Do you 3D

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sakichop

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Just wondering if anyone hear plays games in 3d. Mainly pc games I have a 3dtv but I don't really play any console games. I'm thinking of taking the plunge next month with the release of 3d vision 2 and the new lightboost monitors.

Also, does anyone know how coding for 3d works. Looking through the compatible games list their doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason as to which game are compatible. for instance older games like wiz 8, fear and king's quest:mask of eternity are rated excellent, but DA2, fear 3 and dead island are not recommended.

So, anyway just wondering how pc 3d gaming is? Do you think it's worth it?
 
I haven't played many 3D titles, but I did have a Dell 3D laptop and glasses (Nvidia) for about a month and played a few and lots of demos.

I was left with a kind of 'meh' feeling about it. It's pretty impressive for the first couple hours, but quickly loses appeal. I also found it really tiring on the eyes/brain after about 30 minutes per session.

I think the reason some of those older titles get high ratings is that they use the 'adaptive' 3D (I think that was the name) which is basically a driver that converts older graphics to a 3D look. On older games like you mention the basic graphics tend to 'pop out' more and give a nice effect versus the realistic graphics of newer games where the effect is much more subtle.

Best example I can think of is cel shading. Imagine a cartoon like Archer, where all the characters have a thick black line around them - they would really stand out against the back ground and give that sensation of depth. Something with lots of anti-aliasing and lighting effects tends to blend in more. Hope that helps explain a bit.

Overall I think you'd have fun with it, but its mainly a novelty at this point, and movie content is tiny. Best movie I watched was the latest Pirates of the Carri bean. Tron Legacy also has some nice scenes, although it had trouble playing (stutter/flash) on the system I had. YMMV.

Good luck, and let us know your experiences!
 
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I have the same opinion about it as I have about 3D movies. It's a gimmick that ultimately changes almost nothing about the experience. In some very rare cases it can add to the experience, but it also inevitably takes away from it through strain on the eyes and the brain.

I think it's largely a wasted effort that should be reserved for the cases where it makes sense. Avatar - the shit movie - was a good example of 3D enhancing the experience, or so I'm told, but if the story and the characters are as shallow as a line - then 3D serves as more of an excuse to not make an otherwise meaningful experience - which actually makes it a huge detriment.
 
Not remotely interested. I'd rather use the resources of my graphics card to improve the 2D experience.
 
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Playing Minecraft in its 3D anaglyph setting is ... interesting. Especially the proximity of the ground ^^. It's really cool to see square little droplets turn into cubes, but all in all it's rather hard on my eyes.
Haven't played any other 3d game since Depth Dwellers.
 
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I have Nvidia's 3D Vision.

There are certain games that are absolutely breath taking in 3D. Dead Rising 2 is one of them. I'll only play that game in 3D now. The Witcher 2, Batman: Arkham Asylum, Fallout 3 and New Vegas are also great in 3D.

Others are hit and miss. Like Morrowind is absolutely beautiful, but it's a little hard to play it. The 3D cursor was a little off when I was playing and so it made collecting items a little difficult.

I've never really had problems with strain on my eyes or headaches, but I've heard some people have that problem. I won't play a 3D game more than a few hours. Even though my eyes are fine, I don't want to put that much stress on them.

King's Bounty has an adjustable 3D menu option, but I really don't recommend playing any strategy game in 3D. It's too difficult and not worth it. Only games that are 1st person or over-the-shoulder are worth playing in 3D.
 
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Thanks for the replies guys. I had a 3d tv and have watched quite a bit of 3d content. I've never had any problems with eye strain and don't usual game for more than a couple hours at a time. Is 3d gaming more stressful on the eyes or pretty much the same as watching 3d movies? If it's the same I shouldn't have any problems with that I wouldn't think.

I guess if I find I don't like the 3d I'll still be able to game in true 120hz goodness. I've read on some forums that you can really tell a difference between 60hz and 120hz. Any one know if that's true?

Also with 3d vision 2 and lightboost hopefully the experience will be better than what we get now.

@Skavenhorde, I have all the games you mentioned so I'll be looking forward to those. I'm halfway thorough batman AA. I assume I can just turn on 3d and finish it in 3d? It's a good game but I'm not sure I'd want to do another run through. Have you played wiz 8 in 3d? If so how is it. I'm 3/4 of the way through another play through and can always play it again.
 
I just got a pair of nVidia 3D Vision glasses the other day and I have been fooling around with them for a little while. I can't really say that I'm impressed.

The problem is the very nature of 3D vs. interactivity. When you see a 3D movie you're watching a sequence of events scripted to fit the 3D experience (i.e. scenes are chained together so there is a natural flow for your eyes to follow) but that is not the case when playing games. When you yourself are in control of the camera and action there is no "red thread" to follow so you'll often find yourself switching back and forth between looking at stuff in the background and stuff in the foreground of the picture and that is where 3D fails and also where the potential headaches begin.

The faster the gameplay (e.g. shooters), the less obvious are the 3D effects. I tried "Just Cause 2" with 3D turned on and while the trees and distant mountain-scapes look amazing while driving/flying/walking around, the moment I entered a fight with bullets flying everywhere and explosions going off left and right, it became difficult to locate enemies because everything became blurred with so much going on at the same time.

Perhaps I should give Fallout 3 a go since the pace is usually slower than regular shooters.
 
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I've been using 3D Vision for over a year now and I love it. The Witcher 2 in particular is absolutely stunning now that it's patched up.

It sounds like you've been looking at the list NVIDIA put out. That list is absolutely WRONG when it comes to older games. Those games were rated using NVIDIA's old "Discover" technology. When 3D Vision came out they dropped support for OpenGL and older versions of DirectX so a lot of those games simply will not work at all (e.g. Deus Ex and Gothic 2). It's much more accurate when it comes to modern games, meaning DirectX 9 or later. Also, don't trust "3D Vision Ready" when it comes to games. That seems to mean that the game is aware of 3D Vision and tries to handle the 3D itself. That does not mean it did a good job of handling the 3D itself.

If you are wanting to know if a game will work well in 3D it's best to do a little research. NVIDIA's forums are a good place to check. MTBS is getting a pretty good database of games. You could also try poking around in 3D Vision Live to try and find 3D screenshots.

I don't know how well the system works with shooters. Games that require you to click on objects that aren't near screen depth (for instance, selecting the monster you want to attack) often have big problems because your pointer is stuck at the monitor's depth. Some have weird graphics issues, too.

On the other hand, the system can be turned on/off with a simple keypress. For instance, in Dragon Age: Origins you could keep the system on while hiking through the dungeons but turn it off when chatting with an NPC or when a difficult battle started up. When you pause the battle, you might pop 3D back on again just to see how truly epic it looks, then pop it back off when you need to click on a target. The switch only takes a second.
 
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@Skavenhorde, I have all the games you mentioned so I'll be looking forward to those. I'm halfway thorough batman AA. I assume I can just turn on 3d and finish it in 3d? It's a good game but I'm not sure I'd want to do another run through. Have you played wiz 8 in 3d? If so how is it. I'm 3/4 of the way through another play through and can always play it again.

You can turn it on or off as you please. I put the shortcuts to turning it on or off in my start menu. Makes it easy to switch it on for some games and switch it off for other.

Turn it on and the next game you play will be in 3D. Turn it off and it'll be back to normal.

The thing that I didn't quite understand until I bought the glasses is that almost any game can be played in 3D. It doesn't have to be specifically designed for it. Like there was no 3D when Morrowind was made and yet I can play that. The quality is hit or miss though. Zloth expalins it a lot better. The only game that I'm pissed that I can't play in 3D is KOTOR. That game would be awesome in 3D, but oh well. I can still play most of them. Ghostbusters - The Video Game - is another that was pretty cool in 3D…..OH I can't believe I forgot GTA 4……YOU HAVE to play that in 3D. It's a must. I couldn't for awhile because whenever I'd start it up it'd crash, but I guess when they upgraded the drivers they fixed that issue because I can play it now and OMFG it's awesome. Crashing never felt so good :)

You can also adjust how much 3D you want in the game right on the receiver. I keep it pretty low because going too high gets a little strange.

Dude, you have the same attitude I did. I bought the Samsung monitor because the reviews for it said that it was great in 2D or 3D and I figured if I really didn't like the 3D then I still have a great monitor, but that doesn't matter now since I love it. It's the closest thing the average joe has to virtual reality, but when I just want to play a strategy game or give my eyes a rest then I switch back. The longest I've played for is like 6 hours. Never got a headache and my eyes didn't bother me. I was just tired of playing :)

Let me give you an example: I was playing the beginning stages of Morrowind. I had loaded a bunch of mods for it as well and they all worked fine with it. It was really beautiful. Anyways, I get to the table right after the room you choose what kind of skills you want. I walk up to the table and it felt so real that I actually tried to grab a hold of a mug. The mug was out of my screen. For a minute I just stared and laughed my butt off as I tried to grab a mug. If anyone walked in on me then they would have shipped me off to the funny farm.

Bottom line: If you enjoy 3D and can deal with a few hiccups sometimes then get it. You won't regret it.

@Zloth 1st person is ok for the most part like Stalker 3 works great. Get rid of the crosshair and use their 3D laser crosshair. Gets rid of that weirdness. You mostly have to get rid of the crosshairs for all 1st person games, but Nvidia has their own. I can't remember what they call it right now, but it's easy to setup and use. A hotkey to turn it on in the game and the same hotkey turns it off. I use it for Fallout, Morrowind and all the others.
 
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You can also adjust how much 3D you want in the game right on the receiver. I keep it pretty low because going too high gets a little strange.
It depends on your monitor size and how far away you are. Ideally, you want it so objects that are very distant show up as two images that are just as far apart as your eyes - that way both eyes look straight at it, just as they would in real life. It does take some getting used to, though. If you sit somebody new to 3D down and have them try to play with ideal settings, ouch.

I really need to write up some of this stuff and post it somewhere. Unfortunately, %#(#@)! Time Warner decided to simply turn off their web servers. Ah well, I'll find a blog or something.
 
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Great info. You guys have me pretty excited to get my 3d monitor. Now i'm just waiting for the 3d vision 2 and light boost monitors to come out. It was supposed to be Oct. but now it's November.

It will also be nice to have the 120hz in 2d. I have to run v-sync for most everything or I get crazy tearing.
 
I got my 120hz and the Nvidia 3d a week or so ago, but don't really have many games to try it yet. It magically works with pretty much every game I've tried (even like Europa Universalis 3 and Heroes of M&M 6), but I bought it for TOR as I've heard or read somewhere that it plays well with it.
 
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<Zloth grumbles about NDAs that have outlived their usefulness>

3D Vision 2 should be out now with the whole 'lightboost' monitor technology thing. Sounds pretty cool, though not cool enough to buy a whole new monitor.
 
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<Zloth grumbles about NDAs that have outlived their usefulness>

3D Vision 2 should be out now with the whole 'lightboost' monitor technology thing. Sounds pretty cool, though not cool enough to buy a whole new monitor.

Don't worry, game's release is in mid-December, so I expect NDA to be released earlier than that. When that happens I intend to post a full report including availability of 3d vision there (just remind me, I might forget)
 
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Kinda wonder if I must grab lenses for 3d Vision.
 
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I'll remind you by posting mine, Wolfing! ;)

JemyM - yeah, you do. That's what makes it "3D Vision". 3D Vision isn't the only way into the stereo world, though. AMD/ATI has a way to do it via third party drivers, for instance. Unfortunately, I barely know anything about them (or how these things hook up with 3D TVs).
 
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Asus vg278h finally up on amazon but only for pre order. Hurry up and release it already.

What 3d monitors do you guys have? Any brand any better than others? The asus I mentioned above has gotten pretty good press and asus worked directly with nivida to insure it works optimally with 3d vision 2. I'm hoping it will pair nicely with my 480's in sli. Any suggestions or thoughts are welcome though as this will be my first 3d pc setup.
 
I've got an Asus monitor from last year. It's pretty good though there is a little ghosting and every once in a blue moon it does some overdrive oddness that causes white to come out technicolor.

I've only got one 480 and it works just fine for 3D. RPGs don't really need a whole lot of framerate. Not even the 'shootery' ones.

Bloody has posted a great review of the new Asus monitor on his blog: http://3dvision-blog.com/review-of-the-27-inch-asus-vg278h-3d-vision-ready-lcd-monitor/
It sounds like he will be adding more to that in coming days, too.

(I'll tell ya, that ghosting is WAY less than what I have. And what I have is quite a bit less than the original 3D Vision monitors.)
 
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I've got an Asus monitor from last year. It's pretty good though there is a little ghosting and every once in a blue moon it does some overdrive oddness that causes white to come out technicolor.

I've only got one 480 and it works just fine for 3D. RPGs don't really need a whole lot of framerate. Not even the 'shootery' ones.

Bloody has posted a great review of the new Asus monitor on his blog: http://3dvision-blog.com/review-of-the-27-inch-asus-vg278h-3d-vision-ready-lcd-monitor/
It sounds like he will be adding more to that in coming days, too.

(I'll tell ya, that ghosting is WAY less than what I have. And what I have is quite a bit less than the original 3D Vision monitors.)

Thanks for the link. Looks like a great monitor. I'll definitely wait to see what else he has to say in the coming days. Then have to decide weather to pull the trigger or wait to see what other manufacturers have to offer. I've read quite a bit of stuff on the asus but that's by far the most info I've seen on it.
 
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