Why would I Use SDL2 over SFML?

SDL Development
1

I have novice C++ experience, I have played with SFML before but i hear SDL2 is more cross platform. Is this true? My question is in your opinion; Why I would use SDL2 over SFML? Thak you in advance. I am also asking the opposite question on the SFML forums.

3

I’ve migrated my mini-engine (https://gitlab.com/kipar/nonoengine) from SFML to SDL because after many tries i’ve failed to make custom shaders to work on SFML. At first I’ve tried PushOpenGLStates and other hacks like resetting a Viewport, but no luck. Then i decided to drop SFML RenderWindow and use SFML Window just to keep other useful things from SFML, but still no luck. Perhaps that’s just me, but in SDL2 everything works like a charm.
On the other hand, SDL miss some high level features of SFML:

  • nice cached text rendering. SDL_ttf can be really slow on low-end hardware.
  • SDL_mixer doesn’t manage multiple sound buffers as easily as SFML (that uses OpenAL).
  • SFML rendering primitives are much more advanced than SDL rectangles.