Depth position of HUD

After moving to Win7 x64 I tried the renewed stereo-feature of the NVidia cards.

The most easy way is with red-blue glasses (anaglyphic). It works with every monitor.

The effect in the Blackshark cockpit is stunning. Ever had problems estimating the distance to ground while landing ?:music_whistling: Not with stereo anymore.

But one problem is still there (as it had been in Lockon): the depth plane in which the HUD is displayed. In real HUDs it's somewhere in a distance of 10 to 20 meters, to be in the same focus plane as the objects you're shooting at.

In Blackshark cockpit it's still in the distance of the HUD-reflector. If you do not use stereo, this ist no problem, but with stereo, you have either the HUD as double image or the exterior.

Maybe I can do a screenshot that shows the problem. Different from shutter stereo with anaglyphic stereo you can provide one screenshot.

Of course, this is a luxury problem, but it would a nice feature to work as expected:D

There's a thread discussing this over here: http://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=45677

In Blackshark cockpit it's still in the distance of the HUD-reflector. If you do not use stereo, this ist no problem, but with stereo, you have either the HUD as double image or the exterior.

I found this definition in the View.lua file (config folder of BS) . And it looks that to set up a depth of the HUD isn't workable up to now:

-- HUD displacement for the HUD-only view (for cockpit builders).
-- Y-axis - up/down, Z-axis - left/right, in meters. X-axis (size) not implemented yet. 
HUDOnlyPoint = {}
HUDOnlyPoint[PlaneIndex.iSu_27] = {0.0, 0.0, 0.0}
HUDOnlyPoint[PlaneIndex.iSu_33] = {0.0, 0.0, 0.0}
HUDOnlyPoint[PlaneIndex.iSu_25] = {0.0, 0.0, 0.0}
HUDOnlyPoint[PlaneIndex.iSu_39] = {0.0, 0.0, 0.0}
HUDOnlyPoint[PlaneIndex.iMiG_29] = {0.0, 0.0, 0.0}
HUDOnlyPoint[PlaneIndex.iMiG_29K] = {0.0, 0.0, 0.0}
HUDOnlyPoint[PlaneIndex.iA_10] = {0.0, 0.0, 0.0}
HUDOnlyPoint[PlaneIndex.iF_15] = {0.0, 0.0, 0.0}
HUDOnlyPoint[PlaneIndex.iKA_50] = {0.0, 0.0, 0.0}

^^^^"X-axis (size) not implemented yet."

Where'd you get red/blue glasses? I've been to all the junk retailers around and i can't find them anywhere. Stupid $.05 plastic and cardboard have cost me $5 in gas so far!

Where'd you get red/blue glasses? I've been to all the junk retailers around and i can't find them anywhere. Stupid $.05 plastic and cardboard have cost me $5 in gas so far!

Ouch! Looks like time for Google. Lots of hits on there, but I also see that there are red/cyan glasses too, so make sure you get the right kind.

Where'd you get red/blue glasses? I've been to all the junk retailers around and i can't find them anywhere. Stupid $.05 plastic and cardboard have cost me $5 in gas so far!

http://www.amazon.com/Shrek-3D-Double-Bill/dp/B0001UZZWW

Free Ogre - Bonus!

My eyes ache after using such glasses, I used to read some cartoons in 3D as a kid but my eyes would suffer so be careful with such thing!

OK - so i dug up a pair of glasses, set it up in nvidia (i have 9800gtx) but how do i enable it in game? when i boot the game and hit ctrl t nothing happens?

Hi dooom,

I assume you use Vista or win7 (otherwise the stereo option would'nt be in the NVidia driver settings)

Normally stereo activates itself in the moment you start a 3D application in fullscreen mode.

So for BS, set it to fullscreen, then start a flight. In the moment your're in the cockpit, stereo should be active.

its working.

very cool indeed. not sure i can get over the color change... the polarized glasses with full color support is likely muc much better.

probably need a bigger vid card too... noticably slower.

Jep dooom

Welcome to the stereo quicksand:music_whistling:....

I started this with shutter glasses some 5-8 years ago.

You always need more power, the glasses are not perfect etc. pp.

But the effect is great.

Glad you got it working:thumbup:

Wow. Thanks for pointing out this "hidden" feature. I knew that the nVidia drivers supported their 3D Vision hardware, but didn't realize that it supported red/blue glasses out of the box. I happened to have a pair in my desk drawer and turned the feature on, and found the effect to be unexpectedly good. Actually, I'd say it was better than the experience I had a couple years ago with a pair of eDimensional shutter glasses that I ended up returning. Alas, I don't think that I'll be doing much actual gameplay with this as the image is dark, colors are off, and frame rate is bad. But its a good preview of what's possible. I'm sure the real 3D Vision hardware helps a lot. Has anyone tried BS with a full 3D Vision setup? What's your experience?

Well I just received my official nVidia Discover glasses. They were 10 for $10 with free shipping from

http://store.nvidia.com/DRHM/servlet/ControllerServlet?Action=DisplayProductDetailsPage&SiteID=nvidia&Locale=en_US&Env=BASE&productID=148411500

These are definitely better than the two old pairs of anaglyph glasses I had been experimenting with (one red/blue and the other red/cyan). On my 24" color calibrated LCD monitor, ghosting is now almost undetectable. Color is slightly improved and the image also seems to be somewhat brighter. As for the latter, what I think happens is that because these glasses completely cover the eyes (on me, they sort of wrap flush with my face), there is fuller coverage of the eyes and less light leakage from the sides. I think this helps the eyes adapt better and compensate for the lower brightness. The bottom line is that I am now enjoying playing BS in this mode even more. For what is essentially a $1 upgrade, I'd say I got my money's worth.

With regard to the issue about the cannon sight in the HUD, I've found that zooming way in while targeting helps considerably as the parallax distortion can be confined to within the sight's diameter (I have the zoom axis assigned to a wheel). It's a pretty good work-around. Of course there is still the issue with the pulsating helmet sight, but it's more of an annoyance than a practical issue. Anyway, hopefully we'll eventually see ED address these eventually.

You have wrong depth using NVidia drivers, because they actually use one complete frame (only one) to make two views of this one scene. In case of Black Shark that's wrong solution, because HUD position is only calculated by Black Shark once per frame.

Black Shark have great realization of HUD, as collimator device, because while you shifting your camera inside 6DOF cockpit - HUD always drawn on right position.

Me too using stereoscopic solution for Black Shark, Vuzix VR920 goggles.

Vuzix stereo driver opposite to NVidia one's render two separate frames with main camera shifted, and in this way - HUD is calculated two times for each eye! In result you have proper depth for HUD, like in real life.

If someone have VR920 and want to try BlackShark with it, I will gladly share with configuration files.

Hi Mnemonic,

I read the VR920 have a resolution of 640x480... how does DCS:BS feel and play with that resolution?

I would buy those immediately if the experience is really good...

I'm also interested in the answer to sinelnic's question.

As far as the position of the HUD goes, your explanation is very interesting. So you're suggesting that the drivers are the issue here. Your experience with the VR920 makes that seem reasonable. However, it also seems that it should still be possible for ED to make a tweak to the rendering that would have the HUD render in a more "standard" way (it's not only the nVidia drivers that fail to render this correctly, the iz3d drivers do the same thing). Of course, that doesn't mean I wouldn't welcome a driver solution too.