27 replies to this topic

[mobilenvidia]

NVIDIA GeForce 3D Stereo Drivers

UPDATES
2008-04-06: new post layout; added download links for v82.12, v91.28, v174.75, v174.76 and the link to official NVIDIA PDF for a list of currently supported games; also added link to NVIDIA Stereo Driver Archive page


GENERAL INFORMATION
NVIDIA's official page for their GeForce 3D Stereo technology can be found hidden over HERE.
The best resource for in-depths information about NVIDIA stereoscopic drivers is located over at Stereo3D.com. They also have a forum, so if you are interested in the latest and greatest of this technology have a read over there.

Basically stereo drivers are intended to enable the NVIDIA stereo Control Panel for the support of 3D Glasses. Two files are required to use your 3D glasses with any GeForce card. The first is the ForceWare video card driver, and the other is the NVIDIA Stereo drivers.
After installing the video card drivers to update your video card, you will need to install these new Stereo 3D drivers by downloading, unpacking and installing them. You will need to restart your computer one more time. After the 2 files have been installed, go to the display properties, then click Settings, and advanced. Click on the GeForce tab and you will see a menu pop out from the left side. Click on the one that says stereo properties and hit enabled.


DOCUMENTS

• Supported Games as of 2008-03

DOWNLOAD LINKS
For NVIDIA's own Stereo Driver archive page go over HERE.

Here's the list of Stereo Drivers we host:

• v82.12 Stereo Driver
  v82.12 ForceWare (Windows XP 32bit)
• v91.28 Stereo Driver (BETA)
  v91.28 ForceWare (Windows XP 32bit)
• v91.31 Stereo Driver
  v91.31 ForceWare (Windows XP 32bit)
• v93.81 Stereo Driver
  v93.81 ForceWare (Windows XP 32bit)
• v158.22 Stereo Driver
  v158.22 ForceWare (Windows XP 32bit)
• v162.15 Stereo Driver
  v162.15 ForceWare (Windows XP 32bit)
• v162.50 Stereo Driver
  v162.50 ForceWare (Windows XP 32bit)
• v174.75 Stereo Driver (BETA)
  v174.74 ForceWare (VISTA 32bit)
• v174.76 Stereo Driver
  v174.74 ForceWare (VISTA 32bit)

NVIDIA's latest recommended combination is Forceware v174.74 with Stereo Driver v174.76

Edited by ®®®, 06 April 2008 - 07:33 PM.

[mobilenvidia]

Good point, I don't know, XP should be supported, not sure on Vista though

[Bill]

Stereo drivers are so you can run games, watch movies, and look at pictures in 3D. You need to have special equipment though to use it. You also need a fast PC if you want to game in 3D as it needs to render about twice as much stuff.

[®®®]

updated first post

[ewa]

Hi everyone,
I am looking desperately for a Stereoscopic driver to use a Zalman LCD ZM-M220W 22-INCH 3D monitor.
I am running windows xp home edition SP2 and Nvidia GeForce 8600M GT 256mb on aN Apple MacBook Pro 2.4Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo.

Anyone out there that can make my machine run this 3D monitor?

All the best ewa

[mobilenvidia]

You mean this one ?

[BMWM3E30]

do you need a special monitor to get this 3D effect?
or dou you just need the 3D glasses?

[ewa]

You mean this one ?

Thank you SO much!!!!!!!!
I will try it as soon as I get vista.

do you need a special monitor to get this 3D effect?
or dou you just need the 3D glasses?

I am planning to use the Zalman monitor as a secondary monitor on my macbook pro, hope it works, let's see. The Zalman monitor comes with passive glasses.
Would you recommend other ways of doing it?

all the best, ewa

[BMWM3E30]

..to use a Zalman LCD ZM-M220W 22-INCH 3D monitor.

I just thought there was something special about this monitor but it's just the glasses that go with it then?
So if i can find similar 3D glasses, i could do just the same with my regular acer-screen?

[Darmdorf]

In theory, yes, but as I recall you get best results with a standard CRT monitor because of the relatively high frame rates required. For the stereo effect to function properly you effectively need a display with twice the normal frame rate (interleaved images by time for left, then right). Most LCD monitors won't run at a rate high enough to really achieve decent 3D effects and they will probably seem to flicker badly.

Let us know what kind of results you achieve.

@ewa: Welcome to the forum!

[mobilenvidia]

So on a CRT to get a 60hz stereo picture you need to have a 120Hz refresh rate.
60hz still flickers, so higher will be better.

LCD's alas are 60hz refresh so the best you get will be 30hz which will mean flicker city.

[BMWM3E30]

no bother trying then..

[ewa]

I just thought there was something special about this monitor but it's just the glasses that go with it then?
So if i can find similar 3D glasses, i could do just the same with my regular acer-screen?

From what I know so far the Zalman monitor provides two different circular polarizations. one to each eye. meaning there is a circular polarization to one side to one eye and another to the other. The glasses that work with that monitor are passive = simple filters; and not active = LCD shutters embedded in the glasses running in sync with the refresh of the screen.


(BTW: yes, all LCD monitors are polarized. Getting them to have two different polarization, one to each eye, is of course something else.

What I have seen is also a setup using two LCD monitors mounted in 90o. with a mirror/beamsplitter in 45o. between them. Then using passive glasses = normal polarizing filter rotated to match the reflected polarization that the beamsplitter is reflecting, you can see each monitor's image with one of your eyes. If you are in the DIY thing, you could build it... check www.true3di.com)


I am also going to try to figure if the use of glasses with a CRT monitor work, and how they would work. This solution seems to be way cheaper that the zalman monitor.


in case someone in curious let me post some links that I have right now:

zalman monitor: (goto products>monitors)
http://www.zalman.com/eng/main.asp

as for the glasses I have seem so far:
www.ED-Glasses.eDimensional.com

I feel that we are very close to having access to affordable 3D, but as you all know the is in the details...

all the best to everyone, ewa

[®®®]

All you ever wanted to know about stereo drivers is summarized here:
http://forums.laptop...showtopic=14504
You will find links to the official specs & website and deeper information when you follow the links provided there.

Good luck.

Btw i saw an ad about those Zalman screens in a magazine. Would be interesting to hear from you if they are suitable for StereoGaming

[ewa]

Hi everybody,

I am trying to install the Zalman monitor on an Apple 15in MacBook Pro (configuration above) running windows xp (see details above) in VM Fusion software. So I guess I am trying to push all this a bit too far for the time being.

When truing to install the Forceware, either to one provided by Zalman or the one I downloaded from the link immediately above, I always get an error message interruption the process. So I guess I will have to bite the bullet and buy a PC...

As for the gaming itself in the Zalman monitor , I am not a gamer myself (so far ;-) ), I actually bought the monitor to see stereoscopic 3D content. I ll try some game as I want to have that experience too, so I ll keep you posted. Thanks for everybody's help and interest so far!

best, ewa

[®®®]

Thanks for the informative feedback. I merged the posts into this FAQ'd Stereo Driver thread for everybodies convenience (hopefully )