HRTF not working [SOLVED]

[internisus]

I'm very interested in trying the HRTF feature, but I can't enable it; the box won't check when I click on it. I'm wondering if there's some aspect of my setup that's incompatible. Does anyone know?

I use stereo headphones with a Xonar Essence STX sound card running 192 KHz. I'm on Windows 10. Not sure what else might be relevant; please let me know if you have any ideas.

[G L U E]

The option works fine on my Windows 10 Steelseries headphones. I can hear it in an instant when i click on it, sounds a lot better. Sorry i couldn't be much of a help, but i think you can rule of the OS as a problem at least. You do have OpenAL installed, right?

[internisus]

Originally posted by Wonderglue:

You do have OpenAL installed, right?

It seems so; it came up in my list of installed software when I searched programs from the Windows control panel.

Just to make sure, I changed my audio to 44.1 KHz in the Xonar control panel. The HRTF box in the options menu still won't check. It does this little click thing, like the game is attempting to switch audio modes but has to abort, perhaps. Not sure what I'm missing here.

Thanks for the help, Wonderglue.

[Cobra]

Go to Library > Games > Devil Daggers

Right click on Devil Daggers > Properties > Local Files > VERIFY INTEGRITY OF GAME CACHE

You may be missing two files.

[Hara]

Try running at 44.1Khz sample rate. There's something about OpenAL and higher sample rates I believe.

[Slimegirl Pit Graveyard Shift]

I managed to fix this by going into my sound manager. I have both a stereo/subwoofer speaker attached to my comp that turns off when I plug in headphones, so switching my settings from stereo+subwoofer to just stereo only, and then plugging in my headphones and restarting the game, the box would check properly. So I think you just need to make sure your computer's internal settings are set to stereo or headphones.

[Cim]

Originally posted by HaraDaya!:

Try running at 44.1Khz sample rate. There's something about OpenAL and higher sample rates I believe.

Thanks for the tip, this fixed it for me. Very werid that it doesn't work at 48Khz though, most things seems to default to that nowadays.

[internisus]

I've tried switching to 44.1 KHz, and I've also gone into the Windows configure speakers dialogue and ensured that I'm set up as a simple stereo set of full range speakers. Still can't check the box. =\

[CtPG]

I changed my sample rate on my laptop speakers to "24 bit, 48000 KHz, and was able to check the box after that.

[Cobra]

Originally posted by internisus:

I've tried switching to 44.1 KHz, and I've also gone into the Windows configure speakers dialogue and ensured that I'm set up as a simple stereo set of full range speakers. Still can't check the box. =\

Did you verify the game cache like I suggested earlier?

[CtPG]

Also, do you use "Razer Virtual Surround" with your headphones, because it doesn't seem to work with it.

[internisus]

I have tried verifying the installation, and I don't use any special software or virtual surround stuff. Just the Xonar Audio Center. I've tried setting it to 6 channels and 8 channels instead of my usual 2. I've also tried turning on Dolby Headphone mode and the DSP game mode. None of these settings allowed me to turn on HRTF in the game.

I also messed around with the OpenAL .dll files, following some instructions I found online, and then gave up and just uninstalled and reinstalled OpenAL. Still doesn't work.

I got an HRTF test that lets you move a bird chirping sound around your head, and it seems to work just fine. Does anyone know of any other games that use HRTF? Maybe I can determine whether the sound feature works in general on my computer, in which case I'd know that I'm having a problem specifically with this game.

[Cobra]

There are two files that control this and they are located in Steam\steamapps\common\devildaggers

One is for 44.1 and the other 48

Names are default-44100.mhr and default-48000.mhr

Perhaps try deleting those two files and then verify cache so they get downloaded again.

Just thinking maybe the files are somehow corrupted.

[internisus]

Originally posted by Cobra:

There are two files that control this and they are located in Steam\steamapps\common\devildaggers

One is for 44.1 and the other 48

Names are default-44100.mhr and default-48000.mhr

Perhaps try deleting those two files and then verify cache so they get downloaded again.

Just thinking maybe the files are somehow corrupted.

Nope, didn't work. That was a good idea, though!

[WildCat]

Originally posted by internisus:

I use stereo headphones with a Xonar Essence STX sound card running 192 KHz. I'm on Windows 10.

I'm also using a Xonar Essence STX and Windows 10. You need to use a sample rate of either 44.1 KHz or 48 KHz for the HRTF in Devil Daggers to work.

Originally posted by internisus:

Just to make sure, I changed my audio to 44.1 KHz in the Xonar control panel. The HRTF box in the options menu still won't check. It does this little click thing, like the game is attempting to switch audio modes but has to abort, perhaps.

I observe the same behavior as you're describing here if I change my sample rate to 96 Khz or 192 KHz and then launch Devil Daggers and try to enable HRTF. Perhaps you've made a mistake somewhere and your sample rate has not actually been changed as expected. (Maybe you're still somehow using 192 KHz.)

Originally posted by Cim:

Very werid that it doesn't work at 48Khz though, most things seems to default to that nowadays.

It should work with 48 Khz. I've tested it and it works with 48 Khz for me.

Originally posted by CthePredatorG:

Also, do you use "Razer Virtual Surround" with your headphones, because it doesn't seem to work with it.

The reason why it won't work with Razer Surround is because Razer Surround creates an 8 channel audio device and (if I remember correctly) it sets that device to the default playback device when it's enabled. OpenAL Soft (the audio system used by Devil Daggers) will only render HRTF for 2 channel audio devices.

In any case, you wouldn't want to have Razer Surround enabled while playing Devil Daggers with HRTF enabled. Razer Surround is, itself, a type of HRTF solution and it would sound terrible to have two HRTF filters being applied over each other. The same goes for any other similar HRTF solutions such as Creative's SBX ProStudio Surround or Dolby Headphone - turn them off before playing Devil Daggers with HRTF enabled!

Originally posted by internisus:

I've tried setting it to 6 channels and 8 channels instead of my usual 2. I've also tried turning on Dolby Headphone mode and the DSP game mode.

None of these changes will help you out with this problem. You need to be using 2 channels with either 44.1 KHz or 48 KHz sample rate.

Originally posted by internisus:

I got an HRTF test that lets you move a bird chirping sound around your head, and it seems to work just fine.

What is that software called? I'd be interested in checking it out. Can you give me a link to download it?

Originally posted by Cobra:

There are two files that control this and they are located in Steam\steamapps\common\devildaggers

One is for 44.1 and the other 48

Names are default-44100.mhr and default-48000.mhr

There are actually three files that are necessary for Devil Dagger's HRTF to work. Aside from the two you mentioned, there should also be a file called OpenAL32.dll in that same folder. The one I have in my devildaggers folder is 825 KB in size.

--------------------

@internisus - My advice to you would be to double check in the Windows sound settings that you're really using 44.1 KHz or 48 KHz sample rate.

• You can find the Windows sound settings by typing "sound" while the Start menu is open. Click the item called "Sound - Control Panel".
  
• On the 'Playback' tab, select the sound device that has the green tick next to it (that's the default sound device and it will probably be called "Speakers - ASUS Xonar Essence STX Audio Device"
  
• Click the 'Properties' button.
  
• Click the 'Advanced' tab.
  
• In the 'Default format' drop-down list, select either '24 bit, 44100 Hz (Studio Quality)' or '24 bit, 48000 Hz (Studio Quality)'.
  
• Apply and OK.

[internisus]

That was it! WildCat, you're a wizard!

I had assumed that making changes to sample rate in the sound card's audio control panel was actually affecting my system when it wasn't; the Windows playback advanced setting was still set to 192 KHz. I set 48 KHz in both the Xonar panel and Windows playback, and then HRTF was enabled even without having to click on the box.

Weirdly, now I can't disable HRTF, but why would I want to, I guess?

The HRTF test that I found is here[www.bitoutsidethebox.com].

Thank you for helping me, everyone!