Nvidia 3D Vision in 2026: What Replaced It for PC Games

Nvidia's 3D Vision 2 glasses, the active-shutter glasses of the discontinued kit. Image: Nvidia.

Does 3D Vision still work in 2026?

Partly, with tools from HelixMod, the community that publishes per-game 3D Vision fixes. What runs depends on the game's DirectX version (DirectX is Microsoft's graphics interface for Windows games), your graphics card and your driver [5][6]:

3D Fix Manager is the HelixMod program that holds this together. It says it "Auto restores 3D Vision compatibility with Win 10 > 1809 and Geforce drivers beyond 425.31", installs fixes with one click, and can install driver 452.06 for you. It needs an Nvidia graphics card. Its latest version, 1.87, is from March 2024 [6].

Why DirectX 11 3D Vision broke, driver by driver

• DirectX 9. 3D Fix Manager's author writes that "DirectX 9 games are still fully compatible to stereoscopic 3D and run on latest graphics cards" [6].
• DirectX 11, older setup. From driver 456.38 on, DirectX 11 3D Vision is broken [11].
• DirectX 11, newer setup. The nvidia_dx9 mode needs the 3D Vision Driver installed and the game in fullscreen mode [5][6].

The split exists because, in the words of 3D Fix Manager's author, Nvidia "partially removed stereoscopic 3D support" from its drivers in October 2020, when the RTX 30-series arrived, and DirectX 11 games lost 3D [6].

Nvidia 3D Vision glasses and monitors today

Can you still use the glasses? Yes, with the kit's infrared emitter (the USB box that keeps the glasses in step with the screen) and a 3D Vision monitor, within the limits in the table above. The glasses do nothing on their own.

3D Vision 2, from October 2011, has lenses 20 percent larger and was sold alongside LightBoost monitors, which gave what Nvidia called "up to 2X brighter 3D images". Nvidia said the glasses were "fully backwards-compatible with all existing NVIDIA 3D Vision Ready content and supporting products" [4].

3D Vision monitors. A 3D Vision monitor is a 120 Hz monitor from that period built for the kit. The first with LightBoost was the ASUS VG278H: 27 inches, 1920 x 1080, 120 Hz, sold with 3D Vision 2 glasses for $699 [4].

Acer and BenQ models were to follow [4]. In a used monitor, LightBoost is the feature to look for.

What the glasses cost, and where to buy them. In 2011 the 3D Vision 2 kit, "one pair of NVIDIA 3D Vision 2 glasses and a wireless USB IR emitter", cost $149, and extra glasses $99 [4]. The kit is discontinued [2], so glasses and emitters now come from the second-hand market. Listings for "3D Vision Pro" glasses are the professional, radio-linked version, which needs its own Pro RF emitter, not the consumer kit [28].

You no longer need this hardware to play in 3D: geo-11 and SuperDepth3D output standard 3D formats that other displays accept.

Five ways to play PC games in 3D in 2026

Five routes work today, and they make three different kinds of 3D.

Status of each tool in October 2026: versions, game counts and prices, plus a sixth project

Tool	Status, October 2026
geo-11	Active: updated September 2026 [5]
SuperDepth3D	Active: repository updated October 2026 [7]; ReShade 6.8.0, August 2026 [8]
UEVR	Free download; latest release 1.05, November 2024 [9]
vorpX	Paid; version 25.1.5 [10]
Samsung Odyssey 3D Hub	More than 60 games, more than 120 promised (March 2026) [13]
Acer SpatialLabs TrueGame	A review counted 185 games in August 2025 [15]
Owl3D Shift	Priced at $499

A sixth project is at an earlier stage: wiz3D, an open-source wrapper that aims at DirectX 7 to 9 games and games with built-in 3D Vision or AMD HD3D support. Its own status list rates DirectX 9 as mostly working, and its latest release, 0.3.1, is from July 2026 [26].

Last checked October 7, 2026: versions, game counts and prices.

True stereo, depth-buffer 3D and AI conversion are not the same

• True stereo (3D Vision, geo-11, UEVR): the game's geometry is rendered from two viewpoints, so each eye gets a picture that was really rendered [3][5][9]. Many games show defects when drawn twice [29], which is why HelixMod publishes per-game fixes, more than 1,000 of them [6].
• Depth-buffer 3D (SuperDepth3D): the game renders one view, and the shader builds the other from the depth buffer, the distance the game stores for every pixel [21]. The depth values are real, but quality depends on the depth data the game exposes: its author notes that some engines "do not hand ReShade a clean depth buffer" [7].
• AI conversion (Owl3D Shift): software estimates depth from the finished 2D picture, not the game's geometry, and builds two views from the estimate, instantly, as the game runs. It has no list of supported games, but it is a different thing from the two methods above, not a substitute for them.

More on the tools named above: ReShade, UEVR, vorpX and Acer's profiles

ReShade is a tool that injects visual effects into games. UEVR gives Unreal Engine games "Full stereoscopic 3D out of the box" and head tracking [9], and vorpX adds stereo 3D to the games it supports [10]. Acer builds its profiles from each game's depth information [14].

SuperDepth3D (ReShade 3D): what it is, where to download it, how to install it

SuperDepth3D is a shader by BlueSkyDefender that runs inside ReShade and, in its author's words, "builds a stereoscopic image out of the game's own depth buffer", with no patch to the game [21]. The current version is 5.4.0 [21]. It is "free for personal use, but it is not open source", and it comes with ready-made settings for "well over nine hundred titles" [7].

Where to download it.

• ReShade: reshade.me [8]
• SuperDepth3D, in the Depth3D package: depth3d.info or the Depth3D repository on GitHub [7][21]
• Optional: GPU Selector, the author's launcher, which installs both for you: GPU Selector releases [7]

How to install it. In short: install ReShade for the game, add the Depth3D shaders, press Home in the game and tick SuperDepth3D.

If the game has a profile, the shader says so at the top of its menu and sets depth and convergence for you. If not, the wiki's Shader Adjustments page explains how to build one [7].

Both installs step by step: by hand, and with GPU Selector

How to install it by hand, following the four steps on the author's site [21]:

1. Install ReShade for your game. Run its installer, select the game, and when asked select the graphics interface the game uses (DirectX 9, or DirectX 10, 11 or 12) [24].
2. Add the Depth3D shaders. They go in your shader folder. The installer can do it: on its "Select effects to install" page, tick "Depth3D by BlueSkyDefender" [24][25].
3. Open the ReShade menu. Launch the game and press Home.
4. Turn the shader on. Tick SuperDepth3D.
5. Choose the output. Under "3D Display Modes", choose the output your display needs. Side by Side is the default; Top and Bottom, Line Interlaced, Column Interlaced, Checkerboard and Anaglyph are among the others [7][22].

How to install it with GPU Selector, the author's "Easy Install", for Windows 10 or later [7][22]:

1. Download ReShade. In the Mods tab, set the ReShade card's Build Type to Full Add-on Support and click Download ReShade.
2. Turn on Inject Mode. It is the syringe button on the ReShade card.
3. Deploy the shaders. Click Deploy on the Depth3D card.
4. Start the game. Use Launch in GPU Selector, then press Home.

For which games expose usable depth data, the author's site points to PCGamingWiki's ReShade page [21].

geo-11: what it is and how to install it

geo-11 is a community-made driver that renders DirectX 11 games in true stereo 3D. Its announcement calls it "a full replacement for NVidia 3D Vision for DX11 games". It was written by davegl1234 on top of the 3Dmigoto modding tool and first released on June 21, 2022; the newest build, 0.7.11, is dated September 6, 2026. It loads existing HelixMod DirectX 11 fixes directly [5].

What it needs. A DirectX 11 game, and any graphics driver: the page says it has "no requirement for any NVidia software" and runs on AMD cards. Only its two 3D Vision output modes need Nvidia's 3D Vision Driver [5].

Where to download it. The builds are linked at the bottom of the geo-11 project page; the newest file is geo-11_v0.7.11.7z. The links are direct downloads with no payment step [5].

How to install it. In short: install the game's HelixMod fix, copy three geo-11 files into the game folder, and set the output your display needs. With an Nvidia card, 3D Fix Manager can do all of this for you [6].

The seven install steps, as the project page describes them

How to install it, as the project page describes [5]:

1. Start with a game known to work. The page suggests The Witcher 3.
2. Look at the game's HelixMod fix. If it is marked as a geo-11 file, drag all of its files into the folder that holds the game's .exe file. That is the whole install.
3. Otherwise, install the regular fix first. Install the game's regular HelixMod fix and check that the game still runs.
4. Copy three files. Open the geo-11 archive. From the x32 or x64 folder that matches the game, copy d3d11.dll, nvapi64.dll and d3dxdm.ini into the game folder.
5. Turn geo-11 on. In the game folder's d3dx.ini file, set force_stereo=2; edit the file the fix installed, do not overwrite it. For a game with no fix, the page says the defaults "should suffice".
6. Choose the output. In d3dxdm.ini, set direct_mode to the output your display needs (table below). The default is sbs.
7. Start the game. Separation and convergence (how strong the 3D is, and where the screen plane sits) are set in the same file and have hotkeys.

Every direct_mode value and the display it is for

direct_mode value	Use it for
sbs, tab	Anything that takes side-by-side or top-and-bottom
interlaced, checkerboard	Displays that need those formats
anaglyph	Red-cyan glasses on any screen
katanga_vr	VR headsets
simulated_reality	Glasses-free monitors on Leia's SR platform
nvidia_dx11, nvidia_dx9	3D Vision monitors; which one depends on your card and driver (table above)

The page's advice on the first row: "Use TAB if you can, it's better quality because of no horizontal compression". Of simulated_reality it says: "Full resolution on any Leia hardware".

Limits. DirectX 11 only: asked about DirectX 12, the page answers "No current plans". The announcement calls geo-11 "beta caliber" and says its authors had "only really tested maybe 80 games or so" [5].

Match the tool to the display you own

Start from the display: it decides the signal, and the signal decides the tool.

Three more displays, and a note on each: video glasses, Samsung Odyssey 3D, red-cyan glasses

Display you own	What it needs	Tools that feed it
Video glasses such as XREAL One	Full SBS at 3840 x 1080, or Half SBS at 1920 x 1080 [16]	geo-11 or SuperDepth3D set to SBS [5][7]
Samsung Odyssey 3D ($1,399.99) [12]	Samsung's Odyssey 3D Hub	Games on Samsung's list [13]
Any monitor, with red-cyan glasses	Anaglyph (color-filtered) 3D	geo-11 (anaglyph) or SuperDepth3D (Anaglyph) [5][7]

• 3D TV or projector. SBS and TAB pack both eyes' pictures into one frame, so set the display's 3D mode to match. BenQ's TK710 projector, for one, accepts both [17].
• VR headset. UEVR is for Unreal Engine games. geo-11's katanga_vr mode needs the Katanga app from HelixVision, a product no longer on Steam [5][11].
• Video glasses. The glasses' own "REAL 3D" setting converts 2D to 3D; XREAL describes it for video [16].
• SR monitors. Acer's game list is TrueGame, on the Predator SpatialLabs View 27 [14][15]; the community routes are below.
• Samsung Odyssey 3D. Samsung's product page says its AI conversion is for video and may not work with games [12].

Last checked October 7, 2026: prices.

For more on each display type, see 3D TVs, 3D projectors, glasses-free 3D monitors and anaglyph 3D.

Glasses-free 3D monitors are not limited to the maker's game list

Several glasses-free displays run a shared software layer called Simulated Reality (SR), whose developer kit comes from Leia Inc [24]. Three community projects work with it:

The three community projects for Simulated Reality monitors, and 3DGameBridge's limits

• geo-11 has had a simulated_reality output mode since version 0.7.7 (June 2026). Its release notes list games run "in SR mode", among them The Witcher 3, Alien Isolation and Monster Hunter World [5].
• SuperDepth3D's author published a video in September 2024, "Depth3D ReShade Simulated Reality Install Guide. (Easy)", whose description links Acer SpatialLabs, ASUS Spatial Vision and Sony Spatial Reality as SR hardware [23].
• 3DGameBridge is a ReShade add-on, offered in ReShade's installer as "3DGameBridge by Janthony & DinnerBram" and described there as "Enable stereoscopic 3D on LeiaSR displays for SBS content" [25]. It turns a side-by-side picture, from SuperDepth3D or from geo-11 set to sbs, into the monitor's glasses-free 3D.

3DGameBridge's notes give its limits: DirectX 9 to 12 and OpenGL games but not Vulkan, an output resolution that matches the screen's, the SR Platform software installed, and both the display cable and the USB cable connected [24].

Playing these games on the Owl3D Shift

Owl3D, the publisher of this guide, makes the Shift: a 14-inch glasses-free 3D display that sits beside a computer as a second monitor and needs the Owl3D app running on that computer. It gives two routes for games: it shows the 3D that geo-11 and SuperDepth3D make, or it converts the game's picture itself, instantly.

Multiplayer games. Competitive multiplayer games and games with anti-cheat software often block screen capture, and when they do, the Shift cannot convert them. The side-by-side route is affected in the same games: tools such as ReShade often cannot produce their 3D output in multiplayer titles, so there is no side-by-side picture to show.

Limits either way. The Shift shows 1920 x 2160 to each eye, to one viewer at a time, and it does not work with a game console.

Setting up each route on the Shift, and what a Mac needs

Setting up Stereo 3D Playback. Set geo-11 to sbs or tab (or SuperDepth3D to Side by Side or Top and Bottom), put the game on the Shift's screen, and press Start on the Stereo 3D Playback tab in the Owl3D app. Detection works on the picture, not on the program that drew it, so a game that outputs side-by-side qualifies. On AMD and Intel graphics it works in fullscreen only.

What Live 3D Screen converts. It works on the screen image, not inside the game, so it works with almost any game and has no list of supported titles; single-player games are the best fit. AMD cards are not supported for real-time conversion. A Mac needs macOS 15.5 or later: M1 Pro or better is recommended, and a MacBook Air works but can stutter unless it is kept cool.

From Owl3DOwl3D ShiftA 14-inch glasses-free 3D display that sits beside your computer.

Is Nvidia 3D Vision discontinued?

Yes. In March 2019 Nvidia said Release 418, due that April, would be the last driver branch with 3D Vision, with critical fixes until April 2020 [1]. Nvidia's reason: "We have seen the industry and our user base move to newer forms of immersive experiences such as Virtual Reality" [1].

Version 425.31 is the last driver with 3D Vision. Nvidia's release notes for it are dated April 11, 2019, and still list 3D Vision game profiles [20]; driver releases after it do not include 3D Vision [2]. Nvidia's 3D Vision download page is still online, lists drivers only for Windows Vista and Windows 7, and does not say the product has ended [19].

What Nvidia 3D Vision is and what it does

3D Vision was a stereoscopic 3D kit for GeForce graphics cards, launched at CES 2009 [1]. Stereoscopic 3D means each eye gets its own, slightly different picture, and the brain reads the difference as depth. The kit had three parts:

• Glasses. Wireless active-shutter glasses: liquid-crystal lenses black out one eye at a time in step with the screen, kept in sync by an infrared emitter on the PC. Each lens runs at 60 Hz, so the display runs at 120 Hz [2].
• A display. A 120 Hz monitor, a 3D projector or, through Nvidia's 3DTV Play software, an HDMI 3D TV [1][3].
• The driver. It rendered each scene twice, "once for the left eye, and once for the right eye", by modifying the game's shaders (the small programs that draw each frame) as it ran [3]. The game needed no 3D support of its own.

For other kinds of glasses, see types of 3D glasses.

Frequently asked questions

Which games are compatible with Nvidia 3D Vision?

Nvidia claimed "more than 550" 3D games in 2011 [4], but by the end of 2013 only about 40 had been certified "3D Vision Ready", among them Batman: Arkham Asylum, Battlefield 3 and Just Cause 2 [29]. Today the working list is the community's: the HelixMod blog keeps a game list [27]. For geo-11, the project page names games known to work well, including The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, God of War, Final Fantasy XV and Dark Souls III [5].

Does Nvidia 3D Vision work on Windows 11, or with RTX 50-series cards?

Not documented either way. 3D Fix Manager lists Windows 7, 8 and 10 and names cards up to the RTX 4000 series [6], the geo-11 page names no Windows version [5], and Nvidia's download page stops at Windows 7 [19]. The route that is documented for Windows 11 is SuperDepth3D, because ReShade lists Windows 11 as supported [8].

Does SuperDepth3D work in VR?

Yes. It has "a Virtual Reality mode for OpenXR headsets and a Theater mode for phone VR and AR glasses" [7]. It is still depth-buffer 3D; for true stereo in VR, UEVR is the tool to look at.