EAX Advanced HD Audio for Thief: Deadly Shadows

Enables EAX Advanced HD Audio

What's this for?

This patch will enable old EAX spatial and enhanced audio for Thief Deady Shadows.
Tested on my Realtek ALC295 chipset.

Yes, will work fine with game unofficial patches (Sneaky Mod etc...).

But what is EAX Audio? See YouTube videos like this (reverb is a bit exaggerated in this video IMHO but gives you an idea):

How to...

• you should have OpenAL[www.openal.org] already installed...
  
• download latest DSOAL (read below)
  
• copy dsoal-aldrv.dll, dsound.dll, alsoft.ini (you can edit this*[raw.githubusercontent.com]) to "Thief Deadly Shadows\System\" directory where the T3Main.exe is located
  
• add these keys to the Registry (save the text as a file 'ThiefDSOAL.reg' and double click it to merge it with Registry):
  

  Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
  
  [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Classes\CLSID\{47D4D946-62E8-11CF-93BC-444553540000}]
  
  [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Classes\CLSID\{47D4D946-62E8-11CF-93BC-444553540000}\InprocServer32]
  @="dsound.dll"
  
  [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Classes\CLSID\{3901CC3F-84B5-4FA4-BA35-AA8172B8A09B}]
  
  [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Classes\CLSID\{3901CC3F-84B5-4FA4-BA35-AA8172B8A09B}\InprocServer32]
  @="dsound.dll"
  
  
  [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Classes\WOW6432Node\CLSID\{47D4D946-62E8-11CF-93BC-444553540000}]
  
  [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Classes\WOW6432Node\CLSID\{47D4D946-62E8-11CF-93BC-444553540000}\InprocServer32]
  @="dsound.dll"
  
  [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Classes\WOW6432Node\CLSID\{3901CC3F-84B5-4FA4-BA35-AA8172B8A09B}]
  
  [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Classes\WOW6432Node\CLSID\{3901CC3F-84B5-4FA4-BA35-AA8172B8A09B}\InprocServer32]
  @="dsound.dll"

• reboot
  
• enable in-game Options > Audio Hardware Mixing. This will finally unlock EAX Advanced HD and EAX Multiple Environments
  
• if needed, go into your Windows speaker's properties and untick "Allow applications to take exclusive control of this device"
  
  
  That's it. Enjoy! 🎉
  
  
  🔥 LATEST VERSIONS OF DSOAL BUILD 🔥
  
  http://vaporeon.io/hosted/dsoal-builds/
  

  dsoal-r418a.7z	2021-Feb-23 06:26:09	643.1K	application/x-7z-compressed

  Much improved stereo panning, reverb and env-echo!

* DSOAL recommended settings

These are the settings I'm using in my alsoft.ini with Realtek ALC295:

[reverb]
boost=-10

boost=<n> controls reverb amplification. You can try 0 (default), +6 (double), -6 (half)... depending on your audio chipset.

Some settings explanations here: https://github.com/kcat/openal-soft/blob/master/alsoftrc.sample

If everything fails...

With a correct OpenAL (1.1) installation you should have:
‪C:\Windows\System32\OpenAL32.dll (6.14.357.24) (this is for x64 games and exes)
‪C:\Windows\SysWOW64\OpenAL32.dll (6.14.357.24) (for x32 games and exes)
Try to copy ‪also C:\Windows\SysWOW64\OpenAL32.dll in the same dir of T3Main.exe.

Never run games as admin or XP compatibility mode etc. This could also interfere with the .dll loading...

Not recommended but, a few users who reported missing sound, solved their issue using old DSOAL files from https://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/65094?tab=files
So give it a try if the most recent files in this guide won't work for you and you already experienced problems in other OpenAL games with your audio chipset (you can use HWiNFO to identify your HW).

[Mandisis]

Excellent guide. For me, it's working on W10 22H2 with the Realtek ALC1200 Audio Chipset, by copying this precompiled DSOAL Build where the main executable is https://github.com/ThreeDeeJay/dsoal/releases/download/0.9.5/DSOAL_0.9.5+OpenALSoft_1.23.1-Win32.zip

Then you need to follow those steps instead of manually add the modified register keys : https://github.com/kcat/dsoal/issues/34#issuecomment-1139239755

[koshkamail]

DogKiller, Windows 8,10,11 ?
Not 7th ?

You need ALchemy exe and this > indirectsound . com/registryIssues.html
in addition to this awesome guide

[DogKiller]

Can't make it work, what a bummer, had no problems with EAX emulation in Thief 1/2. I really dislike that castrated TDS audio without it. Tried everything from this guide and depending discussion, everything from the nexus one too, all the DSOAL versions and files, yet no EAX can be heard at all (tried the boost amplifying too, oc). :/ :(

[hexaae]

@Thumper ok, no prob

[Thumper]

Hey Hexaae, nice guide! I figured since our guides are basically about the same thing i'd link to yours in my Notes section if you're alright with that. (Might help people with troubleshooting.)

[hexaae]

👍🏻

[Svperstar]

I just finished Deadly Shadows last night, thanks to this guide first time I've had EAX since my X-Fi Elite Pro in 2006. Was great in The Cradle

[ZelaS]

Hammer Haunt, okay

My ini for Thief:
----------------------------------------
[General]
drivers="-dsound,"
channels =
sample-type=float32
frequency=44100
period_size=882
periods=3
stereo-mode=auto
hrtf=auto
hrtf-mode=full
default-hrtf=irc_1037_44100
cf_level=0
resampler=bsinc24
sources=512
slots=64
output-limiter=false

[reverb]
boost=-12
----------------------------------------
For frequency=48000 you should use period_size=960 and 48000 default hrtf.

To make it work you have to go here https://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/65094?tab=description and read the section PERSONALIZED HRTF INSTALLATION. There is an archive you have to download and put its content into C:\%your username%\Appdata\Roaming\OpenAL
After that you may choose what default-hrtf table to use in ini. I prefer irc_1037. You may listen all others in video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VCXQp7swp5k&t=855s&ab_channel=IDrinkLava-3DGameAudio

[hexaae]

Hint: for games like Quake 4 using OpenAL32 directly, you have to rename dsoal-aldrv.dll as OpenAL32.dll, and don't need the dsound.dll wrapper...

[Ritual Motive]

ZelaS, would you mind providing your INI contents?

I ended up reinstalling OpenAL and leaving the INI as-is minus setting boost to 10 and removing that send line. I wonder if you've tuned your INI to some greater effect? Thanks again Hexaae for the guide. I believe I'm ready for yet another playthrough.