nVidia driver setup
You should first install the latest driver before proceeding. The following link will take you to the main nVidia drivers download page. Then select the options displayed in the screenshot below to download the latest graphics drivers.
http://www.nvidia.com/content/drivers/drivers.asp
HMD/STEREO with latest nVidia driver under XP:
When booting an XP machine with two screens attached to an nVidia graphics card, the display properties control panel will show two screens (this is different from standard Win2K). To properly run in stereo, it is important to use the nVidia horizontal spanning and NOT the XP dual monitor mode. The former method is a must for two reasons: 1) there is about a 4x times performance difference when running the nVidia mode versus the XP mode, and 2) Vizard's fullscreen/HMD mode does not support the XP mode.
To avoid the XP mode, DO NOT right-click on the right monitor (#2) icon and select "attached". To show you what you want to avoid, the following is what you don't want to do:
DO NOT DO THIS:
Instead, the right monitor (#2) should be left inactive (greyed out). To activate the nVidia mode, you must left click the left monitor (#1) BEFORE clicking on the “Advanced” button. Failing to click the left monitor first will bring up an “Advanced” settings screen WITHOUT any nVidia options. Once you have the nVidia options screen, you want to select “Horizontal Span”.
You want to get to nView options screen that looks like this:
If you’re failing to get the nVidia screen, then it is because you’ve activated the right monitor (#2) the XP way or you didn’t first click on the left monitor (#1) before hitting the “Advanced” button.
If you see the Digital Display as the secondary display as below, this means that the nVidia card has detected a digital display device. You will need to make the graphics card display to analogue on the secondary display. To do this you must complete the steps that follow below:
To change the secondary output from digital to analogue, connect the digital port on the computer's graphics card to an analogue monitor via a 'digital to analogue' dongle. Then close the nVidia utility and go back to the Display Properties window. You should then go to Settings and Advanced to re-open the nVidia user interface. Select Horizontal Span again. As shown below, the secondary display should now show the analogue monitor. If not, try clicking 'detect displays'. Click Apply, click OK to save your settings.
THEN, after checking horizontal span and clicking OK, you’re screen settings window should look like this:
Notice the really wide left monitor (#1) icon. This is exactly what you want to see. Also notice that the right monitor (#2) is greyed out. That is also what you want.
At this point you can disconnect the analogue monitor and reconnect the HMD cable that was connected to the 'digital to analogue' dongle on the computer's digital graphics card output.
Turning off the computer connected to the HMD
If the computer is shut down without turning off the HMD, the above procedure will have to be repeated. To avoid this, the HMD control box should be switched off immediately after clikcing "shut down" or "restart" which will shut down all monitors. This is because the default startup display mode is the same mode as the very last mode detected, which is detected milliseconds before Windows actually shuts down; if there are no monitors detected by the graphics card then Windows keeps the last known good settings.
Before turning on the HMD control box, wait until a few seconds after you have heard the windows startup sound if you have speakers. Otherwise give enough time for Windows to start up.
HMD/STEREO with latest nVidia driver under W2K:
The correct Windows 2000 settings are analogous to the explanation above. Make sure that the ‘Enable Dualview’ checkbox is empty.
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