Woah! Stereoscopic 3D games in Mame!!! :D

[Xiaou2]

 I finally fixed my Sega Master System's  3D  LCD shutter glasses today...

 and then I remembered something...   
There was a few Arcade games that used LCD glasses to make them 3d!  

 I turned on my master system with a 3d game (but not displaying to anything,  just
to keep the shutters going)   and then fired up Mame.

 I then got  " Continental Circus (world) "  running.    Open the Dip switches,  and
enable 3d frames.   Reset the game.   Then, I inserted credits, but strange.. didnt
see any frame shifts?!   Well, it turns out that somehow if you press the
Player 1 start button,  it will then toggle  on/off  the frames to shift.   Very odd.  Took me
like 15 min to figure it out 

 Anyways,  it wasnt quite sync'd with my glasses... but MAN!!!   How WICKED!!!

 For a long time I remembered the game being all in 3d.  But then when I saw it
going in mame... I thought that only the car exploding was in 3d.  Ohh, I was happily
wrong!      The game may not be the greatest racer..  but in true 3d, it breathtaking.

 Well, sadly, because the glasses wouldnt sync, only part of it was really 3d.. as
the rest was showing both frames or shifting.   

 I tried to tweak the refresh rate.. but didnt do anything.   Of course, my LCD probably
doesnt really support most refreshes. 

   I had one more trick to try...

 I fed my TV an Svideo signal to clone my display to it.   I had mame display only to the
TV.   BAM!    Maybe 90% in sync !!!         Words can not describe the cool factor
when seeing this game in true 3d !!!!!   

 Im gona try to locate the other 3d games and see if they work!

 Till then... I hope mame will find a way to support 3d glasses a little better.   I may have
to go and purchase the PC lcd glasses, and see if they will work better than this
setup.  Maybe it will sync properly with the PC version.

 One cool idea for mame,  would be the ability to display the artwork system
in true 3d.  That way,  one could see the 3d effects of artwork such as asteroids deluxe,
or Discs of Tron.

 And if you have seen that guy who made the  WII 3d head tracker... you could then have
perspective shifts on the fly.   Then things like bezels could be looked around.  Or you could
even display an entire cabinet.. and simply pan your head to see various parts of the
virtual cab.

(see vid for awesome 3d tracking demo.  You wont believe how cool it is...)

quick vesrion:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r2IuSK0DIjE&feature=related[/youtube]

explained:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jd3-eiid-Uw[/youtube]

 Anyways,  just wanted to share some cool news

 

[Xiaou2]

 Update:

  Subrock-3D   Worked pretty well        Very cool effects as the UFO and Missiles are flying
right out at you.    A game that I probably would have passed on playing... now makes
it actually interesting and fun in 3d mode.


 Sadly,   Thunder Ceptor II  does not seem to have an option for alternating frames
I dont know if the game used dual monitors... or if someone thought it did, and so just
added that as the only option.   Shame, cause it looks like it would have been pretty wicked
in 3d.

 
 Anyone know of any other  Stereoscopic arcade games???   Those are the only ones I can recall.

 

[gonzo90017]

What was wrong with your glasses in the 1st place?

[NickG]

Good news, thanks for sharing.
I always like Maze hunter 3-D.  It was on the console, and maybe not in the arcades.  Somewhere on the nets is a Master System emulator with which you can sync your shutters up through the sound card.  I think it was via the game/midi connection.  I'll try and find it for you.

Edit: BRSMS say it supports the glasses, but I don't know if they hook up the same way as MEKA.  MEKA supports the glasses, and has included instructions how to wire the glasses to your COM port.

[Xiaou2]

gonzo,

  A wire was broke inside.   But when I rewired them,  I noticed that there were mini
diodes or resisters or something.   Its possible that maybe they are going bad and
causing the sync drop.   However, I think I see mame hiccup once in a while regardless.

 NickG,

 HellzYeah!     I  LOVED Maze Hunter 3D!  It may have been a little slow moving,
and clunky.. but the 3d effect were out of this world.  Another cool one was Missile Defense 3D,
where missiles are flying at you, or down at earth.   Very fun, and sweet 3D.   
Zaxxon 3D is corney.   Blade Eagle 3D was interesting, but it was hard, and not my fav.

 I will try SMS emulator later.   But I do have MH at least to play on the real system.
(well, its a genesis cd  unit with a power base converter)

 I recall the SMS glasses hack looked like it involved a good deal of circuitry.  Not sure I
could build it.   But I know there are modern LCD glasses for sale for the PC that may
sync better with these things.  I believe EDimentional sells them.

 I had always dreamed of seeing Outrun 3D.  But in reality, the SMS was not very good
at simulating 3D Outrun... so I dont think it will be anything that good.  However,  Continental Circus
in 3D really satisfies

 Last night I was playing it, and got several levels deep.   A few wild things:

1) Players cars are often crashing,  and their wreckage is flying in pieces in 3D all over
the track, bouncing and even flying over your car!     

2) On some levels,  it would randomly choose to start to Rain!   And the 3D effect of the
rain, and your water splashings... was jaw dropping. 

3) When you car does explode, its amazing.  Smoke started to pour out.. then Tires and your
tailgate fly right out of the screen at you.    The best crash however, is when you hit cars
at full speed and flip the car over!     Very similar to outrun crashes.  Very wicked.

4) After it does rain,  the game leaves behind puddles of water on the track.  Cool subtle
details.

5) Sprites like the car itself is not flat.  Its made so that it actually is visibly 3d... not just a
flat sprite in a 3d field.  When it turns and you see the front and side.. its quite amazing.

[Avrus]

I can't see in three dimensions, so games like this are lost on me.   

[RayB]

I then got  " Continental Circus (world) "  running.    Open the Dip switches,  and
enable 3d frames.   Reset the game.   Then, I inserted credits, but strange.. didnt
see any frame shifts?!   Well, it turns out that somehow if you press the
Player 1 start button,  it will then toggle  on/off  the frames to shift.   Very odd.  Took me
like 15 min to figure it out 

Yes, the original game did this. If the 3D effect annoyed you, or, say some punk had torn the glasses off, you could turn off the effect.

Avrus, I'm curious about your condition. Only one eye?

[gonzo90017]

I'm  glad you got them fixed. I have some that are slightly cracked on one eye. I was hoping you had solved that problem.   

[SavannahLion]

Hummm.... I think I have a pair of those glasses I never used when I bought my GF3 card. The drivers sucked ass so I switched to vanilla nVidia drivers and never cared to try the glasses.

Maybe I should try them out with MAME?

[Xiaou2]

avrus,

 Sorry to hear that man.   Maybe in the future they will create a way for you and
others with special implants.

Rayb, 

 Interesting.  Never thought of that.

Gonzo,

 You mean the front of the plastic is cracked right?   Not the LCD itself?

 Usually the plastic frames crack.    You could separate the front
piece form the back... then carefully take a hack saw and start to cut holes
in the front where the lcds would show thru.   The back piece has enough strength,
so should be fine structurally once its put back together.

 Sometimes the little ear pieces also crack.   I recall and old pair I had,
I used an adjustable strap to hold them to my head.  Worked pretty well.

 You might also do that.. by strapping the backs to your head only.  though,
you may want to make some sort of cover for looks.   And or you could
probably use a heat gun and plexi to shape a new front.


 Savannah,

  Certain glasses have ability to use any drivers.  You may want to try the drivers
that Edimentional glasses use.   Though, even so,  try your old drivers first and see
if mame and Sega Master system emu (meka)  will work with them beforehand.
   
 
http://www.edimensional.com/

 Do they look like this:


 If so, then they should work with the new drivers perfectly.

[SavannahLion]

I'd have to locate the VGA adaptor. If I recall the specs, the video card had direct support for the glasses through the VGA port, but requires the adaptor for the glasses. we'll see. Hopefully the glasses and adapter didn't get lost with all the moving around I did.

Those Edimensionals look like they're using some sort of breakout box. 

[Xiaou2]

Its a vga pass thru box with the glasses sync output.