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Speaker setup
- Many games use the speaker configuration reported by the operating system so having it set correctly is crucial.
Issues fixed
Sound problems (cracking, delays, missing music/effects, etc.)
No surround sound
- See also: Restoring Legacy Audio Effects (DirectSound 3D): the majority of pre-2008 games needs DirectSound hardware acceleration to return positional audio.
- Other games, using OpenAL, may employ old versions that result in bad driver detection and no positioning.
Game volume decreases
Can't enable EAX
- Please refer to Restoring Legacy Audio Effects (DirectSound 3D) for more information.
- This is not required for games using OpenAL
CD music not playing
CD-DA music (shows up as a music CD in media players)
Non-CD-DA music (does not show up as a music CD in media players)
Restoring Legacy Audio Effects (DirectSound 3D)
DirectSound was the component responsible for audio in DirectX. Most games developed since the mid-90s relied on its hardware-based audio path to offload work and make use of the various enhancement features of discrete sound cards. With the arrival of Windows Vista and its new audio stack, Microsoft deprecated it and just employed a software emulation layer. Depending on each game, results may vary from absolute consistency, to bad, misplaced or even missing audio. To resolve this incompatibility, sound device manufacturers developed software to restore legacy audio effects for their respective devices and end users developed workarounds that can be applied to any sound device.
EAX
- Using these solutions may also restore surround sound functionality in games that use DirectSound 3D.
- If the game has a grayed-out or disabled EAX option, using these solutions should allow the option to be enabled.
A3D
- Lists of Aureal 3-Dimensional enabled games can be found here and here
- C-Media based sound cards support A3D 1.0 out of the box, even in Windows Vista (via Xear3D)[1]
References