I am running Windows 7 Home Premium (clean install with latest drivers, including the X-Fi driver for my XtremeGamer).
When I first launched Dragon Age after I bought it, I noticed the intro music did not use all of my speakers (even though I have CMSS Surround mode 50% enabled). The intro music from the DA:O menu in Windows itself had surround though. So, it got me thinking my surround worked in Windows, but not in the game.
After playing a bit, I came to realize I was getting surround in the game, but only for select things, like a crackling fire behind me, but dialogue voice-acting cames straight to the center speaker only.
NOW...while talking with Ruck in the Deep Roads, for some reason, my speakers did a subtle pop, and all of a sudden Ruck's voice is coming through ALL 5 of my speakers (like stereo sound being spread to all speakers with CMSS). It then did a subtle pop again and my speakers went bakc to the way where dialogue comes only from the center and the surround speakers are left for ambient sound only.
My question is...what kind of sound engine is DA:O using? Is it OpenAL? What is the normal way sound should be coming out of my 5.1 Logitech speakers with an X-Fi card?
Also, why did (for some reason) my speakers change during the conversation with Ruck (I don't think it's Ruck specifically, that's just when it happened coincidentally)? Does CMSS and/or EAX X-Fi features work with DA:O under Windows 7? Is it a Windows 7 issue only? I'm just wondering if I still had XP installed, if this would all be similar, better, or worse?
I just want some clarity. I do use CMSS Surround at 50%, X-Fi Crystalizer at 65%, and EAX at 3.2dB and have been since XP. Did Windows 7 change this, and how does it all correlate with DA:O?
Thanks a lot!
5.1 Surround Sound and X-FI EAX Issues?
Débuté par
Guest_Draetor_*
, nov. 11 2009 03:53
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#2
Posté 11 novembre 2009 - 04:09
Si-Cwan
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I would turn off CMSS and see what happens. I have an Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Fatal1ty FPS 7.1 Sound Card, running Win 7 Ult. and I dont have much problems with sound (other then some sounds are too loud and others are too soft) altho now that I think about it, I've noticed that almost all dialog comes out of the front speakers.. even when the random banter the party makes should be from behind.. hums.. will have to look more then i get home
#3
Posté 11 novembre 2009 - 04:22
zacrobmer
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I am running Windows 7 Ultimate and an old X-Fi Extreme Music (PCI) and Logitech 5.1 (z-5300) speakers and have no issues with surround going to the correct speakers. When walking around and party members are chatting it comes from behind me. During cut scenes, sound effects come from behind and the front and the voice acting mostly comes from the front and center channel speakers, as should be the case given that where the "camera" is focused.
I would recommend the cut and paste reply of "verify current drivers, make sure you have solid speakers connections etc".
I would recommend the cut and paste reply of "verify current drivers, make sure you have solid speakers connections etc".
Modifié par zacrobmer, 11 novembre 2009 - 04:24 .
#4
Guest_Draetor_*
Posté 11 novembre 2009 - 04:33
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My surround is working guys. But not the way I'm used to since XP. What I mean is that I used to have ALL sound use surround speakers, but now it seems to use realistic surround (like ambient sounds only) for my back speakers. Also, when party members speak behind me, it comes from back speakers, so it's fine like that. But when my speakers did that little pop, it made all sound come from all speakers at once (like stereo converted to surround).
I would of never raised these questions if my speakers hadn't popped and started using surround speakers for all sounds at once. It makes me wonder if that's how it should really sound or not?
I would of never raised these questions if my speakers hadn't popped and started using surround speakers for all sounds at once. It makes me wonder if that's how it should really sound or not?
Modifié par Draetor, 11 novembre 2009 - 04:34 .
#5
Posté 11 novembre 2009 - 04:47
cmykflutterby
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creative labs have a new driver released in october for these cards. there are known issue in windows 7 for certain types of surround for these cards. I think they are trying to get it sorted out.
I'd def recommend stopping by their website and getting the latest drivers- seems they are tweaking them every couple of months for win7 now.
All audio should be coming through directX on dao-if you hear a pop, then that's the driver changing the audio path on you. Either dao changed the way the voice was to be positioned or your card freaked out a little and fellback to stereo.
I'd also recommend that you disable CMSS.
The processing path is diff depending on if it's trying to decode dolby, pro logic etc.
I'd def recommend stopping by their website and getting the latest drivers- seems they are tweaking them every couple of months for win7 now.
All audio should be coming through directX on dao-if you hear a pop, then that's the driver changing the audio path on you. Either dao changed the way the voice was to be positioned or your card freaked out a little and fellback to stereo.
I'd also recommend that you disable CMSS.
The processing path is diff depending on if it's trying to decode dolby, pro logic etc.
#6
Posté 11 novembre 2009 - 05:54
zacrobmer
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Draetor wrote...
My surround is working guys. But not the way I'm used to since XP. What I mean is that I used to have ALL sound use surround speakers, but now it seems to use realistic surround (like ambient sounds only) for my back speakers. Also, when party members speak behind me, it comes from back speakers, so it's fine like that. But when my speakers did that little pop, it made all sound come from all speakers at once (like stereo converted to surround).
I would of never raised these questions if my speakers hadn't popped and started using surround speakers for all sounds at once. It makes me wonder if that's how it should really sound or not?
It sounds like your set up had issues under XP. The only sounds that should come from your rear speakers are ambient sounds, echo or the sounds that should be behind you. If I am understanding you correctly other then the pop issue, you had been hearing the sound as it was meant to be heard.
I have had the pop in other games that dropped the sound momentarily to all the speakers, and agree that it is probably a driver issue/conflict. However it usually only happened for a second or two. It almost sounds like it dropped to mono for a second, so the card pushed the sounds to all speakers.
Technically no, all of the sounds should not be coming from all of the speakers at once, and that not the way it "should" sound.
#7
Guest_Draetor_*
Posté 11 novembre 2009 - 11:42
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It sounds like your set up had issues under XP. The only sounds that should come from your rear speakers are ambient sounds, echo or the sounds that should be behind you
Thanks zacrobmar. I would agree with you here. The reason why I am used to having it use all speakers is probably because I've been playing games not encoded to use 5.1 surround, so CMSS picks up the stereo and spreads it to all my speakers. It sounds like that's what happened to me during that popping when it changed. I'm going to look into creative's new driver perhaps when I doa clean Win7 install again during my next DA:O playthrough.
Modifié par Draetor, 11 novembre 2009 - 11:42 .
#8
Guest_Draetor_*
Posté 11 novembre 2009 - 11:44
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Where do you see the new X-Fi October driver from? Upon checking their site, it still shows June 09 for the latest driver, and April 09 for the last beta driver.
#9
Posté 12 novembre 2009 - 12:18
JironGhrad
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did you run the autoupdater Draetor? they're more reliable about getting the patches there than to the direct link
#10
Guest_Draetor_*
Posté 12 novembre 2009 - 03:56
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Just checked it. Nothing there.
#11
Posté 12 novembre 2009 - 04:00
JironGhrad
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hmmm... well aside from the popping (which might be a CMSS thing) you're not experiencing any other actual failures of the 5.1 surround sound?
#12
Guest_Draetor_*
Posté 12 novembre 2009 - 02:40
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No. The popping happened once. I've been playing with my usual features on the entire time. CMSS Surround 50%, Crystalizer 65%, EAX environmental dB 3.2, Bass Boost and frequency 80Hz THX standard.
#13
Posté 08 décembre 2009 - 09:32
k1DBLITZ
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FYI, I read long ago that you shouldn't exceed 50% on the crystalizer... The sound noticeably distorted after 50%.
#14
Posté 08 décembre 2009 - 11:16
crazybernas
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Don't know if you know this, but Microsoft removed sound acceleration in directx10 (even if you use 9.0c in vista/7 you won't have it) so you won't have EAX effects unless you use Alchemy or the game uses OpenAL.
#15
Posté 09 décembre 2009 - 12:21
Kourd
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It's not DirectX10, it's Vista or Windows 7 OS all together.
To reduce popping on a 5.1 or 7.1 set up, turn on the equalizer. Go to the lever on the farthest right labeled "level". Reduce that a few bars. It'll lower the over all sound volume, but then you'll find that you can turn the volume on your speakers up to higher levels without it making any popping. This works especially well for 5.1 headphones (real one's that use multi-speakers in each headphone, not the ones that simulate 5.1 sound).
Here's a handy list of what games need AlChemy settings applied, and what to set them to... though unfortunatly it's no longer being updated...
http://connect.creat...s/AllItems.aspx
To reduce popping on a 5.1 or 7.1 set up, turn on the equalizer. Go to the lever on the farthest right labeled "level". Reduce that a few bars. It'll lower the over all sound volume, but then you'll find that you can turn the volume on your speakers up to higher levels without it making any popping. This works especially well for 5.1 headphones (real one's that use multi-speakers in each headphone, not the ones that simulate 5.1 sound).
Here's a handy list of what games need AlChemy settings applied, and what to set them to... though unfortunatly it's no longer being updated...
http://connect.creat...s/AllItems.aspx
Modifié par Drayth, 09 décembre 2009 - 12:25 .
#16
Posté 09 décembre 2009 - 07:28
crazybernas
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I know it's not a directx10 game, just saying that they did it in directx10 on vista because of the new drivers interface. The games in Alchemy can be manually update. The only problem is that it might require some testing.
#17
Posté 09 décembre 2009 - 11:01
Kourd
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I never said the game was DirectX10. I said the reason you have to use alchemy or openal now to get any form of hardware acceleration for sound is due to changes in Vista and Windows 7. It's NOT because of DirectX10, but because they eliminated direct sound support. It works exactly how the X-Box 360 handles sound now.
