EAX sound

[Brujolujo]

Is it possible to get EAX sound enhancements? Modern OS's don't support them, is there a way to get the superior audio? Would it work for other games?

[HazardHawk]

EAX is only sound blaster. If you do not have that chip and the decoder software, you do not have EAX capability. It was a very specific push to promote a supplemental function in sound lost between DOS base and XP Shell. It had a much higher level of function than Realtek and soundblaster reached the higher and lower frequencies first giving them independence.

Another similar was a plug in called audiophile made for Winamp. Rather than chip specific, it was software specific emulation. Winamp went freeware while the new owner decided what to do with it and audiophile also released a more advanced better version. Winamp and its plugins are the only way to still get close to true sound surround and separated individual sound response if you have speakers able to be responsive enough EVEN if they themselves are not surround sound.

Unfortunately, realtek and their interface board was the cheap route which would do because most people had no idea how to make true sound surround sound work in XP anyways. The few boards which incorporated soundblaster faded away as they were only for enthusiasts who knew how to work sound streams in XP. Soundblaster cards held on for awhile and have also faded into obscurity and specific sound enthusiasts.

Also, while it might be possible to write the bridge which would work for windows 10 and 11 and other centers of control to activate without the chip, even as freeware it would fast get removed for copyright infringement.

[Steve (Dawn's Hubby)]

Originally posted by HazardHawk:

EAX is only sound blaster. If you do not have that chip and the decoder software, you do not have EAX capability. It was a very specific push to promote a supplemental function in sound lost between DOS base and XP Shell. It had a much higher level of function than Realtek and soundblaster reached the higher and lower frequencies first giving them independence.

Another similar was a plug in called audiophile made for Winamp. Rather than chip specific, it was software specific emulation. Winamp went freeware while the new owner decided what to do with it and audiophile also released a more advanced better version. Winamp and its plugins are the only way to still get close to true sound surround and separated individual sound response if you have speakers able to be responsive enough EVEN if they themselves are not surround sound.

Unfortunately, realtek and their interface board was the cheap route which would do because most people had no idea how to make true sound surround sound work in XP anyways. The few boards which incorporated soundblaster faded away as they were only for enthusiasts who knew how to work sound streams in XP. Soundblaster cards held on for awhile and have also faded into obscurity and specific sound enthusiasts.

Also, while it might be possible to write the bridge which would work for windows 10 and 11 and other centers of control to activate without the chip, even as freeware it would fast get removed for copyright infringement.

An amazingly well written and accurate post that we rarely see here on Steam, thanks for that. When I went to look at your profile I was guessing you would have been here for 15 years or more. I remember buying the sound cards back then and working with the OS trying to get that just perfect sound in my headphones, but it was so long ago I had forgotten all of this.

[HazardHawk]

I generally bore people, but I can also go farther with the timeline of sound development such as me and two others worked together to create the first fatality X64 driver. Creative kept delaying because they could not get EAX to function. The answer they ended up using was using our driver we had hosted at PlanetAMD64 and creating a software interface dependent upon the chip called alchemy which created a dll file specifically for EAX sound decoding.

[Steve (Dawn's Hubby)]

*1337+1

[Gigantus]

Ah, them days. Soundblaster and WinXP - a unity made in chip heaven.

[Red Spot]

You guys are old ...

[HazardHawk]

Windows 98, soundblaster sound, and Voo Doo 32 mb video card at least until the ATI Rage 128 came out and 128 mb of graphics video was HUGE! Just to note, by scavenging three other Voo Doo cards you could stack mount the memory to get all the way to 128 mb video ram on a Voo Doo. I know someone who has a system still set up running Amiga software.

[HazardHawk]

Originally posted by HazardHawk:

Windows 98, soundblaster sound, and Voo Doo 32 mb video card at least until the ATI Rage 128 came out and 128 mb of graphics video was HUGE! Just to note, by scavenging three other Voo Doo cards you could stack mount the memory to get all the way to 128 mb video ram on a Voo Doo. I know someone who has a system still set up running Amiga software.

And dont forget socket 7 CPUs where Intel, AMD, and Cyrex battled it out over who could reach 1ghz first. Inverting the board using a Cyrex 450mhz cpu cooled by a direct contact piece of dry ice won that race running for the required 60 seconds at clock speed. The AMD 550mhz was the first socket 7 to reach 1ghz with a stock cooler and actually run stable. Intel did not break 1ghz until socket 478 which was about the same time AMD jumped to socket A. Windows Millennium and 2000 came out with 2000 the first NTFS file system.

Being a computer tech through that era of development I can run down the entire history of computers and software. I even know the joys of sitting and sequencing cards in order to load them to give a simple set of instructions.

[Gigantus]

I still get teary eyed remembering playing 'Pong' when it got released....

[Solid Fox Cat]

Creative sound blaster card plus their Alchemy software. Add a game to Alchemy list to make it working. But before that i used an Alchemy driver. OpenAL its called.

[HazardHawk]

Remember these? LOL
https://www.cpu-world.com/CPUs/K6-2/index.html

[Gigantus]

The glorious days of the single core processor. Makes me weep for my 8086 IBM machine.

[Lucas80]

i still use my Creative x-fi titanium, EAX support works on older games with Creative ALchemy but can be abit hit & miss with certain titles, works with TOTAL WAR: Medieval 2 but the sound does randomly glitch out after a couple of hours & requires a reset

EAX still sounds amazing all these years later, the extra effects on some of the games is truely mind blowing, sad that a 10+ yr old game has better sound potential than one created recently

i am not sure if Creative ALchemy only works on Soundcards with EAX or if it works on any soundcard

[Lucas80]

so i just checked... get "Creative ALchemy Universal" that will enable EAX support for any soundcard, keep in mind it wont be as good as playing the game back in the day on a true EAX chip but it will still sound better than the miles 2D sound driver