Emulating EAX through software...

lost_soul on 27/4/2009 at 18:36

Seeing as how the average computer these days is so powerful, yet many do not come with EAX-capable sound cards, would it be possible to emulate EAX in software on these machines? I want to play Thief with the original reverberation effects. It can't possibly be *THAT* demanding to do this in software, because I can name several old engines that did it.

Unreal engine did it.
Half-life did it.
Kingpin did it (which was based on Quake 2).
Heck, even the build-engine did it!

Are there any projects working on something like this?

Hiatus on 28/4/2009 at 17:08

BTW: I'd also like to see something like this for (completely forgotten*) A3D (supported by Thief) - because it sounds *much* better than this artficial EAX thing...

A3D >> EAX

*) everybody ever only mentions EAX, not A3D

lost_soul on 28/4/2009 at 17:20

I have never experienced A3D. I've read about it though and it must have been awesome. Apparently it actually uses the level geometry to determine how sounds should echo and bounce off near-by walls. I don't think EAX has anything to do with level geometry. They just set values for parts of the map that effect the sound and use multi-channel set-ups to provide surround sound.

jtr7 on 28/4/2009 at 17:20

Hiatus: Simply because that's what the software says, the game menu options, etc.

And A3D still doesn't work for TDP/Gold. Sure, you get reverb, but the actual dialogue is muted horribly, so it can't be used.

But there's this sticky anyway, and TMA's fine:
(http://www.ttlg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=117175)

sNeaksieGarrett on 29/4/2009 at 20:26

Yeah, except it doesn't work.:erg: At least not for me, though he does state mainly it's for Sensaura based sound cards, and I don't think I have one. Also, I'm not using on-board.