The older computer has a geforce4 i believe, and the Ice looks allright.

The newer computer has some new fangled gizmo with like 256 MB video memory, and the ice looks like aluminum foil.

Is it just me?

The new computer looks like these:

http://images.vendetta-online.com/screenshots/dump0030.1.jpg
http://images.vendetta-online.com/screenshots/dump0028.jpg

Compare with actual al foil:

http://www.fhs.fuhsd.org/~mmccrystal/images/F03_Almole_winners/B2_longN-flower_4162lgW.jpg

Cant find anything that demonstrates how the old computer looks. But to describe it, I'd say it looks more like 'snow'. Like in a snowboarding game or something. But shinier.

That's the bump mapping (only available on Windows). You can enable/disable it in the options.

I have a really old comp (G3 400MHz with 32MB VRAM) and I find that some ice crystals do kindof look like Al foil.

I've just decided, I REALLY want bump-mapping in Linux. Those asteroids look amazing.

EDIT: Well of course I meant Vendetta; I did buy Doom 3...

We have bumpmapping... We just have DOT3, not EMBM. I'm sure that if a1k0n put his head to it, he could write a nice cross-card OpenGL bumpmapping algorithm that looks just as good as EMBM. I mean, Doom3 is for linux and that's ALL normal maps...

Yeah, but doom3 is all fragment programs. We could make a fragment program to do the effect but then it would still not run on gf4 cards in linux because of its lack of ARB_fragment_program support.

Ananzi are you getting confuzled, those ice roids in the 2 pictures on your 'new' computer are from sector 14.
It even has the old sector map at the bottom!!

ray: Well, rglow doesn't run on gf4-level cards either... Hey! Maybe you guys should go learn Cg. :D

Heh, our shaders were written in Cg but there was no Cg compiler/library for the mac so we couldn't use it.

It could be the difference between the OpenGL driver, where the iceroids look smooth and glossy, and DirectX driver, where the iceroids look more like the bumpy tinfoil depicted in the screenies. At least that's how they appear to me. YMMV. You can switch between the two drivers under the options menu.

nVidia FX5200 128mb

Old sector map, old engine setup, and old bounty system.

it says 'directx gkgl driver' on both of them

your older card didnt support bumpmapping...it's that simple...

Try switching to the OpenGl driver and see if you like the look of the iceroids better.