Category Archives: V Lab

Virtual Environment Research Lab

Guardian! (I made this)

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There is no secret that I have been working with Neverwinter Nights (1 and 2) since 2006. Our NWN1 mod, “Arecibo Valley” was debuted at the AECT 2006, while “Saving Adryanee” received its share of the 15-min fame as a Finalist at the 2nd Serious Games Showcase & Challenge! So what have we done with NWN2 since it’s release in 2006 and 3 expansions later?

I am sad to report that NWN2 was much harder to mod. There were a lot of changes in terms of how the WYSIWYG modding tool “mold” landscape – its more like working with Playdough. Many of my team members (including me) faced problems with “exterior” landscaping, to say the least.

A series of other obstacles: such as incompatible graphic driver released by nVidia (breaking up the graphics, or black screens), and various patches that break plug-in hak pack, etc., made our jobs that much harder. Did I also mention the horrible camera system implemented in NWN2?

We never really give up on NWN2 though. To show my support, I have my research assistant ported IT Tracer over to the new game engine. I also tried teaching a game modding class with it, being careful to steer clear from asking students to make outdoor areas. I have even created a full tutorials for the modding class. This Spring, I finally completed the tutorial mod: a simple 1st level, Bard’s Tale-ish story. I had a lot of fun making The Problem in the Cellar, and my students enjoyed it. One of these days, I may just release it to the NWVAULT community for their rating. Well, may be.

The upcoming MODSIM conference gave me some extra motivation, because I really wanted to showcase a V-Lab product there. So, (drum rolls, please) I am happy to announce that a new NWN2 mod has been completed!

Guardian: A new Neverwinter Nights 2 game module by Dr. C. Sebastian Loh

Guardian: A new Neverwinter Nights 2 game module by Dr. C. Sebastian Loh

The Guardian was completed around end of August, but the bug elimination process took another 3 more weeks of our time. During that period, my team tested the mod a good 8-10 rounds, and I am confident that about 98% of the script errors and ‘bugs’ have been eliminated.

The game mod contains just one single jungle area — a rather difficult scene to mod using NWN2 because the “trees” made much demand on both the game engine and CPU. Luckily I now have an Intel i-7 in the office, and a AMD quad core at home. About the storyline, I am sorry I can’t give it away just yet, because it is also a mod 4 research and I will be collecting data with it. Suffice to say that the mod has a ‘military twist’ aimed squarely at pleasing the crowd at MODSIM World Conference. ;-)

I doubt data collection will be completed by the time the conference comes around, but I should have some data to show.

In case you are going to the conference, I won’t really be showing the game mod, Guardian. Instead, I will be showcasing the Performance Tracing Reporting Assistant, (Performance Tracer, or PeTRA). The game mod is a means to the end. I promise to tell you more about what all that means in the near future. Stay tune.

Press: Daily Egytian

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On March 18, 2010 Daily Egyptian ran a story about a professor who is studying how video game players learn… ;-)

Christian Sebastian Loh turns on his 72-inch liquid plasma, high-definition rear projector TV in order to operate his Alienware 5500 desktop computer to play video games in 3-D.Loh does not play these games himself; he studies the way people play the games. He received a $70,000 grant from the U.S. Army in 2009 to study how video games help people learn.

The grant is called the Defense University Research Instrumentation Program, and allowed Loh to purchase the material necessary to pay for virtual environment equipment that allows him to study people who play video games.

Loh, an assistant professor in the College of Education and Human Services, said when the university found out he was buying an Alienware computer they were a little skeptical. “They asked me, ‘Why are you buying a toy?’” …

Read full article here.

Note: It would appear that the 72-inch rear-display Digial Plasma Liquid (DLP) TV is really a crowd-puller! Not only have the 3 local/regional newspapers all reported about the Plasma TV (and the DURIP grant), the local TV and Radio stations have also send reporters to interview me about it. Wow!

V-Lab, 72" 3D-capable DLP and avatars

V-Lab News

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A new write-up was released today on Saluki Times. The photograph of David playing the video game showed some genuine emotion. :-)

A “professor of games” is developing software that will allow teachers to correct students’ mistakes as they make them.

“Research tells us that repeated mistakes will become entrenched, and correction at a later point can become costly,” said C. Sebastian Loh, who teaches in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction at Southern Illinois University Carbondale.

“I have taken that idea into games used for learning and training. This software can track players within the game world and show where they are and what they are doing in that environment. As a result, an instructor can be notified about a mistake early enough to help trainees correct any mistakes before they become habits.”

Loh’s research focuses on his twin interests in performance assessment and the fantastical computer-generated worlds where millions of alter-egos, known as avatars, live — and oft times die….

As with any kind of training, the key question in computer-aided instruction is: What did the student actually learn? Most assessments come when training ends. Loh himself has developed software that pulls data from gaming sessions once they’re done to pinpoint performance progress, strengths and weaknesses. But because these tools come into play at the end of the training, trainees may have spent as much as 60 hours making mistakes and worse, repeating them.

“That time is wasted,” Loh said…

Read the full article.

Photo by Steve Buhman

3D-Ready DLP

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In order to create the 3D-MUVE I had envisioned for the V-Lab, I needed a way to generate a 3D world. (Disclaimer: the idea was formed in Oct 2008, WAY before I watched James Cameron’s Avatar in 3D.)

Now, the Alienware with the ATI Radeon 5870 (Eyefinity) may have been set up for “surround gaming”, but unfortunately, the high-end Radeon will not do 3D it is now possible to do 3D using the ATI Radeon cards with iZ3D’s driver! I had originally thought that a PC with an NVida card that is hooked up to any large screen would do it, but to my dismay, it was not so. I was hoping to get the new Samsung LED TV at 240 Hz, but (shocking) they are not 3D ready! There used to be two manufacturers who produce 3D-ready DLPs (i.e. Samsung and Mitsubishi), but it appeared that Samsung has dropped out of the race. So Misubitshi is now the only manufacturer that is making 3D ready DLPs. [The new 3D ready TV doesn't use cyan-red color separation to show the left-right image, instead they made use of polarization technology (as in the case of JC's Avatar). Rear-projected DLPs are different because they convert the left right stream into a checker-board patterns (white-on, black-off) to project the correct image to each of the two eyes.] (More on “3D ready TV/DLP” in this article.)

Answer: The 3D glasses from Avatar will not work with nVidia’s 3D kit. Those glasses will work with 3D projectors that use polarization technology. :-(

Answer 2: Added on Feb 3, 2010: iZ3D & ATI Radeon will be the answer! :-)

Anyhow, I had to order a GeForce GTX 285 for the Alienware computer, in order to turn it (from a surround game machine) into a 3D MUVE generator. The card arrived yesterday, and I couldn’t wait to try it.

After installing the needed software drivers and connecting the hardware (like the image shown below), I was instructed to turn on the 3D glasses and put it on. What I viewed next was several 3D photos, but (wow!) that initial effect was totally mind-blowing! You totally need to see it in order to believe it.

Connecting: PC » 3D Vision kit » DLP

Connecting: PC » 3D Vision kit » DLP

Note the 3D glasses emitter port in the diagram? Most of the time, they are simply labeled as “3D Sync Out” behind the DLP. And yes, a DLP with this 3-pin port is 3D ready. A DLP  without it is not a 3D ready DLP.

3D Sync Out port

3D Sync Out por

Since viewing 3D photo is working fine, I then fire up NWN2 to see how well it fare under the 3D settings. Unfortunately, even though I can “sense” the 3D-ness of the NWN2 game world, the 3D effect was no way near as spectacular as the 3D photos. [Perhaps I should have checked nVidia's list of "approved" 3D-games first? NWN2 was not listed as compatible at all.]

Since I ran out of time today, I will be back tomorrow to report on Resident Evil 5 — which is one of two 3D ready games currently available on the market. (The second one being Batman: Arkham Asylum).

Apart from the 3D readiness, I noticed two oddities.

  1. the PC screen was cut off by the DLP. (I lost about 1-2 inches of screen real estate all around)
  2. there is no sound output through the DLP (I am connecting it from PC to DLP using HDMI)

There are some suggestions on how to fix them on the Web and in the product manual. Perhaps I will work on it tomorrow and report a fix. (Stay tuned.)

P.S.: Came across the 3D Vision Blog which discusses 3D gaming. There is even a write-up and AVISynth plugin for converting 2D movies to 3D. Hmm…. interesting!

Surround Game Setup

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This is the lesson I learned about setting up Surround Game (and for anyone else thinking of doing the same):

  1. Buy a computer with Radeon 5xxx series (with DirectX-11 Eyefinity capability) – or buy the cards and add it yourself.
  2. (Optional) Buy 2 cards if you want CrossFire capability. (like SLI for NVidia)
  3. Buy 3 monitors (HDMI-capable) of the same make and brand (so the color and contrast are consistent).
  4. (Optional) You may want to consider getting monitors that can do portrait mode (this allow some interesting configuration choices).
  5. Buy a Display Port to HDMI adapter, which is usually not included with monitor purchase.
  6. (Optional) You may need to buy a DVI to HDMI adapter, but this is often included with the monitor purchase.
  7. (Optional) You should have 3 HDMI cables (1 short, 2 long). [Short = at least 3 ft, Long = 6']
  8. Connect the monitors to the Radeon card (using ports from 1 card only), using the following configuration:
  • One of the 3 monitor must be connected using Display Port (ATI refer to this as the 3rd monitor)
  • Since the card is now left with 2 DVI, and 1 HDMI ports, the available configurations are DVI & DVI, or DVI & HDMI. I recommend the DVI & HDMI option because in this way, you will get HDMI Audio (which is not available in DVI & DVI option)
  • So connect a second monitor using the HDMI cable, and
  • The last monitor using the last HDMI cable passing through a DVI to HDMI adapter

In this way, all 3 types of ports on the Radeon will be used.

  1. Now, on to the software side. Using the ATI Catalyst Control Panel, select a new Profile under Profile manager.
  2. Configure all 3 desktop as a Single Display.

Voila! And you are done. Enjoy your surround game environment!

Playing WOW with 3 monitors in surround game mode (Internet image)

Playing WOW with 3-monitor in surround game mode (Internet image)