Halo 2 Anniversary: No Surround Sound

[SireEvalish]

I'm currently experiencing an issue where Halo 2 does not actually output in surround sound, only stereo. Both Reach and H:CEA work fine with full 7.1 audio, as do all my other games.

Has anyone else experienced this? Is it a known bug or just something random happening to me?

[poinguan]

Mine is at stereo too. 343 probably ignore all of us as they thought the whole community is on stereo headset.

[lyntendo]

Only stereo for me too. I don't think this is just a bug, it's as if they never bothered implementing surround sound in this version of Halo 2. I really hope this gets patched asap

[Hardcore Games™]

The game is old enough not to have surround sound which was a few more years away

[lyntendo]

Originally posted by Hardcore Games™:

The game is old enough not to have surround sound which was a few more years away

Not true actually, the original Xbox had the Advanced AV Pack with 5.1 optical sound. Even Halo CE had true 5.1. Also, it works fine in Halo CE Anniversary on PC

[xSOSxHawkens]

Mine works just fine in 5.1 for all the game titles fwiw.

Originally posted by Hardcore Games™:

The game is old enough not to have surround sound which was a few more years away

*so* wrong... Dolby Digital and DTS both pre-date the OG xbox by quite a bit.

Prior to that there was matrix encoded Dolby Surround in both media and games going back to the N64 days.

Before that was quad changel encoded quadrophonic releases of music and movies (laser disc) and stereo surround (similar to but not as advanced and matrix encoded surround).

[lyntendo]

Originally posted by xSOSxHawkens:

Mine works just fine in 5.1 for all the game titles fwiw.

Really? What's your sound setup? I get perfect 5.1 playing Halo CE, but definitely only stereo playing Halo 2.

[xSOSxHawkens]

Originally posted by lyntendo:

Originally posted by xSOSxHawkens:

Mine works just fine in 5.1 for all the game titles fwiw.

Really? What's your sound setup? I get perfect 5.1 playing Halo CE, but definitely only stereo playing Halo 2.

Soundblaster Z hardware audio card with 5.1 output via 3.5mm analog to RCA multi chanel input on an Onkyo HT receiver.

Also have no issue with the perceived surround quality of the Headphone mixing when using my headset (regular stereo headphone surround).

[lyntendo]

Originally posted by xSOSxHawkens:

Originally posted by lyntendo:

Really? What's your sound setup? I get perfect 5.1 playing Halo CE, but definitely only stereo playing Halo 2.

Soundblaster Z hardware audio card with 5.1 output via 3.5mm analog to RCA multi chanel input on an Onkyo HT receiver.

Also have no issue with the perceived surround quality of the Headphone mixing when using my headset (regular stereo headphone surround).

Thanks for the info!
Maybe it's a bug only occurring on certain hardware. Are you on Windows 10?

[xSOSxHawkens]

Originally posted by lyntendo:

Originally posted by xSOSxHawkens:

Soundblaster Z hardware audio card with 5.1 output via 3.5mm analog to RCA multi chanel input on an Onkyo HT receiver.

Also have no issue with the perceived surround quality of the Headphone mixing when using my headset (regular stereo headphone surround).

Thanks for the info!
Maybe it's a bug only occurring on certain hardware. Are you on Windows 10?

yup.

Full system:

3900x
x570 Unify
32GB 3600/cl16
500gb firecudda 520
2tb mushkin proline enhanced
4tb RAID-0 (2x2tb Seagate 7200rpm smr drives)
2TB external USB3.0 5400rpm for backups
Vega 64
4K/60 for gameplay and screen
SB-Z hardware sound card
1050w psu, 80+ plat
win10 x64 pro

[lyntendo]

Originally posted by xSOSxHawkens:

Originally posted by lyntendo:

Thanks for the info!
Maybe it's a bug only occurring on certain hardware. Are you on Windows 10?

yup.

Full system:

3900x
x570 Unify
32GB 3600/cl16
500gb firecudda 520
2tb mushkin proline enhanced
4tb RAID-0 (2x2tb Seagate 7200rpm smr drives)
2TB external USB3.0 5400rpm for backups
Vega 64
4K/60 for gameplay and screen
SB-Z hardware sound card
1050w psu, 80+ plat
win10 x64 pro

Cheers!

[Rube]

Here was what fixed it for me that I posted in another thread:

I'm using Windows 10 and I had my speaker layout set to "side" for the rear speakers, since they are pretty much on the side of me. I changed it to "rear" and boom, the campaign for Halo 2 has surround sound now!

This is still what I consider a bug, because pretty much EVERY other game I have worked fine under side. So I'm going to edit the ticket I have open with them (they finally responded last week, about two weeks after I submitted it) and let them know the fix on my end.

[Ghaleon4]

I'm using optical on my Asus Maximus Hero VII that came with a Realtek audio chip that supports DTS (in case any of that helps to narrow down the problem).
I'm about to test it using analog cables, but dag-nabbit if I didn't refrain from hooking all these extra cables up for a good reason the last time I cleaned up my desk!!!

[Ghaleon4]

Confirmed on my end: Halo 2 Surround doesn't work on optical. I feel like I've seen this in other titles in years' past. Pretty rare.

[lyntendo]

Originally posted by Ghaleon4:

Confirmed on my end: Halo 2 Surround doesn't work on optical. I feel like I've seen this in other titles in years' past. Pretty rare.

Thanks for going to this effort, are you saying that surround sound DOES work when you use analog outputs? (I also use DTS Interactive over optical and I'm desperate to find a solution for Halo 2!)

[Ghaleon4]

Originally posted by lyntendo:

Originally posted by Ghaleon4:

Confirmed on my end: Halo 2 Surround doesn't work on optical. I feel like I've seen this in other titles in years' past. Pretty rare.

Thanks for going to this effort, are you saying that surround sound DOES work when you use analog outputs? (I also use DTS Interactive over optical and I'm desperate to find a solution for Halo 2!)

Indeed -I don't want to get your hopes up, but there is a decent chance that switching to analog with get you surround. i.e., this game *definitely* renders 3d audio internally.