WebGL and Windows XP

[GusCE6]

Whenever trying a WebGL game like "Colorzzle" online with a browser like "Basilisk 52" on the XP Sony I always get an error message stating that the browser cannot handle WebGL.

 

However, on the ASUS the same exact browser does. As do others.

 

Is it the limited hardware (e.g. SSE2), or the fact that neither XP nor Puppy Linux 5.2.5 Lucid can handle it? If so, is there a safe way to get it running?

 

Thank you.

[ED_Sln]

WebGL support depends on the video card and its driver. In Basilisk browser, it seems there is no black list of video card drivers to block WebGL.

[Dave-H]

I managed to get WebGL working with Firefox 52.9.1 ESR with my old ATI video card.
See here and subsequent posts.

[Rod Steel]

Your computer is Pentium3 + Intel 815 chipset. This means that it only support DirectX7.0 \ OpenGL1.2

Official minimum system requirements to run a webGL is much higher. You demand to much from 20 year old computer.

20 hours ago, Dave-H said:

I managed to get WebGL working with Firefox 52.9.1 ESR with my old ATI video card.

Your old video card has hardware support of DirectX 9.0b \ OpenGL 2.0 and have 4 pixel shader. This things are minimum necessary to do this job.

GusCe6 video card is built-in Intel from year 2000 and does not have such advanced functions.

[Dave-H]

Ah, understood!
I just thought I'd mention it just in case.

[RainyShadow]

Maybe SwiftShader or something similar could help.

It would be very slow though.

[grey_rat]

For OpenGL 2.0 (Radeon 9500+, FX5100+....).

webgl.disable-angle — true
webgl.force-enabled — true

 

For only SSE2 (478 socket Intel, 754 socket AMD)

C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox  add opengl32.dll

webgl.disable-angle — true
webgl.force-enabled — true
webgl.dxgl.enabled — false
gfx.prefer-mesa-llvmpipe — true

 

Antix Linux SSE2 and OpenGL 1.2

 

Edited August 16, 2021 by grey_rat

[GusCE6]

On 8/15/2021 at 2:58 PM, Rod Steel said:

Your computer is Pentium3 + Intel 815 chipset. This means that it only support DirectX7.0 \ OpenGL1.2

Official minimum system requirements to run a webGL is much higher. You demand to much from 20 year old computer.

Your old video card has hardware support of DirectX 9.0b \ OpenGL 2.0 and have 4 pixel shader. This things are minimum necessary to do this job.

GusCe6 video card is built-in Intel from year 2000 and does not have such advanced functions.

 

 

Well, DirectX 9.0c games DO work on it. And if push comes to shove one can try SwiftShader 2.1, which has gotten other programs running (it enables DirectX 9 and OpenGL 2.0). It intercepts calls and in effect acts as a sort of alternate video card. You could also try 3D-Analyze for something. Assuming you are right about that being the problem would trying to run a browser in this way enable it to work?

 

But this irritates me in more ways than you can guess. Obviously the ASUS can handle anything the Internet cares to throw at it, but poor people are out of luck- again. When Flash-SWF was the standard for this sort of thing (e.g. "Colorzzle" demo) there was no problem for people stuck with older devices- the ONLY SWF game that has ever failed to run on that Sony is "Norby," and that could be a RAM issue (although "Gemcraft: Chasing Shadows" SWF runs just fine, as do "Plants vs. Zombies" and "Cubis Creatures").

 

All because of Steve Jobs' sour grapes.

Edited August 16, 2021 by GusCE6

[RainyShadow]

On 8/14/2021 at 1:54 AM, GusCE6 said:

WebGL game like "Colorzzle"

Hmm, that uses Unity.

Forget about running it on a P-III, that piece of sh!t needs not only WebGL, but also WASM (meaning SSE2) to start at all.

If it is an older game, you may try locating a pre-conversion version on some dead archived site and play it through Flash or whatever it used originally.

[GusCE6]

I never saw Unity on the Online version.

[RainyShadow]

Well, that came up when i searched for the game title.

Got a link for the one you tried?

[GusCE6]

Is it true that WebGL needs a 64-Bit system to work? If so, then that's the problem and barring some technical wizardry one that cannot be solved.

 

I tried a downloaded WebGL program on the somewhat superior 2002 Dell, which has a GeForce2 Go graphics chip and a Pentium 4 processor. The WebGL game fails to work on it, too. It is another XP device. It, like the Sony, is 32-Bit. Only the ASUS is 64-Bit and only the ASUS can run it. An equivalent Flash game- "Ion Drift Racer"- works fine on the Sony and does not require nearly as much power.

 

Once people begin to realize that cross-browser compatibility and browser upgrades (i.e. changes) can cause a game to fail they will miss Flash with its single standard and the fact that after years, or even two decades, you could count on it working.

Edited August 18, 2021 by GusCE6

[RainyShadow]

2 hours ago, GusCE6 said:

Is it true that WebGL needs a 64-Bit system to work?

No. Works fine on my AthlonXP 3000+

[GusCE6]

Well, I tinkered around some with the ABOUT:CONFIG settings on Palemoon 28 and a version of Firefox 45 ESR along with SwiftShader 2.1 and 3.0 and did end up with, shall we say, curious results.
First I tried using 3D-Analyze but this did absolutely nothing one way or the other. It seems to be a dead end, neither positive nor negative.
Then SwiftShader.
SwiftShader was originally meant to help people with computers that did not have proper graphics chips or cards. Version 2.1 has three files: "d3d8.dll," d3d9.dll," and "SwiftShader.ini;" you simply copy these three files into the game or program folder where the EXE file is.
What SwiftShader does is act as a sort of graphics card. It intercepts a game's rendering calls and handles them itself- since it's software-based this can slow things down but it can get many things working, usually within acceptable levels. A partial list of things it has gotten running on the 2001 Sony includes the SCUMMVM app (so "Foxtail," "LOOM," and "MYST" are covered), "Deepica" and the "Plumeboom" games, "Elementals the Magic Key," the three "Sprill" games, "Farm Frenzy," "Ancient Wonderland," "Fiber Twig Midnight Puzzle," Steam's "Inherit the Earth," and "Wizard's Spell Deadly Curse." Obviously it's not a cure-all but it can and has covered DirectX 8 and 9 problems as well as OpenGL.

Seeing this line in ABOUT:CONFIG

webgl.renderer-string-override

I changed it from a blank to the location of the SwiftShader "d3d9.dll" file which was placed in the browser's folder.

C:\Users\GusCE6\Downloads\00_New Browsers\palemoon-28.10.3a1.win32-git-20210626-c9bf62e0b-uxp-a0461e377-xpmod-sse\palemoon\d3d9.dll

SO- open up the file for the offline WebGL game "HexGL" racing game, and try it out.
It worked- sort of. It was all there except the actual track (this game is floating in the sky above the clouds), which seemed to be hovering far overhead- so you were in effect on an invisible track. The track was there, you just couldn't see it. The clouds and buildings seemed to be where they belong. I figured that was the result of the game not playing entirely nice with SwiftShader.
And that was not an illogical assumption. The Playrix "Gardenscape" games, among the others, only work on the Sony with SwiftShader but most of the objects are down to the lower left corner so they are unplayable- only "Elementals the Magic Key" works properly. So why not here?
Then it got interesting. Very interesting.
Doing this with the same browser in the same way on the Sony had absolutely no effect whatsoever. It was still "WEBGL NOT SUPPORTED." Hmmm- curious. This happened both in XP and Puppy Linux 5.2.5 Lucid modes.
The "SwiftShader.ini" file gives you a number of settings, including the ability to disable rendering altogether- you'd get a blank screen. But no setting change had any effect with the ASUS. Becoming suspicious, I replaced the "d3d9.dll" file with the 3.0 version which, being a Demo, has the SWIFTSHADER logo in the corner- nothing. So I removed the SwiftShader files altogether.
Nothing changed. Nothing whatsoever. The game still had that same weird problem. SwiftShader never did anything apparently, rather it was the act of simply pointing the rendering elsewhere that did it.
Changing the ABOUT:CONFIG settings back to normal did nothing, and restarting the computer now after the title screen and the controls screen all you get is a blank screen. No sounds, it never gets to the game.
So try an earlier version of Firefox 45 ESR, it works fine- try the one I tested it's back to that weird track-in-the-skies-high-above effect. Palemoon 28 still has the blank screen never reaches the game because I haven't tried an earlier or later version yet.

Note that I tried "Colorzzle" on Armor Games with Palemoon 28 and it seems to work normally. That offline racing game still does not work, though. That is strange since it works with any browser not tinkered around with.

I use these browsers for testing, and the ASUS is mighty hard to foul up. I also have everything backed up, so a hard reset is no big deal. Since it is a Dual-Boot system I can go into Puppy Linux mode if need be, and on the ASUS 90+% of Windows programs and games will run courtesy of WINE.

All right- how do you get things back to normal with a given browser for WebGL, and how do you actually get them to use SwiftShader? If rendering is the problem and the Sony's hardware is not blacklisted then at least in theory it should work.

Technical Specifications for 2001 Sony: Intel Integrated Chip, Pentium 3 Processor 800MHz, 16/24 Bit Color, 1024h x 768h resolution, DXDIAG claims DirectX 9 installed and the spinning cube tests all work, so there it is I guess.

[CIACIACIACIACIACIA]

I want to say something strange about WEBGL.

I have a system with pentium 4 processor (cedar mill) and 2GB of main memory.

I managed to run it in windows xp with the maxthon browser (version 5.3.8.2000).

It was an unexpected surprise for me but not really because maxthon is based on chromium 69 witch supports webgl(since 56 version).

I located the secret of this and possibly in other chromium versions witch is the memory buffer of the TCP/IP.

Which means that if you increase it and give it a value of outgoing buffers 200 and receiving 

500 then the webgl will work (with the webgl parameters activated in the flags section and of course all hardware accelaration deactivated.

In other cases it projects the error Uncaught data file loading error when the bar reaches

the end.I don't know if the TCP/IP window in xp has to do with this but i will try to increase it.