- WIP, parked: measures 80.9 -> 94.8 fps on Adreno 650 / MC 26.2 (same scene, device cooled to 38-40C), but is NOT validated. Desktop GLSL carries no precision qualifiers, so every fragment value reaches the driver as fp32 while Adreno runs fp16 at twice the rate. - RelaxTextureDerivedPrecisionPass taints the values a fragment shader derives from built-in inputs and decorates everything else RelaxedPrecision. The taint direction matters: whitelisting outward from texture reads captures nothing, because MC multiplies every texel by an interpolated colour and a UBO value and one un-relaxed operand vetoes the expression - measured at 80.4 fps, i.e. no gain, both with and without varyings seeded. Precision-critical sources are few (gl_FragCoord cannot even hold a 3044-pixel x exactly), so tainting them and relaxing the rest is what actually pays. - SPIR-V cannot see the bound formats - sampler2D yields vec4 whether the texture is RGBA8 or RGBA32F - so the decision is made per draw and passed in as a compile option, the same shape ExplicitLod0Sampling already uses. RelaxedFragmentPrecision is only requested when every sampled texture and every colour attachment is an 8-bit-or-less normalized format, where fp16's 11-bit mantissa already carries the value exactly. Shaderpack HDR gbuffers, float data textures and 16-bit normalized targets therefore keep full precision, as do shaders that write gl_FragDepth or gl_SampleMask. - LocalMultiStoreElim runs first: glslang emits function-local variables, and a load can never be relaxed, so without SSA promotion the analysis dies at the first temporary. - WHY THIS IS PARKED: the retrace correctness gate never ran green. Every DirectVulkan retrace on Adreno 650 dies with DEVICE_LOST in UploadDirtyMipLevels on unmodified dev (pre-existing, device-gated), and on Adreno 830 - where the gate does pass on dev - minecraft-1.21.4-in-world times out at 900s with this change, which still needs explaining. Do not merge until that is understood and vanilla plus non-Photon shaderpack cases pass. (photon-v1.3b is broken on Adreno independently of this work.) - The /sdcard/MG/exp_relaxed_precision_all and exp_no_relaxed_precision file toggles are development scaffolding for A/B measurement; they must go before this ships.
MobileGL
A desktop OpenGL implementation
MobileGL is a free and open-source project that implements a desktop OpenGL API. The goal is to provide a complete desktop OpenGL implementation with a state management layer and multi-backend support.
Note
Status: In development. Parts of the codebase are incomplete. Current short-term target: OpenGL 3.3 (Core Profile).
Project positioning
MobileGL is an implementation of a desktop OpenGL library. It aims to provide:
- Full OpenGL state management.
- A front-end that exposes OpenGL functions.
- Multiple independent backend implementations, where each backend targets a specific graphics API and remains fully isolated from others.
This project is intended as an implementation/translation layer.
Key components
The repository is organized into following top-level modules:
- MG_State — state tracking and management logic for Graphics APIs.
- MG_Impl — front-end implementations of Graphics APIs that interact with
MG_StateandMG_Backend. - MG_Backend — per-backend translation layer that maps front-end Graphics APIs' semantics and state into concrete backend API calls (e.g. OpenGL ES, Vulkan).
- MG_Util and other utility modules.
Third-party components
MobileGL reuses several open-source projects:
- SPIRV-Cross by KhronosGroup - Apache License 2.0: github
- glslang by KhronosGroup - Various Licenses: github
- DiligentCore by Diligent Graphics - Apache License 2.0: github
Refer to each component's repository for exact license texts. Any bundled third-party code in this repository is included under the upstream project's license.
Compatibility & target
- Short-term target:
OpenGL 3.3 (Core Profile). - Current development focus:
MG_StateandMG_ImplforOpenGL 3.3 (Core Profile)Direct (Vulkan)backendDirect (OpenGL ES)backend
Build Instructions
We currently provide no releases and no precompiled binaries.
If you want to try the project right now, you’ll need to build it yourself:
-
Clone the repository:
git clone https://github.com/MobileGL-Dev/MobileGL.git -
Initialize and update all submodules recursively:
git submodule update --init --recursive -
Follow glslang’s own documentation for its required initiation.
-
Configure and build the project with CMake:
cmake -B build cmake --build buildor do it in a modern way:
cmake -S . -B build -G Ninja -DCMAKE_C_COMPILER=clang -DCMAKE_CXX_COMPILER=clang++ cmake --build buildAlternatively, you can use platform-specific build commands as needed.
Build For macOS
On macOS, MobileGL can be built as a dylib that exposes the normal OpenGL/CGL/NSOpenGL entry points and routes them to the DirectVulkan backend. This is useful for running applications such as Minecraft through their stock GLFW/LWJGL OpenGL path while MobileGL is injected before context creation.
Prerequisites:
- macOS with Clang and Ninja.
- Vulkan loader and MoltenVK installed. With Homebrew, the MoltenVK ICD is commonly located at
/opt/homebrew/etc/vulkan/icd.d/MoltenVK_icd.json.
Configure and build:
cmake -S . -B build-macos-magma \
-G Ninja \
-DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release \
-DMOBILEGL_BACKEND_TYPE=DirectVulkan \
-DMOBILEGL_BUILD_TEST=OFF \
-DMOBILEGL_BUILD_BENCHMARK=OFF
cmake --build build-macos-magma --target MobileGL -j8
The dylib will be generated at:
build-macos-magma/libMobileGL.dylib
To run Minecraft by MobileGL from a launcher like PrismLauncher, keep the stock LWJGL/GLFW natives and add a wrapper command to the instance settings:
env DYLD_INSERT_LIBRARIES=/absolute/path/to/MobileGL/build-macos-magma/libMobileGL.dylib MOBILEGL_BACKEND_TYPE=DirectVulkan VK_ICD_FILENAMES=/opt/homebrew/etc/vulkan/icd.d/MoltenVK_icd.json
Also make sure the JVM arguments include:
-XstartOnFirstThread
DYLD_INSERT_LIBRARIES must be active before GLFW creates its OpenGL context. After startup, the Minecraft F3 screen should report MobileGL and the Direct (Vulkan) backend if the injection worked.
Build Options
| Option | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|
MOBILEGL_BUILD_TEST |
Build MobileGL tests (requires Clang) | ON |
MOBILEGL_BUILD_BENCHMARK |
Build MobileGL benchmarks (requires Clang) | ON |
MOBILEGL_FORCE_RELEASE_OPT |
Enable O3 and LTO in Debug build | ON |
MOBILEGL_ENABLE_TRACY |
Enable Tracy profiler for performance analysis | OFF |
Notes:
- The project requires C++23.
MG_TestandMG_Benchmarkcan only be built with Clang, not GCC. To enforce Clang, add-DCMAKE_C_COMPILER=clang -DCMAKE_CXX_COMPILER=clang++to your command.- On Android, tests and benchmarks are always disabled.
Environment Variables
MobileGL supports runtime configuration via environment variables.
Supported Keys
| Variable | Description | Allowed Values | Default |
|---|---|---|---|
MOBILEGL_BACKEND_TYPE |
Select active backend implementation at startup. | DirectGLES, DirectVulkan |
DirectGLES |
MOBILEGL_DISABLE_TIMERQUERY |
Disable GPU timer-query exposure and use. | 0, 1 |
0 |
MOBILEGL_USE_ANGLE |
Load ANGLE EGL/GLES libraries. | 0, 1 |
0 |
MOBILEGL_DISABLE_SUBGROUP |
Disable Vulkan shader subgroup support. | 0, 1 |
0 |
MOBILEGL_MAGMA_R11G11B10F_FALLBACK |
Use Magma's R11G11B10F format fallback. | 0, 1 |
0 |
MOBILEGL_MAGMA_FRAMESINFLIGHT |
Set Magma frames in flight. | Integer 1–64 |
3 |
MOBILEGL_AVOID_SAMPLER_MIPMAP_MIN_FILTER |
Avoid sampler mipmap minification filters. | 0, 1 |
0 |
MOBILEGL_COHERENT_AS_FLUSH |
Treat persistent GL_MAP_FLUSH_EXPLICIT_BIT maps as coherent (app-compat for engines like Flywheel that never flush them). |
0, 1 |
0 |
VK_ICD_FILENAMES |
Select the Vulkan ICD used by the Vulkan loader. | Path to an ICD JSON file | Loader default |
Notice
- MobileGL is not production-ready currently.
- Some
OpenGL 3.3 (Core Profile)features are still missing or under development.
License
This project is distributed under GNU LGPL v3.0. See the LICENSE file in the repository for detailed information.