Auzentech X-Meridian and game support

Discussion in 'Soundcards, Speakers HiFI & File formats' started by Per Hansson, Jan 5, 2007.

  1. Per Hansson

    Per Hansson Active Member

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    Hi, I got fed up with Creative and their drivers. The way they threaten lawsuits to anyone not doing like they wish and the generally low build quality of their soundcards (Jamicon capacitors, the worst MIC input I have ever heard, AC97 for front speakers but better for rear?!) False advertising, selling Audigy X-fi Xtreme Audio as an "X-fi" soundcard and not for what it is: Audigy1
    The fact that I've now been through I don't know how many generations of Creative soundcards and drivers but the crackle issue is still not solved...

    The above text was posted just as a deterrent for any Creative fanbys from posting their **** in my thread

    Now on to the Auzentech X-Meridian. The sound quality is simply great, the difference compared to my old Audigy2 is immense!

    In these games I get perfect 5.1 positional sound with my (Creative) Cambridge Soundworks DTT3500 speakers, running them only via Optical input and using the Dolby Digital Live feature of the soundcard to send an encoded DD5.1 signal to the speakers (receiver)

    Half-Life 2, Half-Life 2 Episode 1
    Sin Episode 1: Emergence

    F.E.A.R, Far Cry, Oblivion, Need for Speed Carbon and The Settlers II - 10th Anniversary

    I was able to get 5.1 sound in Deus Ex: IW with the DirectSound Control fix...

    However in Doom3 engine based games I do not get sound in my rear speakers. If I start Quake4 for example and go into sound config I get a message that I do not have any OpenAl capable soundcard, which seems kinda bogus since I think the Auzentech X-Meridian has OpenAl support... (I did also try to install Creatives OpenAl driver but that did not help either)

    Anyway, I have 5.1 sound selected in my Windows config and can select "Surround" in Quake4/Doom3 but if I for example walk up to a talking NPC and start turning around sound is lost when I am facing his opposite direction, i.e. when I should get sound in my rear speakers...

    Also when I am facing him sound is actually played in all 6 speakers, i.e. it seems that my front speakers are mirrored to my rear speakers but when I turn around all sound is lost (well I can still hear it but it's muted like 90%...)

    In World of Warcraft I don't get any surround sound at all, only Stereo (played through all 6 speakers) and also in caves etc I get very excessive reverb effects, sounds like crap...

    World of Warcraft is what pisses me most off because that's the primary reason I bought the Auzentech soundcard, because the sound from the Audigy2 was not very good either, while I did get perfect 5.1 positional sound many sounds would be missing/not played. Like when I was galloping with my horse, the hoof sounds would be missing from many of the steps, making a very weird sound from the horse... (That just happens to be the most reproducible way btw if anyone wonders)
     
  2. ROBSCIX

    ROBSCIX Ancient Guru

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    X-Meridian doesn't support OpenAL as of yet. Vista support is on the way. I am not sure about XP support. Does the game have other options? Direct sound Miles Audio Engine..EAX2 etc. I don't play alot of games. You will need to figure out which setting son the Card sound the best with which games. I guess it would just depend on how the game support surround sound.
     
    Last edited: Jan 5, 2007
  3. alg7_munif

    alg7_munif Master Guru

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    If you use any DSP mode(Pro Logic, DTS Neo: PC or Virtual speaker), try to turn them off. I think you didn't get a correct surrround sound from the game, most likely you are only getting a stereo sound. I've played a few games(GRAW, Carbon, CS 1.6, BF2142) with my X-Meridian in direct3D and sound positioning is not a problem with my card.
     
  4. Per Hansson

    Per Hansson Active Member

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    ok, just read up on the OpenAl issue. I think the only reason I'm not getting 5.1 surround sound in the Doom3 engine based games is because it really does not support OpenAl. The "configuration choices" in Doom3 and Quake4 are really pathetic. You get one button to choose Stereo or Surround, and then if the game finds your card can support OpenAl you will be able to enable it too...

    I have tried to use the analog outputs but it does not matter, the issue is the same in these games... However the list of games where the soundcard works great is much larger so I'm pretty happy still.

    And I read that the OpenAl support is coming so hopefully everything will be working great soon, in the meanwhile I'm running with both the Audigy2 and X-Meridian in my computer, also gives me the opportunity of really seeing how big the difference between them is ;)
     

  5. alg7_munif

    alg7_munif Master Guru

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    I'm surprised that my system is very stable eventhough I'm having both X-Meridian and X-Fi in my system. With X-Plosion before I always get BSOD if magic voice is enabled.
     
  6. ROBSCIX

    ROBSCIX Ancient Guru

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    @Per, you know you can connect the Audigy 2 to the X-meridian so it will feed the game audio to the X-Meridian. The sound quality difference betwen the two is very big. The X-meridian just kills a Audigy 2 for quality of sound. If your interested in game effects like OPenAL and EAX wire the two cards together as I said turn on Dolby Headphone and everything will be great.
     
    Last edited: Jan 6, 2007
  7. Per Hansson

    Per Hansson Active Member

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    Yes I've read about it but if I understand the Creative line of soundcards right I could for example hook it to my X-Meridian via Optical or Coaxial via the Creatives S/PDIF output through an accessory like this but then I would only get a stereo signal unless the material I am playing happens to be Dolby Digital encoded but in that case it would be pretty stupid to send the signal through two soundcards when I can just send it directly from the X-Meridian to my external receiver and let it decode it ;)
     
  8. Per Hansson

    Per Hansson Active Member

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    Just to make sure I uninstalled the drivers for my Audigy2 and removed it from the computer, I also used driver cleaner to remove the **** it leaves behind... I then uninstalled and reinstalled the X-Meridian, still no OpenAl support in Quake4 or Doom3... I get the message "your soundcard does not support openal"

    Also tried reinstalling Creatives OpenAl driver but that didn't help, however I downloaded a OpenAl test app and it works just fine... true 5.1 sound...

    http://frictionalgames.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=521
     
  9. ROBSCIX

    ROBSCIX Ancient Guru

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    You miss the point of doing that. It will give you the EAX4 and OpenAL you seem to be wanting. The X-Meridian DOES NOT support OpenAL at this time. That being said I ran that sound test aswell and if that is a openAL app like it says it is, then I am not sure what to say because it give great positional audio on my system aswell, running throuhg just the X-Meridian.
    Very strange indeed.
    Note, on further research, that app is doing OpenAL through software only. This is proof that any card can run OpenAL in software.
    So, it must be said the X-meridian won't be able to do OpenAL in hardware but it will be able to do it in software and it sounds very good. mI am gonna post that link for the X-meridian thread. thx.
     
    Last edited: Jan 6, 2007
  10. Per Hansson

    Per Hansson Active Member

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    Well, I can get perfectly good Stereo only sound, i.e. 2.0

    But what I want is 5.1... Can't seem to get that in the Doom3 engine based games... And I've come to realize that I don't care much for EAX, been reading all sorts of flame wars where it's said that it does this and that, well, I'm not seeing much difference in the built in test in FEAR for example with my Audigy2 vs X-Meridian, except that the X-Meridian sounds better as in the sounds are more clear, not as much muffeled or how I should describe it...

    And yes, OpenAl should be possible to support on any soundcard if I've understood it right, that kinda was the point of it... If it is done in hardware or software should not really matter to the game, it will (should) still give the same end result anyway...
     

  11. ROBSCIX

    ROBSCIX Ancient Guru

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    EAX is a personal preference, some people like it some don't. I personally don't let it influence my hardware decisions. The Auzen people are working on OpenAL drivers for the X-Meridian. Hardware? Software? who cares as long as you get the game sound you want. That little app you provided just shows OpenAL can be implemeted on any soundcard. Which I think is the whole reason MS decided to go this route. To force the soundcard market to start developing again. Instead of staying in the sorry state it had been in.
     
  12. GenClaymore

    GenClaymore Ancient Guru

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    thats odd with your quake 4 and doom3 problem. I dont have those problems. I have my audio set to 6 speakers in my Control panel. And it works fine for me. Just dont have openAL support yet.

    But now I force it with read only.since I enable DTS Neo:pc with center gain with Vocal seperation. CP change the speaker settings from 6.1 to 7.1 wide for a odd reason heh.

    Try going into your Doom3.cfg and look for the line for speakers and change it to 6 then save and make the doom3.cfg read only. same for quake 4. That should fix it.
     
  13. Donnie27

    Donnie27 Banned

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    Now you can say Screw you Donnie27 or listen/read? OpenAL demos have been around a long time. Some go back to at least 1999. The the very large difference is just a simple fact that the Demo is Pre-Rendered and a Game would require Rendering On-The-Fly. It's like comparing an Interactive Game to a DVD? The extra step of sending data to the CPU would cause latency back through the PCI bus to the sound card. Sure the processor could process it. If you think there are Problems with SCP now, you get: Problem 1 or Problem 2.
    1. Latency
    2. Snap Crackle Pop.

    Here's an Example.

    RT/OTF OpenAL in software will be very tricky to say the least. Though not impossible, it will be very interesting.
     
  14. Per Hansson

    Per Hansson Active Member

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    GenClaymore; I already tried forcing Doom3 and Quake4 to 6 speakers with the autoexec.cfg file... :/

    Donnie27; That OpenAl demo I posted a link about above, I'm pretty sure that's rendered realtime because it's a soundtest for an upcoming game engine...

    I could be wrong of course, it's just a feeling I have...
     
    Last edited: Jan 9, 2007
  15. ROBSCIX

    ROBSCIX Ancient Guru

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    @Per Your absolutley correct that demo is realtime, you can move the mouse and hence move the listeners position the effect changes based on this fact so you have the listeners moving and the sound source moving in relation to the listener it is a realtime demo and is a proof of concept. For those saying OpenAL cannot be done is software? that is funny. What do you think is on these magical DSP chips? -it's software. BTW, this is not 1999, modern CPU's can easily do any of this easily.
    I think MS is moving to OpenAL in Vista to force the soundcard market to start developing again. It is opensourced. Developers can use software routines or if the DSP has the correct features use hardware. The fact that it may start competition is good for gamers as well as other people. It is great for everybody.
    @Per, that is for a upcoming game? it's a great demo and shows use alot of things.
     
    Last edited: Jan 9, 2007

  16. Per Hansson

    Per Hansson Active Member

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    ROBSCIX; yup, upcoming game... Just found it when googling for some OpenAl test demo ;-)
     
  17. ROBSCIX

    ROBSCIX Ancient Guru

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    Well it is realtime and it goes to show that it can be easily added to any card.
     
  18. CTman

    CTman Ancient Guru

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    Try to modify WoW's WTF/Config.wtf file: SET SoundOutputSystem "1"
    SET SoundBufferSize "100" (you can fine tune this setting if there's still sound problem)

    Or try this: http://www.blizzard.com/support/wow/?id=aww01706p

    Good luck!
     
    Last edited: Jan 10, 2007
  19. darkpegisus

    darkpegisus Member

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    Doom3 is the only game the uses the Doom3 Engine that will do 5.1 sound with editing the DoomConfig.cfg.

    make sure you have the have installed X-Meridian Driver Version: 5_12_1_8_17_8_BETA (works on this driver version).

    edit the lines below in the DoomConfig.cfg,

    seta s_useEAXReverb "0"
    seta s_useOpenAL "1"
    seta s_libOpenAL "openal32.dll"
    seta s_numberOfSpeakers "6"

    the download and install the OpenAL 1.1 library (not sure if does anything to make it work, but it works) from the link below.

    http://developer.creative.com/articles/article.asp?cat=1&sbcat=31&top=38&aid=46&file=oalinst.exe


    have not ben able to get Quake4 or Prey to work at all.
     
  20. alg7_munif

    alg7_munif Master Guru

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    I think that the max number of buffer for the Oxygen HD chip is 128
     

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