OpenGL Particles

I'm learning OpenGL now. My question is, I use display lists to draw objects and other complex stuff. But for particles, since I can't alter a display list after its compiled, I have to make a square at every particle. And when there are 800+ particles, doesn't that slow it down? All those function calls to draw each individual vertex and texture info, color info, etc, for the square? Isn't there a way where I can make an array of verticies (structs) like I do in DirectX Graphics and just change the color directly and draw the particle?

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Originally posted by Speedy5
And when there are 800+ particles, doesn't that slow it down? All those function calls to draw each individual vertex and texture info, color info, etc, for the square? Isn't there a way where I can make an array of verticies (structs) like I do in DirectX Graphics and just change the color directly and draw the particle?

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You can use a display list for one single particle (2 triangles) and call glTranslate before you call that list. If your particle has a texture that does not change, you can even bind the texture in the list, I believe.

Hmm, thats a great idea thanks! How come I never thought of that? And there I was using display lists for the other things :).