diff --git a/src/gl/system/gl_interface.cpp b/src/gl/system/gl_interface.cpp
index dcde3f006..85946d598 100644
--- a/src/gl/system/gl_interface.cpp
+++ b/src/gl/system/gl_interface.cpp
@@ -151,6 +151,7 @@ void gl_LoadExtensions()
 	{
 		double v1 = strtod(version, NULL);
 		double v2 = strtod(glversion, NULL);
+		if (v1 >= 3.0 && v1 < 3.3) v1 = 3.3;	// promote '3' to 3.3 to avoid falling back to the legacy path.
 		if (v2 < v1) version = glversion;
 		else Printf("Emulating OpenGL v %s\n", version);
 	}
@@ -204,8 +205,9 @@ void gl_LoadExtensions()
 			gl.flags |= RFL_SAMPLER_OBJECTS;
 		}
 	
-		// The minimum requirement for the modern render path are GL 3.0 + uniform buffers. Also exclude the Linux Mesa driver at GL 3.0 because it errors out on shader compilation.
-		if (gl_version < 3.0f || (gl_version < 3.1f && (!CheckExtension("GL_ARB_uniform_buffer_object") || strstr(gl.vendorstring, "X.Org") != nullptr)))
+		// The minimum requirement for the modern render path is GL 3.3.
+		// Although some GL 3.1 or 3.2 solutions may theoretically work they are usually too broken or too slow.
+		if (gl_version < 3.3f)
 		{
 			gl.legacyMode = true;
 			gl.lightmethod = LM_LEGACY;
@@ -213,16 +215,6 @@ void gl_LoadExtensions()
 			gl.glslversion = 0;
 			gl.flags |= RFL_NO_CLIP_PLANES;
 		}
-		else if (gl.glslversion < 1.4f && !CheckExtension("GL_ARB_uniform_buffer_object"))
-		{
-			// Some old ATI drivers report OpenGL 3.1 with GLSL version 1.3 and no support for uniform buffers.
-			// We have no choice but to force them down to OpenGL 2.x.
-			gl.legacyMode = true;
-			gl.lightmethod = LM_LEGACY;
-			gl.buffermethod = BM_LEGACY;
-			gl.glslversion = 0;
-			gl.flags |= RFL_NO_CLIP_PLANES;
-		}
 		else
 		{
 			gl.legacyMode = false;
diff --git a/src/posix/cocoa/i_video.mm b/src/posix/cocoa/i_video.mm
index c6a7f3a81..01e46442e 100644
--- a/src/posix/cocoa/i_video.mm
+++ b/src/posix/cocoa/i_video.mm
@@ -530,7 +530,7 @@ NSOpenGLPixelFormat* CreatePixelFormat(const OpenGLProfile profile)
 		if (nullptr != glversion)
 		{
 			const double version = strtod(glversion, nullptr) + 0.01;
-			if (version < 3.2)
+			if (version < 3.0)
 			{
 				profile = NSOpenGLProfileVersionLegacy;
 			}
diff --git a/src/swrenderer/scene/r_opaque_pass.cpp b/src/swrenderer/scene/r_opaque_pass.cpp
index 7d6d6b461..bebb9580f 100644
--- a/src/swrenderer/scene/r_opaque_pass.cpp
+++ b/src/swrenderer/scene/r_opaque_pass.cpp
@@ -72,6 +72,20 @@
 EXTERN_CVAR(Bool, r_fullbrightignoresectorcolor);
 EXTERN_CVAR(Bool, r_drawvoxels);
 
+namespace { double sprite_distance_cull = 1e16; }
+
+CUSTOM_CVAR(Float, r_sprite_distance_cull, 5000.0, CVAR_ARCHIVE | CVAR_GLOBALCONFIG)
+{
+	if (r_sprite_distance_cull > 0.0)
+	{
+		sprite_distance_cull = r_sprite_distance_cull * r_sprite_distance_cull;
+	}
+	else
+	{
+		sprite_distance_cull = 1e16;
+	}
+}
+
 namespace swrenderer
 {
 	RenderOpaquePass::RenderOpaquePass(RenderThread *thread) : renderline(thread)
@@ -936,6 +950,10 @@ namespace swrenderer
 		if (!renderportal->CurrentPortalInSkybox && renderportal->CurrentPortal && !!P_PointOnLineSidePrecise(thing->Pos(), renderportal->CurrentPortal->dst))
 			return false;
 
+		double distanceSquared = (thing->Pos() - Thread->Viewport->viewpoint.Pos).LengthSquared();
+		if (distanceSquared > sprite_distance_cull)
+			return false;
+
 		return true;
 	}
 
diff --git a/src/win32/win32gliface.cpp b/src/win32/win32gliface.cpp
index 614adaa2d..8071399db 100644
--- a/src/win32/win32gliface.cpp
+++ b/src/win32/win32gliface.cpp
@@ -877,7 +877,7 @@ bool Win32GLVideo::InitHardware (HWND Window, int multisample)
 	int prof = WGL_CONTEXT_CORE_PROFILE_BIT_ARB;
 	const char *version = Args->CheckValue("-glversion");
 
-	if (version != nullptr && strcmp(version, "3.0") < 0) prof = WGL_CONTEXT_COMPATIBILITY_PROFILE_BIT_ARB;
+	if (version != nullptr && strtod(version, nullptr) < 3.0) prof = WGL_CONTEXT_COMPATIBILITY_PROFILE_BIT_ARB;
 
 	for (; prof <= WGL_CONTEXT_COMPATIBILITY_PROFILE_BIT_ARB; prof++)
 	{