Standardize renderer names and terms

about/faq.rst

@@ -290,7 +290,7 @@ While Vulkan and OpenGL remain our primary focus for their open standard and
 cross-platform benefits, Godot 4.3 introduced experimental support for Direct3D 12.
 This addition aims to enhance performance and compatibility on platforms where
 Direct3D 12 is prevalent, such as Windows and Xbox. However, Vulkan and OpenGL
-will continue as the default rendering backends on all platforms, including Windows.
+will continue as the default rendering drivers on all platforms, including Windows.
 
 Why does Godot aim to keep its core feature set small?
 ------------------------------------------------------

about/list_of_features.rst

@@ -95,17 +95,18 @@ Editor
 Rendering
 ---------
 
-3 rendering *methods* (running over 2 rendering *drivers*) are available:
-
-- **Forward+**, running over Vulkan 1.0 (with optional Vulkan 1.1 and 1.2
-  features). The most advanced graphics backend, suited for desktop platforms
-  only. Used by default on desktop platforms.
-- **Forward Mobile**, running over Vulkan 1.0 (with optional Vulkan 1.1 and 1.2
-  features). Less features, but renders simple scenes faster. Suited for mobile
-  and desktop platforms. Used by default on mobile platforms.
-- **Compatibility**, running over OpenGL 3.3 / OpenGL ES 3.0 / WebGL 2.0. The least
-  advanced graphics backend, suited for low-end desktop and mobile platforms.
-  Used by default on the web platform.
+Godot 4 includes three renderers:
+
+- **Forward+**. The most advanced renderer, suited for desktop platforms only.
+  Used by default on desktop platforms. This renderer uses **Vulkan**, **Direct3D 12**,
+  or **Metal** as the rendering driver, and it uses the **RenderingDevice** backend.
+- **Mobile**. Fewer features, but renders simple scenes faster. Suited for mobile
+  and desktop platforms. Used by default on mobile platforms. This renderer uses
+  **Vulkan**, **Direct3D 12**, or **Metal** as the rendering driver, and it uses
+  the **RenderingDevice** backend.
+- **Compatibility**, sometimes called **GL Compatibility**. The least advanced
+  renderer, suited for low-end desktop and mobile platforms. Used by default on
+  the web platform. This renderer uses **OpenGL** as the rendering driver.
 
 See :ref:`doc_renderers` for a detailed comparison of the rendering methods.
 
@@ -188,9 +189,9 @@ See :ref:`doc_renderers` for a detailed comparison of the rendering methods.
 
 - HDR rendering with sRGB.
 - Perspective, orthographic and frustum-offset cameras.
-- When using the Forward+ backend, a depth prepass is used to improve
+- When using the Forward+ renderer, a depth prepass is used to improve
   performance in complex scenes by reducing the cost of overdraw.
-- :ref:`doc_variable_rate_shading` on supported GPUs in Forward+ and Forward Mobile.
+- :ref:`doc_variable_rate_shading` on supported GPUs in Forward+ and Mobile.
 
 **Physically-based rendering (built-in material features):**
 
@@ -217,10 +218,10 @@ See :ref:`doc_renderers` for a detailed comparison of the rendering methods.
 - Specular, indirect light, and volumetric fog energy can be adjusted on a per-light basis.
 - Adjustable light "size" for fake area lights (will also make shadows blurrier).
 - Optional distance fade system to fade distant lights and their shadows, improving performance.
-- When using the Forward+ backend (default on desktop), lights are
+- When using the Forward+ renderer (default on desktop), lights are
   rendered with clustered forward optimizations to decrease their individual cost.
   Clustered rendering also lifts any limits on the number of lights that can be used on a mesh.
-- When using the Forward Mobile backend, up to 8 omni lights and 8 spot lights can
+- When using the Mobile renderer, up to 8 omni lights and 8 spot lights can
   be displayed per mesh resource. Baked lighting can be used to overcome this limit
   if needed.
 
@@ -276,10 +277,10 @@ See :ref:`doc_renderers` for a detailed comparison of the rendering methods.
   Parallax box correction can optionally be enabled.
 - Screen-space reflections with support for material roughness.
 - Reflection techniques can be mixed together for greater accuracy or scalability.
-- When using the Forward+ backend (default on desktop), reflection probes are
+- When using the Forward+ renderer (default on desktop), reflection probes are
   rendered with clustered forward optimizations to decrease their individual cost.
   Clustered rendering also lifts any limits on the number of reflection probes that can be used on a mesh.
-- When using the Forward Mobile backend, up to 8 reflection probes can be displayed per mesh
+- When using the Mobile renderer, up to 8 reflection probes can be displayed per mesh
   resource. When using the Compatibility renderer, up to 2 reflection probes can
   be displayed per mesh resource.
 
@@ -294,10 +295,10 @@ See :ref:`doc_renderers` for a detailed comparison of the rendering methods.
   complex skinned meshes with no performance penalty, even if the decal moves every frame.
 - Support for nearest, bilinear, trilinear or anisotropic texture filtering (configured globally).
 - Optional distance fade system to fade distant decals, improving performance.
-- When using the Forward+ backend (default on desktop), decals are
+- When using the Forward+ renderer (default on desktop), decals are
   rendered with clustered forward optimizations to decrease their individual cost.
   Clustered rendering also lifts any limits on the number of decals that can be used on a mesh.
-- When using the Forward Mobile backend, up to 8 decals can be displayed per mesh
+- When using the Mobile renderer, up to 8 decals can be displayed per mesh
   resource.
 
 **Sky:**

contributing/development/core_and_modules/custom_platform_ports.rst

@@ -51,7 +51,7 @@ The official platform ports can be used as a reference when creating a custom pl
 
 While platform code is usually self-contained, there are exceptions to this
 rule. For instance, audio drivers that are shared across several platforms and
-rendering backends are located in the
+rendering drivers are located in the
 `drivers/ folder <https://github.com/godotengine/godot/tree/master/drivers>`__
 of the Godot source code.
 
@@ -184,7 +184,7 @@ clone's ``platform/`` folder, then run ``scons platform=<name>``. No other steps
 necessary for building, unless third-party platform-specific dependencies need
 to be installed first.
 
-However, when a custom rendering backend is needed, another folder must be added
+However, when a custom rendering driver is needed, another folder must be added
 in ``drivers/``. In this case, the platform port can be distributed as a fork of
 the Godot repository, or as a collection of several folders that can be added
 over a Godot Git repository clone.

contributing/development/core_and_modules/internal_rendering_architecture.rst

@@ -44,10 +44,11 @@ affect that pixel.
 This approach can greatly speed up rendering performance on desktop hardware,
 but is substantially less efficient on mobile.
 
-Forward Mobile
-^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
+Mobile
+^^^^^^
 
 This is a forward renderer that uses a traditional single-pass approach to lighting.
+Internally, it is called **Forward Mobile**.
 
 Intended for mobile platforms, but can also run on desktop platforms. This
 rendering method is optimized to perform well on mobile GPUs. Mobile GPUs have a
@@ -92,7 +93,7 @@ features result in a notable performance penalty.
 
 On desktop platforms, the use of sub-passes won't have any impact on
 performance. However, this rendering method can still perform better than
-Clustered Forward in simple scenes thanks to its lower complexity and lower
+Forward+ in simple scenes thanks to its lower complexity and lower
 bandwidth usage. This is especially noticeable on low-end GPUs, integrated
 graphics or in VR applications.
 
@@ -110,11 +111,11 @@ Compatibility
     This is the only rendering method available when using the OpenGL driver.
     This rendering method is not available when using Vulkan or Direct3D 12.
 
-This is a traditional (non-clustered) forward renderer. It's intended for old
-GPUs that don't have Vulkan support, but still works very efficiently on newer
-hardware. Specifically, it is optimized for older and lower-end mobile devices
-However, many optimizations carry over making it a good choice for older and
-lower-end desktop as well.
+This is a traditional (non-clustered) forward renderer. Internally, it is called
+**GL Compatibility**. It's intended for old GPUs that don't have Vulkan support,
+but still works very efficiently on newer hardware. Specifically, it is optimized
+for older and lower-end mobile devices. However, many optimizations carry over
+making it a good choice for older and lower-end desktop as well.
 
 Like the Mobile renderer, the Compatibility renderer uses an R10G10B10A2 UNORM
 texture for 3D rendering. Unlike the mobile renderer, colors are tonemapped and
@@ -134,7 +135,7 @@ looks and needs to be kept in mind when designing scenes for the Compatibility
 renderer.
 
 Given its low-end focus, this rendering method does not provide high-end
-rendering features (even less so compared to Forward Mobile). Most
+rendering features (even less so compared to Mobile). Most
 post-processing effects are not available.
 
 Why not deferred rendering?
@@ -248,11 +249,11 @@ Summary of rendering drivers/methods
 The following rendering API + rendering method combinations are currently possible:
 
 - Vulkan + Forward+
-- Vulkan + Forward Mobile
+- Vulkan + Mobile
 - Direct3D 12 + Forward+
-- Direct3D 12 + Forward Mobile
+- Direct3D 12 + Mobile
 - Metal + Forward+ (via MoltenVK)
-- Metal + Forward Mobile (via MoltenVK)
+- Metal + Mobile (via MoltenVK)
 - OpenGL + Compatibility
 
 Each combination has its own limitations and performance characteristics. Make
@@ -350,14 +351,14 @@ this.
 **Core GLSL material shaders:**
 
 - Forward+: `servers/rendering/renderer_rd/shaders/forward_clustered/scene_forward_clustered.glsl <https://github.com/godotengine/godot/blob/4.2/servers/rendering/renderer_rd/shaders/forward_clustered/scene_forward_clustered.glsl>`__
-- Forward Mobile: `servers/rendering/renderer_rd/shaders/forward_mobile/scene_forward_mobile.glsl <https://github.com/godotengine/godot/blob/4.2/servers/rendering/renderer_rd/shaders/forward_mobile/scene_forward_mobile.glsl>`__
+- Mobile: `servers/rendering/renderer_rd/shaders/forward_mobile/scene_forward_mobile.glsl <https://github.com/godotengine/godot/blob/4.2/servers/rendering/renderer_rd/shaders/forward_mobile/scene_forward_mobile.glsl>`__
 - Compatibility: `drivers/gles3/shaders/scene.glsl <https://github.com/godotengine/godot/blob/4.2/drivers/gles3/shaders/scene.glsl>`__
 
 **Material shader generation:**
 
 - `scene/resources/material.cpp <https://github.com/godotengine/godot/blob/4.2/scene/resources/material.cpp>`__
 
-**Other GLSL shaders for Forward+ and Forward Mobile rendering methods:**
+**Other GLSL shaders for Forward+ and Mobile rendering methods:**
 
 - `servers/rendering/renderer_rd/shaders/ <https://github.com/godotengine/godot/blob/4.2/servers/rendering/renderer_rd/shaders/>`__
 - `modules/lightmapper_rd/ <https://github.com/godotengine/godot/blob/4.2/modules/lightmapper_rd>`__
@@ -371,9 +372,9 @@ this.
 
 .. note::
 
-    The following is only applicable in the Forward+ and Forward Mobile
+    The following is only applicable in the Forward+ and Mobile
     rendering methods, not in Compatibility. Multiple Viewports can be used to
-    emulate this when using the Compatibility backend, or to perform 2D
+    emulate this when using the Compatibility renderer, or to perform 2D
     resolution scaling.
 
 2D and 3D are rendered to separate buffers, as 2D rendering in Godot is performed
@@ -416,7 +417,7 @@ with large amounts of lights.
 The Forward+ and Mobile rendering methods don't feature 2D batching yet, but
 it's planned for a future release.
 
-The Compatibility backend features 2D batching to improve performance, which is
+The Compatibility renderer features 2D batching to improve performance, which is
 especially noticeable with lots of text on screen.
 
 MSAA can be enabled in 2D to provide "automatic" line and polygon antialiasing,
@@ -440,7 +441,7 @@ used to calculate particle collisions in 2D.
 Batching and instancing
 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
 
-In the Forward+ backend, Vulkan instancing is used to group rendering
+In the Forward+ renderer, Vulkan instancing is used to group rendering
 of identical objects for performance. This is not as fast as static mesh
 merging, but it still allows instances to be culled individually.
 
@@ -449,10 +450,9 @@ Light, decal and reflection probe rendering
 
 .. note::
 
-  Reflection probe and decal rendering are currently not available in the
-  Compatibility backend.
+  Decal rendering is currently not available in the Compatibility renderer.
 
-As its name implies, the Forward+ backend uses clustered lighting. This
+The Forward+ renderer uses clustered lighting. This
 allows using as many lights as you want; performance largely depends on screen
 coverage. Shadow-less lights can be almost free if they don't occupy much space
 on screen.
@@ -461,12 +461,12 @@ All rendering methods also support rendering up to 8 directional lights at the
 same time (albeit with lower shadow quality when more than one light has shadows
 enabled).
 
-The Forward Mobile backend uses a single-pass lighting approach, with a
+The Mobile renderer uses a single-pass lighting approach, with a
 limitation of 8 OmniLights + 8 SpotLights affecting each Mesh *resource* (plus a
 limitation of 256 OmniLights + 256 SpotLights in the camera view). These limits
 are hardcoded and can't be adjusted in the project settings.
 
-The Compatibility backend uses a hybrid single-pass + multi-pass lighting
+The Compatibility renderer uses a hybrid single-pass + multi-pass lighting
 approach. Lights without shadows are rendered in a single pass. Lights with
 shadows are rendered in multiple passes. This is required for performance
 reasons on mobile devices. As a result, performance does not scale well with
@@ -483,34 +483,34 @@ separate static shadow rendering from dynamic shadow rendering, but this is
 planned in a future release.
 
 Clustering is also used for reflection probes and decal rendering in the
-Forward+ backend.
+Forward+ renderer.
 
 Shadow mapping
 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
 
-Both Forward+ and Forward Mobile methods use
+Both Forward+ and Mobile methods use
 :abbr:`PCF (Percentage Closer Filtering)` to filter shadow maps and create a
 soft penumbra. Instead of using a fixed PCF pattern, these methods use a vogel
 disk pattern which allows for changing the number of samples and smoothly
 changing the quality.
 
 Godot also supports percentage-closer soft shadows (PCSS) for more realistic
-shadow penumbra rendering. PCSS shadows are limited to the Forward+
-backend as they're too demanding to be usable in the Forward Mobile backend.
+shadow penumbra rendering. PCSS shadows are limited to the Forward+ renderer
+as they're too demanding to be usable in the Mobile renderer.
 PCSS also uses a vogel-disk shaped kernel.
 
 Additionally, both shadow-mapping techniques rotate the kernel on a per-pixel
 basis to help soften under-sampling artifacts.
 
-The Compatibility backend doesn't support shadow mapping for any light types yet.
+The Compatibility renderer supports shadow mapping for DirectionalLight3D,
+OmniLight3D, and SpotLight3D lights.
 
 Temporal antialiasing
 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
 
 .. note::
 
-    Only available in the Forward+ backend, not the Forward Mobile or
-    Compatibility methods.
+    Only available in the Forward+ renderer, not the Mobile or Compatibility renderers.
 
 Godot uses a custom TAA implementation based on the old TAA implementation from
 `Spartan Engine <https://github.com/PanosK92/SpartanEngine>`__.
@@ -542,13 +542,12 @@ Global illumination
 
 .. note::
 
-    VoxelGI and SDFGI are only available in the Forward+ backend, not the
-    Forward Mobile or Compatibility methods.
+    VoxelGI and SDFGI are only available in the Forward+ renderer, not the
+    Mobile or Compatibility renderers.
 
-    LightmapGI *baking* is only available in the Forward+ and Forward Mobile
-    methods, and can only be performed within the editor (not in an exported
-    project). LightmapGI *rendering* will eventually be supported by the
-    Compatibility backend.
+    LightmapGI *baking* is only available in the Forward+ and Mobile renderers,
+    and can only be performed within the editor (not in an exported
+    project). LightmapGI *rendering* is supported by the Compatibility renderer.
 
 Godot supports voxel-based GI (VoxelGI), signed distance field GI (SDFGI) and
 lightmap baking and rendering (LightmapGI). These techniques can be used
@@ -558,7 +557,7 @@ Lightmap baking happens on the GPU using Vulkan compute shaders. The GPU-based
 lightmapper is implemented in the LightmapperRD class, which inherits from the
 Lightmapper class. This allows for implementing additional lightmappers, paving
 the way for a future port of the CPU-based lightmapper present in Godot 3.x.
-This would allow baking lightmaps while using the Compatibility backend.
+This would allow baking lightmaps while using the Compatibility renderer.
 
 **Core GI C++ code:**
 
@@ -594,14 +593,13 @@ Depth of field
 
 .. note::
 
-    Only available in the Forward+ and Forward Mobile methods, not the
-    Compatibility backend.
+    Only available in the Forward+ and Mobile renderers, not the
+    Compatibility renderer.
 
-The Forward+ and Forward Mobile methods use different approaches to
-DOF rendering, with different visual results. This is done to best
-match the performance characteristics of the target hardware. In Clustered
-Forward, DOF is performed using a compute shader. In Forward Mobile, DOF is
-performed using a fragment shader (raster).
+The Forward+ and Mobile renderers use different approaches to DOF rendering, with
+different visual results. This is done to best match the performance characteristics
+of the target hardware. In Forward+, DOF is performed using a compute shader. In
+Mobile, DOF is performed using a fragment shader (raster).
 
 Box, hexagon and circle bokeh shapes are available (from fastest to slowest).
 Depth of field can optionally be jittered every frame to improve its appearance
@@ -615,7 +613,7 @@ when temporal antialiasing is enabled.
 
 - `servers/rendering/renderer_rd/shaders/effects/bokeh_dof.glsl <https://github.com/godotengine/godot/blob/4.2/servers/rendering/renderer_rd/shaders/effects/bokeh_dof.glsl>`__
 
-**Depth of field GLSL shader (raster - used for Forward Mobile):**
+**Depth of field GLSL shader (raster - used for Mobile):**
 
 - `servers/rendering/renderer_rd/shaders/effects/bokeh_dof_raster.glsl <https://github.com/godotengine/godot/blob/4.2/servers/rendering/renderer_rd/shaders/effects/bokeh_dof_raster.glsl>`__
 
@@ -624,10 +622,9 @@ Screen-space effects (SSAO, SSIL, SSR, SSS)
 
 .. note::
 
-    Only available in the Forward+ backend, not the Forward Mobile or
-    Compatibility methods.
+    Only available in the Forward+ renderer, not the Mobile or Compatibility renderers.
 
-The Forward+ backend supports screen-space ambient occlusion,
+The Forward+ renderer supports screen-space ambient occlusion,
 screen-space indirect lighting, screen-space reflections and subsurface scattering.
 
 SSAO uses an implementation derived from Intel's
@@ -701,8 +698,7 @@ Volumetric fog
 
 .. note::
 
-    Only available in the Forward+ backend, not the Forward Mobile or
-    Compatibility methods.
+    Only available in the Forward+ renderer, not the Mobile or Compatibility renderers.
 
 .. seealso::