KoLAddict

What exactly is it, and what effect does it have on a graphics card?

Like, nearly every game coming out now requires it, but many will run without it to a seriously reduced effect. If your video card doesn't have it, what effect does it have on your card? Does it require a greater pull from your video card's memory or what? T&L is the biggest technical thing I don't quite understand.

emosun

The only time I've heard of Transform & Lighting is when people refer to call of duty 4.

The game requires Transform & Lighting and also vertex data in order to run. The game will return an error stateing that the card being use doesn't support Transform & Lighting and vertex data. Every nvidia and ati card since the geforce 6 series and the ati X series supports Transform & Lighting. However , stock intel graphics , even modern day still don't support it due to them just being basic graphics.

If you have an nvidia 6 series or higher or ati X series or higher gpu (circa 2004/2005ish) then you'll be fine.

ebackhus

Actually, the nVidia GeForce 256 cards from years past were the first to support Hardware TnL. Since then it's become a major component of many high-end games by allowing the GPU to take on the heavier graphics duties while letting the CPU handle things like AI and physics.

KoLAddict

But how does it work without it, for games that support it but don't require it?

From what I understand, most games support it, but it isn't required, like they'll run without it. Call of Duty 4 apparently actually requires it. How does it work with the vid. card? Does T&L in a card lighten the load the memory of the card requires, or do games require more memory from a card in order to use T&L or what? It confuses me, lol

emosun

Its a mainstream thing now that has been arround for a while. From what I get this relates to your otherthread about spore? Spore should run on a 6150 just fine as it's a geforce 6 series.

Aus_Karlos

Here is a description of TnL