7 réponses à ce sujet

[Surfdude3131]

Here's a weird problem; I have a 5.1 sound system hooked up to my PC but both ME1 and 2 are only outputting 5.0. I still have my centre and surrounds working ok but no sub.
It works fine in every other game I've tested (including Bioshock which IIRC uses the same engine) as well as music and movies but not in either Mass Effect.

I'm 99% sure it isn't a hardware problem as I've tested playing the games in windowed mode with my soundcard monitor running in the background and there is simply no LFE signal received by the soundcard.

The only thing I can think of is that there's an obscure entry in one of the config files that I've edited by mistake, but I'm pretty sure I only played around with ME1's settings as ME2 ran like a dream for me straight out of the box, and I can't believe it would be disabled by default.

If anyone has any suggestions (or could, at least, confirm that their sub works with both games so that I can rule out that it's all just a huge oversight on Bioware's part ) I'd be hugely grateful.

PC specs are as follows:

Creative X-Fi Elite Pro
Dual core E6750
Nvidia 8800GT
4Gb RAM
Windows 7

[Fredvdp]

My subwoofer works fine. The game abuses it in some scenes so I had to turn it down a little. I have Realtek HD (integrated) sound with Logitceh X-530 speakers. Maybe you should switch between hardware and software sound even if your sound card should be perfectly capable of running the game in hardware mode.

[Surfdude3131]

Switching to software sound only gives me stereo though, which obviously doesn't have a discrete subwoofer output either.

I can work around the issue by enabling Bass Redirection in the Creative control panel but it's not an ideal solution as I'm still not receiving the dedicated LFE channel; it just sends all the bass from the other channels to the sub.
It sounds better than no sub at all but it's kind of muddy and undefined. Plus it makes all the male characters sound like Barry White

[Fredvdp]

Surfdude3131 wrote...

Switching to software sound only gives me stereo though, which obviously doesn't have a discrete subwoofer output either.

In both games or only ME1? ME1 doesn't support surround sound in software mode, which basically means all Realtek HD users are screwed. Mass Effect 2 supports surround sound in stereo mode.

I don't know much about sound, so could you explain what 'discrete subwoofer output' means? My room is shaking, I don't suppose that's it?

[Surfdude3131]

From what I can see there isn't an option to switch between hardware and software in ME2; all I have in the config tool is "Enable Audio" Auto/On/Off and in the menu of the game itself all I have are the volume controls.

A "discrete" output just means an individual output that is separate from the other channels. In 5.1 there should be six individual channels of audio (the .1 just indicates that the sub's channel is not full frequency) but at the moment I'm only getting five.
With "Bass Redirection" enabled in my control panel I am getting sound from my sub but it's basically just sending the low frequency sound from the other five channels to the sub and I'm not overly keen on the sound of it.

Here's a screenshot of my soundcard's playback monitor, this is as Shepard fires a shotgun in ME1:
http://img837.images...me1monitor.jpg/

And as a comparison this is what I get in Bioshock:
img97.imageshack.us/i/bioshockmonitor.jpg/

Edit: I don't seem to be able to insert pictures into the post so I made the links clickable

Modifié par Surfdude3131, 18 août 2010 - 12:47 .

[Illasera]

. Maybe you should switch between hardware and software sound even if your sound card should be perfectly capable of running the game in hardware mode.

Don`t

From what I can see there isn't an option to switch between hardware and software in ME2; all I have in the config tool is "Enable Audio" Auto/On/Off and in the menu of the game itself all I have are the volume controls.

Most Audio libraries used for games  - FMOD/OpenAL/DirectSound 3D
Auto detects audio hardware and set it as default(If driver installed), So no worries, The game should use your X-FI audio card by default like all the other games.

Audio Specs : 

Creative X-Fi Elite Pro (as well)
Z-5500 = (5.1 as well)
Subwoofer working in ME2 perfectly.

Suggestions :
1.)Update Creative X-FI driver (Although they havent released a new driver for 2 years i think).
2.)Play with ME2 audio settings, But i dont think, Unlike Bioshock 2 that you can choose how many channels you got, That you have these options in ME2 , If no such option exist then ->
3.)Play with X-fi Crystal settings bass/Channel settings (Not suggested) - Please make sure you are set to GAME MODE,  Should work on other modes as well but still.

Modifié par Illasera, 18 août 2010 - 02:54 .

[Surfdude3131]

I've got the latest driver from Creative, as you say they don't release them very often. There are some unofficial ones about so maybe I'll give one of those a shot.

Illasera, as you have the same sound card as me perhaps you could do me a favour, if you have the time and the inclination, and try repeating my experiment of running the game in a window with the Creative control panel in Audio Creation mode (not ideal for gaming I know but it shouldn't affect the number of channels present) visible in the background to ensure you are getting all six audio channels. It would be much appreciated.

As it stands, I've found a happy medium using the Bass Redirection by adjusting the crossover and, through trial and error, found a balance that gives me some nice weight to the weapons and sound effects without pumping dialogue out of the sub (especially as most of the aliens have their voices pitched down - although it kind of suits the Krogan :happy:). It's not perfect but I can live with it for the moment.

I'd still like to know why I'm not getting a proper LFE channel though, if anyone has any more suggestions.

[RawwrBag]

I'm having the same problem with ME3 on Xbox. Maybe they just don't mix anything to LFE. I'm downmixing to stereo so I can get some bass. Did you ever get it working?