For those of you struggling to get the best possible experience out of Doom 3 BFG…you’ve come to the right place. Special thanks to John Carmack for emailing some much needed technical support (talk about service!). The instructions are a bit different depending on whether you are using an AMD GPU on the HD3D platform, or an Nvidia GPU with 3D Vision glasses, so bear with me.
For Nvidia users, make sure your desktop is set to 120Hz. I’m not talking about from within the game, I mean from the Windows desktop itself. This setting can be found in the Nvidia control panel (Display –> Change Resolution sub screen). Once you are in the game, set the refresh rate to 60Hz, NOT 120Hz! Remember, 60Hz has to be reserved for each eye.
AMD gamers need to set their desktop resolution to 1280 X 720P and 60Hz. Remember, I’m only talking about the Windows desktop (don’t panic)! These settings can be found in the Catalyst drivers (Desktop Management –> Desktop Properties). Once in the game, set the resolution to 1920 X 1080P. I don’t know why you have to go through these extra steps, so there are probably some bugs to be worked out still. Also, my 3D only started to work when I set it to 1080P on my Samsung DisplayPort monitor.
As far as I can tell, the remaining options like side by side, interlaced, and above/below don’t have any special setting requirements.
Now even though you have the game running, if you’re like me, the default 3D experience isn’t going to be the Doom 3 that got you all excited about stereoscopic 3D gaming in the first place. No problem! Follow these instructions to the letter:
1. In Windows Explorer, go to the following path:
X:\users\(USERNAME)\Saved Games\id Software\DOOM 3 BFG\base
X and (USERNAME) are dependent on your computer setup, of course.
Open D3BFGConfig.cfg with your favorite editor and add the following line to the end:
set com_allowConsole “1”
2. Launch the game, and enter the console with the ~ key.
3. If you type “stereo” and follow with the TAB key, you will see all the available stereo settings:
stereorender_interOccularCentimeters is the camera separation, and is what the slider adjusts in the game’s menu. Even though the slider will max it out at 6, you can take it higher if you think it is necessary.
stereorender_convergence is the convergence setting, and increasing this value high enough will bring on the out of screen effects. I’ve been playing with a convergence of about 25, but you will need to adjust according to your separation settings and monitor size.
Once you find the settings you like, make sure they get recorded into the Doom config file mentioned above. This will prevent you from having to re-enter the values over and over again.
So far, so good! Try these settings options out, and be sure to share your results in our forums. The only thing I can’t figure out is how to get screenshots of the game in 3D. Even on the Nvidia platform which could normally service this through their drivers, it appears to be unavailable. All this 3D glory, and I can’t show anyone! Bah! So frustrating!
If you find people are having a lackluster experience from Doom 3 BFG in 3D (on PC), have them try these settings out. I know it made a world of difference in my first run with the game’s refresh. Brings a tear to my eye!
We’ll get you more updates as soon as they become available. Happy zombie hunting everyone, and be sure to game during daylight hours.