3D Vision Blog

Since the release of the latest update for the game Battlefield 3 that added support for actually playing the game in stereo 3D mode there was a lot going on, with people liking or disliking how the game looks with the extra feeling of depth (or the lack of such). The ones that did not like the stereo 3D effect were complaining mostly that you cannot adjust the convergence in the game and the default value makes it quite flat even if you increase the depth level a lot. The reason of not being able to adjust the convergence in Battlefield 3 is that the game uses native stereo 3D rendering from the engine and does not rely to AMD’s HD3D technology or Nvidia’s 3D Vision for that, these are only used for the visualization of the stereoscopic 3D output. So hitting the Convergence hotkeys for 3D Vision for example does nothing as apparently they are not connected to the convergence adjustment of the game’s engine. But that does not mean you are not being able to change the convergence setting in the game, it will be just not as convenient at this moment as you will have to change a value in a config file then run the game to see the result.

Fortunately there is an interesting utility that can help you not only with the Convergence adjustment, but also with other useful settings for Battlefield 3. This free tool is called BF3 Config Utility v1.7 and you can download it from here (you’ll need .NET 4 installed for the tool to work on your PC). But of course if it is only for the convergence adjustment you are free to do it by directly editing the config file with a text editor such as Notepad, you need to open up the file “PROF_SAVE_profile” that you can find in the folder “Documents\Battlefield 3\settings” (C:\Users\<YOUR WINDOWS USER NAME>\Documents\Battlefield 3\settings).

…
GstRender.ShaderQuality 2.000000
GstRender.ShadowQuality 0
GstRender.StereoConvergence 1.000000
GstRender.Stereoscopy 0
…

In this config file you need to look for the setting called “GstRender.StereoConvergence” that by default is set to a value of 1.000000, you can experiment increasing it to a level that you find more acceptable and works best for you. And of course you are welcome to share if it works for you and if so what settings work best, so that it will be easier for other people playing Battlefield 3 in stereo 3D mode. Just don’t forget that the best stereo 3D experience could be achieved by a certain combination between convergence and depth (separation)…

Do you want a new good game that works well in stereo 3D mode with 3D Vision, well then you should forget about the new Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 game is it does not play well in stereo 3D mode. And apparently we’ll have to wait a bit more for the proper stereoscopic 3D support to be added with a patch for the latest Battlefield 3 game. And the release of the PC version of the new Batman: Arkham City game that should look wonderful in stereoscopic 3D mode was yet again delayed, this time for 22nd – 25th of November (depending on your location). So what can you play meanwhile that will look good in stereo 3D mode on 3D Vision? You should definitely check out the new PC version of the game L.A. Noire: The Complete Edition that just got released as it looks very nice in stereoscopic 3D mode as the game has official support for 3D Vision. But the console versions of the game apparently will not have support for 3D and they should be released in a few days on November 15th.

The PC version of L.A. Noire: The Complete Edition was developed by Rockstar Leeds and features increased resolution and graphical detail along with keyboard remapping and gamepad functionality. L.A. Noire: The Complete Edition on PC also features support for NVIDIA 3D Vision for an even greater sense of interaction and immersion.

There are already some screenshots in stereoscopic 3D format already available here on the 3D Vision Live portal that you can see. Also there is something very important regarding the proper support for the game by 3D Vision at the moment, as the latest official Nvidia video drivers version 285.62 do not properly recognize the game. You will have to manually make a 3D Vision profile for it with the correct settings and use it for a few days as Nvidia should very soon release a driver update to correct this issue. So here is what you need to do to be able to fully enjoy the L.A. Noire: The Complete Edition game in stereo 3D with 3D Vision at this very moment:

- Browse to NVIDIA Control Panel > Set up Stereoscopic 3D.
- Click “Set Keyboard Shortcuts”.
- Click arrow to “Show advanced in-game settings” and click checkbox to “Enable advanced in-game settings”. Remember your hotkeys.
- Start L.A. Noire.
- Change the default convergence up or down (doesn’t matter) and then press the button to save the Save in-game settings and make sure you see the green text on screen.
- Quit L.A. Noire.
- Open Regedit.
- Browse to these locations:
— For Windows 32-bit: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\NVIDIA Corporation\Global\Stereo3D\GameConfigs
— For Windows 64-bit: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\NVIDIA Corporation\Global\Stereo3D\GameConfigs
- Check to see if there is an Entry for “LANoire”.
- In the LANoire folder, create the following registry entries:
— D-word (32-bit), StereoConvergence=3eac4a51
— D-word (32-bit), StereoTextureEnable=00000023
— D-word (32-bit), StereoCutoff=00000001
- Re-launch L.A. Noire and you now are matching our 3DV profile. The in-game text still say its not rated by NVIDIA, but don’t worry about that.

Back in early September when the demo of the game Hard Reset was released I was eager to try it in stereo 3D mode with 3D Vision as the game had the potential to look really well with added sense of depth. Unfortunately it did not working well as it had issues with shadows, lights, 2D crosshair, 2D HUD elements etc., so I just tweeted about that and kind of forgot about the game up until now. The reason for that is the fact that there is a new patch version 1.2 for Hard Reset that does add support for Nvidia 3D Vision and three monitor Surround setups (however not specifically mentioning 3D Vision Surround). The patch for the game should autoinstall over Steam, so there is nothing special that you need to do in order to get the game working properly in stereoscopic 3D mode with 3D Vision. Below you can find all the new things and changes that you get with the patch 1.2 for the game.

What’s new?
- New Survival Mode. Two new maps are available: ‘Arrival Hall’ and ‘Landing Pad’.
- To launch Survival Mode, select ‘New Game’ and then ‘Survival Mode’
- Survival Mode is available in all the difficulty levels selectable for Hard Reset Campaign.
- Added Leaderboards for the Survival Mode.
- Full Nvidia 3D Vision support.
- Full Nvidia Surround support.
- Support for multiple displays – recommended 3 display adapters for best effects, and several non-standard resolution modes.
- To select the triple display mode in the game, change the Aspect Ratio to ‘Other’ in the Video Options menu, then select a resolution you wish to use.
- Note that the ‘Other’ mode will be available only if you have 3 displays connected to your PC.
- Added a ‘Details’ tab in the Profile screen – now you are able to check the score you achieved on each of the game’s levels.

What’s changed?
- During bullettime, falling down won’t cause additional damage to players.
- Changed the way how the Mortar Cyborgs react to player in vicinity.
- Crawling gorillas will explode when trying to jump off a higher place.
- Changed the way how Melee Cyborgs behave – now you are able to avoid their attacks while sprinting – their aoe frontal cone was lowered.
- All the crosshairs will be displayed in an appropriate way to objects in front of the player for 3D Vision.
- Changed the way how the messages and hints are displayed to a way more appropriate for 3D Vision.
- Changed the way how dynamic lightning is rendered on decals.
- Changed the way how weapons are displayed on screen.
- Changed the way how the HUD is displayed both in 3d and on multiple displays.
- Improved support for dual SLI users.

- For more information about the FPS game Hard Reset…