Final verdict: XP and Stereo Glasses?

Socrates · 12-25-2002, 04:26 PM

Got some MSI Stereo2 3D Glasses as a gift.

I am afraid to open them because neither Windows 2000 or Windows XP is listed on the side of the box or their web site?

I vaguely remember people saying something about glasses and XP around here.

What's the deal, can I open them and use them? Do I need third party software? Will they work with the aquarium, or just games? Do I need to get a different brand?

Web info is susupiciously lacking out there on these.

It says I need an Nvidia card, which I have from the same manufacturer (GF4 Ti4200 8x 128).

Jav400 · 12-25-2002, 05:23 PM

Soc,

I have had the same problem. I used to be running 98SE and used 3D glasses with stereo drivers form Wicked 3D, but I can't find anything about them any more either. I have recently changed over to 2k and am looking for the same thing. If I recall correctly there are supposed to be some nVidia drivers that support 3D and have those options available. I haven't tried them yet, but if you have any luck let me know.

Socrates · 12-25-2002, 05:53 PM

I am not even going to pel the plastic off the box if I can't figure out if they are going to work.

Jav400 · 12-25-2002, 08:40 PM

Socrates,

After some searching I found this page http://www.3dvelocity.com/driverindex.htm#3d2k You might want to check them out and see what happens. But, in this case I HAVE NOT personally tried these and have no idea how they will wrk. Maybe some more searching might produce some screen shots or information about these drivers. There may be some later ones available, or there might not.

Socrates · 12-25-2002, 10:27 PM

On NVidi.com there is a Technical reference PDF which specifically says they work with XP.

I found one sight saying they used 21.03 Detonator drivers with them and they worked.

So I guess they "work". But there has to be some reason the OEM's are unwilling to print XP on the side of the box. MAkes me wonder.

I will probably try them when I get home.

Socrates · 12-26-2002, 03:04 AM

So far:

The program that comes with them called "MSI 3D Theatre" works great. I can watch a video of an aquarium in 3D, and can watch a bunch of 3D pictures in a slide show.

However. IN all other applications, I get "intermittent" 3D. MEaning that the glasses only do their thing for a second at a time with a 3-4 second interval in between. This means it goes 3D real fast, then is split pictures for a while, then blinks in 3D again...

Anyone know how to fix this?

I haven't tried a variety of drivers yet, but I am about to. I have DX 9, Win XP, KT333 MB, GF4 Ti4200 (at 4X currently).

Thanks.

I am really desperate to see the SSA in true 3D!!!!!

Jav400 · 12-26-2002, 09:45 AM

I am hopeing that you get it working. I am going to try the same thing myself soon. The 3D glasses that I bought some time ago were fairly expensive, but the good thing is that they support and will work with all types of drivers. They support page-flipping, which the nVidia drivers are supposed to be, interlacing, sync-doubling, and something else that I can't remember the name of right now.

I looked at the PDF file that you were talking about, and the set up looks to be about the same that I did for set up on the Wicked 3D drivers, and they looked awesome. I think the page-flipping renders the best effects so if we can get these working properly they should be good.

Jav400 · 12-26-2002, 10:31 AM

For anyone else interested in Stereo 3D effects, there is a good site located here http://www.stereo3d.com/3dhome.htm

Socrates · 12-26-2002, 09:42 PM

https://www.feldoncentral.com/forums...hlight=Glasses

I found the old thread.

I downloaded the XP version of VR Caddy, but it won't install in DX9 machines. It says you need to first install DX 8.1.

I emailed them to ask them if their software would specifically fix my problem. I let you know what they say.

feldon34 · 12-26-2002, 11:00 PM

I'd like to line up every author who includes an idiot-check in their programs like this and have a talk with them.

Command & Conquer checks to see if you are running Windows 95/98 before deciding if it will run. At the time, Windows NT was at 3.51 and had no hope of running game graphics. Now Windows NT 5.0 is here (Windows 2000) and it would run this game fine if it weren't for the 95/98 check.

Another example. The widely-used nvMax diagnostic tool for nVidia drivers won't install on the 41.0x drivers. It says you need a "newer" driver. Funny, since the newest driver nvMax works on is 31.82 (or some such nonsense).

Thankfully, Psygonsis's idiot check on Lemmings95 is just a warning message. When I run Lemmings95 (designed for 800x600, 256 colors, Windows 95) on my Windows 2000, 1024x768, 16 million colors display, it comes up with an error message at startup "Warning: Lemmings requires a 256 color display, you have a 2 color display, proceed?" but you can get around it.

Many Developers don't seem to realize that the method of checking what version of Windows or what video resolution you have may change from one version of Windows to another and to allow people to get around these checks.

Ugh.

Socrates · 12-27-2002, 12:59 AM

Almost every Lucas game before a couple of years ago suffered from a DX check that prevents installation on newer DX.

I think I would be hard pressed to reinstall and play some greats like Grim Fandango.

IS there anyone that knows how to fool a program into thinking there is a different DX on here for just a second?

Socrates · 12-27-2002, 02:55 AM

I used System Restore to go back a week when it was DX8.1

Makes no diference with the Nvidia drivers.

VR Caddy is actuall worse. And is very hard to configure.

Tiny Turtle · 12-27-2002, 04:45 AM

Originally posted by feldon23
Ugh.

Well put. Ugh too...

/Tiny Ugh

Socrates · 12-27-2002, 01:18 PM

Some progress to report!!!!

I actually got the test program to work fine.

This is what I did:
1. Installed the 41.09 Detonator from Nvidia.
2. Installed the 30.87 Stereo Driver from Nvidia.
3. Downloaded this: http://digilander.libero.it/giofx/en...StereoCtrl.zip
4. Followed the Readme about enabling the driver in the Registry.
5. Ran the StereoCntrl.exe and ran the test program.

The test program alone is SOOOOOO cool with the graphics moving away from and closer to you.

The Aquarium is still not working. But now I have proven that the glasses will work with a DirectX application under XP. I will now test and see what works and what does not.

Current settings: XP, 41.09 Detonators, DirectX 9.

Jav400 · 12-27-2002, 02:57 PM

I'll try that later tonight. The setup looks almost exactly the same as what I am used to with the older drivers I used before. If I can at least get TO some settings maybe I can get it working. If the Demo with this is anything like the Demo with the others, I agree. With my cordless glasses, I could stand on the other side of the room and it looked like the Demo was sticking about 4 feet out of the screen at times.

Socrates · 12-27-2002, 04:35 PM

OK.

Ifound some hints out there that the problem could actually be hardware interference because XP works with PCI differently. I don't know about that...

...but I can confirm that by turning on and off my network card (using disable in Device Manager) I can now sort of stimulate the glasses to give me a few minutes of AMAZING 3D in the aquarium.

Then sort of will go dead and I have to turn the device on and off again. Somtimes I can restart and get it. It seems like something is interfering.

I wonder if XP putting my AGP card on IRQ 16 is part of the problem.

I also read one guy who said that removing the ACPI driver in favor of one of the Standard PC ones helped him. I am not sure I am willing to do that one.

Socrates · 12-27-2002, 04:37 PM

As a side note.

The aquarium is going to need a 3D object for the back of the aquarium at some point o work with glasses. The background that is there now does not get repainted along the edges when a fish swims by. This leaves some psychedlic nasty trails.

Jav400 · 12-27-2002, 09:54 PM

Well I tried the script and had less than stellar results. I did get the test Demo running, and it was about the same as the Wicked3D Demo that I used before. After that things went downhill. It got to the point that the aquarium wouldn't run at all. So it was off with the 3D drivers, a manual erasing from the registry, and the aquarium runs again. At this point I think I will do some more research, and hope that nVidia comes out with some new drivers that are geared to work with the 40.xx series of main video card drivers. I refuse to believe that there aren't ANY 3D drivers out there somewhere that are geared to work with 2k. Since my glasses will activate with all modes of 3D, the search continues.

Jav400 · 12-27-2002, 10:41 PM

Socrates,

I have been searching boards to try and find some results that seem positive for 2K and XP. I have found, but not tested yet a link here about the the nVidia stereo drivers that have been tweaked to work with with 41.09 and 2K/XP. It looks to be something that was done in Russia. You may check the boards I have been looking at here and see what you may find and think. http://www.stereo3d.com/discus/

This is supposed to be a link to download the fixed drivers http://clientes.netvisao.pt/alexd/nV...tereo_ru_1.exe the immediate response underneath was from giofx, who was the one that had something to do with the patch you found, and reported that it worked great with XP and 41.09 drivers. But, in this instance, I must repeat, I don't know anything about these people and have no idea about the download I have posted here as I have not tested it.

Socrates · 12-28-2002, 04:01 AM

That's the sight that got me the two previous result producing ideas.

12-25-2002, 04:26 PM	#1
Socrates Sage Join Date: Apr 2001 Location: West Hills, CA Posts: 1,529	Final verdict: XP and Stereo Glasses? Got some MSI Stereo2 3D Glasses as a gift. I am afraid to open them because neither Windows 2000 or Windows XP is listed on the side of the box or their web site? I vaguely remember people saying something about glasses and XP around here. What's the deal, can I open them and use them? Do I need third party software? Will they work with the aquarium, or just games? Do I need to get a different brand? Web info is susupiciously lacking out there on these. It says I need an Nvidia card, which I have from the same manufacturer (GF4 Ti4200 8x 128). Bat rays? We don't need no stinking bat rays!

12-25-2002, 05:23 PM	#2
Jav400 Administrator Join Date: Dec 2000 Location: Tennessee Posts: 9,725	Soc, I have had the same problem. I used to be running 98SE and used 3D glasses with stereo drivers form Wicked 3D, but I can't find anything about them any more either. I have recently changed over to 2k and am looking for the same thing. If I recall correctly there are supposed to be some nVidia drivers that support 3D and have those options available. I haven't tried them yet, but if you have any luck let me know. Michael Administrator of Inside:SereneScreen Aquarium Forum, Chatroom, Fan Site & *Gallery* DVD Collection

12-25-2002, 08:40 PM	#4
Jav400 Administrator Join Date: Dec 2000 Location: Tennessee Posts: 9,725	Socrates, After some searching I found this page http://www.3dvelocity.com/driverindex.htm#3d2k You might want to check them out and see what happens. But, in this case I HAVE NOT personally tried these and have no idea how they will wrk. Maybe some more searching might produce some screen shots or information about these drivers. There may be some later ones available, or there might not. Michael Administrator of Inside:SereneScreen Aquarium Forum, Chatroom, Fan Site & *Gallery* DVD Collection Last edited by Jav400; 12-25-2002 at 08:43 PM.

12-25-2002, 10:27 PM	#5
Socrates Sage Join Date: Apr 2001 Location: West Hills, CA Posts: 1,529	On NVidi.com there is a Technical reference PDF which specifically says they work with XP. I found one sight saying they used 21.03 Detonator drivers with them and they worked. So I guess they "work". But there has to be some reason the OEM's are unwilling to print XP on the side of the box. MAkes me wonder. I will probably try them when I get home. Bat rays? We don't need no stinking bat rays!

12-26-2002, 03:04 AM	#6
Socrates Sage Join Date: Apr 2001 Location: West Hills, CA Posts: 1,529	So far: The program that comes with them called "MSI 3D Theatre" works great. I can watch a video of an aquarium in 3D, and can watch a bunch of 3D pictures in a slide show. However. IN all other applications, I get "intermittent" 3D. MEaning that the glasses only do their thing for a second at a time with a 3-4 second interval in between. This means it goes 3D real fast, then is split pictures for a while, then blinks in 3D again... Anyone know how to fix this? I haven't tried a variety of drivers yet, but I am about to. I have DX 9, Win XP, KT333 MB, GF4 Ti4200 (at 4X currently). Thanks. I am really desperate to see the SSA in true 3D!!!!! Bat rays? We don't need no stinking bat rays!

12-25-2002, 05:53 PM	#3
Socrates Sage Join Date: Apr 2001 Location: West Hills, CA Posts: 1,529	I am not even going to pel the plastic off the box if I can't figure out if they are going to work. Bat rays? We don't need no stinking bat rays!

12-26-2002, 09:45 AM	#7
Jav400 Administrator Join Date: Dec 2000 Location: Tennessee Posts: 9,725	I am hopeing that you get it working. I am going to try the same thing myself soon. The 3D glasses that I bought some time ago were fairly expensive, but the good thing is that they support and will work with all types of drivers. They support page-flipping, which the nVidia drivers are supposed to be, interlacing, sync-doubling, and something else that I can't remember the name of right now. I looked at the PDF file that you were talking about, and the set up looks to be about the same that I did for set up on the Wicked 3D drivers, and they looked awesome. I think the page-flipping renders the best effects so if we can get these working properly they should be good. Michael Administrator of Inside:SereneScreen Aquarium Forum, Chatroom, Fan Site & *Gallery* DVD Collection

12-26-2002, 10:31 AM	#8
Jav400 Administrator Join Date: Dec 2000 Location: Tennessee Posts: 9,725	For anyone else interested in Stereo 3D effects, there is a good site located here http://www.stereo3d.com/3dhome.htm Michael Administrator of Inside:SereneScreen Aquarium Forum, Chatroom, Fan Site & *Gallery* DVD Collection

12-26-2002, 09:42 PM	#9
Socrates Sage Join Date: Apr 2001 Location: West Hills, CA Posts: 1,529	https://www.feldoncentral.com/forums...hlight=Glasses I found the old thread. I downloaded the XP version of VR Caddy, but it won't install in DX9 machines. It says you need to first install DX 8.1. I emailed them to ask them if their software would specifically fix my problem. I let you know what they say. Bat rays? We don't need no stinking bat rays!

12-26-2002, 11:00 PM	#10
feldon34 Forum Administrator Join Date: Dec 2000 Location: Rock Hill, SC Posts: 10,938	I'd like to line up every author who includes an idiot-check in their programs like this and have a talk with them. Command & Conquer checks to see if you are running Windows 95/98 before deciding if it will run. At the time, Windows NT was at 3.51 and had no hope of running game graphics. Now Windows NT 5.0 is here (Windows 2000) and it would run this game fine if it weren't for the 95/98 check. Another example. The widely-used nvMax diagnostic tool for nVidia drivers won't install on the 41.0x drivers. It says you need a "newer" driver. Funny, since the newest driver nvMax works on is 31.82 (or some such nonsense). Thankfully, Psygonsis's idiot check on Lemmings95 is just a warning message. When I run Lemmings95 (designed for 800x600, 256 colors, Windows 95) on my Windows 2000, 1024x768, 16 million colors display, it comes up with an error message at startup "Warning: Lemmings requires a 256 color display, you have a 2 color display, proceed?" but you can get around it. Many Developers don't seem to realize that the method of checking what version of Windows or what video resolution you have may change from one version of Windows to another and to allow people to get around these checks. Ugh. "Journalism is printing what someone else does not want printed. Everything else is public relations." - George Orwell "If voting changed anything, they'd make it illegal." - Emma Goldman Last edited by feldon34; 12-26-2002 at 11:06 PM.

12-27-2002, 12:59 AM	#11
Socrates Sage Join Date: Apr 2001 Location: West Hills, CA Posts: 1,529	Almost every Lucas game before a couple of years ago suffered from a DX check that prevents installation on newer DX. I think I would be hard pressed to reinstall and play some greats like Grim Fandango. IS there anyone that knows how to fool a program into thinking there is a different DX on here for just a second? Bat rays? We don't need no stinking bat rays!

12-27-2002, 02:55 AM	#12
Socrates Sage Join Date: Apr 2001 Location: West Hills, CA Posts: 1,529	I used System Restore to go back a week when it was DX8.1 Makes no diference with the Nvidia drivers. VR Caddy is actuall worse. And is very hard to configure. Bat rays? We don't need no stinking bat rays!

12-27-2002, 04:45 AM	#13
Tiny Turtle is pleased Join Date: Mar 2001 Location: Stockholm, Sweden Posts: 7,365	Originally posted by feldon23 Ugh. Well put. Ugh too... /Tiny Ugh

12-27-2002, 01:18 PM	#14
Socrates Sage Join Date: Apr 2001 Location: West Hills, CA Posts: 1,529	Some progress to report!!!! I actually got the test program to work fine. This is what I did: 1. Installed the 41.09 Detonator from Nvidia. 2. Installed the 30.87 Stereo Driver from Nvidia. 3. Downloaded this: http://digilander.libero.it/giofx/en...StereoCtrl.zip 4. Followed the Readme about enabling the driver in the Registry. 5. Ran the StereoCntrl.exe and ran the test program. The test program alone is SOOOOOO cool with the graphics moving away from and closer to you. The Aquarium is still not working. But now I have proven that the glasses will work with a DirectX application under XP. I will now test and see what works and what does not. Current settings: XP, 41.09 Detonators, DirectX 9. Bat rays? We don't need no stinking bat rays!

12-27-2002, 02:57 PM	#15
Jav400 Administrator Join Date: Dec 2000 Location: Tennessee Posts: 9,725	I'll try that later tonight. The setup looks almost exactly the same as what I am used to with the older drivers I used before. If I can at least get TO some settings maybe I can get it working. If the Demo with this is anything like the Demo with the others, I agree. With my cordless glasses, I could stand on the other side of the room and it looked like the Demo was sticking about 4 feet out of the screen at times. Michael Administrator of Inside:SereneScreen Aquarium Forum, Chatroom, Fan Site & *Gallery* DVD Collection

12-27-2002, 04:35 PM	#16
Socrates Sage Join Date: Apr 2001 Location: West Hills, CA Posts: 1,529	OK. Ifound some hints out there that the problem could actually be hardware interference because XP works with PCI differently. I don't know about that... ...but I can confirm that by turning on and off my network card (using disable in Device Manager) I can now sort of stimulate the glasses to give me a few minutes of AMAZING 3D in the aquarium. Then sort of will go dead and I have to turn the device on and off again. Somtimes I can restart and get it. It seems like something is interfering. I wonder if XP putting my AGP card on IRQ 16 is part of the problem. I also read one guy who said that removing the ACPI driver in favor of one of the Standard PC ones helped him. I am not sure I am willing to do that one. Bat rays? We don't need no stinking bat rays!

12-27-2002, 04:37 PM	#17
Socrates Sage Join Date: Apr 2001 Location: West Hills, CA Posts: 1,529	As a side note. The aquarium is going to need a 3D object for the back of the aquarium at some point o work with glasses. The background that is there now does not get repainted along the edges when a fish swims by. This leaves some psychedlic nasty trails. Bat rays? We don't need no stinking bat rays!

12-27-2002, 09:54 PM	#18
Jav400 Administrator Join Date: Dec 2000 Location: Tennessee Posts: 9,725	Well I tried the script and had less than stellar results. I did get the test Demo running, and it was about the same as the Wicked3D Demo that I used before. After that things went downhill. It got to the point that the aquarium wouldn't run at all. So it was off with the 3D drivers, a manual erasing from the registry, and the aquarium runs again. At this point I think I will do some more research, and hope that nVidia comes out with some new drivers that are geared to work with the 40.xx series of main video card drivers. I refuse to believe that there aren't ANY 3D drivers out there somewhere that are geared to work with 2k. Since my glasses will activate with all modes of 3D, the search continues. Michael Administrator of Inside:SereneScreen Aquarium Forum, Chatroom, Fan Site & *Gallery* DVD Collection

12-27-2002, 10:41 PM	#19
Jav400 Administrator Join Date: Dec 2000 Location: Tennessee Posts: 9,725	Socrates, I have been searching boards to try and find some results that seem positive for 2K and XP. I have found, but not tested yet a link here about the the nVidia stereo drivers that have been tweaked to work with with 41.09 and 2K/XP. It looks to be something that was done in Russia. You may check the boards I have been looking at here and see what you may find and think. http://www.stereo3d.com/discus/ This is supposed to be a link to download the fixed drivers http://clientes.netvisao.pt/alexd/nV...tereo_ru_1.exe the immediate response underneath was from giofx, who was the one that had something to do with the patch you found, and reported that it worked great with XP and 41.09 drivers. But, in this instance, I must repeat, I don't know anything about these people and have no idea about the download I have posted here as I have not tested it. Michael Administrator of Inside:SereneScreen Aquarium Forum, Chatroom, Fan Site & *Gallery* DVD Collection Last edited by Jav400; 12-27-2002 at 10:47 PM.

12-28-2002, 04:01 AM	#20
Socrates Sage Join Date: Apr 2001 Location: West Hills, CA Posts: 1,529	That's the sight that got me the two previous result producing ideas. Bat rays? We don't need no stinking bat rays!