Breaking news: Kaiser (TyTN II), Polaris (Touch Cruise) and Nike (Touch Dual) updates - Read more...

Driver progress

Note: this page reads top to bottom... latest stuff is near the bottom!

June 22, 2008

Let's get right to it! What you see on the video above (shot with a Diamond) is a TyTN II running a simple OpenGL ES (CM) test application (our apologies for the bad quality). The white flashes are just a problem with the test application, they are not due to OpenGL ES. Note the rotating triangle and square at the upperleft corner: these are done with OpenGL ES! (For those who do not know, OpenGL ES is the mobile variant of OpenGL, a cross-platform 3D library)

The OpenGL ES driver provides the base for the Direct3D driver on the MSM7200 and MSM7500 platforms, which in turn provides the DirectDraw (2D) capability; so getting the OpenGL ES driver to work correctly should be a big step in getting D3D and DD working.

However, you should be aware that this OpenGL ES driver is far from working perfectly yet. For example, we have not been able to get GLBenchmark to work with it correctly. More testing and hacking by the hacker who made it are needed to get it working better - let's all hope he will succeed!

Also note that the current driver will most likely only work on the HTC TyTN II, it's not exactly clear yet what is needed to get it working on other MSM7200/7500 based devices, but it is clear it will require a WM6.1 update for the device in question - or a port of some important files of the TyTN II's WM6.1 update.

For those who are wondering, this driver was hacked together from files from the KS20, the TyTN II's WM6.1 update, and the Diamond.

Right now we will not disclose who put the whole thing together, but we might do so in the near future! (Let's give him some quiet time to work on this first, shall we?)

June 23, 2008

Above is a much better video showing off OpenGL ES on the TyTN II. This time without the flickering. The ghosting is due to the camera (Diamond) in combination with the less than ideal lighting conditions - it's fairly smooth on the screen itself. At least you can clearly see its a TyTN II this time!

This is also a different test application than used in the previous video, made by yours truely. Ran into a few small issues while putting it together, which may lead to some insights as to why things like GLBenchmark don't run (yet).

As you can see at the end, the average FPS was 136. Strangely enough running the same application on the Diamond resulted in only 82 FPS. This while using the same viewport dimensions, in other words, the triangle was a lot smaller on the Diamond.

July 17, 2008

What you can see here is D3D running on the TyTN II - hardware accelerated! Seems we're getting places. It's still not perfect though; the drivers have been improved somewhat, but both OpenGL ES and D3D do not work in full-screen mode yet. For the technically inclined, there will probably have to be some modifications to the XIP and a special ROM for this.

We will be releasing a CAB based installer for the drivers in their current state probably later today, if everything goes as planned. The hacker who is actually doing all this has stated he wants to remain anonymous, so we wont tell you who he is. Those who need to know, know! He did want to say the following, though:

Thanks to:
- omikr0n for starting the XDA-Developers thread
- Chainfire for most of the rest, including kicking it up another notch, beta-testing, getting the needed files
- cmonex for answering questions

FU to all the fakers claiming adding ONE DLL is enough to turn things on, and then turn around and put down others that call them out on it!

July 18, 2008

OK folks, here it is! A few hours later than projected, but still: OpenGL ES and D3D drivers (non-fullscreen) for the kaiser!

Before continuing, we would like to stress yet again, because there seems to be a little confusion here and there: these drivers are not finished, this is a work-in-progress. This is not a fix-all solution!. Currently the only things that are supported are hardware-accelerated D3D and OpenGL ES. These drivers are merely a release you can 'play' with, and prove it can be done. How many real-world applications will work with it remains to be seen, and we expect the users in the community will gather a list of these rather quickly.

To elaborate further, these drivers do not accelerate video playback. These drivers do not accelerate normal Windows operation. Some of you have asked if we have abandoned accelerated 2D. We have not, it may still come. The simple fact is, that in this particular case, it was easier to work with the 3D drivers first.

These drivers require a Kaiser (TyTN II) and a ROM based on the official HTC WM 6.1 update!. Exactly which ROMs are compatible is not yet known. We have tested this on multiple Kaisers, but all of them were running Dutty's Diamond V1 ROM. It is extremely unlikely that these files will work out-of-the-box on any other MSM7x00 based device (at this time).

Now we have all that out of the way, here is the actual CAB file [download removed]. Just install it on your device. Here is a RAR file [download removed] containing a sample D3D application - indeed the same as shown in the video - you can use to see if the drivers worked! Unrar it on your PC, copy the EXE files to your device, and run it on your device. It will show a few popups telling you if hardware is used or not.

July 22, 2008

Updated driver package

We have some updated drivers for you all! Changes include a safer way of doing something nobody reading this will understand, which does however result in lower FPS. That being said, what you are getting seems to be much smoother and less tearing (is it doing a vsync? we're not sure). Also, it now keeps working correctly when the screen dims, instead of dropping to 2 fps. Also, it now seems to work on the official 6.1 ROMs as well.

We've also included some test programs and tools in the package, which can be found under Start -> Programs -> HTC-CA Drivers.

July 29, 2008

Updated driver package

Again, here is a new set of drivers. This new package changes some things again, to hopefully make it compatible with more ROMs. The first package we released didn't work on the officials, the second didn't work on a bunch of cooked, we hope this one will work on both.

What has also changed is full-screen compatibility. A hack was applied that fakes full-screen mode using windowed mode, this now allows GLBenchmark to run. Theoretically it should also allow full-screen D3D apps, but this has not been tested yet (we're sure someone in the discussion topic will do this). Note that not all GLBenchmark tests seem to run completely, but this is also the case on the Diamond. Scores are close between the Kaiser using these drivers and the Diamond, with about a 20% difference that could be due to the Diamond having a faster CPU than the Kaiser. We're still working on getting true full-screen mode operational, so there may still be some quirks with this faked mode.

We've also included some test programs and tools in the package, which can be found under Start -> Programs -> HTC-CA Drivers.

August 19, 2008

Updated driver package (again)

Again, here is a new set of drivers. This package is once more a compatibility update. Changes come down to better compatibility across different Kaiser DDI.DLL versions (specifically 3.55 and up), some optimizations, and removed dependancies on ScreenUpdateByXXXX calls and mutexes.

October 2, 2008

Updated driver package (again) and Polaris (Touch Cruise) news

Once more, an updated set of drivers. Some changes have been made which give it a bit higher performance - hopefully this will not lead to new issues.

And for some Touch Cruise news: The Polaris3D team has made great progress porting these drivers to the Touch Cruise. They already have it running on some devices and some cooks are involved, however, they are not yet ready for a CAB release. Stay tuned! For more information on the Polaris 3D drivers, see: Polaris 3D Driver Development Project (P3D).

October 9, 2008

Kaiser (TyTN II), Polaris (Touch Cruise) and Nike (Touch Dual) updates

We have updated download packages today for the Kaiser (TyTN II), Polaris (Touch Cruise) and Nike (Touch Dual)!

Also it may be worth mentioning that TouchFlo3D has almost been completely ported. See the Project: Manila 3d porting thread.

Download and instructions

You are usually better off using a ROM that already has these drivers included, as they are not compatible with all ROMs! These packages are not for the layman. See the "Compatible ROMs" section below!

Kaiser and Nike drivers: download
Polaris drivers: download

Compatible ROMs

Kaiser (TyTN II)
Almost all newer ROMs have these drivers included or are compatible. Consult your chef for more information.

Polaris (Touch Cruise)
ROMs are required to have a 3.13 DDI version to work. See the Polaris ROMS with 3D Driver thread for the current list of ROMs that have the driver included.

Nike (Touch Dual)
There is currently only one ROM known that works with these drivers (since today, actually), see the HW 3D driver somewhere ? TF3D... thread.

Manila QVGA

NOTICE: Manila QVGA instructions are temporarily removed, as there will soon be a new version.

Credits

omikr0n - Iniating the whole movement
"unnamed hacker" - All drivers
Chainfire - All drivers
cmonex - Answering really techie questions
Polaris 3D Team - Polaris drivers
jerpelea - Nike drivers (Kaiser compatibility for Nike)

Porting to other MSM7x00 devices

Many MSM7x00 based HTC devices have not had an official WM 6.1 upgrade yet. Rumor is they will be coming for a bunch of these in August / September. As far as we know, there is NO 6.0 ROM that is compatible with these drivers. As for the upcoming 6.1 ROMs, here are the telltale signs of possible compatibility:

• DDI.DLL exports UpdateByCopy function
• DDI.DLL exports UpdateByFlip function
• DDI.DLL depends on DISPTOOLS.DLL

If those are present, the drivers may just work out of the box. If not, then they won't. For those ROMs that do not have this, a smart chef just may be able to port the Kaiser's DDI.DLL and all dependancies. (Good luck with that!)

Donate!

We are not currently making a claim towards the bounty. However, we do appreciate any donations given to us because of our hard work and the progress we have made. If you like what we're trying to do, you can donate through PayPal: