1; 20 } 21 if (!al_install_keyboard()) { 22 printf("ERROR: could not install keyboard driver.\n"); 23 return -1; 24 } 25 26 bool done = false; 27 bool redraw = false; 28 int scrW = 640; 29 int scrH = 480; 30 ALLEGRO_DISPLAY* display = NULL; 31 ALLEGRO_TIMER* timer = NULL; 32 ALLEGRO_EVENT_QUEUE* event_queue = NULL; 33 ALLEGRO_EVENT event; 34 35 al_set_new_display_flags( ALLEGRO_WINDOWED | 36 ALLEGRO_RESIZABLE | 37 ALLEGRO_OPENGL_3_0 | 38 ALLEGRO_OPENGL_FORWARD_COMPATIBLE); 39 al_set_new_display_option( ALLEGRO_COLOR_SIZE, 32, ALLEGRO_REQUIRE); 40 al_set_new_display_option( ALLEGRO_DEPTH_SIZE, 24, ALLEGRO_REQUIRE); 41 al_set_new_display_option( ALLEGRO_STENCIL_SIZE, 8, ALLEGRO_REQUIRE); 42 al_set_new_display_option( ALLEGRO_AUX_BUFFERS, 0, ALLEGRO_REQUIRE); 43 al_set_new_display_option( ALLEGRO_SAMPLE_BUFFERS, 1, ALLEGRO_SUGGEST); 44 al_set_new_display_option( ALLEGRO_SAMPLES, 4, ALLEGRO_SUGGEST); 45 display = al_create_display(scrW, scrH); 46 if (display == NULL) { 47 printf("ERROR: Failed to create Display.\n"); 48 return -1; 49 } 50 if ((al_get_new_display_flags() ^ (ALLEGRO_OPENGL_FORWARD_COMPATIBLE | ALLEGRO_OPENGL_3_0)) == 0) { 51 printf("ERROR: Could not get an OpenGL 3.0 display.\n"); 52 return -1; 53 } 54 else { 55 printf("OpenGL 3.0 capable display detected.\n"); 56 al_set_current_opengl_context(display); 57 } 58 59 timer = al_create_timer(1.0f / FPS); 60 event_queue = al_create_event_queue(); 61 if (event_queue == NULL) { 62 printf("ERROR: Failed to create Event Queue.\n"); 63 return -1; 64 } 65 al_register_event_source(event_queue, al_get_timer_event_source(timer)); 66 al_register_event_source(event_queue, al_get_display_event_source(display)); 67 al_register_event_source(event_queue, al_get_keyboard_event_source()); 68 al_start_timer(timer); 69 70 while (!done) { 71 al_wait_for_event(event_queue, &event); 72 73 if (event.type == ALLEGRO_EVENT_TIMER) { 74 redraw = true; 75 } 76 else if (event.type == ALLEGRO_EVENT_KEY_DOWN) { 77 if (event.keyboard.keycode != ALLEGRO_KEY_ESCAPE) { 78 79 } 80 else { 81 done = true; 82 } 83 } 84 else if (event.type == ALLEGRO_EVENT_KEY_UP) { 85 86 } 87 else if (event.type == ALLEGRO_EVENT_DISPLAY_RESIZE) { 88 if (al_acknowledge_resize(event.display.source)) { 89 scrW = al_get_display_width(display); 90 scrH = al_get_display_height(display); 91 } 92 else { 93 printf("WARNING: Failed to resize display.\n"); 94 } 95 } 96 else if (event.type == ALLEGRO_EVENT_DISPLAY_CLOSE) { 97 done = true; 98 } 99 if (redraw == true && al_is_event_queue_empty(event_queue)) { 100 glClear(GL_COLOR_BUFFER_BIT | GL_DEPTH_BUFFER_BIT | GL_STENCIL_BUFFER_BIT); 101 glViewport(0,0,scrW,scrH); 102 al_flip_display(); 103 redraw = false; 104 } 105 } 106 107 al_destroy_timer(timer); 108 al_destroy_event_queue(event_queue); 109 al_destroy_display(display); 110 return 0; 111} 112 113bool initAL() { 114 if (!al_init()) { 115 printf("ERROR: Allegro failed to initialize.\n"); 116 return false; 117 } 118 if (!al_install_keyboard()) { 119 printf("ERROR: Failed to install Allegro Keyboard.\n"); 120 return false; 121 } 122 return true; 123} 124 125void initGL() { 126 glClearColor(0.0f, 0.0f, 1.0f, 1.0f); 127}

Erin Maus

initGL() needs to be called after the display is successfully created.

Arthur Kalliokoski

I tried it and had to comment out the "#include <GL/gl3.h>" line to get it to compile, and got this error:

/home/prog/allegro-5.0.5/src/opengl/extensions.c:190: print_extensions: Assertion `extension' failed.
Aborted

glxinfo said this:

GLX version: 1.4
OpenGL version string: 3.3.0 NVIDIA 270.41.19

All the relevant examples supplied with the library work properly.

chex_5

I tried putting initGL() after the display initialization, but it still made no difference. The screen is still black :(

Erin Maus

Oh, looks like you forgot to use ALLEGRO_OPENGL when creating the display. To use a forward compatible OpenGL 3 display, you have to pass, e.g.:

al_set_new_display_flags(ALLEGRO_OPENGL_3_0 | ALLEGRO_OPENGL_FORWARD_COMPATIBLE | ALLEGRO_OPENGL);

If you're on Windows, it will still use the DirectX backend if you don't request to use an OpenGL one. Without ALLEGRO_OPENGL, the other two options are ignored.

chex_5

Thanks for the feedback so far.

Arthur, I used the gl3.h header from the OpenGL Registry (versus the regular gl.h), although I don't know if there are any extra steps I needed to take after including it.

Arron, after I included the ALLEGRO_OPENGL flag, the program now crashes when creating a window. I have an Nvidia gtx260, so I know it's OpenGL 3.x compatible, but I have no idea why it crashes now.
I'll keep playing with the program though. Maybe there's just an extra line I haven't included just yet.

EDIT:
I GOT IT!!! ;D;D;D
The problem was where I had the line al_get_new_display_flag() placed after the display initialized. I instead had to change it to al_get_display_flag(display). I feel so stupid right now.
I also had to remove the flag ALLEGRO_OPENGL_FORWARD_COMPATIBLE to get it running.

Anyway here's the final initialization code (just in case anyone else runs into these problems):

#SelectExpand
3#include <cstdio> 4#include <allegro5/allegro.h> 5#include <allegro5/allegro_opengl.h> 6#include <GL/gl.h> 7using namespace std; 8 9#ifndef FPS 10#define FPS 60.0 11#endif 12 13bool initAL(); 14void initGL(); 15 16int main() { 17 if (!initAL()) return -1; 18 if (!al_install_keyboard()) { 19 printf("ERROR: could not install keyboard driver.\n"); 20 return -1; 21 } 22 23 bool done = false; 24 bool redraw = false; 25 int scrW = 640; 26 int scrH = 480; 27 ALLEGRO_DISPLAY* display = NULL; 28 ALLEGRO_TIMER* timer = NULL; 29 ALLEGRO_EVENT_QUEUE* event_queue = NULL; 30 ALLEGRO_EVENT event; 31 32 al_set_new_display_flags( ALLEGRO_WINDOWED | 33 ALLEGRO_RESIZABLE | 34 ALLEGRO_OPENGL_3_0 | 35 ALLEGRO_OPENGL ); 36 al_set_new_display_option( ALLEGRO_COLOR_SIZE, 32, ALLEGRO_REQUIRE); 37 al_set_new_display_option( ALLEGRO_DEPTH_SIZE, 24, ALLEGRO_REQUIRE); 38 al_set_new_display_option( ALLEGRO_STENCIL_SIZE, 8, ALLEGRO_REQUIRE); 39 al_set_new_display_option( ALLEGRO_AUX_BUFFERS, 0, ALLEGRO_REQUIRE); 40 al_set_new_display_option( ALLEGRO_SAMPLE_BUFFERS, 1, ALLEGRO_SUGGEST); 41 al_set_new_display_option( ALLEGRO_SAMPLES, 4, ALLEGRO_SUGGEST); 42 display = al_create_display(scrW, scrH); 43 if (display == NULL) { 44 printf("ERROR: Failed to create Display.\n"); 45 return -1; 46 } 47 printf("Successfully created the display.\n"); 48 if ((al_get_display_flags(display) ^ ALLEGRO_OPENGL_3_0) == 0) { 49 printf("ERROR: Could not get an OpenGL 3.x display.\n"); 50 return -1; 51 } 52 printf("OpenGL 3.x capable display detected.\n"); 53 al_set_current_opengl_context(display); 54 initGL(); 55 56 timer = al_create_timer(1.0 / FPS); 57 event_queue = al_create_event_queue(); 58 if (event_queue == NULL) { 59 printf("ERROR: Failed to create Event Queue.\n"); 60 return -1; 61 } 62 al_register_event_source(event_queue, al_get_timer_event_source(timer)); 63 al_register_event_source(event_queue, al_get_display_event_source(display)); 64 al_register_event_source(event_queue, al_get_keyboard_event_source()); 65 al_start_timer(timer); 66 67 while (!done) { 68 al_wait_for_event(event_queue, &event); 69 70 if (event.type == ALLEGRO_EVENT_TIMER) { 71 redraw = true; 72 } 73 else if (event.type == ALLEGRO_EVENT_KEY_DOWN) { 74 if (event.keyboard.keycode == ALLEGRO_KEY_ESCAPE) done = true; 75 } 76 else if (event.type == ALLEGRO_EVENT_DISPLAY_RESIZE) { 77 if (al_acknowledge_resize(event.display.source)) { 78 scrW = al_get_display_width(display); 79 scrH = al_get_display_height(display); 80 } 81 else { 82 printf("WARNING: Failed to resize display.\n"); 83 } 84 } 85 else if (event.type == ALLEGRO_EVENT_DISPLAY_CLOSE) { 86 done = true; 87 } 88 if (redraw == true && al_is_event_queue_empty(event_queue)) { 89 glClear(GL_COLOR_BUFFER_BIT | GL_DEPTH_BUFFER_BIT | GL_STENCIL_BUFFER_BIT); 90 glViewport(0,0,scrW,scrH); 91 al_flip_display(); 92 redraw = false; 93 } 94 } 95 96 al_destroy_timer(timer); 97 al_destroy_event_queue(event_queue); 98 al_destroy_display(display); 99 return 0; 100} 101 102bool initAL() { 103 if (!al_init()) { 104 printf("ERROR: Allegro failed to initialize.\n"); 105 return false; 106 } 107 if (!al_install_keyboard()) { 108 printf("ERROR: Failed to install Allegro Keyboard.\n"); 109 return false; 110 } 111 return true; 112} 113 114void initGL() { 115 glClearColor(0.0f, 0.0f, 1.0f, 1.0f); 116}

Thread #609996. Printed from Allegro.cc