[TIPS] FPS drop fixes and restoring EAX

[NTU]

================
=== FPS issues ===
================

After a few minutes, FEAR drops in FPS and never climbs back up again above 30 FPS. Dropping dinput8.dll from here into the FEAR game directory should fix the problem, it works for me and many others:

https://community.pcgamingwiki.com/files/file/789-directinput-fps-fix/

==================================
=== Restoring EAX and surround sound ===
==================================

A lot of people talk about IndirectSound but this is not open source nor restores any true EAX effects. IndirectSound provides some compatibility up to EAX 2.0 but is not a true recreation of EAX effects. DSOAL on the other hand provides full EAX support up to 4.0 (the same version coincidentally as FEAR.)

To make sure FEAR loads DSOAL, you must launch FEAR under Windows compatibility (right click on FEAR.exe and set OS to Windows XP Service Pack 3) and check the box that says "Run this program as an administrator." This is a bug in the wrapper function for DSOAL and this should usually not be required. For FEAR, this step is a MUST.

Please see this issue for more details:

https://github.com/kcat/dsoal/issues/11

1.) To install DSOAL, you must download and copy the dsound.dll (use the release build without the debug info if you're just a user) from here into the FEAR directory:

https://github.com/NTULINUX/dsoal/releases/tag/dsoal-01022020

After that, download OpenAL Soft from kcat's website (the original author of DSOAL) here:

https://openal-soft.org/openal-binaries/openal-soft-1.21.1-bin.zip

2.) Decompress openal-soft and go into openal-soft-1.21.1-bin\bin\Win32 (You must be in the Win32 directory even if you are on 64-bit Windows because FEAR is 32-bit)

3.) Rename soft_oal.dll to dsoal-aldrv.dll

4.) Copy dsoal-aldrv.dll into the FEAR directory

For best results, I have found enabling Audio HW mixing with EAX 2.0 and EAX Advanced HD all together works best. I have verified surround sound and reverb effects on my Razer Tiamat 7.1 V2 with HT Omega eClaro sound card, true 7.1 analog audio with independent volume controls for each speaker. If EAX 2.0 or HW mixing is disabled, certain sounds get cut-off and there's weird glitches here and there in the audio. When all three are enabled, everything works as the game makers intended. When I fully mute the front speakers on my headset, the sound reverberates perfectly into the center and rear speakers.

If a new version of OpenAL Soft is released, you are advised to use that. I have tested and confirmed full EAX restoration with OpenAL Soft 1.21.1 and a DSOAL source code snapshot from January 2nd 2020. Kcat only has binaries for OpenAL Soft for Windows, so I have streamlined this process by hosting the DSOAL DLLs myself.

No FPS drops, full EAX support, all in one thread.

I hope you find this information useful!

[NTU]

What doesn't work, EAX or the FPS drop fix? I am on Win 10 1909, updates generally break things, not fix problems, so I'd rule that out. If DSOAL isn't working, have you launched FEAR under XP SP3 compatibility mode? Make sure you start Steam, FEAR will crash instantly if you click on FEAR.exe if Steam has not started.

[NTU]

In your FEAR directory you have dsoal-aldrv.dll (the OpenAL32.dll file renamed from OpenAL Soft) and DSOAL as dsound.dll ?

For EAX, there should be 2 files in your FEAR directory, dsound.dll which is 190KB and dsoal-aldrv.dll at 2193KB.

Right click on dsoal-aldrv.dll, go to details, then make sure it says OpenAL Soft, file version 1.20.0.0, original file name soft_oal.dll

Make sure the file you copied from OpenAL Soft is the 32-bit Win32 x86 version, _not_ the x64 Win64 64-bit version.

As for dsound.dll make sure it says in the file details, Wine DirectSound, file version 5.3.1.904

You didn't delete or replace the eax.dll file did you? The eax.dll file must be present and the same exact version that came with the game (4.0.1.0 EAX Unified)

Try checking the box for FEAR.exe to run this program as administrator. Lastly, make sure you run config.exe (from inside FEAR directory) then go to Options -> Make sure "Disable hardware Sound" is NOT CHECKED.

If it still doesn't work, go to the Windows Control Panel -> System and security -> System -> Advanced system settings. Click on "Advanced" at the top, then click "Environmental variables."

Click New
Variable name: ALSOFT_LOGLEVEL
Variable value: 3

Make another new variable:
Variable name: ALSOFT_LOGFILE
Variable value: alsoft_log.txt

Another new variable:
Variable name: DSOAL_LOGLEVEL
Variable value: 3

Last variable:
Variable name: DSOAL_LOGFILE
Variable value: dsoal_log.txt

Post output of both files to dpaste.com

Files will be in FEAR directory. I know it's a lot of work, I'm trying to help because I want people to experience EAX like I did.

[Ray tracing is faster]

This no longer works in Windows 10 1909 (and apparently 1903 according to others). Even ALchemy with an X-Fi Titanium HD no longer works. The only option currently is IndirectSound which doesn't restore 100% of the effects but it does get you fully functioning sound including surround sound at least.

[Ray tracing is faster]

Originally posted by ⎠Zushikatetomoto⎝☢ ☠ ☢:

if it's a sound card it should work.
EAX isn't supported on all cards.

OS updates can break anything. I use the Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium HD, been using it for a long time too. It supports all EAX features and used to work gloriously in FEAR, but this is no longer the case. It even worked fine in older versions of Windows 10 but not in 1909. Neither does DSOAL.

Both of these make gunshots and many environmental sounds silent, gone, totally breaking the game audio. Hopefully this randomly got fixed in Windows 10 2004 but I seriously doubt it.

What version of Windows 10 are you running?

[Ray tracing is faster]

Originally posted by ⎠Zushikatetomoto⎝☢ ☠ ☢:

PRO 2004

That inspires hope! I'll wait a bit longer before moving to 2004 but I hope it's fixed there.

[NTU]

DSOAL is working here with the latest Win 10 version (1909) but there's a bug in the wrapper which is why you need to start the game in XP SP3 compatibility mode.

[The Fury]

Crashes after the sierra logo FMV. Windows 10 2004 running in XP SP3 compat mode, DSOAL 1.31a.

[NTU]

Originally posted by The Fury:

Crashes after the sierra logo FMV. Windows 10 2004 running in XP SP3 compat mode, DSOAL 1.31a.

Have you tried the DSOAL release I posted to my Github? Does it crash without DSOAL, or only with DSOAL? Have you renamed the .DLLs correctly?

[Ray tracing is faster]

Bumping this with some new findings. I've upgraded from Windows 10 1909 to 2004, and DSOAL still doesn't work properly. With DSOAL (which I use effectively in tons of games, it only doesn't work in FEAR), EAX options are greyed out unless I have its dsound.dll file in SysWOW64, but then I get the same issue as before - EAX options are available but don't work as many environmental sounds are gone. IndirectSound is still the only thing that works for me.

[rdalcroft]

Originally posted by NTU:

================
=== FPS issues ===
================

After a few minutes, FEAR drops in FPS and never climbs back up again above 30 FPS. Dropping dinput8.dll from here into the FEAR game directory should fix the problem, it works for me and many others:

https://community.pcgamingwiki.com/files/file/789-directinput-fps-fix/

==================================
=== Restoring EAX and surround sound ===
==================================

A lot of people talk about IndirectSound but this is not open source nor restores any true EAX effects. IndirectSound provides some compatibility up to EAX 2.0 but is not a true recreation of EAX effects. DSOAL on the other hand provides full EAX support up to 4.0 (the same version coincidentally as FEAR.)

To make sure FEAR loads DSOAL, you must launch FEAR under Windows compatibility (right click on FEAR.exe and set OS to Windows XP Service Pack 3) and check the box that says "Run this program as an administrator." This is a bug in the wrapper function for DSOAL and this should usually not be required. For FEAR, this step is a MUST.

Please see this issue for more details:

https://github.com/kcat/dsoal/issues/11

1.) To install DSOAL, you must download and copy the dsound.dll (use the release build without the debug info if you're just a user) from here into the FEAR directory:

https://github.com/NTULINUX/dsoal/releases/tag/dsoal-01022020

After that, download OpenAL Soft from kcat's website (the original author of DSOAL) here:

https://kcat.strangesoft.net/openal-binaries/openal-soft-1.20.0-bin.zip

2.) Decompress openal-soft and go into openal-soft-1.20.0-bin\bin\Win32 (You must be in the Win32 directory even if you are on 64-bit Windows because FEAR is 32-bit)

3.) Rename soft_oal.dll to dsoal-aldrv.dll

4.) Copy dsoal-aldrv.dll into the FEAR directory

For best results, I have found enabling Audio HW mixing with EAX 2.0 and EAX Advanced HD all together works best. I have verified surround sound and reverb effects on my Razer Tiamat 7.1 V2 with HT Omega eClaro sound card, true 7.1 analog audio with independent volume controls for each speaker. If EAX 2.0 or HW mixing is disabled, certain sounds get cut-off and there's weird glitches here and there in the audio. When all three are enabled, everything works as the game makers intended. When I fully mute the front speakers on my headset, the sound reverberates perfectly into the center and rear speakers.

If a new version of OpenAL Soft is released, you are advised to use that. I have tested and confirmed full EAX restoration with OpenAL Soft 1.20.0 and a DSOAL source code snapshot from January 2nd 2020. Kcat only has binaries for OpenAL Soft for Windows, so I have streamlined this process by hosting the DSOAL DLLs myself.

No FPS drops, full EAX support, all in one thread.

I hope you find this information useful!

Thanks for this fix.. Works great.. No need for compatibility mode for fear.. Running with windows 10 2004

[Oraxas]

https://openal-soft.org/openal-binaries/openal-soft-1.21.0-bin.zip

Updated link for DOSAL

[Ray tracing is faster]

Originally posted by ⎠Zushikatetomoto⎝☢ ☠ ☢:

Originally posted by Oraxas:

https://openal-soft.org/openal-binaries/openal-soft-1.21.0-bin.zip

Updated link for DOSAL

don't need this if you have a sound blaster sound card.
Open Creative ALchemy and add the game and boom done got EAX.
PS even enabling EAX on other sound cards or onboard sound you will not get the true EAX.
It will not sound the same as the real one.

Modern versions of OpenAL Soft will actually sound better than even the best Sound Blaster sound card (X-Fi Titanium HD in this case, which I own), that is unless it's incompatible with the game. For F.E.A.R. the best sounding solution is indeed DSOAL if you can get it to work, but on my current Windows 10 2004 install I can't get any solution to work which is a known issue affecting some people.

[Memelin]

I triple checked I did all the steps correctly but it still wouldn't work, tried several things but in the end this is what fixed it for me:

Originally posted by Cucurbito:

@EmoTheKid
I have been informed by a user on my 3D Game Audio server on Discord that DSOAL not working out of the box is caused by your PC not having dsound.dll registered. He was able to fix it by installing this Creative ALchemy restriction remover on his new Windows 10 partition before copying DSOAL to the game directory.
http://forums.thedarkmod.com/topic/18249-tutorial-how-to-setup-eax-for-tdm-on-any-soundcard/
So far, this has fixed DSOAL not working for at least 3 people.

https://steamcommunity.com/app/21090/discussions/0/1739980540129531970/#c1647665620930394588

hope it helps

[NTU]

Originally posted by ⎠Zushikatetomoto⎝☢ ☠ ☢:

Originally posted by Me:

Modern versions of OpenAL Soft will actually sound better than even the best Sound Blaster sound card (X-Fi Titanium HD in this case, which I own), that is unless it's incompatible with the game. For F.E.A.R. the best sounding solution is indeed DSOAL if you can get it to work, but on my current Windows 10 2004 install I can't get any solution to work which is a known issue affecting some people.

If you need help add me and I can show you.
I have Creative Sound BlasterX AE-5 Plus SABRE32-class Hi-res 32-bit/384 kHz PCIe Gaming Sound Card and DAC with Dolby Digital and DTS

Yes, but this is for people who don't have ALchemy and it's also a 100% open source alternative.

Originally posted by Oraxas:

https://openal-soft.org/openal-binaries/openal-soft-1.21.0-bin.zip

Updated link for DOSAL

Updated the link for OpenAL-Soft, thanks!

[NTU]

Creative had terrible Linux support until recently, some guy reverse engineered the living hell out Recon3D/SBZ and now the AE-5 lol. I thought the AE-5 would never make it.