rustmite on 14/9/2009 at 16:13
I've got a new X-Fi PCI-E fatality soundcard and experience this problem:
Certain AI sounds cause a 1-2 second freeze, while other sounds do not.
I have played with the settings and found that it get a bit better when I reduce the number of channels, but the problem never really seems to go away.
All drivers are patched to the latest and greatest. Anybody seen this, or have a solution?
doctorfrog on 27/10/2009 at 04:32
Searching for and installing the a3d.dll file worked for me, I now have directional sound in Thief G. Haven't tried yet for Thief 2, but it was never as temperamental as TG.
My issue now is that I can't bring the sfx_channels above 8, which seems pretty lame. I'd like to at least get the golden 12 channels if possible, or force it to something like 24 or 32.
I have onboard sound by RealTek, and I'm sure I should be happy as a clam that directional sound works at all.
EDIT: Never mind, I found the setting in DARK.cfg rather than CAM.cfg. The setting appears to take, simultaneous sounds now should be 32, unless an elaborate deception is going on.
john9818a on 25/12/2009 at 08:09
I'm using an X-Fi fatality PCI sound card with Thief 2 on a Vista PC. I had to install the (
http://connect.creativelabs.com/alchemy/default.aspx) Alchemy from Creative Labs to get the EAX to work, but it sounds great with Thief 2.
I have not even tried to install Thief 1 yet, but on an older XP PC with an Audigy 2 card, Thief 1 sounded loud and echoey. I had to turn EAX off on Thief 1 because it was giving me such a bad headache. Thief 2 sounded great on the Audigy 2 card and the SB Live 16 card from years ago. EAX worked on both cards.
Albert on 29/12/2009 at 19:22
I have some interesting news to tell:
I stumbled upon an old dell I had (A 4500S, for all you stamp-collectors, out there :rolleyes:.), and now, the graphics card seems to be fine (minus fog), but what surprised the most was that EAX turned on, for the first time ever. Now, I don't have speakers to confirm it, but does everyone out there with XP have EAX functioning? I'd like to hear about it.
sNeaksieGarrett on 30/12/2009 at 02:05
EAX should work fine in XP (theoretically at least), it is only Vista and up with the issues. Mine works, if you can call it working... (That is, I can turn it on, but it doesn't sound proper.)
DaNtAn on 31/3/2010 at 05:29
It seems to me that this solution isn't permanent, it works for some folks and it won't for others. I guess it all depends on how each and each of us has it's personal computer up and running (Video card drivers, sound drivers, chipset drivers, direct-x version, various changes, tweaks and etc.)
I have recently acquired a Creative X-Fi Extreme Music sound card and didn't try to run Thief on Windows 7, to see if anything has changed regarding hardware acceleration.
I dug up my old Creative Inspire T4400 and ran a few recent titles, just to see what difference it would make in "Audio Immersion". All I have to say is, WOW. DVD's (and Backups with AC3 audio tracks) sound amazing, game environments are almost real. Hardware accelerated sounds, sound completely different when run on a two speakers setup and when run on a four speakers setup, four speakers sound better.
Playing around with parameters of various 3D sound processing features in Creative's "Audio Control Panel" made things even better. I don't see my self going back to my old Sound Blaster Live 5.1. Within the next month (or so), I'll install Thief II and see how it works.
I still think the only sound card that outperform(s) anything creative will have (and has so far) is Aureal's "Vortex 2 (8830 Chipset)", at least when it comes to hardware acceleration (Especially whith a "two / two.one setup").
DJ Riff on 31/3/2010 at 18:28
Quote Posted by DaNtAn
Within the next month (or so), I'll install Thief II and see how it works.
…
Aureal's "Vortex 2 (8830 Chipset)"
Just as you mentioned them, here's the demo of Thief2 with this soundcard to compare.
(
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v6ng_bGozSo)
Don't forget to put your headphones on. :sly:
Albert on 13/6/2010 at 02:38
Well, here's a small complaint of mine. I've got my good-for-nothing crap-top, with Windows XP installed, running Thief 2, and never has it been able to play EAX audio. Darndest thing, and I believe that the drivers are unique to my system install.
Can't use alchemy, which sucks. Someone took the time to make an audio-chip independent version of alchemy, but forgot to make a XP version of it. Really sucks... :mad:
baeuchlein on 13/6/2010 at 13:49
Quote Posted by Albert
I've got my good-for-nothing crap-top, with Windows XP installed, running Thief 2, and never has it been able to play EAX audio.
Can't use alchemy, which sucks. Someone took the time to make an audio-chip independent version of alchemy, but forgot to make a XP version of it. Really sucks... :mad:
ALchemy itself was made by Creative Labs to get good sound from their sound cards even with Vista. So
they could not care less about other manufacturers' sound cards.
Even if someone has created an ALchemy version which is chip-independent, why should this person care about all sound cards available on the market, or all operating systems? Maybe this someone does not even have the sound card or chip used in that particular slaptop.
It's not funny, but that's the way it is. I have tried to use EAX from about the year 2000, but only for two years I had a system that worked reliably with EAX and
Thief 2, despite the fact that many of the sound cards used were Creative Labs' ones. I am convinced that even
Thief 2 itself has some bugs concerning EAX.
Therefore, it's stereo only for almost a decade now.
