EAX Advanced HD

[AntiKiller]

How to enable "EAX Advanced HD"?
P.S. Windows 7 x64, sound card - Creative SB X-Fi.
http://s2.ipicture.ru/uploads/20130822/4HkwyM25.bmp


Как активировать "EAX Advanced HD" и "множественное окружение EAX"?
Windows 7 x64, sound card - Creative SB X-Fi.
http://s2.ipicture.ru/uploads/20130822/4HkwyM25.bmp

[hexaae]

For those without a Creative + EAX sound card (e.g. those with basic Realtek HD chipsets), there's an option: Creative Alchemy Universal. Universal because it's been modified to support every card, not just Creative ones.

http://community.pcgamingwiki.com/files/file/28-creative-alchemy-universal/

I tried it and it actually enabled EAX sound on my Realtek HD for games like Baldur's Gate or Neverwinter Nights 2. The problem with Thief DS is that it supports EAX 4.0 which is NOT supported by Creative Alchemy Universal, unfortunately.

Non EAX vs EAX:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QAzes39xsJY

Just for those wondering if...

[Francisè von Spitroast]

Originally posted by hexaae:

For those without a Creative + EAX sound card (e.g. those with basic Realtek HD chipsets), there's an option: Creative Alchemy Universal. Universal because it's been modified to support every card, not just Creative ones.

http://community.pcgamingwiki.com/files/file/28-creative-alchemy-universal/

I tried it and it actually enabled EAX sound on my Realtek HD for games like Baldur's Gate or Neverwinter Nights 2. The problem with Thief DS is that it supports EAX 4.0 which is NOT supported by Creative Alchemy Universal, unfortunately.

Non EAX vs EAX:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QAzes39xsJY

Just for those wondering if...

I know this is a seriously old post but I've been trying to get this working. Are you saying there's no way to get DS working with it on Realtek?

[hexaae]

Unfortunately it seems so... I didn't investigate further. But I doubt there are other wrappers available, with EAX4.0 support

[Francisè von Spitroast]

Originally posted by hexaae:

Unfortunately it seems so... I didn't investigate further. But I doubt there are other wrappers available, with EAX4.0 support

Ah, oh well. Guess I'll get myself an EAX compatible card then. Thanks for the response.

[gOtHiCmetalhead]

Is there anyone with a Creative card who can confirm EAX works?
I have an Audigy RX but enabling hardware acceleration cuts all sound and still does not allow EAX to be enabled. With/without Alchemy is the same. The dsoundlog.txt that alchemy will created shows that it failed to initialize Alchemy.

[Francisè von Spitroast]

Originally posted by gOtHiCmetalhead:

Is there anyone with a Creative card who can confirm EAX works?
I have an Audigy RX but enabling hardware acceleration cuts all sound and still does not allow EAX to be enabled. With/without Alchemy is the same. The dsoundlog.txt that alchemy will created shows that it failed to initialize Alchemy.

There are videos on YouTube that show it working on Creative.

[hexaae]

There's a last hope to emulate EAX 4.0 for Thief: Deadly shadows though:
http://www.indirectsound.com/
At present it supports only EAX 1.0 and 2.0 but the author is working on later EAX implementations, so maybe one day we'll have a simple and efficient software wrapper.
To install it, all you (will) have to do is moving dsound.dll and dsound.ini to the <game.exe> path.

List of games with EAX support:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_games_with_EAX_support

[hexaae]

There seems to be another software solution:
https://www.creative.com/oem/products/software/x-fimb5.asp
http://software.store.creative.com/p/software/sound-blaster-x-fi-mb3
It's a software by Creative for NON-Creative sound cards/chipsets, able to play EAX games too, so it "should" work (but I'm not responsible if it fails ;))

[hexaae]

Alchemy Universal should work on every audio chipset, but if you have Realtek won't cover EAX 3 or 4 (required by Thief Deadly Shadows), just EAX 1, 2. Strange you can't use it. Should give no error.

From my tests best solution free ATM (= until IndirectSound will add emulation support for EAX 3 and 4) is Realtek's own "3D Soundback 0.1 beta" available also from http://www.guru3d.com/files-details/realtek-3d-soundback-beta-1.html which is equal to Alchemy Universal. You have to run the 3D Soundback exe as VISTA SP2 compatibility.

If you have the money you can buy Creative software suite with EAX emulation for all audio chipsets: X-Fi-MB3, but not all users are satisfied (search on YouTube)

[hexaae]

I have ALC668 on my gaming laptop

[MuscularMelvin]

Sorry to resurrect this ancient topic, but it's the first Google search result for "Thief Deadly Shadows EAX 4" and it never got a sufficient answer.

There is a wrapper called DSOAL[www.nexusmods.com] which wraps DirectSound3D and EAX into OpenAL Soft for EAX restoration, headphone HRTF, up to 7.0 surround sound, and Third-Order Ambisonics without the need for a soundcard. I just tried it with Thief: Deadly Shadows tonight and it worked perfectly.

[Francisè von Spitroast]

Originally posted by Cucurbito:

Sorry to resurrect this ancient topic, but it's the first Google search result for "Thief Deadly Shadows EAX 4" and it never got a sufficient answer.

There is a wrapper called DSOAL[www.nexusmods.com] which wraps DirectSound3D and EAX into OpenAL Soft for EAX restoration, headphone HRTF, up to 7.0 surround sound, and Third-Order Ambisonics without the need for a soundcard. I just tried it with Thief: Deadly Shadows tonight and it worked perfectly.

You absolute legend. Thanks a heap!
Can you explain how you installed it though, please.

[hexaae]

@Cucurbito
So you can have all reverbs etc. of EAX4 emulated correctly?
Yes please, add a small how-to guide...

[MuscularMelvin]

The instructions are written in the description of the mod.

All you have to do is extract the .zip file into the same directory as the Thief: Deadly Shadows executable and then set "Hardware Audio Mixing", "EAX Advanced HD", and "Multiple EAX Environments" in-game.

If you want to use surround sound instead of the default headphone HRTF audio, go into alsoft.ini and change "channels=" to read blank after the '='. I highly recommend you use the headphone HRTF option if you've never tried it before, though. It's invaluable in these stealth games and can even simulate sounds above and below you.

[Francisè von Spitroast]

Originally posted by Cucurbito:

The instructions are written in the description of the mod.

All you have to do is extract the .zip file into the same directory as the Thief: Deadly Shadows executable and then set "Hardware Audio Mixing", "EAX Advanced HD", and "Multiple EAX Environments" in-game.

If you want to use surround sound instead of the default headphone HRTF audio, go into alsoft.ini and change "channels=" to read blank after the '='. I highly recommend you use the headphone HRTF option if you've never tried it before, though. It's invaluable in these stealth games and can even simulate sounds above and below you.

Yeah that doesn't work for me. Hardware audio mixing just mutes audio and still doesn't allow me to enable the other options. I've chucked all the files into both the Systems folder and the main folder and neither works. I have a Realtek HD audio card.