GeForce2: Duo Deluxe (5/12)

ASUS V7700 Deluxe

3D Shutter Glasses

ASUS has put a lot of work into the refinement of its 3D shutter glasses since their introduction with the 6x00 series. The glasses can now be used for Direct3D as well as OpenGL games and programs. If you’ve never had the privilege of using this feature, you will be absolutely amazed when you do the first time. But beware: If you have a defective vision (like squint) it´s possible that you can´t see any 3D effect at all.
All of the relevant 3D stereo-parameters can be selected and set through an on screen menu within any game, so that changes take effect immediately. In Direct 3D games, settings are now adjusted dynamically by the software. In OpenGL VR, settings can be saved and recovered. Additionally, there is also an option to use pre-defined settings for quite a number of games as well.

Before you can use this feature, you may need to clear a few obstacles though. In my case, the VR mode could only be activated after I set the option "Disable Monitor Check" in the on screen menu. I think my monitor, an ELSA Ecomo 19H98, was not the problem here. After all, I’ve never experienced this kind of trouble with older ASUS drivers or the ELSA Revelator glasses. The OpenGL mode can also be rather tricky. Here you need to set the resolution to twice what you actually want to play, i.e. 1600x1200 to play stereo at 800x600. I strongly recommend taking a look at the driver’s readme.txt.

OpenGL	Direct 3D

The glasses themselves are also rather bulky, but then again, you’ll be sitting at a computer, not the Bay Watch tower (how I wish…), so you’re not going to need Oakley’s, right? However, a real gripe I have with this set is the way-too-short connector cable. If you have a tower sitting under your table, it’s definitely going to be a tight fit running the cable from the back of the pc up over the desk to your head. It’s best to get an extension cable, or you’ll just be frustrated from the start.

OpenGL VR In-Game Menü	Direct 3D VR In-Game Menü

The 3D Video viewer is a really interesting piece of software. Unfortunately there aren’t any movies around that could take advantage of its capabilities. You can however look at stereoscopic still images in 3D. (Just think: Pamela Anderson in 3D! Oh yeah! But serious: I heard of some 3D movies of this kind in Taiwan....).  I would have expected a screenshot utility, like the one that comes with the ELSA Revelator, to take snapshots of spectacular 3D gaming scenes.

Whether VR is really playable in the end is a debatable question. Playing is sometimes problematic as a result of the 3D effect, and oftentimes the simulated depth of the scene becomes too irritating. Of course, the performance also takes a hit, but that’s a drawback inherent in this 3D implementation.

Copyright: 04.10.2000 -   RIVA Station 2000 - Lars Weinand
No Copy without Permission!

Translation by Benjamin Kraft

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