Okay, so what now?

[ToThePoint]

I'd imagine that that's one of the main questions at this stage.


Looking after the Shaderhackers

A major concern was the continued preservation of the fragile marketplace for shaderhacking fixes. I use the word 'marketplace' cautiously, as money won't necessarily change hands, as any given fix is almost exclusively provided with no expectation of payment. Without a doubt, everyone here now fully appreciates that game fixes are huge undertakings that are often both complex and extremely time consuming. Without wishing to preach to the converted, I always make sure that I make a donation each and every time I use a fix successfully, and although game fixes are provided without the expectation of payment, any payment that can be afforded by the fix consumer is always appreciated by its creator I'm quite sure. I'm hoping that this arrangement can now continue on, given that the bulk of the community are once again gathering in one place.

Just as importantly, it has to be worth the while of any shaderhacker to continue providing this valuable service whilst the personal motivation to do so still exists. The moment that ever stops being the case, is the time to step away, with the enduring thanks of the community for all their prior work. It's no secret that for quite a few months now, Losti has stepped up to the plate big time, followed by masterokatu, and with neovad chipping in with fixes too.

Preserving 3D Vision

Given the vast prior technical contributions and tools provided initially by eqzitara, then by DarkStarSword and bo3b to enable the continued enjoyment of 3D Vision, to then be followed by DHR, Flugan, Helifax, Losti and Pauldusler, is something well worth preserving for as long as that's possible. Also, not forgetting a big shout out to harisukro too in that regard, seeing as he managed to somehow get the ball rolling on getting more recent drivers to remain functional for us.

Speaking as a proud purchaser of a copy of bo3b's HelixVision, at the time of writing this post, I've not been in a position to actually try it out yet, but will certainly do so when the opportunity eventually arises. I think HelixVision is certainly a great way of preserving 3D Vision, at least in some form, given that there are those of us who still game in 3D via TVs or monitors at the whim of NVidia software programmers. Given that I'm due to purchase a PG27VQ monitor next month, I'm still very much invested in traditional 3D Vision as well, but that doesn't mean that I don't keep on the lookout for other tech as well.

Succeeding where 3D Vision failed

We lucky few here already know that 3D Vision is an excellent product in theory, but only succeeds in practice with the support of those residing entirely outside of the games industry. Inexplicably, a huge proportion of the gaming market does not like playing either PC or console games in stereoscopic 3D. Why? Why is that? Is it perhaps...

Reason 1. Inept marketing by NVidia?

Reason 2. Insufficient ongoing support by games developers, not helped by Reason 1?

Reason 3. Too many potential customers with eyesight / vision issues?

Reason 4. Too many potential customers with brain issues? Sora, for example.

Reason 5. 3D Vision setup and continued maintenance, just too complicated for the average consumer to master?

Reason 6. Too expensive?

Reason 7. The need for Glasses?

In my own view, I feel that reason 7 still remains the primary reason that 3D Vision was not a success commercially, although other competing reasons may not be that far behind it. Others may well disagree with that choice. The fact of the matter is, is that we as enthusiasts or 3D fanatics, are roughly 0.0001% of the total gaming market. A realistic potential estimate even if a glasses-free variant ever fully succeeded beyond peoples wildest dreams, may only take an optimal 20% of total gaming market share. Not great, but still around 200,000 times larger numerically speaking than we currently are at the present moment with stereoscopic gaming using 3D glasses.

HelixVision

The critical thing will be to see as to just how much consumers are actually willing to view 3D Vision in all its glory on the big screen via HelixVision, all whilst wearing something relatively large and heavy on their head. As a 3D Vision enthusiast, I'm willing to go the extra mile in order to see that, but then I'm part of the 0.0001% of the current 3D Vision gaming market. I'd be more than delighted to hear that the 'average' VR gamer, may take an interest in HelixVision, simply because they're already used to wearing a headset for long periods of time anyway, and so that doesn't present too much of an issue regarding potential sales. As usual of course, only time will tell.

I'll take this opportunity bo3b, since I've got my fingers crossed, for both yourself and your team, pauldusler included, to really succeed in this endeavor. Hopefully crossed fingers shouldn't be a requirement at all! Something has to be tried after all and it's a gutsy move on your part, and I do hope that it all goes to plan for you.

[P.C.Zen]

Looking Glass factories are developing holographic displays, for holographic 3D with no headgear:

https://lookingglassfactory.com/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=htFotQi_-jY

No Idea if it's practical for gaming. Might be extremely resource heavy and laggy. It works by splitting the source image into 45 images, but the guy mentioned it could display a game.

HP produced the ZVR which used cameras for (I think?) tracking the glasses, to create a holographic 3D image, but it cost about 5000 and wasn't developed for the consumer market. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWFpmQOBR0Y

It looks like VR is probably the most likely place that this stuff is going next but I'd love a Looking Glass, if they could price it competitively for the consumer market.

[ToThePoint]

I checked out the uploaded interview that Neil Schneider did for MTBS3D a few days ago on here with the CEO from Looking Glass. Again it's certainly another contender, and it's obviously good to see stereoscopic alternatives being brought to market.

Likewise, I got the impression that this technology is still rather resource heavy in having to simultaneously project multiple viewing angles. I am aware that I'm judging it without actually seeing it first-hand, but I think that if this was the only other option available out there, I'd definitely be more excited. Right now though, a 32" 8K 3D monitor with in-built eye tracking from Dimenco kinda gets my attention. Of course even if a consumer version of their Simulated Reality monitor came out next year, I very much doubt that I'd be able to afford it anyway. Maybe the year after.

On a side note, I don't think that Neil quite realises yet that at least 30 or so people have just piled into the NVidia sub-forum within the last 72 hours or so. IF things do work out here, and these forums remain frequented on a somewhat indefinite basis by the 3D community, ideally it would good to have more direct interaction with him as time goes on. It's still very early days yet, but I do think that a bit of two-way communication would be a good situation to at least aim for between the 3D Vision community and Neil himself. He is after all, a roving reporter essentially, talking about the kinds of things that should presumably interest this community as well. What do you reckon?

[Necropants]

Do not forget DJ-RK. One of the most important shaderhackers we have had in recent years. Monster Hunter World is incredible for example.
I guess VR is the only real future we have at this point. There's a few limiting factors with the technology stopping me from jumping in. The new Oculus headset looks good. but I will never use facebook so its a big nope from me.

[Feisty_Fernando]

iZ3D driver - the future path for the 3D enthusiast community might be right there.