8800 GT + eDimensional + iZ3D interlaced

[F1Dave]

About a year ago (or two), I bought the edimensional shutter glasses and tried them with an ATI video card (i don't remember the model) and an ordinary LCD monitor and thought the immesion was VERY impressive... but since that card was giving me trouble performance-wise when doing 3D, I went on to buy an nVidia card because I had read that nVidia's support for 3D was much better than ATI's. I bought the 8800GT and to my suprise... I was left without any 3D at all... I was so disapointed in the tech that I just put the glasses into a closet and forgot about it.

Lately, I stumbled on those glasses again and after some reading here and there, some posts lead me to think that maybe I could use my shutterglasses again by setting the iZ3D drivers to interlaced mode and using the ED activator.

I'm turning to you 3D gurus for advice. I REALLY want to get into 3D but I don't want to get screwed again.

My technical knowledge of 3D is near zero but I would VERY much love to play rFactor in 3D. Am I right in what I seem to understand about the iZ3D drivers in interlaced mode? I usually get around 150 FPS in 2D in rFactor so halving that would not really be an issue.

If I am wrong, are there any solutions for me that could cost under 200$ (ish) so that I could get 3D... any technology... I've tried anaglyph but it's somewhat not as satisfying.

[BlackShark]

Hi.

I did not test this myself, just remember what others said :
The iZ3D interlaced mode + Ed activator + ED shutter glasses works with any graphics card but not any display.
You'll need a CRT monitor. (LCDs do not work).
I do not know if there are any restrictions regarding operating system (for the ED activator application) or the type of CRT : it just should support interlaced display modes (i think almost all of them do support it).

Someone who actually uses this technique should be able to give more details.

[F1Dave]

Thanks for the reply. I guess i'm out of luck, I only have LCDs. Actually, I do have an old CRT but I don't want 3D THAT bad. Who wants to go back to a 4:3 17 inch screen that weights 200 pounds and takes up the whole deskspace and has a max resolution of... you get the picture.

Any "not so" expensive alternatives? I don't mind ditching the shutterglasses for something else (100$ down the drain) but I don't want to get screwed again. Or is 3D still an elite thing that costs over 500$ ?

[cybereality]

Or is 3D still an elite thing that costs over 500$ ?

For the most back 3D is still a high-end option. However it doesn't have to cost $500. In fact you can get 3D displays starting at $300 or less. Specifically the Zalman Trimon (which I recommend) or the IZ3D can be had for under $300. At the moment its not going to get much cheaper than that. If you are really on a budget you can go with anaglyph while you save. I recommend the Pro-Ana glasses, which have very low ghosting.

[BlackShark]

I recommend the Pro-Ana glasses, which have very low ghosting.

Pro-ana are good quality glasses made of robust plastic but on my displays, i actually have more ghosting with the pro-ana than with cardboard anaglyph glasses.
I guess it all depends on the RGB filters inside each screen.

[iondrive]

pull it out, pull it out, pull it out.

Pull out that old CRT. Right now you're thinking that it's not worth it, meanwhile here I am having switched from a 24 inch LCD to a 17 inch CRT and I'm much happier. Your card probably has two outputs and you can use both monitors but then you need all that extra desk space and you might not have it.

If you have an actual E-Dimensional dongle (not X3D or H3D), then I think Blue Line Code will make you happy with less demanding games. I have an 8800GTS and it works great with many games with Antialiasing off. However, some games will not work well online when they do work well in single player mode. I will eventually put together a list of "shutterglassable" games that I've tested that work well with a 3GHz system and an 8800 card. Lately I've had a blast with Starwars Battlefront in 3d except that online mode gave me problems and I had to fall back to interlaced mode. Of course the problem is that if you want BLC and interlaced as a fallback, then that two licenses at $50 each. Yeesh.

Blackshark mentioned that the CRT should support interlaced mode but that's not needed and I don't advise using it and use what's called "line-blanking" instead. It simulates interlaced mode on a progressive scan system. When I've messed with actual interlaced mode on my CRTs, it often causes some odd kind of problem.

What's your CPU speed and are you using DDR2 Ram in dual channel mode?

Finally, well, I guess you probably will not like it but try it someday anyway. I just get the idea that you play games with really hi res and lots of tiny text. If so, then yeah, you're kind of stuck needing a big screen in which case you might want to consider a DLP projector.

--- iondrive ---

I don't have rFactor so I can't test it for you but with such a high FPS. YES! you will have no problem with BLC mode.

[F1Dave]

Well,

Your enthusiasm has convinced me to give it a try. I just hope that the WOW-Factor will counter act:
- The space taken on the desk for the CRT
- Going from a 1080p resolution to ... i don't remember the CRT's resolution
- Going from widescreen (VERY usefull in wheel to wheel racing) to a 4:3 display

Can you elaborate on precisely what you are using?
- iZ3D driver or eDimensional or some other driver ?
- Why interlaced, why not page flipping ? (maybe a noob question)
- do you need to use EDActivator ?

That being said, I did manage to get a fairly good anaglyph 3D effect. I just remember the shutterglasses effects to be like 10 times better.

[iondrive]

OK,

It's possible you might not love it as much as me but anyway, as far as resolution goes, you can probably get 1600x1200 at 60Hz and possibly 85Hz, it's just that some text will be tiny since the physical screen-size is smaller.

iZ3D's BLC (Blue-Line-Code) Shutterglass mode:
This is what I recommend if your system is fast enough and you're playing less demanding games. Basically you can use anaglyph mode to test framerate and then you'll have an idea about which games will work in BLC mode and at what refresh rate. In the iZ3D control Center under Profiles, hit the Game tab and check "show FPS". OK you probably knew that. Anyway, if your anaglyph framerate is above 40 or 50, then you can probably play at a 60Hz refresh rate. If FPS is over 65, you can probably play at 85Hz. Ideally, game framerate should be more than half the display refresh rate so a 100Hz display needs a 50fps game, but you should add an extra 10 or 20 fps as a kind of buffer. Also, when testing a game for minimum framerate, play some level with alot of action and a long viewing distance. You can cut down your viewing distance if you need to I guess. Anyway, I wanted to say that BLC mode is not interlaced so it's nice and full-frame-per-eye video and you don't need to use ED-Activator or anything because the E-Dim dongle should just detect the blue synchronization lines on the bottom of the screen. Here's the link to my BLC thread:

http://www.mtbs3d.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=5794" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

and if you want to learn more about activators:

http://www.mtbs3d.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=4173" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

But most of that is not really important to you, just if you're curious. I don't have a link for using ED-Activator with interlaced mode right now but I think you can figure it out. Basically, if you want to use it, run it and then right-click on the tray icon and select interleaved, then properties and memorize the toggles. Just set your desktop to the same res as your game and turn on line-blanking before you start the game. Otherwise you have to Alt-tab out of the game, enable line-blanking, and Alt-tab back in.

I've done a few iZ3D profiles so far in the iZ3D forum and you can try those if you want and see what you think. Some games will have issues in 3d like a 2d targeting crosshair or something but usually you can find settings that are satisfactory.

OK, I think that's enough for now. bye.

--- iondrive ---

PS: all that framerate stuff doesn't apply to nvidia's 3d-vision since they have inside information about how their hardware works.

[Martba]

Hello all ,
I can confirm that I can play Rfactor with edimensional shutter glasses and IZ3D drivers in interlaced mode, and with ATI HD3850!! I' m currently racing EVER with 3D on, that is for more than 1 hour in every race... I suggest to tune separation and divergence looking at the monitor without glasses, by superimposing very near objects and separating very far objects no more than 5-5.5cm: too much separation in distance looks great (maximum possible separation is your pupils distance -about 6.5cm-, but avoid it ! because can cause headache or eyestrain for long driving sessions. Moreover 3D tuning depends on your monitor size and distance...

Important note: edimensional glasses have to be activated with both their
-E-D Activator software ON (with interlaced mode ON)
http://www.edimensional.com/support_updates.php" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

-and their original drivers loaded ("eDimensional Universal Software " works with ATI, but must be DISABLED IN GAME, that is a red "X" must appear on the ED icon in the taskbar) BEFORE starting the game.
http://www.edimensional.com/support_updates.php" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Otherwise ED drivers and iZ3D drivers interfere, I don' t know why. Then you will only need iZ3d inputs for 3d effects tuning (not ED in game inputs, that must be off). In any case, switch ON shutter glasses when on desktop, then load RFactor and GOOO!
Too high resolution could cause artifacts, but it depends on your hardware. I feel good driving in 1280X1024(that means half resolution in interlaced mode) and medium details.

- monitor CRT Philips 202P4 (85Hz in game)
- Radeon HD 3850AGP
- AMD Opteron dual core 2,47GHz
- 2GB RAM
-Windows XP, directx 9

[iondrive]

"-and their original drivers loaded ("eDimensional Universal Software ""

Really? So just to confirm, it doesn't work if you only use ED-Activator?

[Martba]

"it doesn't work if you only use ED-Activator?"

No, it does not work. Also "eDimensional Controller Version4.0" is necessary, but "disabled" in 3D gaming. Otherwise the message "can't load output DLL" appears starting Rfactor, and steroscopic effects are off.
I have an ATI HD3850 AGP. Probably Nvidia uses its own geforce drivers for 3D.

Same conditions are necessary to play Pacific Fighters or IL2 Forgotten Battles.

- Strange but true! I also play Richard Burns Rally in 1600x1200 with best graphic details (this game is the best game in stereoscopy I have experienced up to now), BUT it works ONLY with ED-Activator + iZ3D in interlaced mode. With this game I MUST EXIT "eDimensional Controller Version4.0", i.e. eDimensional Controller does not need to be installed or it must be unloaded.