[Creative Sound Blaster owners only] Community help request

[Chris Solomon]

back in 2013 - 2014 i discovered that when 2k yanked GFWL out of BS, they made a small update to the audio subsytem of the game. this made it so cards that supported EAX through FMOD using hardware, did not need to use Alchemy anymore to get surround and EAX to work. this was a silent update and no notice was ever posted. I own a number of Creative products. but for my laptop, which has become my primary PC since 2010, I have three products. A Sound Blaster X-FI Arena Sound USB, A Tactic3D Omega Wireless, and a Sound Blaster Recon3D Omega Wireless. I discovered back in 2014 that suddenly i could no longer use bioshock with Alchemy using my Recon3D. I then discovered the small update that was made when GFWL was yanked. So i undid the compatibility settings for the executable and turned Alchemy off for BS. Then I discovered that regardless of if EAX was enabled or not, if BS was set to 5.1 or 7.1 sound, there was this annoying static sound that played with the other sounds. IT was not the headphones, or the game. I was able to record a sound clip using the Recon3D's What U hear port (steroeo mix) and windows sound recorder (link to audio clip below). The sound was present in the audio clip. meaning it was the audio system itself that was causing the issue. I have since come to believe that the issue is caused by the way the surround audio is being proxessed by FMOD in the hardware, I have also since found one other game (the witcher) which also has the same issue. I wish to know if the issue affects other creative cards based off of the Core3D audio chip, and if the issue is present for newer( latest) cards. Back in 2013 my Recon3D was the latest, but i think enough time has past to do a recheck and see if other users are having the same issue. I should note here, that the other two creative devices i have, the Arena Sound USB, and the Tactic3D Omeage Wireless, do not suffer from this issue, and also that they still require Alchemy to be used to restore EAX and surround (no FMOD EAX hardware support).

sound clips of sound issue:

original 2014 recording: https://1drv.ms/u/s!AouWDY3RtbYPvk8kcrqcqNQD52Wt
new shorter recording (10/30/2016) https://1drv.ms/u/s!AouWDY3RtbYPgP5ez09wtUzNeBmK1w

Both files are .WAV files and should be able to be played on any system that is capable of playing sound. the files are uncompressed and not converted (not .mp3) to maintain original quality. I tired to make a recording of the other two creative devices i use, but they do not have a What u Hear port (stereo mix) to record to.
Both files have been AV checked by both M$ and by me.
I used ESET ESS 9.0.402.0
Virus sig db ver: 14364 (20161030)
last updated 10/30/2016 2:39:50 PM

I did take the issue up with 2K support back in 2013 and again in 2014, but the eventual response was tha no further patches or changes to BS would be made. If this is a problem with any of the newer Creative cards, i plan on taking up the issue again with 2k. I should note that the issue has been solved in BSR (Bioshock Remastered). So they DO know how to fix it, it would appear.

[Chris Solomon]

here is the last response i got from level 2 tech support on the issue back on April 14, 2014


Matt W.
April 14, 2014 07:38
Hello,
Thank You for contacting 2K Technical Support.
It's hard to establish why the Recon3D is not working. Since we are talking about Bioshock, it is possible that there is some sort of incompatibility with the modern hardware/software. I am afraid You will have to use the Arean headset even though the performance is not as good as You would want.
We deeply apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused you.
Kind regards,
Matt W.

[Chris Solomon]

Finally! After Four years, I have found a solution to the FMOD 5.1/7.1 sound issue. Partial credit goes to Archive.org for their archival of the Creative ALchemy configuation list of games page, and a guide i found that contains a compatible 'OpenAL32.dll' for the game. (link to guide below)

The fix uses a trick used to get OpenAl working on Bioshock:
go to the games directory [c:\programfiles (x86\Steam\Steamapps\username\common\Bioshock\builds\release]

find the file default.ini and open it with notepad.

use notepads search function, find this line: usedefaultdriver

next change the line to match this : UseDefaultDriver=False

save the file and close it. next go to the link below, and dowload the 'patch'.

open the file and navigate to the release folder in the compressed file. copy the file openal32.dll to the same directory that has the file we just edited.

next open up Bioshock and once you get to the menu, setup you sound options, EAX, 51, 7.1, etc., then restart the game.

This trick might even work for other cases in which the sound is having issues as well, so go ahead and try it out.

all this trick does is bypass 2k's 'update' which switched the game from using openal to using FMOD. all we are doing is switching it back to OpenAL.

link to 'patch' file: http://community.pcgamingwiki.com/files/file/277-bioshock-modern-systems-crash-fix/

[76561198098294449]

Originally posted by Chris Solomon:

back in 2013 - 2014 i discovered that when 2k yanked GFWL out of BS, they made a small update to the audio subsytem of the game. this made it so cards that supported EAX through FMOD using hardware, did not need to use Alchemy anymore to get surround and EAX to work. this was a silent update and no notice was ever posted. I own a number of Creative products. but for my laptop, which has become my primary PC since 2010, I have three products. A Sound Blaster X-FI Arena Sound USB, A Tactic3D Omega Wireless, and a Sound Blaster Recon3D Omega Wireless. I discovered back in 2014 that suddenly i could no longer use bioshock with Alchemy using my Recon3D. I then discovered the small update that was made when GFWL was yanked. So i undid the compatibility settings for the executable and turned Alchemy off for BS. Then I discovered that regardless of if EAX was enabled or not, if BS was set to 5.1 or 7.1 sound, there was this annoying static sound that played with the other sounds. IT was not the headphones, or the game. I was able to record a sound clip using the Recon3D's What U hear port (steroeo mix) and windows sound recorder (link to audio clip below). The sound was present in the audio clip. meaning it was the audio system itself that was causing the issue. I have since come to believe that the issue is caused by the way the surround audio is being proxessed by FMOD in the hardware, I have also since found one other game (the witcher) which also has the same issue. I wish to know if the issue affects other creative cards based off of the Core3D audio chip, and if the issue is present for newer( latest) cards. Back in 2013 my Recon3D was the latest, but i think enough time has past to do a recheck and see if other users are having the same issue. I should note here, that the other two creative devices i have, the Arena Sound USB, and the Tactic3D Omeage Wireless, do not suffer from this issue, and also that they still require Alchemy to be used to restore EAX and surround (no FMOD EAX hardware support).

sound clips of sound issue:

original 2014 recording: {LINK REMOVED}https://1drv.ms/u/s!AouWDY3RtbYPvk8kcrqcqNQD52Wt
new shorter recording (10/30/2016) {LINK REMOVED}https://1drv.ms/u/s!AouWDY3RtbYPgP5ez09wtUzNeBmK1w

Both files are .WAV files and should be able to be played on any system that is capable of playing sound. the files are uncompressed and not converted (not .mp3) to maintain original quality. I tired to make a recording of the other two creative devices i use, but they do not have a What u Hear port (stereo mix) to record to.
Both files have been AV checked by both M$ and by me.
I used ESET ESS 9.0.402.0
Virus sig db ver: 14364 (20161030)
last updated 10/30/2016 2:39:50 PM

I did take the issue up with 2K support back in 2013 and again in 2014, but the eventual response was tha no further patches or changes to BS would be made. If this is a problem with any of the newer Creative cards, i plan on taking up the issue again with 2k. I should note that the issue has been solved in BSR (Bioshock Remastered). So they DO know how to fix it, it would appear.

Thank You very (very very) much!!!
:-D

[Chris Solomon]

I assume you are having similar issues? what creative card are you using?
My fix worked out well for my laptop.

but i have yet to try it out on my desktop which has the "recommended card' for the game, an X-Fi Elite Pro. I haven't touched the desktop since i got my laptop, so i don't know if the X-Ram still gets utilized by BS. the desktop is also an XP system so thers that too.

I don't know why they ripped out the openal and replaced it with fmod, instead of giving us a choice. But that update they ninja'd in vexxed me for the longest time