NO stereo effect w/ iz3D drivers (1.09/1.10)

[cybereality]

I am having some serious problems getting the iz3D driver working correctly on ANY game. At first I thought it was just an issue with Mirror's Edge (if you have seen that thread) but now I discover that there is no stereo effect in any game at all. The drivers appear to be hooking DirectX, the hot-keys work and I can see the OSD showing me the separation/convergence values. When I adjust the settings the views do shift, but they are merely displaying the same single 2D image, just offset by some pixels. I am testing this with a Zalman Trimon 22" in horizontal interlaced mode (tried regular and optimized) on both the 1.09 drivers and the 1.10RCa driver. My system specs are EVGA 780i, EVGA 8800GTS 512MB, OCZ 4GB DDR2, Vista 32-bit SP2, Nvidia video drivers 190.62. I also tried with anaglyph mode and that didn't help. No matter what, I am not getting any stereo 3d effect. Look at the screenshots below to see what is happening (I jacked up the settings just so it is clear what is going on):

UT2004_IZ_01.jpg

UT2004_IZ_02.jpg

UT2004_IZ_03.jpg

If you look at those images you will see the wall in the middle that is parallel to the view angle is not being shifted in perspective. In particular look at the last screenshot. In the distance there is a window with some trees in it. Both eyes, however, have the exact same view of this window. If it were correct one eye would be only seeing half of the window or not seeing it at all. Just so you can see its not the game, I tried the same thing on Half-Life 2 Episode 1 (for some reason the regular HL2 would crash on load with the iz3D drivers enabled, but Ep1 at least loaded):

HL2_EP1_IZ_01.jpg

As you can see on the HL2 image, the door in the middle looks basically the same in both eyes. In real life I would see one side of the door on one eye and another side in the other. Surprisingly there is some depth between different objects, as you can see the gun is being offset slightly more than the background. But although the gun is at a different depth than the background, the gun itself is rendered in 2D. There is no depth on the gun itself. I also tried a few other games I didn't take screenshots from (Bioshock, COD4, AaaAAA!, etc.) and none of them worked. This is a huge problem.

I thought it could have been an issue with conflicting drivers so I uninstalled the Nvidia Stereo 3D driver (190.62), and the result was the same. Then I uninstalled the TriDef Ignition driver, same deal. Then I uninstalled the entire TriDef Experience software, no difference. I uninstalled PunkBuster (worth a shot), no dice. Keep in mind, I am restarting my computer after every step just to be safe. Then I just uninstalled the Nvidia video drivers completely and installed an old version (169.44) I recall using with the iz3d drivers. Still, no stereo 3D. The strange part is that I remember using the iz3D drivers not even 2 weeks ago specifically on UT2004 and it did work (I am pretty sure). Between that time I don't even think I have installed anything aside from the DDD TriDef Experience software (which I uninstalled) and Mirror's Edge. I am not sure what I can do here short of reinstalling Vista. Am I the only one that has seen this problem?

[Neil]

Hi Cybereality,

Can you uninstall the iZ3D drivers, reboot, and check your task manager to see if there are any remnant processes running in the background?

What about the S-3D dynamic test in the iZ3D driver HELP section. Is it rendering correctly?

Also look at your startup config to see if there are any programs or files that could be interfering with the S-3D injection. Update your DirectX too (just be play it safe).

Do you have an active interlaced license from the iZ3D driver too? That could be impacting things too.

Regards,
Neil

[cybereality]

Ok, I have finally got it working but I have no clue how I fixed it. I took your suggestion, Neil, and uninstalled the iz3d drivers, checked the service list, startup, and erased anything that said iz3d from the registry. Rebooted. Next I uninstalled all the Nvidia drivers and also the Vuzix iWear driver just to be safe. Rebooted into safe mode and used Driver Sweeper to remove all remnants of the Nvidia video/stereo drivers. Rebooted back into normal mode and installed the latest Nvidia drivers, 190.62. Rebooted. Then I installed the latest version of DirectX (Aug 2009). Rebooted yet again. Finally I re-installed the iz3d driver 1.10RC2a. Did the dynamic test, yes, we are in business.

Loaded up UT2004 and it was in stereo 3D. See below (obviously I jacked up the settings for illustration purposes):

UT2004_IZ_04.jpg

UT2004_IZ_05.jpg

And here is a shot from HL2 (which doesn't crash anymore) with normal 3D settings:

HL2_IZ_01.jpg

Not sure what was up before, but it makes you wonder if this has happened to other people and they just figured the 3D didn't work.

[BlackShark]

Driver conflict when you installed simultaneously all the drivers on the market at the same time ?

[KindDragon]

If Vuzix iWear also hook D3D9, perhaps it is the reason.

[martinlandau]

Cyber I don't like that a smart guy/girl like you can't figure out what was wrong, but great catch. This is why I wish more people would join Neil's S3DGA, to prevent these kinds of messes with standards. Many of us here have advanced degrees and decades of experience and it is all just either too complicated or time consuming, and I no longer have your level of patience for troubleshooting. I think the stereo3d industry is shooting itself in the foot because of this. Already at PAX many of the developers said the PC market is fading to the console market because of this complexity/time issue and even the console market in some areas are giving away to the mobile gaming market (phones and portable systems). People, families want to come home after a hard day of work/school and just GAME witout things breaking and needing repair. Would we accept this from a car that constantly needed user tinkering to work? Or a microwave, or a TV? No, you just push the power button and it WORKS!

Really s3d gaming is already niche enough, who has your time/expertise to just test and troubleshoot til the dawn comes and fix stuff but still not even know WHY!!? I have had similar issues with all the different S3D hardware I have had and software problems stepping on each other and honestly my patience wears thin. Heck in some cases, certain software developers intentionally break things for the user if other software is installed. Some of this blame can be laid on the OS people like MSFT, but I am getting to the point where I would just rather pop in a game in my playstation than go through 3 weeks of driver/software hacks to get the PC version optimized and running. On my old sears game system, all I had to do was push the power switch and could start playing pong, it was great. Now even with a computer science degree from university I can't get this stuff working without hours and hours of labor. I am thoroughly convinced if Neil and his S3DGA does not take off, the industry as a whole will implode, because the general public is not going to do what you just did to get things to work - NEVER! TAKE note 3d companies.

[cybereality]

@martinlandau: Yeah, I know what you mean. PC gaming is already complex enough but add S3D into the mix and its just a whole other story. You practically need a PhD in Computer Science just to get the stuff working sometimes. I mean, I've been into this stuff since I got the Virtual Boy in like '96 and its still as confusing as ever. There are still times when I am testing a game and it takes me a minute or so just to realize the eyes are reversed. Not to mention weird software glitches like whatever happened here with the iz3d driver. If I had been your average Joe Six-Pack I would have surely returned the product thinking it didn't work. So I think we still have a ways to go before stereo 3D is plug and play. That said I think IZ3D has made a great effort with their monitor/driver and is the closest thing to a plug and play solution on the market. Nvidia has also greatly improved their driver since the release of the 3D Vision. So the industry is moving forward, but its still not on a mainstream level ready for the console market.