eMagin z800 on 7800 gt causing computer freeze
I've been struggling to get an eMagin z800 working on a computer these past few days, and haven't really found anything that would help me out. I only care about getting half-life 2 working for a research project, so optimizations specific to that game engine are of course welcome.

Computer specs:
Athlon x2 3800+
asus nforce4 mb
7800 gt
2gb ram
windows xp + sp3
19" lcd monitor @ 800x600 and 60hz

I installed the 91.31 geforce driver, then the 91.31 stereo driver. I then installed the z800 software. I had read about issues with this stereo driver and multi-core cpus, so I performed the boot.ini numproc=1 fix as well. I have also installed the amd dual-core patches (one to fix time-synch issues, and then the driver to allow for improved automatic fan control).

I set the nvidia control panel back to the old version so that I could enable stereo. I can run the medical test image and I see the two squares show up in the correct spot. However, when I try to run the stereo test program, my computer restarts. I have tried running the program with v-synch enabled and disabled. Laser sight enabled/disabled. I have tried both with stereo enabled always, and when it has to be toggled. Under all conditions, the computer restarts when trying to launch the test app. I can get the test app to launch if i run in multi-core mode though, although a lock-up will occur when toggling between having stereo enabled/disabled.

If I try to launch half-life 2, my computer locks up as soon as it begins displaying a stereo image. With stereo enabled, I can't even get into the main menu. With it toggled, it will lock-up as soon as I toggle stereo on. I have to force a restart at this point. I've turned every in-game setting down to as low as possible (off in some cases) and I still have the crashing problem.

So, any suggestions from the community on how to get this display to work with the current hardware configuration? Unfortunately, buying new hardware is not possible at this time.
I've been struggling to get an eMagin z800 working on a computer these past few days, and haven't really found anything that would help me out. I only care about getting half-life 2 working for a research project, so optimizations specific to that game engine are of course welcome.



Computer specs:

Athlon x2 3800+

asus nforce4 mb

7800 gt

2gb ram

windows xp + sp3

19" lcd monitor @ 800x600 and 60hz



I installed the 91.31 geforce driver, then the 91.31 stereo driver. I then installed the z800 software. I had read about issues with this stereo driver and multi-core cpus, so I performed the boot.ini numproc=1 fix as well. I have also installed the amd dual-core patches (one to fix time-synch issues, and then the driver to allow for improved automatic fan control).



I set the nvidia control panel back to the old version so that I could enable stereo. I can run the medical test image and I see the two squares show up in the correct spot. However, when I try to run the stereo test program, my computer restarts. I have tried running the program with v-synch enabled and disabled. Laser sight enabled/disabled. I have tried both with stereo enabled always, and when it has to be toggled. Under all conditions, the computer restarts when trying to launch the test app. I can get the test app to launch if i run in multi-core mode though, although a lock-up will occur when toggling between having stereo enabled/disabled.



If I try to launch half-life 2, my computer locks up as soon as it begins displaying a stereo image. With stereo enabled, I can't even get into the main menu. With it toggled, it will lock-up as soon as I toggle stereo on. I have to force a restart at this point. I've turned every in-game setting down to as low as possible (off in some cases) and I still have the crashing problem.



So, any suggestions from the community on how to get this display to work with the current hardware configuration? Unfortunately, buying new hardware is not possible at this time.

#1
Posted 08/27/2008 06:56 PM   
Your computer is similar to mine but I have a single core and a 7800 GTX

HL2 works fine for me and I have never had any problems with it.

Off the top of my head I would say that your problem is still dual core related but honestly I have no idea.

There shouldn’t be any settings in HL2 that can really get you in trouble but maybe check to see is you forced triple buffering on in a program like rivatuner. That has caused problems for me before so it is best to have triple buffering off on direct X games.

Note that it is ok to have triple buffering on in your nvidia control panel because that only applies to OpenGL games I think.

Also try setting things like AA to “application controlled” in the Nvidia control panel and then set them to what you want in game.

Last I have always used Direct X 9 so if you are trying 8 or 7…. But those should work too.

Finally, when you do get it working, you will have to choose between a HUD or Depth when you play. If you have a lot of Depth then your HUD and crosshairs will be taken off the screen. There is an Nvidia S-3D laser sight but it can cause problems from time to time.

Also the head tracking on HL2 is B- in my opinion. You will need to use the recenter button a lot. But first you will need to make your recenter button. Toss this into your config file.

(for example)
bind "b" "force_centerview"
Your computer is similar to mine but I have a single core and a 7800 GTX



HL2 works fine for me and I have never had any problems with it.



Off the top of my head I would say that your problem is still dual core related but honestly I have no idea.



There shouldn’t be any settings in HL2 that can really get you in trouble but maybe check to see is you forced triple buffering on in a program like rivatuner. That has caused problems for me before so it is best to have triple buffering off on direct X games.



Note that it is ok to have triple buffering on in your nvidia control panel because that only applies to OpenGL games I think.



Also try setting things like AA to “application controlled” in the Nvidia control panel and then set them to what you want in game.



Last I have always used Direct X 9 so if you are trying 8 or 7…. But those should work too.



Finally, when you do get it working, you will have to choose between a HUD or Depth when you play. If you have a lot of Depth then your HUD and crosshairs will be taken off the screen. There is an Nvidia S-3D laser sight but it can cause problems from time to time.



Also the head tracking on HL2 is B- in my opinion. You will need to use the recenter button a lot. But first you will need to make your recenter button. Toss this into your config file.



(for example)

bind "b" "force_centerview"

#2
Posted 08/28/2008 03:20 AM   
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