3D Vision Blog

Today Nvidia has released a new and updated 3D Vision driver in the form of full CD including the GeForce GPU driver v257.21 and 3D Vision driver v257.21 WHQL versions, not betas as well as making available both drivers separately. The good thing about the full driver CD version 1.29 is that it includes both drivers for the 32-bit and 64-bit operating systems, so you can use it to install 3D Vision on multiple machines with a single download. The new driver adds support for 3D Vision Streaming which will support upcoming 3D Vision enabled streaming video, including actually taking advantage of 3D content streaming like it was demonstrated during Computex with Microsoft’s Silverlight technology. There is also support for GPU accelerated Blu-ray 3D playback when using compatible Blu-ray 3D player software from companies such as CyberLink and Arcsoft (already available in the last beta driver). Also there is support for GeForce GTX 480, GeForce GTX 470, and GeForce GTX 465 as well introduced in the last beta release as well as the support for the new 3D Vision-Ready LCDs: ASUS VG236H, LG W2363D 120 Hz, LG W2363DB 120 Hz (the LG is becoming available already in some countries and the Asus should start appearing probably next month).

The new release 257 driver also comes with new 3D Vision profiles for the following games: Alice in Wonderland, FIFA Online (2010), iRacing Demo, Heaven Benchmark, Mafia II, Lost Planet 2, Sam & Max – Beyond Time and Space, Settlers VII, Split Second, StarCraft II, Stone Giant and Toy Story 3 (most of which already introduced in the 257.15 beta already).

And here is the list of the updated 3D Vision game profiles:
- Battlefield Bad Company 2 – updated in-game compatibility message
- BioShock 2 – updated in-game compatibility message
- Metro 2033: The Last Refuge – updated in-game compatibility message
- Napoleon Total War – updated in-game compatibility message
- Order of War – the game is now rated Excellent
- Stone Giant – the game is now rated 3D Vision-Ready

- To download the new GeForce 3D Vision Driver v1.29 WHQL Full CD…

We’ve been waiting for Nvidia for over a month to release a new standalone 3D Vision driver with profiles for new top games, but there is still nothing available, even as a beta version. Nvidia however released a new driver for graphic cards version 196.75 that also included an updated 3D Vision driver with the same version, but this one only supported 3D Vision Discover mode… and soon after that this driver was recalled and removed from the website because some issues (not in the 3D Vision part, but in the GPU driver!). So I repacked the 3D Vision driver version 196.75 with the IR Transmitter USB driver that was originally not present and here you can download the full package and install on your PC while waiting for the official updated release (the 3D Vision driver provided is completely safe to use!). And as you can see above this driver has profile even for the recently announced 3D Vision Ready title Just Cause 2 that also works with the just released demo of the game. Besides the Just Cause 2 profile you can also see other 3D Vision-ready titles such as the quite expected Metro 2033 game. And if you are wondering what that Biohazard 5 game is, well nothing new actually as this is the name under which the Resident Evil 5 is actually known as in Japan, so no big news there. The 3D Vision driver 196.75 also includes official profiles for games like Battlefield: Bad Company 2 and even correctly recognizes the new Aliens vs Predator game that had issues with older versions of the driver (loaded a profile for older AvP game that messes up things). Have in mind however that even though there is a profile for the new AvP it is being rated as Not Recommended for 3D Vision because of the 2D flashlight and other lights being rendered at wrong depth levels (need a path for the game to fix that).

But the interesting things in the new version 196.75 of the 3D Vision driver don’t end up with only new profiles for games, there are also seem to be other new additions. If you remember back in January I told you about some new expected features in 3D Vision and Nvidia seem to be adding some of these already. Like for example the 3D Vision plugin for Mozilla Firefox (npnv3dv.dll) you get installed or the one for Internet Explorer (Nv3DVisionIePlugin.dll and Nv3DVisionIePlugin64.dll) as these are supposed to allow you to view stereoscopic 3D photo pairs directly from within your browser. However I could not make them work, as I’m not even sure how they are supposed to be working anyway… there is still no any information officially available for them… yet. Anyway, if you are eager to get the repackaged 3D Vision standalone driver version 196.75 you can download it from one of the links below. Then you need to extract the Zip archive and run the setup.exe to complete the installation, if you get a prompt for the USB drivers for the IR transmitter you can select the folder where you extracted the driver (32-bit and 64-bit versions are included).

- To download the standalone 3D Vision Driver 196.75 – mirror 1 – mirror 2

By default when you install Nvidia GeForce 3D Vision in your computer and setup the monitor and the glasses to work as they should you are ready to start enjoying 3D Stereo in quite a lot of games. Of course different games provide different results, but you should know that Nvidia provides profiles for over 350 game titles that come with pre-defined settings and recommendations on what to enable/disable to achieve the best results and of course a rating. These ratings are something really important, because if a game is rated as Excellent for 3D Vision it means that it not only works without problems, but will also look very well with the added level of realism thanks to the depth perception. One of the games you should definitely try out is the latest Tomb Raider – Underworld, it looks really impressive in 3D Stereo, but that is not unexpected…

So, here is a list of the games that Nvidia has profiles for 3D Vision and are rated as providing excellent results when used in 3D Stereo mode. The following list covers all the games rated as excellent, profiles for which are available the latest v1.09 CD drivers or 3D Vision v186.18 standalone (expected to be released officially any time now). You should start with some of these titles if you really want to get the best out of your high-end PC equipped with 3D Vision:

- 1701 A. D., and with The Sunken Dragon expansion pack
- 3D Pong
- Age of Empires 3, including Asian Dynasties and The War Chiefs
- Alien vs Predator 2
- Alvin and the Chipmunks
- Armed and Dangerous
- Assassin’s Creed
- Attack on Pearl Harbor
- Backyard Baseball 2005
- Battlefield 2
- Battle Forge
- Bee Movie – The Game
- Beijing Olympics
- Beowulf
- Black and White 2
- Blazing Angels 2 – Secret missions of WWII
- Boarder Zone
- Call of Duty 4
- Call of Duty World at War
- Cars Mater National
- Chronicles of Narnia – Prince Caspian
- Civilization 4 and Beyond the Sword
- The Club
- Command and Conquer 3 – Tiberium Wars
- Company of Heroes
- Company of Heroes – Opposing Fronts
- Crazy Machines 2
- Cricket 2005
- Dark Messiah of Might and Magic
- Dark One
- Dead Reefs
- Death Track Resurrection
- Demigod
- Devil May Cry 4
- Dirt Track Racing 2
- Dream Pinball 3D
- DRIV3R
- Driver Parallel Lines
- Ducati World Championship
- Dungeon Runners
- Elven Legacy
- Empire Earth III
- Empire Total War
- Enter the Matrix
- Eragon
- The Experiment
- F.E.A.R.
- F.E.A.R. Perseus Mandate
- Fable – The Lost Chapters
- Fallout 3
- Far Cry and Far Cry 2
- FIFA 06, 07, 08
- FlatOut
- FlatOut: Ultimate Carnage
- Flight Sim X – Microsoft
- Frontlines Fuel of War
- Gears of War
- GTR 2
- Guitar Hero 3
- Guitar Hero Aerosmith
- Gun
- Half-Life 2 – Episode 2
- Half-Life 2 – Portal
- Half-Life 2 – Team Fortress 2
- Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
- Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
- Heroes of Might and Magic 5
- High Heat Baseball 2004
- Hitman Contracts
- Hot Wheels Beat That
- Igor the Game
- Imperium Romanum
- Impossible Creatures
- Incredible Hulk
- The Incredibles
- iRacing
- Jack Keane
- Jericho – Clive Barker’s
- LA Street Racing
- Left 4 Dead
- Lego Indiana Jones
- Lemony Snickets SUE
- Loki
- Lord of the Rings Battle For Middle Earth
- Lord of the Rings Battle For Middle Earth II
- Lord of the Rings Return of the King
- LOST Via Domus
- Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa
- Madden NFL 2007, 2008
- Mafia
- Mage Knight Apocalypse
- Manhunt
- Mass Effect
- Medal of Honor Airborne
- Medieval 2 – Total War
- Meet the Robinsons
- Mirror’s Edge
- Monster Jam
- Monster Madness – Battle for Suburbia
- Monsters vs. Aliens
- Motocross Madness 2
- MotoGP URT 3
- Mount and Blade
- NBA Live 05, 06, 08
- Need for Speed Carbon
- Need for Speed Pro Street
- NHL 05, 06, 08, 09
- Painkiller
- Painkiller Overdose
- The Polar Express
- Prince of Persia (2008)
- Prince of Persia – The Sands of Time
- Psychonauts
- Pure
- Race 07
- Race Driver: Grid
- Real Flight
- rFactor
- Rise and Fall: Civilizations at War
- Rogue Trooper
- Roller Coaster Tycoon
- Sega Rally Revo
- Serious Sam 2
- Space Seige
- Spider-Man: Friend or Foe
- QQ Speed
- Spellforce 2 Shadow Wars
- Spiderman 3
- Spiderwick Chronicles
- Spore and Spore Creature Creator
- STALKER – Clear Sky
- STALKER – Shadow of Chernobyl
- Star Wars: Battlefront 2
- Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
- Star Wars: Republic Commando
- Stranglehold (John Woo’s)
- Supreme Commander
- Surf’s Up
- Switchball
- Sword of the New World
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
- Testdrive Unlimited
- Tiger Woods 2007, 2008
- Timeshift
- Titan Quest
- Tomb Raider – Anniversary
- Tomb Raider – Legend
- Tomb Raider – Underworld
- Tony Hawk Underground 2
- Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 4
- Topspin
- Torino 2006
- Turok
- Two Worlds
- Universal Combat
- Unreal Tournament 2004
- Unreal Tournament III
- Vampires The Masquerade – Bloodliness
- Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II
- Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning
- Winning Eleven 7
- Wolverine’s Revenge
- World of Warcraft
- World of Warcraft Burning Crusade
- World of Warcraft Lich King
- X Men the Legends 2

As you probably have noticed the list is quite big and there are a lot of movie-related games that you would not normally play, because most of them are literally quite dumb and don’t offer any fun at all. But getting them in 3D stereo mode with the added level of realism provided by the depth perception of the 3D objects they become quite enjoyable for a while. And as for the otherwise good titles, even if you played them until the end already, playing them with 3D Vision again will make them feel quite different and you’ll enjoy playing them over… ;)