OpenGL: how to update the driver package with the simplest methods?

Undoubtedly, many gamers know that for the correct operation of such famous games as Minecraft or CS, one of the most basic conditions is the availability of the latest versions of OpenGL drivers installed on the system. How to update this driver package will now be considered, since, like any other software, they may become obsolete. That's why sometimes there are problems with running your favorite games.

OpenGL: how to update the drivers in the simplest way?

First of all, if you start the game or some specific application, the system tells you that the OpenGL drivers need to be updated, you should use the most standard solution.

To activate the process, you should enter the standard "Device Manager", which can be done from the "Control Panel", the computer administration section or the devmgmgt.msc command through the "Run" console line, and find the installed video adapter there.

The update can be started using the same command in the right-click menu or in the device properties section. If you specify automatic search, this may not work, and the system will tell you that the most appropriate driver is already installed. Therefore, it is advisable to first turn to the site of the equipment manufacturer, choose your model of the graphics card, download the newest driver, and when installing, specify the location of the saved distribution.

How to update OpenGL on Windows 7 or any other system with the help of specialized utilities?

For owners of NVIDIA and Radeon chips, the task can be somewhat simplified. As a rule, special control programs such as PhysX and Catalyst are delivered to them in the preinstalled package. That's why you can update the OpenGL driver with their help.

If for some reason such utilities are not available, you simply download and integrate them into the system. If you have a constantly active Internet connection, they will be useful not only for setting up games, but for automatically monitoring the appearance of new versions of the necessary drivers, including OpenGL.

In principle, if you do not like this option, you can use equally interesting programs like Driver Booster, which update the drivers absolutely for all "iron" and software devices installed on a computer or laptop without user intervention. The application itself will determine the version of the OpenGL driver during the system scan. How do I update it? You just need to agree with the proposal to install the updates found. After completing the upgrade process, a full reboot is absolutely required.

Finally, you can install a special utility called OpenGL Extensions Viewer, with which you can find out the version of the installed driver package, and update it to the latest version.

Upgrading DirectX

However, the update may not give the desired positive result without updating the DirectX platform, which is a kind of bridge between the hardware and the software in terms of multimedia.

You can find out the installed version using the dxdiag command, which is entered in the "Run" menu. Download the new distribution kit from the official Microsoft support site in the Downloads section.

As it is already clear, DirectX OpenGL can be updated by the usual start of the installation process of the downloaded distribution. The advantage of this update is also that you can run a number of tests in the DirectX dialog box itself, including the performance of DirectSound, ffdshow, Direct3D, and so on.

Why are drivers not updated?

If suddenly none of the above solutions help, most likely the reason lies only in the fact that the video adapter installation version of OpenGL simply does not support, therefore, no matter how you try, the driver will not be installed. The only solution is to install a more powerful video card.

By the way, most often this problem occurs in the case of integrated video-on-board video chips, which are built into motherboards. With discrete graphics cards, as a rule, there are no such problems (provided the chip is not too outdated and initially supports OpenGL technology). How to update the drivers for such cards, I think, is already clear. But sometimes you might need to update the JAVA Runtime platforms or even the .NET Framework from Microsoft - this can not be forgotten either. But as a rule, in most cases this is not required - just update DirectX and use the OpenGL Extensions Viewer utility in parallel.