Integration with Geo-11 stereo driver

In this article, we will explain how to use a promising 3D gaming technology without NVIDIA drivers. It serves as a replacement for NVIDIA. According to reports from developers and users, it already works perfectly not only on RTX but also on AMD cards. The announcement of Geo-11 looks very interesting.

How 3D was done before

The NVIDIA 3D Vision driver received a buffer from the game containing the scene model, textures, and object parameters. The driver recalculated the scene content and slightly "shifted" the position of objects virtually, depending on the user settings. Then, the scene was rendered as images for the left and right eyes. After that, the display output driver sent the stereo frame to the screen. The images for the left and right sides were sequentially output using the SBS (Side-by-Side) method. Before the image was displayed, a sync signal was sent to the USB 3D-emitter driver to synchronize the glasses with the video image.

Therefore, 3D Vision consisted of several different types of drivers. Unfortunately, NVIDIA was unable to make this technology high-quality, and in the end, they discontinued it. Anyone who tried to use it knows how difficult it was to make 3D work. Numerous bugs and unfinished features caused frustration even for people with nerves of steel.

How does Geo-11 display the image
It should be noted that creating such a driver is an extremely complex task requiring exceptionally high qualifications. Therefore, beta versions will not work perfectly right away. Be patient and prepared for game crashes and various difficulties.

The Geo-11 driver is added to the game's folder and replaces the rendering layer. It intercepts the scene content and renders 3D images, but this time without relying on NVIDIA's code. Then, Geo sends the image to the screen.

In other words, it integrates into the 3D image production pipeline. There remains some dependency on NVIDIA for using the 3D-emitter driver to synchronize the glasses. If you use glasses for viewing, the emitter driver should be installed.

How to start using Geo-11
The easiest way is to download a distribution with ready-made settings and files adapted for a specific game. Many examples can be found here: 3D Games With Geo-11

How to adapt your favorite game
As far as I understand, there is no ready-made solution at the moment. You should look at how it's done in the examples. The game must be based on DirectX 11. Add the necessary files to the game's directory. Adjust the rendering settings according to the performance of your hardware. Configure the video output method and synchronization output method. The developers have written a general guide for adapting games: Game Fixing Strategy

Additional technical information
Geo-11 Driver Forum
Geo-11 Mod Manager
3D Driver Settings
Fixing 3D Effects in DX11


Example of game adaptation
Let’s go through the steps to set up the game for 3D. For our experiments, we’ll use our favorite game, Black Mesa. Connect the S3D emitter to the PC and switch it to NVIDIA compatibility mode.

1. Download and install the latest version of 3D Fix Manager from the developer's website. We are using the most recent version as of today: Version 1.87.

2. Install the drivers as recommended by the program. Go to the Drivers tab and follow the required steps point by point. The driver settings page should eventually look similar to this, but with the names specific to your hardware.



3. Connect the directory with the game files. Show 3D Fix Manager the path where your games are located.



4. Configure the settings you need to control the 3D display parameters. You can leave everything as default.



5. Now, on the Play tab, the icon for your game will appear. The program will automatically find the patch files for it and suggest installing them. Install the Fix. After that, you can try launching the game.



6. Check the synchronization signal is reaching the S3D emitter. If synchronization is active, the transmitter LEDs on the device will blink. For Bluetooth connection, the blue LED will blink, and for IR glasses, the green LED will blink, depending on the side and emission settings you configured.

After numerous attempts to enable synchronization for the glasses, we reached out to the Geo-11 developers for assistance. Unfortunately, it turned out that no synchronization for external devices is implemented in the project. Moreover, the old synchronization method for NVIDIA 3D Vision is also not supported. As a result, the glasses will not work in any configuration.

We are currently in slow negotiations with the developers regarding the integration of our driver into Geo11. There is hope that we will be able to reach an agreement and get it to work fully. Additionally, we could attempt to develop our own synchronization driver for Geo-11. However, even this would not deliver optimal quality and stability without direct integration into the render.

For now, this technology is being put on hold until a solution for integration is found.

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