TriDef Ignition Driver 2.1 impressions
Posted: Sun Sep 13, 2009 7:36 pm
So I just downloaded the trial for the DDD TriDef Ignition drivers (v2.1). Previously DDD was only licensing profiles on a per-game basis and I wasn't interested in that pricing model. Now that they have a general driver for potentially any game I thought I would give it a go. I am testing this with a Zalman Trimon 22" with an 8800GTS 512MB on Vista 32-bit. So far I would say it was a mixed bag, but the driver definitely has some potential with a little work. Read on to hear my findings.
The first game I tried it with was COD4. I figured the support should be alright since it is with both iz3d and Nvidia. Once the game started loading it wasn't a pretty sight. For some reason the Ignition driver made the 2D menus really slow (I am talking 10% the normal speed maybe). Just clicking "start game" was a chore. Similarly when loading the level it took at least twice as long and was choppy all the way through (both video and audio). Once the game actually started though it went to a normal speed of what I would expect. At this point the actual stereo 3d rendering was very nice, at least on par with say the iz3d implementation. The HUD elements were correctly at screen-depth and there was a nice depth. The gun looked solid, zooming in on the scopes was not a problem. I saw no major glitches or anything out of the ordinary. Once leaving the game the 2D menus were slow again, so I am not sure what is up with that.
Next up I decided to try Half-Life 2 since I figured it had to have good support (if it didn't then the drivers were trash for sure). As expected, the Ignition drivers performed flawlessly on HL2. Performance was at full-speed, depth was very nice, HUD elements looked fine. So this was on par with the iz3d driver and maybe slightly better than Nvidia's version. I didn't try any other Source games but I imagine the other HL episodes, Left 4 Dead, Portal, Counter-Strike:Source, etc. should also play nice.
Next up, I loaded up Crysis. I knew my PC couldn't really handle it but I just had to see. Again there was some serious slow-down on the menus (almost to the point of not being usable). I would click a button a *maybe* 10 seconds later something would happen (other times it didn't register). Not a good start. I loaded up a game from one of the early jungle levels. The loading also took 3-4 times as long as usual (but it did eventual load). Finally I got into the game and I was surprised at how good it looked. Even with custom very high settings everything looked great in stereo 3d. Shadows were set at full, all the post-processing, motion-blur, etc. Also when going into scope mode the gun was just in the center and the cross-hair was accurate (and not doubled up or weird). It all looked fine (unlike the Nvidia driver where you have to turn everything off or the iz3D driver which don't even work on my computer). Unfortunatly the performance was really bad (maybe 5fps) but that is more of an issue with running Crysis at 1680x1050 at very high in stereo 3d. So I can't really fault DDD for that, clearly I need a better video card if I want to run Crysis like that. But the fact is that the images I was seeing looked good and if all I need is a new video card then I can't blame the driver.
After that I thought I would try to add a custom game to see how that would work. I went for "AaaaaAAaaaAAA!" since I just got it today. Adding the profile was easy enough but when I clicked "Launch" a big error message popped up on screen. Oh well, it was worth a shot.
Then I tried Need For Speed: ProStreet just to get a feel for the different compatibility. This game, on the other hand, played flawlessly in stereo 3d. I was very impressed and it was one of the best looking racing games I have seen in stereo 3d (compared to other racing games I have played with other drivers). The performance seemed a little slow for a game thats 2 years old, but still playable. I could see why Neil choose DDD to do the NFS:Shift demo since I imagine its running on the same engine.
Next up I tried UT2004, one of my old time favorites. Surprisingly there wasn't a profile and I had to add a custom one. After launching the game everything seemed to be at a normal speed. I loaded a level and then nothing happened. It was just 2D, no 3D at all. At least there were no weird errors, but I was almost sure that an old game like this would work. Not so.
Finally I wanted to try Bioshock since I have been unable to get this to work with either the latest Nvidia driver or the iz3d driver (even though both drivers supposedly support it). Again the 2D menus were slow, but not as bad as Crysis was. Once the game loaded I was in for a pleasant surprise: it actually worked. The stereo 3D looked pretty nice even at the default settings (I don't even know what the hot-keys are yet to tweak it). There was also some auto-convergence going on and that seemed to work ok but it took some getting used to. Overall there was a nice depth to the image, the guns looked really solid and 3d and I didn't notice any obvious anomalies. I am just testing with the 14-day trial but I may have to purchase this now if even just for Bioshock.
So all in all, I think DDD TriDef has something on their hands, but not quite on par with iz3d's solution. It did work nicely on the games that were officially supported however there were serious bugs (slowdown on the menus), low performance and weak compatibility otherwise. However it did work for Bioshock where the other drivers left me hanging and it did appear to have the most fully-supported implementation for Crysis. I think with a little work DDD could have a very nice quality driver and it seemed like they are moving in this direction. It is also very nice that users of interlaced or checkerboard solutions now have another choice in terms of driver support. It certainly wouldn't be my first choice, but it is another option and more support is always good. Plus, for only $50 including the picture/video player and 2D converter it seems like a pretty good package deal. So if I had to give it a rating I'd say 3 out of 5 stars and hopefully DDD can improve the issues I mentioned in future versions.
The first game I tried it with was COD4. I figured the support should be alright since it is with both iz3d and Nvidia. Once the game started loading it wasn't a pretty sight. For some reason the Ignition driver made the 2D menus really slow (I am talking 10% the normal speed maybe). Just clicking "start game" was a chore. Similarly when loading the level it took at least twice as long and was choppy all the way through (both video and audio). Once the game actually started though it went to a normal speed of what I would expect. At this point the actual stereo 3d rendering was very nice, at least on par with say the iz3d implementation. The HUD elements were correctly at screen-depth and there was a nice depth. The gun looked solid, zooming in on the scopes was not a problem. I saw no major glitches or anything out of the ordinary. Once leaving the game the 2D menus were slow again, so I am not sure what is up with that.
Next up I decided to try Half-Life 2 since I figured it had to have good support (if it didn't then the drivers were trash for sure). As expected, the Ignition drivers performed flawlessly on HL2. Performance was at full-speed, depth was very nice, HUD elements looked fine. So this was on par with the iz3d driver and maybe slightly better than Nvidia's version. I didn't try any other Source games but I imagine the other HL episodes, Left 4 Dead, Portal, Counter-Strike:Source, etc. should also play nice.
Next up, I loaded up Crysis. I knew my PC couldn't really handle it but I just had to see. Again there was some serious slow-down on the menus (almost to the point of not being usable). I would click a button a *maybe* 10 seconds later something would happen (other times it didn't register). Not a good start. I loaded up a game from one of the early jungle levels. The loading also took 3-4 times as long as usual (but it did eventual load). Finally I got into the game and I was surprised at how good it looked. Even with custom very high settings everything looked great in stereo 3d. Shadows were set at full, all the post-processing, motion-blur, etc. Also when going into scope mode the gun was just in the center and the cross-hair was accurate (and not doubled up or weird). It all looked fine (unlike the Nvidia driver where you have to turn everything off or the iz3D driver which don't even work on my computer). Unfortunatly the performance was really bad (maybe 5fps) but that is more of an issue with running Crysis at 1680x1050 at very high in stereo 3d. So I can't really fault DDD for that, clearly I need a better video card if I want to run Crysis like that. But the fact is that the images I was seeing looked good and if all I need is a new video card then I can't blame the driver.
After that I thought I would try to add a custom game to see how that would work. I went for "AaaaaAAaaaAAA!" since I just got it today. Adding the profile was easy enough but when I clicked "Launch" a big error message popped up on screen. Oh well, it was worth a shot.
Then I tried Need For Speed: ProStreet just to get a feel for the different compatibility. This game, on the other hand, played flawlessly in stereo 3d. I was very impressed and it was one of the best looking racing games I have seen in stereo 3d (compared to other racing games I have played with other drivers). The performance seemed a little slow for a game thats 2 years old, but still playable. I could see why Neil choose DDD to do the NFS:Shift demo since I imagine its running on the same engine.
Next up I tried UT2004, one of my old time favorites. Surprisingly there wasn't a profile and I had to add a custom one. After launching the game everything seemed to be at a normal speed. I loaded a level and then nothing happened. It was just 2D, no 3D at all. At least there were no weird errors, but I was almost sure that an old game like this would work. Not so.
Finally I wanted to try Bioshock since I have been unable to get this to work with either the latest Nvidia driver or the iz3d driver (even though both drivers supposedly support it). Again the 2D menus were slow, but not as bad as Crysis was. Once the game loaded I was in for a pleasant surprise: it actually worked. The stereo 3D looked pretty nice even at the default settings (I don't even know what the hot-keys are yet to tweak it). There was also some auto-convergence going on and that seemed to work ok but it took some getting used to. Overall there was a nice depth to the image, the guns looked really solid and 3d and I didn't notice any obvious anomalies. I am just testing with the 14-day trial but I may have to purchase this now if even just for Bioshock.
So all in all, I think DDD TriDef has something on their hands, but not quite on par with iz3d's solution. It did work nicely on the games that were officially supported however there were serious bugs (slowdown on the menus), low performance and weak compatibility otherwise. However it did work for Bioshock where the other drivers left me hanging and it did appear to have the most fully-supported implementation for Crysis. I think with a little work DDD could have a very nice quality driver and it seemed like they are moving in this direction. It is also very nice that users of interlaced or checkerboard solutions now have another choice in terms of driver support. It certainly wouldn't be my first choice, but it is another option and more support is always good. Plus, for only $50 including the picture/video player and 2D converter it seems like a pretty good package deal. So if I had to give it a rating I'd say 3 out of 5 stars and hopefully DDD can improve the issues I mentioned in future versions.