Curse

Gotejjeken · Nov 09, 2007, 02:27 AM // 02:27

I recently upgraded my PC and bought one of those Creative Fatality sound cards. I know this thing is capable of EAX, however GW has it grayed out for some reason.

Any idea what causes this?

Lavans · Nov 09, 2007, 04:06 AM // 04:06

Make sure that you have the latest drivers installed for your sound card and your EAX option is enabled in your Creative Console

KZaske · Nov 09, 2007, 07:02 AM // 07:02

If you are using Vista, get the latest driver from creative. Vista broke EAX until about two or three months ago.

iridescentfyre · Nov 09, 2007, 08:33 AM // 08:33

New driver? Last I knew, if you were using an X-Fi card with Vista, you had to use ALchemy to force Guild Wars into using OpenAL instead of DirectSound. Just having the latest driver doesn't cut it.

If you want the explanation, Gotejjeken, the problem is that Vista no longer uses DirectSound to render hardware audio in games. Any game that utilizes DirectSound has to software-render it under Windows Vista as it won't be able to use your sound card. OpenAL applications are not affected by this.. so if you download ALchemy and transmute Guild Wars to OpenAL, Hardware Audio (and by proxy, EAX) will be usable again.

Lavans · Nov 09, 2007, 08:58 AM // 08:58

Nothing extra needs to be downloaded for Guild Wars in order to get Sound Blaster cards to work properly in Vista. All you have to do is set up the card's config in the Audio Control Panel that comes with the Vista drivers for the card. Trust me...I figured this one out the hard way.

iridescentfyre · Nov 09, 2007, 09:09 AM // 09:09

Unless the Creative X-Fi drivers have been drastically altered since my last installation of Vista only a week or two ago, the ALchemy application is required for any DirectSound game to function with hardware sound under Vista. Messing with the driver isn't going to solve the issue, Vista simply does not have a hardware abstraction layer for DirectSound.

I've messed around with numerous installations of Vista with my X-Fi card and this was always required for Guild Wars, F.E.A.R, Far Cry, and Call of Duty 2 to use any hardware sound.

Lavans · Nov 09, 2007, 09:17 AM // 09:17

What your not talking about is not related to the drivers, it's related to how they're set up. The program that enables and disables those features are included with those drivers, just sometimes you gotta look for them because they can install in odd places. 90% of the time, you can find the Audio Control Panel under your Creative folder in the start menu for Vista, and EAX console for XP.

iridescentfyre · Nov 09, 2007, 11:09 AM // 11:09

This is most definitely not included in any version of the Soundblaster X-Fi drivers in any form, and is required for any sort of DirectSound hardware support under Vista. The EAX controls in the control panel only allow the use of EAX as far as the card is concerned, if the OS no longer supports DirectSound, EAX cannot be used.

I know this isn't related to the drivers, its related to Vista and how Vista now changes how Windows handles sound. Present and future games are being written almost unanimously in OpenAL for this reason.

Lavans · Nov 09, 2007, 11:12 AM // 11:12

http://forums.creative.com/creativel...essage.id=3036

Either way, it's another reason for users to stick with XP for the time being =P

Also: My apologies about earlier, I was confusing EAX with CMSS-3D.

freekedoutfish · Nov 09, 2007, 11:28 AM // 11:28

All I can say it that I have a top spec machine with creative x-fi and vista.

Until recently it was only giving 2.1 sound through my 7.1 sound system. But all of a suddent I did an auto detect with the creative volum control system and its now found the 7.1 and it works great.

I think an update was released and your vista system should auto find it and update it for you.

So you Eax should be fine! My Eax option is greyd out but its also ticked!

Gotejjeken · Nov 09, 2007, 05:29 PM // 17:29

When I installed the Creative drivers off of the CD, Alchemy seemed to come with it, and when I updated them to the latest ones I could find I think it updated the Audio Console also.

Even if I open GW the EAX option is unticked and grayed out, so I'll have to look into this Alchemy thing. I never knew what it was before, however I'm glad I found this out now, as the problem was really starting to bug me.

Sound seems to be coming from the back speakers / center, however it's very faint. I checked the Creative Audio Console and found it's set to 5.1, but when I click the speaker things to do a check, only the front two register...yet as I mentioned sound will still come from the woofer and back / center speakers.

Maybe I'll try doing an auto-detect, that's really the only option I can think of to get the console to fully recognize my speakers.

KZaske · Nov 11, 2007, 08:21 AM // 08:21

FMod was to have done away with the DirectSound requirements. Did ANet get rid of FMod?

iridescentfyre · Nov 11, 2007, 08:33 AM // 08:33

Quote:

Originally Posted by KZaske

FMod was to have done away with the DirectSound requirements. Did ANet get rid of FMod?

Beats me. But in three separate installations of Vista, every single time Hardware Audio and EAX were grayed out for me til I used ALchemy to make it OpenAL. My understanding is that FMOD is for music, not an alternative sound API... wouldn't it need to install drivers for that?

KZaske · Nov 11, 2007, 11:36 PM // 23:36

Quote:

Originally Posted by iridescentfyre

Beats me. But in three separate installations of Vista, every single time Hardware Audio and EAX were grayed out for me til I used ALchemy to make it OpenAL. My understanding is that FMOD is for music, not an alternative sound API... wouldn't it need to install drivers for that?

Not just music but sound effects too. I guess the load it put on the system was just too much for most computers. Shoot my Althon 64 3200+ with 2GB RAM barely handled it. I really hope they removed it.

Edit: Here is a link to FMOD's web site: http://www.fmod.org/

Full Pain · Nov 24, 2007, 09:46 PM // 21:46

Hey Guys I tried using Alchemy but it won't work. When I activate it GW won't load and it give me an error. Then when I move it back to the left side it will fire up. Any Ideas?

KZaske · Nov 25, 2007, 06:59 PM // 18:59

Quote:

Originally Posted by Full Pain

Hey Guys I tried using Alchemy but it won't work. When I activate it GW won't load and it give me an error. Then when I move it back to the left side it will fire up. Any Ideas?

What was the error message?

Maya Aimi · Nov 27, 2007, 01:36 AM // 01:36

1. Open GAMES folder
2. Right click on GW icon
3. Click Customize
4. on Play (Play) ..... click the EDIT button down there
5. go to Compatibility tab
6. Tick the "Run this program as administrator" box and click Apply
7. Exit the menu, activate your AlChemy and run the game as usual.

Hope that gonna help

mrmango · Nov 27, 2007, 04:16 AM // 04:16

Bump. Is Maya's method a good idea?

Lord Sojar · Nov 27, 2007, 04:24 AM // 04:24

You shouldn't have bought a sound card with Vista. Vista almost completely bypasses the sound card hardware and utilizes processor power to process sound. EAX is soon to fade from existence. Beware... Dolby is coming to PC. MUAHAHAH!

Maya's method will work however, but no sound quality will be gained by enabling EAX.