Tomb Raider

[DAN-di-WARhol]

Crashes on Start up. I just get a black screen.

[skyguy]

Check the launcher on your monitor and click through.

[DAN-di-WARhol]

Did that. I get black screen hang after it starts the game from the launcher.

Fine vanilla, fine with VOrpX

[FastLawyer]

I'm assuming you installed the 3d fix. Try launching directly from game folder with Nvidia 3D on. Does it start with the anaglyph 3d?

Also, is it the game that crashes or is it Katanga that crashes?

I may try this game out myself. I just can't remember if I have played it through completion or not (on Xbox One). I think I did.

[Bo3b]

Is this for the original version or the remake of 2013?

2013 should be working fine, but it does use a special launch technique because it's a native 3D game. I just tested this on v0.8.56 and it was working well.

The special launch goes through their popup launcher, where you hit play to continue the launch.

The built in settings to HelixVision Profile will use your monitor settings and refresh rate for the game, and should set it automatically to 3D Vision Discover, and show the game in red/blue anaglyph.

For a crash on startup, make sure the game works in 3D by itself without SteamVR running by running it directly from Steam (with 3D Vision enabled) or by using the Play In 3D option in hacker-mode.


If you are thinking of the original from 1996 or so, that might or might not work. Most likely not.
(https://store.steampowered.com/app/224960/Tomb_Raider_I/)

Took a quick look at that game, and it's using a DOS box on Steam, and using the Glide API, which is quite a thing. Unless the DOS box does a conversion of some form to DX9, this won't work with HelixVision.

[FastLawyer]

Yeah I just tested this out. Worked for me as well. I didn't even install a 3D fix or 3D wrapper. There's a game launcher after you click on start in VR. You actually don't even need to do anything special other than hit play (enabling 3D is not an option you can select here);

Anyways, then the game just starts in 3D in VR. You can then go to the settings to change the 3D strength and also the 3D depth. I tried increasing both of those and that was a mistake. First time I felt the 3D was too much for my eyes to handle. I set it back to the default values.

Not sure how I feel about the 3D in this game. I mean it works without any issues and it runs smoothly, but it also feels like the game environment wasn't made for 3D depth. Some cinematic scenes look good in VR. I guess the movement within the game 3D environments is what isn't so great, even though the 3D models do look good. Comparing this to Far Cry Primal and Far Cry Primal is a much better experience even though TR is native 3D.

[DAN-di-WARhol]

It's the 2013 version. I don't know about 3d fix. Not sure how to do that. It may be that i set the launcher to 4k res when my monitor is 1080. But Vorpx handles this fine.

I'm nearly through the game using vorpx, so I won't be messing much. With KC: deliverence, trying to get helix to work crashed the game irrepairably, so I'm only allowing helix "one shot" at getting things working.

When I find a single success, I'll change my review.

[Bo3b]

Originally posted by DAN-di-WARhol:

It's the 2013 version. I don't know about 3d fix. Not sure how to do that. It may be that i set the launcher to 4k res when my monitor is 1080. But Vorpx handles this fine.

I'm nearly through the game using vorpx, so I won't be messing much. With KC: deliverence, trying to get helix to work crashed the game irrepairably, so I'm only allowing helix "one shot" at getting things working.

When I find a single success, I'll change my review.

Sounds good, thanks for continuing to give it a try.

However, if Tomb Raider 2013 is not working on your system, I don't think that any will. TR2013 is one of the most reliable games for HelixVision use. It doesn't need a fix, or any other tool outside of the 3D Vision Driver.


It seems like the 3D Vision Driver is not working on your system. This is a fundamental piece of software, just like the video driver itself, and it comes from NVidia.

IIRC you said you are not particularly interested in modding, and part of modding is working out what piece of software is broken. On PC I don't think it's ever the case that things just work. Even for regular games, you can visit forums and find numerous people for which games don't work even in 2D. Debugging problems is part of the PC experience, and in return we get to experience things that no one ever sees or plays on the simpler consoles.

If you don't mind doing some tests, I'm sure we can get it working, but it's your call.


First thing to verify is whether the 3D Vision Driver is working at all.

This can be tested by going to the the NVidia Control Panel, and in the Stereoscopic 3D section, look for 3D being enabled by the checkmark of Enable Stereoscopic 3D. We want 3D Vision Discover in the popup.

When that is enabled, click the button for Test Stereoscopic 3D, which runs an NVidia test case of a spinning logo that is 3D. It should be in red/blue, and the big logo will show a varying difference between the red and the blue as it moves in and out of the screen.

[DAN-di-WARhol]

Ah. We have the problem. It was disabled. I assumed it was working fine because VorpX works.

When I click enable I get a number of options. Do I choose 1) USB IR emitter and glasses; 2) Wired glasses; 3) Prohub & glasses or 4) discover glasses.

Which one will best fit your software? I'll test it when I finish the game (should be today or tomorrow).

I run 2080ti btw.

[Bo3b]

Originally posted by DAN-di-WARhol:

Ah. We have the problem. It was disabled. I assumed it was working fine because VorpX works.

When I click enable I get a number of options. Do I choose 1) USB IR emitter and glasses; 2) Wired glasses; 3) Prohub & glasses or 4) discover glasses.

Which one will best fit your software? I'll test it when I finish the game (should be today or tomorrow).

I run 2080ti btw.

Very cool. You'll want to use Discover glasses/mode, because other options require special 3D hardware like a projector or monitor that is 3D Vision certified. HelixVision works with red/blue Discover mode. No rush, don't break your VorpX playthrough. I'm in the thick of getting curved screen to work.

VorpX has it's own 3D generating software that is roughly analogous to NVidia 3D Vision Driver. I just tried using the game with VorpX, and could not get geometry 3D to run. I probably need to set the registry key as specified to enable DX9, but that might very well disable the DX11 that is built in to Tomb Raider. The z-buffer variant was working OK, but this game looks a lot better with 3D Vision. With a 2080ti you'll have the horsepower to use geometry 3D, which will look the best.

In this case, TR2013 uses the NVidia 3D Vision Driver directly to generate the 3D, but I'm fairly sure this will only work when the game is using DX11. (It uses a mode called 3D Vision Direct.)

[Bo3b]

Originally posted by FastLawyer:

Not sure how I feel about the 3D in this game. I mean it works without any issues and it runs smoothly, but it also feels like the game environment wasn't made for 3D depth. Some cinematic scenes look good in VR. I guess the movement within the game 3D environments is what isn't so great, even though the 3D models do look good. Comparing this to Far Cry Primal and Far Cry Primal is a much better experience even though TR is native 3D.

The 3D should be terrific in this game. I played all the way through in stereo and thought it was pretty compelling.

Look on the artwork page here, I've uploaded a couple of screenshots and my settings for 3D. You can look at those screenshots using VirtualDesktop or BigScreen to see stereo live. (I'm going to add a screenshot viewer to HelixVision later on.)

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2004193138

[skyguy]

Add a screenshot bind onto the controller and this could actually be nice to have since 3d games are way better to view than 3d photos in general.

[FastLawyer]

Here is a list of native 3D games ... I've tested out Tomb Raider (2013) and Hard Reset myself. Also, I know Batman Arkham series works for sure.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Nvidia_3D_Vision_Ready_games

[DAN-di-WARhol]

Okay, so enabled 3d in NVidia control panel. Guessed my way through the testing so that I got a tick in the box. THis time started Tomb raider using Helix, I got the launcher, chose 1080p just to be on the safe side. THe game launches on my monitor, but in my headset I just get a white screen with "launching tomb raider" on it.

[Bo3b]

Originally posted by DAN-di-WARhol:

Okay, so enabled 3d in NVidia control panel. Guessed my way through the testing so that I got a tick in the box. THis time started Tomb raider using Helix, I got the launcher, chose 1080p just to be on the safe side. THe game launches on my monitor, but in my headset I just get a white screen with "launching tomb raider" on it.

Does the game look like it is in 3D on your main monitor? It should be in red/blue anglyph 3D on your monitor.

Double check that 3D is working by going to the stereo control panel, and running the Test Stereoscopic 3D. You should see the 3D spinning NVidia logo.

[DAN-di-WARhol]

The test 3d gives me a messy blue red demo that looks hideous on my monitor, yes.

I didn't notice that Tomb Raider began in 3d on my monitor though.