Weasel on 22/4/2013 at 18:47
Last night I patched my Thief 2 up from NewDark 1.19 to NewDark 1.21 (using TafferPatcher) and EAX stopped working. I can still turn Hardware acceleration on and off and EAX on and off, but turning EAX on doesn't have any effect with Speaker Test or in game. It worked under version 1.19, but I would have to turn it off an on again before it had an effect. What might be wrong? Do I need Alchemy now if I didn't before?
Child Of Karras on 22/4/2013 at 21:49
Under Windows Vista and 7 you always need Alchemy to use EAX. But OpenAL also support reverberation without additional EAX.
Weasel on 22/4/2013 at 22:41
I meant to mention, I'm using Windows XP. As I said, it worked fine in version 1.19 and then stopped working when I upgraded.
AntiMatter_16 on 22/4/2013 at 23:51
Creative ALchemy is for Creative sound cards on Windows Vista/7/8. I believe Microsoft Stripped out Directsound support in DirectX with Vista, so ALchemy/3DSoundback restores that functionality.
What kind of sound card do you have? Have you tried updating the drivers?
There are 3 options for rendering audio in Newdark. Hardware off (Software), Hardware On, and OpenAL.
Have you tried OpenAL? You'll need to install it first if you haven't already. You can download it (
http://connect.creativelabs.com/openal/Downloads/Forms/AllItems.aspx) here.
Click "oalinst.zip"
Extract the exe and run it.
If OpenAL doesn't work, or doesn't work properly, try editing cam_ext.cfg, and uncomment the line "snd_oal_device Generic Software"
Weasel on 23/4/2013 at 00:05
OpenAL did the trick, thanks!
I'm still curious as to what made it work before and then stop working, but I guess it doesn't matter now.
AntiMatter_16 on 23/4/2013 at 06:02
What kind of soundcard do you have? Did you ever look into updating the drivers?
sNeaksieGarrett on 26/4/2013 at 15:55
For me, I've still not been able to get EAX to function properly and I've given up. I have windows 7 and a creative soundblaster card, but Alchemy isn't supported for my specific card (so that solution goes out the window) and using OpenAL doesn't help because the sound is too echoey and way too exaggerated. For example, if I'm standing in the hallway of Running Interference where the two guards talk about the torch being put out, they sound like they are in a huge echoey hall or cave or something.
Granted, it has been so many years since I've heard EAX it could just be that's how EAX is supposed to sound, but I don't think it should be that pronounced.
sNeaksieGarrett on 26/4/2013 at 22:46
I said in my last post that my sound card isn't supported for Alchemy, so no, I'm not using that.
I did install OpenAL, but it doesn't sound any different than regular EAX. However, what I have been doing is using OpenAL but switching EAX off in options. Not sure what benefit OpenAL by itself has over regular hardware acceleration, but I figured I'd use it anyway.
