Why am I getting “r300 FP: Compiler Error:” while attempting this OpenGL tutorial?

Question

I downloaded the tutorial from OpenGL-tutorial.org , the OpenGL 2.1 port. I followed the directions to compile it (using C-make). Everything was working fine until I tried to run the tutorial for lesson 8. The terminal outputed the following message when I tried to run the executable from command line:

$ ./tutorial08_basic_shading
Compiling shader : StandardShading.vertexshader

Compiling shader : StandardShading.fragmentshader

Linking program

Loading OBJ file suzanne.obj...
r300 FP: Compiler Error:
Too many hardware temporaries used.
Using a dummy shader instead.

The resulting program that ran displayed a object that was completely black:

It should have looked like this:

The program tutorial08_basic_shading was compiled using tutorial08.cpp :

// Include standard headers
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <vector>

// Include GLEW
#include <GL/glew.h>

// Include GLFW
#include <GL/glfw.h>

// Include GLM
#include <glm/glm.hpp>
#include <glm/gtc/matrix_transform.hpp>
using namespace glm;

#include <common/shader.hpp>
#include <common/texture.hpp>
#include <common/controls.hpp>
#include <common/objloader.hpp>
#include <common/vboindexer.hpp>

int main( void )
{
    // Initialise GLFW
    if( !glfwInit() )
    {
        fprintf( stderr, "Failed to initialize GLFW\n" );
        return -1;
    }

    glfwOpenWindowHint(GLFW_FSAA_SAMPLES, 4);
    glfwOpenWindowHint(GLFW_OPENGL_VERSION_MAJOR, 2);
    glfwOpenWindowHint(GLFW_OPENGL_VERSION_MINOR, 1);

    // Open a window and create its OpenGL context
    if( !glfwOpenWindow( 1024, 768, 0,0,0,0, 32,0, GLFW_WINDOW ) )
    {
        fprintf( stderr, "Failed to open GLFW window.\n" );
        glfwTerminate();
        return -1;
    }

    // Initialize GLEW
    if (glewInit() != GLEW_OK) {
        fprintf(stderr, "Failed to initialize GLEW\n");
        return -1;
    }

    glfwSetWindowTitle( "Tutorial 08" );

    // Ensure we can capture the escape key being pressed below
    glfwEnable( GLFW_STICKY_KEYS );
    glfwSetMousePos(1024/2, 768/2);

    // Dark blue background
    glClearColor(0.0f, 0.0f, 0.4f, 0.0f);

    // Enable depth test
    glEnable(GL_DEPTH_TEST);
    // Accept fragment if it closer to the camera than the former one
    glDepthFunc(GL_LESS); 

    // Cull triangles which normal is not towards the camera
    glEnable(GL_CULL_FACE);

    // Create and compile our GLSL program from the shaders
    GLuint programID = LoadShaders( "StandardShading.vertexshader", "StandardShading.fragmentshader" );

    // Get a handle for our "MVP" uniform
    GLuint MatrixID = glGetUniformLocation(programID, "MVP");
    GLuint ViewMatrixID = glGetUniformLocation(programID, "V");
    GLuint ModelMatrixID = glGetUniformLocation(programID, "M");

    // Get a handle for our buffers
    GLuint vertexPosition_modelspaceID = glGetAttribLocation(programID, "vertexPosition_modelspace");
    GLuint vertexUVID = glGetAttribLocation(programID, "vertexUV");
    GLuint vertexNormal_modelspaceID = glGetAttribLocation(programID, "vertexNormal_modelspace");

    // Load the texture
    GLuint Texture = loadDDS("uvmap.DDS");

    // Get a handle for our "myTextureSampler" uniform
    GLuint TextureID  = glGetUniformLocation(programID, "myTextureSampler");

    // Read our .obj file
    std::vector<glm::vec3> vertices;
    std::vector<glm::vec2> uvs;
    std::vector<glm::vec3> normals;
    bool res = loadOBJ("suzanne.obj", vertices, uvs, normals);

    // Load it into a VBO

    GLuint vertexbuffer;
    glGenBuffers(1, &vertexbuffer);
    glBindBuffer(GL_ARRAY_BUFFER, vertexbuffer);
    glBufferData(GL_ARRAY_BUFFER, vertices.size() * sizeof(glm::vec3), &vertices[0], GL_STATIC_DRAW);

    GLuint uvbuffer;
    glGenBuffers(1, &uvbuffer);
    glBindBuffer(GL_ARRAY_BUFFER, uvbuffer);
    glBufferData(GL_ARRAY_BUFFER, uvs.size() * sizeof(glm::vec2), &uvs[0], GL_STATIC_DRAW);

    GLuint normalbuffer;
    glGenBuffers(1, &normalbuffer);
    glBindBuffer(GL_ARRAY_BUFFER, normalbuffer);
    glBufferData(GL_ARRAY_BUFFER, normals.size() * sizeof(glm::vec3), &normals[0], GL_STATIC_DRAW);

    // Get a handle for our "LightPosition" uniform
    glUseProgram(programID);
    GLuint LightID = glGetUniformLocation(programID, "LightPosition_worldspace");

    do{

        // Clear the screen
        glClear(GL_COLOR_BUFFER_BIT | GL_DEPTH_BUFFER_BIT);

        // Use our shader
        glUseProgram(programID);

        // Compute the MVP matrix from keyboard and mouse input
        computeMatricesFromInputs();
        glm::mat4 ProjectionMatrix = getProjectionMatrix();
        glm::mat4 ViewMatrix = getViewMatrix();
        glm::mat4 ModelMatrix = glm::mat4(1.0);
        glm::mat4 MVP = ProjectionMatrix * ViewMatrix * ModelMatrix;

        // Send our transformation to the currently bound shader, 
        // in the "MVP" uniform
        glUniformMatrix4fv(MatrixID, 1, GL_FALSE, &MVP[0][0]);
        glUniformMatrix4fv(ModelMatrixID, 1, GL_FALSE, &ModelMatrix[0][0]);
        glUniformMatrix4fv(ViewMatrixID, 1, GL_FALSE, &ViewMatrix[0][0]);

        glm::vec3 lightPos = glm::vec3(4,4,4);
        glUniform3f(LightID, lightPos.x, lightPos.y, lightPos.z);

        // Bind our texture in Texture Unit 0
        glActiveTexture(GL_TEXTURE0);
        glBindTexture(GL_TEXTURE_2D, Texture);
        // Set our "myTextureSampler" sampler to user Texture Unit 0
        glUniform1i(TextureID, 0);

        // 1rst attribute buffer : vertices
        glEnableVertexAttribArray(vertexPosition_modelspaceID);
        glBindBuffer(GL_ARRAY_BUFFER, vertexbuffer);
        glVertexAttribPointer(
            vertexPosition_modelspaceID,  // The attribute we want to configure
            3,                            // size
            GL_FLOAT,                     // type
            GL_FALSE,                     // normalized?
            0,                            // stride
            (void*)0                      // array buffer offset
        );

        // 2nd attribute buffer : UVs
        glEnableVertexAttribArray(vertexUVID);
        glBindBuffer(GL_ARRAY_BUFFER, uvbuffer);
        glVertexAttribPointer(
            vertexUVID,                   // The attribute we want to configure
            2,                            // size : U+V => 2
            GL_FLOAT,                     // type
            GL_FALSE,                     // normalized?
            0,                            // stride
            (void*)0                      // array buffer offset
        );

        // 3rd attribute buffer : normals
        glEnableVertexAttribArray(vertexNormal_modelspaceID);
        glBindBuffer(GL_ARRAY_BUFFER, normalbuffer);
        glVertexAttribPointer(
            vertexNormal_modelspaceID,    // The attribute we want to configure
            3,                            // size
            GL_FLOAT,                     // type
            GL_FALSE,                     // normalized?
            0,                            // stride
            (void*)0                      // array buffer offset
        );

        // Draw the triangles !
        glDrawArrays(GL_TRIANGLES, 0, vertices.size() );

        glDisableVertexAttribArray(vertexPosition_modelspaceID);
        glDisableVertexAttribArray(vertexUVID);
        glDisableVertexAttribArray(vertexNormal_modelspaceID);

        // Swap buffers
        glfwSwapBuffers();

    } // Check if the ESC key was pressed or the window was closed
    while( glfwGetKey( GLFW_KEY_ESC ) != GLFW_PRESS &&
           glfwGetWindowParam( GLFW_OPENED ) );

    // Cleanup VBO and shader
    glDeleteBuffers(1, &vertexbuffer);
    glDeleteBuffers(1, &uvbuffer);
    glDeleteBuffers(1, &normalbuffer);
    glDeleteProgram(programID);
    glDeleteTextures(1, &Texture);

    // Close OpenGL window and terminate GLFW
    glfwTerminate();

    return 0;
}

The system it was compiled on is running Ubuntu 13.04 Raring Ringtail. The compiler was g++ I believe, and I am using OpenGL drivers for the ATI Radian xpress 1100 notebook graphics card (the proprietary drivers aren't compatible).

I was able to edit previous examples and compile them with g++ without any problems this far. The only new functions for this tutorial are found in objloader.cpp :

#include <vector>
#include <stdio.h>
#include <string>
#include <cstring>

#include <glm/glm.hpp>

#include "objloader.hpp"

// Very, VERY simple OBJ loader.
// Here is a short list of features a real function would provide : 
// - Binary files. Reading a model should be just a few memcpy's away, not parsing a file at runtime. In short : OBJ is not very great.
// - Animations & bones (includes bones weights)
// - Multiple UVs
// - All attributes should be optional, not "forced"
// - More stable. Change a line in the OBJ file and it crashes.
// - More secure. Change another line and you can inject code.
// - Loading from memory, stream, etc

bool loadOBJ(
    const char * path, 
    std::vector<glm::vec3> & out_vertices, 
    std::vector<glm::vec2> & out_uvs,
    std::vector<glm::vec3> & out_normals
){
    printf("Loading OBJ file %s...\n", path);

    std::vector<unsigned int> vertexIndices, uvIndices, normalIndices;
    std::vector<glm::vec3> temp_vertices; 
    std::vector<glm::vec2> temp_uvs;
    std::vector<glm::vec3> temp_normals;


    FILE * file = fopen(path, "r");
    if( file == NULL ){
        printf("Impossible to open the file ! Are you in the right path ? See Tutorial 1 for details\n");
        return false;
    }

    while( 1 ){

        char lineHeader[128];
        // read the first word of the line
        int res = fscanf(file, "%s", lineHeader);
        if (res == EOF)
            break; // EOF = End Of File. Quit the loop.

        // else : parse lineHeader

        if ( strcmp( lineHeader, "v" ) == 0 ){
            glm::vec3 vertex;
            fscanf(file, "%f %f %f\n", &vertex.x, &vertex.y, &vertex.z );
            temp_vertices.push_back(vertex);
        }else if ( strcmp( lineHeader, "vt" ) == 0 ){
            glm::vec2 uv;
            fscanf(file, "%f %f\n", &uv.x, &uv.y );
            uv.y = -uv.y; // Invert V coordinate since we will only use DDS texture, which are inverted. Remove if you want to use TGA or BMP loaders.
            temp_uvs.push_back(uv);
        }else if ( strcmp( lineHeader, "vn" ) == 0 ){
            glm::vec3 normal;
            fscanf(file, "%f %f %f\n", &normal.x, &normal.y, &normal.z );
            temp_normals.push_back(normal);
        }else if ( strcmp( lineHeader, "f" ) == 0 ){
            std::string vertex1, vertex2, vertex3;
            unsigned int vertexIndex[3], uvIndex[3], normalIndex[3];
            int matches = fscanf(file, "%d/%d/%d %d/%d/%d %d/%d/%d\n", &vertexIndex[0], &uvIndex[0], &normalIndex[0], &vertexIndex[1], &uvIndex[1], &normalIndex[1], &vertexIndex[2], &uvIndex[2], &normalIndex[2] );
            if (matches != 9){
                printf("File can't be read by our simple parser :-( Try exporting with other options\n");
                return false;
            }
            vertexIndices.push_back(vertexIndex[0]);
            vertexIndices.push_back(vertexIndex[1]);
            vertexIndices.push_back(vertexIndex[2]);
            uvIndices    .push_back(uvIndex[0]);
            uvIndices    .push_back(uvIndex[1]);
            uvIndices    .push_back(uvIndex[2]);
            normalIndices.push_back(normalIndex[0]);
            normalIndices.push_back(normalIndex[1]);
            normalIndices.push_back(normalIndex[2]);
        }else{
            // Probably a comment, eat up the rest of the line
            char stupidBuffer[1000];
            fgets(stupidBuffer, 1000, file);
        }

    }

    // For each vertex of each triangle
    for( unsigned int i=0; i<vertexIndices.size(); i++ ){

        // Get the indices of its attributes
        unsigned int vertexIndex = vertexIndices[i];
        unsigned int uvIndex = uvIndices[i];
        unsigned int normalIndex = normalIndices[i];

        // Get the attributes thanks to the index
        glm::vec3 vertex = temp_vertices[ vertexIndex-1 ];
        glm::vec2 uv = temp_uvs[ uvIndex-1 ];
        glm::vec3 normal = temp_normals[ normalIndex-1 ];

        // Put the attributes in buffers
        out_vertices.push_back(vertex);
        out_uvs     .push_back(uv);
        out_normals .push_back(normal);

    }

    return true;
}


#ifdef USE_ASSIMP // don't use this #define, it's only for me (it AssImp fails to compile on your machine, at least all the other tutorials still work)

// Include AssImp
#include <assimp/Importer.hpp>      // C++ importer interface
#include <assimp/scene.h>           // Output data structure
#include <assimp/postprocess.h>     // Post processing flags

bool loadAssImp(
    const char * path, 
    std::vector<unsigned short> & indices,
    std::vector<glm::vec3> & vertices,
    std::vector<glm::vec2> & uvs,
    std::vector<glm::vec3> & normals
){

    Assimp::Importer importer;

    const aiScene* scene = importer.ReadFile(path, 0/*aiProcess_JoinIdenticalVertices | aiProcess_SortByPType*/);
    if( !scene) {
        fprintf( stderr, importer.GetErrorString());
        return false;
    }
    const aiMesh* mesh = scene->mMeshes[0]; // In this simple example code we always use the 1rst mesh (in OBJ files there is often only one anyway)

    // Fill vertices positions
    vertices.reserve(mesh->mNumVertices);
    for(unsigned int i=0; i<mesh->mNumVertices; i++){
        aiVector3D pos = mesh->mVertices[i];
        vertices.push_back(glm::vec3(pos.x, pos.y, pos.z));
    }

    // Fill vertices texture coordinates
    uvs.reserve(mesh->mNumVertices);
    for(unsigned int i=0; i<mesh->mNumVertices; i++){
        aiVector3D UVW = mesh->mTextureCoords[0][i]; // Assume only 1 set of UV coords; AssImp supports 8 UV sets.
        uvs.push_back(glm::vec2(UVW.x, UVW.y));
    }

    // Fill vertices normals
    normals.reserve(mesh->mNumVertices);
    for(unsigned int i=0; i<mesh->mNumVertices; i++){
        aiVector3D n = mesh->mNormals[i];
        normals.push_back(glm::vec3(n.x, n.y, n.z));
    }


    // Fill face indices
    indices.reserve(3*mesh->mNumFaces);
    for (unsigned int i=0; i<mesh->mNumFaces; i++){
        // Assume the model has only triangles.
        indices.push_back(mesh->mFaces[i].mIndices[0]);
        indices.push_back(mesh->mFaces[i].mIndices[1]);
        indices.push_back(mesh->mFaces[i].mIndices[2]);
    }

    // The "scene" pointer will be deleted automatically by "importer"

}

#endif

sazanne.obj was provided with the tutorial and is in the same directory as tutorial08.cpp

Answer 1

The R300 architecture is one of the earliest shader model 2 GPUs there is. They've been introduced into the market 10 years ago. SM2 is a rather limited programming model with only very little hardware resources, only 4 texture indirections (ie texturing operations depending on other texturing operations) are the minimum that must be supported. And there is a hard instruction count limit.

In summary this means, that it takes an excellent GLSL compiler to squeeze as much out of the GPU as possible. Unfortunately GLSL compilers were never very much optimized for SM2 hardware – in fact when it comes to the R300 the proprietary driver's GLSL compiler produces worse code than the open source one. Most people programmed SM2 hardware in a sort of assembler code. And GLSL compilers became useful only when the next generation of GPUs hit the market, so nobody bothered to work on SM2 hardware target optimization.

What this means for you. Well, your GPU is simply too old to be of any use for GLSL development. You can still use the assembler to great effect – I have fond memories of squeezing out the last cycle, indirection limit and temporaries to attain a desired outcome; for example I was able to implement improved perlin noise on a Radeon 9800 GPU, when (almost) everyone else claimed it was impossible on SM2 class hardware.