3D Gaming Information (*spawn from Crysis 2*)

pjbliverpool

B3D Scallywag
Legend
To play this game on the PC in 3D, would you need any special software or hardware other than a 3d capable TV/monitor?

Or is it just a case of "turning on 3D" in the game?
 
@ pjb you need a 3rd party set of shutter glasses and drivers iz3d are the only ones I know of that support your card
http://www.iz3d.com/

and a display they approve (viewsonic 120hz 22" lcd £205) or certain projectors

or you can uses the iz3d drivers with red/blue anaglyph glasses on a normal lcd
 
@ pjb you need a 3rd party set of shutter glasses and drivers iz3d are the only ones I know of that support your card
http://www.iz3d.com/

and a display they approve (viewsonic 120hz 22" lcd £205) or certain projectors

or you can uses the iz3d drivers with red/blue anaglyph glasses on a normal lcd

Cheers for that.

So the PC version doesn't support "out of the box" 3D gaming like the console version will (provided you have a 3D TV)?

That's pretty dissapointing if so. (Dissapointing with regards to the PC platforms 3D capabilities in general as opposed to the game itself).

Does that mean I wouldn't be able to run 3D blu-rays through my PC to my TV aswell?
 
Cheers for that.

So the PC version doesn't support "out of the box" 3D gaming like the console version will (provided you have a 3D TV)?

It does on PC to.

Does that mean I wouldn't be able to run 3D blu-rays through my PC to my TV aswell?

I got Totalmedia Theatre 3 with 3D plugin and can use 4 different 3D methods with customisable depth and Blu-ray 3D support + 2D->3D for any. That either on monitor or TV. To bad I dont got a monitor with 3D support and wont touch anaglyph either.
 
So the PC version doesn't support "out of the box" 3D gaming like the console version will (provided you have a 3D TV)?
So the console version comes with a set of glasses ???
if no then the only difference in the pc version is you need a driver (free for nv cards but you need to use their glasses)
ati users have to buy a driver for iz3d (supposed to be other companies but I dont know of them) for $39.99 (very poor of amd imho, but the driver is free if you use a amd card and a 3d dlp projector)
on the plus side you arnt limited to 1 brand of glasses like nv


All non 2d pc games support 3d gaming out of the box, the question is how well
for example crosshairs are usually 2d and dont work too well with 3d
also some games use tricks like having distant objects as textures with no depth info
and that meses up in 3d

I would suggest get a set of anaglyph glasses and the iz3d driver and try it out before you spend any money

glasses 67p (£3.50 postage though)
http://www.1topstore.com/product_info.php?language=en&currency=GBP&products_id=12078

pps: 50% off iz3d driver if you qualify (hd5000 and higher)
http://www.iz3d.com/amd_hd3d/

make sure you monitor/3dtv is supported
http://www.amd.com/us/products/technologies/amd-hd3d/pages/supported-hardware.aspx
 
Do I need to buy red/blue glasses or can I just punch my left eye so it gets blue and smoke a fatty to make the other one red, would it work?
 
on the plus side you arnt limited to 1 brand of glasses like nv
The big downside is game support. iz3D seems to have many more issues than Nvidia's 3D vision drivers.
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/3d-vision-projector-acer-h5360,2687.html

Left 4 Dead:
iZ3D drivers are lacking in that there are a number of text overlay and skybox anomalies.
The 3D Vision driver delivers much better performance than the iZ3D driver can muster

Crysis:
3D Vision does a better job in this game than the iZ3D drivers.
TriDef drivers [...] provide some strange interface anomalies that make the game impossible to play.

Modern Warfare 2:
The iZ3D drivers are unusable from a visual standpoint.

Dungeons and Dragons Online:
The TriDef driver crashes when we try to use it with this game.
The iZ3D driver [...] is workable, but because of the cursor issue, it's not as pleasant as the 3D Vision option.

Star Trek Online:
Unfortunately, this is another game for which the TriDef driver fails to work.
The iZ3D driver works, but produces some shadow glitches, so the low setting is necessary. Once again, the mouse cursor can only be seen in one eye when using the iZ3D driver.

Conclusion:
On average, 3D Vision works with a much broader range of games than the TriDef and iZ3D options.
 
First and foremost iz3d has no decent crossfire or SLI support yet.

Makes 120fps a bit hard to reach , ha!

Ultimately you want CRT for stereo cause it's a pulse display, and LCD monitors are hold displays. Furthermore it has no native resolution, makes 120fps way easier. If you want more brightness with CRT just peel off the anti glare coating and there you go. With LCD you are stuck with bad contrast and unbearable (imho ) "brightness". The bad contrast is direct consequence of low brightness. 16:10 CRT exists but it's 42kg and hard to come by. Todays LCD monitors can't touch CRT when it comes to s3d.
 
The big downside is game support

Hasnt that allways been ati's weak point..

I remember arguing with dave bauman over sticking in some hooks to let 3rd parties develop stereo drivers does not equal "our drivers fully support 3d output"

but then again do I really want amd's driver development team or "john" as he's called to be any more overstretched than he already is ?
personally I think amd should focus on eyefinity i could be wrong but I see it as catching on more than 3d (look at recent monitor releases, how many are 120hz ?)
 
personally I think amd should focus on eyefinity i could be wrong but I see it as catching on more than 3d (look at recent monitor releases, how many are 120hz ?)
I don't think multi-monitor gaming is / will be more common than 3d gaming. At the moment both are a niche, but if either of the two has a chance at mainstream I think it's got to be 3d, which is being pushed by the film and TV industry as well.

I see multi-monitor gaming as nothing more than a transitional step during the evolution towards bigger and/or wider high-res screens.
 
3d gaming well may make it to mainstream, but if it does i dont think it will be the 120hz lcd/shutter-glasses type of 3d
 
You guys seem to be talking about solutions to turn 2D games into 3D were 3D wasn't the original intent of the game. My expectation of Crysis 2 was that itwould be "built in" and there was just an option in the menu to switch from 2D to 3D and in 3D, any 3D capable TV would render it as such.

So that's what I mean by out of the box support as long as you have the 3D hardware/glasses to support it. I'd have expected the PC version to work in the same way but from the sounds of it, I'll need dedicated hardware over and above my regular 3D TV.

Or have I got that wrong?

EDIT: to put it a different way, I thought Crysis 2 might be handling the 3D conversion fo use with any 3D output device as opposed to a specialised driver requiring specialised matching hardware.
 
no, all done in the drivers
for example nv drivers


for the console version I assume there would be a 3d setting on the console
 
Cheers, so do we have any idea why consoles can use (I assume) any old 3D TV and associated glasses while NV and ATI require very specific devices and at least in the case of NV, their own glasses?

It seems silly that I could have a 3D TV that will play console 3D games fine but I need a seperate display and glasses to use 3D on the PC.
 
NVidia supported 3D way before 3D tvs were "common". Their latest cards now start supporting regular HDMI 1.4 supporting 3D TVs as well however.
 
NVidia supported 3D way before 3D tvs were "common". Their latest cards now start supporting regular HDMI 1.4 supporting 3D TVs as well however.

Okay cool, so if I want to game in 3D on my 3DTV using my PC, I just need a recent NV card connected to the TV via HDMI 1.4 andNV's 3D drivers?

But ATI currently has no solution other than paying for a 3rd party driver solution and purchasing a specialised supported monitor and glasses?
 
well the iz3d people claim to support any glasses/monitor combo
but i would still go to their forums and check if the glasses you want to buy work ok

and as for consoles supporting any glasses/tv combo is that really true

pps: get the anaglyph glasses you may decide you dont like 3d (some people dont)
or you may like quite a few people decide this is the greatest thing evar, and then 2 months later the glasses are in the cupboard
 
Okay cool, so if I want to game in 3D on my 3DTV using my PC, I just need a recent NV card connected to the TV via HDMI 1.4 andNV's 3D drivers?

But ATI currently has no solution other than paying for a 3rd party driver solution and purchasing a specialised supported monitor and glasses?

IIRC, Nvidia has put in support for 3D TV's but still require you to use their glasses. In other words 3D TV's were just added as supported output devices to their list of supported monitors for use with the Nvidia 3D glasses. [edit] Looks like Nvidia sells a version of it that works with 3D TV's without the need for Nvidia glasses for 39.99 USD. Or free if you already own the 200 USD 3D vision kit.

So for ATI users they have to spend 19.99 USD for the driver (assuming a relatively recent GPU), and Nvidia users have to spend...A quick search shows 100-200 USD (new or used) for the 3D vision glasses kit [edit] or 39.99 USD if they will only be using it with a 3D TV.

After including supported monitor/TV, etc. I figure the price is going to be roughly similar. The only other consideration is with Nvidia you are locked into their GPUs. With IZ3D, you can use it even if you swap video card manufacturers in the future.

Regards,
SB
 
Color me confused. There is a setting in Crysis 2 for 3D. You guys are saying I still need some other software installed to actually use 3D on a 3DTV?
 
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