SFML Mobile Issues

[Foaly]

Is the removal of sf::Quads already set in stone? Because I use vertex array and quads quiet a lot in some applications. The quads are not adjacent, so I am worried, that using triangles would be a lot slower. Couldn't there be an option that SFML still provides quads if used with OpenGL?

[Laurent]

I don't like partial support of features. But I still have to think about it, nothing is set in stone.

I don't think adding 50% of vertices to your array would be a lot slower, you should really test it.

[Foaly]

I don't like partiall support for features either, because they tend to make things more complicated and confusing. But in this case I think we should really think about it or maybe see if we can find a different solution. I actually did some tests in the past and for me using triangles was a lot slower. When I first wrote the programm I used triangles and the performance started dropping below 60 fps around 10.000 vertices. When using quads I didn't notice anything untill ~20.000 vertices. I use vertex arrays quiet extensive for fairly big particle systems.

[Laurent]

There are other options: point sprites, or indexed vertex arrays for example. I'd prefer investigating these options rather than supporting a deprecated feature of OpenGL.

[Foaly]

Ok. I didn't know that quads where deprecated since OpenGL 3.
Point sprites actually sound very interessting. I hadn't heard of those before. But it sounds like they can replace and maybe even improve exactly what I'm doing. From what I read it doesn't seem to complicted to integrate it in the current API. We should definitly consider supporting them 

[Laurent]

Point sprites have limitations. They have a maximum size, and I guess they are influenced by some other parameters; you don't have full control over them. Moreover, I don't know if you can define the texture coordinates precisely. So I'd say they are good for particles, but not for tile maps.