I first saw this listed in The Witcher 3 mods listed on Nexus.
https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/1897
Then in the comments, I saw a link to newer versions on a github with 32 and 64 bit versions.
https://github.com/kosumosu/x3daudio1_7_hrtf/releases
If you try it, you'll need to drop it into the game folder that contains the game exe.
I think this is standalone, as in that you do not need the DLL located in your Microsoft folders. This should already be on your system, as it is included with with directX installations. But if it's not working, you might want to see if this DLL is there and if not download and install the latest directX package???? I'm not sure
https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_other-gaming/x3daudio17dll-what-is-this-dll-file-and-why-do/9642f626-804f-4dd6-84d4-78939459b221?auth=1
Anyways, I almost never use headphones, but I tried this for the hell of it and noticed a difference. I only did so for a few minutes, just to see if it worked.
So anyhow, enjoy. Perhaps it might help in a game that you are playing. That's if you do not have some software already doing this for you.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Head-related_transfer_function
Anyways, I almost never use headphones, but I tried this for the hell of it and noticed a difference. I only did so for a few minutes, just to see if it worked.
I remember back in 2003 or so Sydney Uni* was promoting their research in this area to try to convince high performing students from around the country to enrol with them. I ended up going to a different uni, but I always wondered what had happened to the technology in the meantime.
* No idea how involved they have been in developing this into something practical since then. I'm not going to claim that Australia invented this, and I still cringe every time someone here claims we invented WiFi - we had nothing to do with it, but it seems we did come in first for patent trolling and our ability to confuse courts into thinking that "black holes" and "WiFi" are the same thing.
I remember back in 2003 or so Sydney Uni* was promoting their research in this area to try to convince high performing students from around the country to enrol with them. I ended up going to a different uni, but I always wondered what had happened to the technology in the meantime.
* No idea how involved they have been in developing this into something practical since then. I'm not going to claim that Australia invented this, and I still cringe every time someone here claims we invented WiFi - we had nothing to do with it, but it seems we did come in first for patent trolling and our ability to confuse courts into thinking that "black holes" and "WiFi" are the same thing.
2x Geforce GTX 980 in SLI provided by NVIDIA, i7 6700K 4GHz CPU, Asus 27" VG278HE 144Hz 3D Monitor, BenQ W1070 3D Projector, 120" Elite Screens YardMaster 2, 32GB Corsair DDR4 3200MHz RAM, Samsung 850 EVO 500G SSD, 4x750GB HDD in RAID5, Gigabyte Z170X-Gaming 7 Motherboard, Corsair Obsidian 750D Airflow Edition Case, Corsair RM850i PSU, HTC Vive, Win 10 64bit
I have Supreme Fx with virtual surround on my Rog MB, but this is far better !!
I've only tried it in Skyrim SE and Fallout 4, and the precision is spot on, soundstage size is also great !
Standing in a keep in Skyrim with some chatter from different directions, and the rain is dancing on the roof sounds just amazing, and still you are able to hear the fireplace, both the direction and distance :)
Thanks D-Man11, it's higly recommended !!
I have Supreme Fx with virtual surround on my Rog MB, but this is far better !!
I've only tried it in Skyrim SE and Fallout 4, and the precision is spot on, soundstage size is also great !
Standing in a keep in Skyrim with some chatter from different directions, and the rain is dancing on the roof sounds just amazing, and still you are able to hear the fireplace, both the direction and distance :)
Thanks D-Man11, it's higly recommended !!
Win7 64bit Pro
CPU: 4790K 4.8 GHZ
GPU: Aurus 1080 TI 2.08 GHZ - 100% Watercooled !
Monitor: Asus PG278QR
And lots of ram and HD's ;)
1x Palit RTX 2080Ti Pro Gaming OC(watercooled and overclocked to hell)
3x 3D Vision Ready Asus VG278HE monitors (5760x1080).
Intel i9 9900K (overclocked to 5.3 and watercooled ofc).
Asus Maximus XI Hero Mobo.
16 GB Team Group T-Force Dark Pro DDR4 @ 3600.
Lots of Disks:
- Raid 0 - 256GB Sandisk Extreme SSD.
- Raid 0 - WD Black - 2TB.
- SanDisk SSD PLUS 480 GB.
- Intel 760p 256GB M.2 PCIe NVMe SSD.
Creative Sound Blaster Z.
Windows 10 x64 Pro.
etc
I tried this once in Skyrim SE. It disabled my real 5.1 audio and was just stereo, so it's pretty much useless to me. Is there any technical reason why its advantages can't be expanded to make use of more than 2 speakers?
I tried this once in Skyrim SE. It disabled my real 5.1 audio and was just stereo, so it's pretty much useless to me. Is there any technical reason why its advantages can't be expanded to make use of more than 2 speakers?
[quote="masterotaku"]I tried this once in Skyrim SE. It disabled my real 5.1 audio and was just stereo, so it's pretty much useless to me. Is there any technical reason why its advantages can't be expanded to make use of more than 2 speakers?[/quote]
It's a headphone dll, and headphones is per defination stereo / 2 speakers and not 5.1 :)
But if you want to use it with your headphones, it's mandatory that you disable virtual surround in your normal software !
masterotaku said:I tried this once in Skyrim SE. It disabled my real 5.1 audio and was just stereo, so it's pretty much useless to me. Is there any technical reason why its advantages can't be expanded to make use of more than 2 speakers?
It's a headphone dll, and headphones is per defination stereo / 2 speakers and not 5.1 :)
But if you want to use it with your headphones, it's mandatory that you disable virtual surround in your normal software !
Win7 64bit Pro
CPU: 4790K 4.8 GHZ
GPU: Aurus 1080 TI 2.08 GHZ - 100% Watercooled !
Monitor: Asus PG278QR
And lots of ram and HD's ;)
[quote] I tried this once in Skyrim SE. It disabled my real 5.1 audio and was just stereo, so it's pretty much useless to me. Is there any technical reason why its advantages can't be expanded to make use of more than 2 speakers? [/quote]The way it works is by emulating how the shape of the ear distorts sound as it comes from different directions, which the brain uses to pinpoint the source of the sound in 3D space far more accurately than it can with just the relative volume between the ears (volume alone only narrows it down to somewhere on a large circle in space) - that gives it more accuracy than 5.1 can achieve using only stereo, but it *has* to be used with headphones to work - if you use it with speakers your ears will just apply their own distortion and it will just sound like it's coming from the speaker again.
If it's not working for you it may also be that your ear shape is not close enough to the shape they are emulating and your brain isn't recognising the distortion - ideally this is something that would be personalised for each individual, since everyone's ears are shaped differently, and it is nowhere near as accurate if they are using a generic "ideal" ear shape. Problem is, calibrating it for each individual requires microphones placed inside the ear while a tone generator is moved around the room to profile which frequencies are being distorted from which directions, or possibly very accurate 3D scans of the ear to simulate how the sound waves interact with it, and funnily enough neither option is available in every household just yet.
I tried this once in Skyrim SE. It disabled my real 5.1 audio and was just stereo, so it's pretty much useless to me. Is there any technical reason why its advantages can't be expanded to make use of more than 2 speakers?
The way it works is by emulating how the shape of the ear distorts sound as it comes from different directions, which the brain uses to pinpoint the source of the sound in 3D space far more accurately than it can with just the relative volume between the ears (volume alone only narrows it down to somewhere on a large circle in space) - that gives it more accuracy than 5.1 can achieve using only stereo, but it *has* to be used with headphones to work - if you use it with speakers your ears will just apply their own distortion and it will just sound like it's coming from the speaker again.
If it's not working for you it may also be that your ear shape is not close enough to the shape they are emulating and your brain isn't recognising the distortion - ideally this is something that would be personalised for each individual, since everyone's ears are shaped differently, and it is nowhere near as accurate if they are using a generic "ideal" ear shape. Problem is, calibrating it for each individual requires microphones placed inside the ear while a tone generator is moved around the room to profile which frequencies are being distorted from which directions, or possibly very accurate 3D scans of the ear to simulate how the sound waves interact with it, and funnily enough neither option is available in every household just yet.
2x Geforce GTX 980 in SLI provided by NVIDIA, i7 6700K 4GHz CPU, Asus 27" VG278HE 144Hz 3D Monitor, BenQ W1070 3D Projector, 120" Elite Screens YardMaster 2, 32GB Corsair DDR4 3200MHz RAM, Samsung 850 EVO 500G SSD, 4x750GB HDD in RAID5, Gigabyte Z170X-Gaming 7 Motherboard, Corsair Obsidian 750D Airflow Edition Case, Corsair RM850i PSU, HTC Vive, Win 10 64bit
If I might humbly and perhaps ignorantly say:
IIRC, only FO and Skyrim support this dll.
But for universal compatibility, the vast majority of games nowadays use 5.1 as standard.
There are good technologies out there which convert this standard 5.1 into 3D positioning for headphones:
Creative labs SBX @ 100, (or older CMSS-3D), Razer, Dolby, Realtek etc have their own versions.
Examples here (view with headphones only!):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2BxO9cd-sYA
Generally, SBX @ 100 is considered the best - I personally use it in all games when wearing headphones at night. Also great for 5.1 movies.
Granted, it might not be as good as real HRTF as used in Senua's Sacrifice, I believe it's the best we have right now without too much fidgeting around from game to game.
I also wanted to say something about EAX, how creative Labs screwed over A3D, how MS threw hardware sound acceleration out of the window with Windows XP and later, only now beginning to bring it back, and how old Audigy cards were far more powerful which included true onboard 3D sound processing than anything available today, but that would be a long, rant-like post which would serve little purpose as most of the information is already available out there already :)
Glad to see proper 3D sound making a comeback with VR at least...
But for universal compatibility, the vast majority of games nowadays use 5.1 as standard.
There are good technologies out there which convert this standard 5.1 into 3D positioning for headphones:
Creative labs SBX @ 100, (or older CMSS-3D), Razer, Dolby, Realtek etc have their own versions.
Examples here (view with headphones only!):
Generally, SBX @ 100 is considered the best - I personally use it in all games when wearing headphones at night. Also great for 5.1 movies.
Granted, it might not be as good as real HRTF as used in Senua's Sacrifice, I believe it's the best we have right now without too much fidgeting around from game to game.
I also wanted to say something about EAX, how creative Labs screwed over A3D, how MS threw hardware sound acceleration out of the window with Windows XP and later, only now beginning to bring it back, and how old Audigy cards were far more powerful which included true onboard 3D sound processing than anything available today, but that would be a long, rant-like post which would serve little purpose as most of the information is already available out there already :)
Glad to see proper 3D sound making a comeback with VR at least...
Windows 10 64-bit, Intel 7700K @ 5.1GHz, 16GB 3600MHz CL15 DDR4 RAM, 2x GTX 1080 SLI, Asus Maximus IX Hero, Sound Blaster ZxR, PCIe Quad SSD, Oculus Rift CV1, DLP Link PGD-150 glasses, ViewSonic PJD6531w 3D DLP Projector @ 1280x800 120Hz native / 2560x1600 120Hz DSR 3D Gaming.
[quote="RAGEdemon"]
I also wanted to say something about EAX, how creative Labs screwed over A3D, how MS threw hardware sound acceleration out of the window with Windows XP and later, only now beginning to bring it back, and how old Audigy cards were far more powerful which included true onboard 3D sound processing than anything available today, but that would be a long, rant-like post which would serve little purpose as most of the information is already available out there already :)
Glad to see proper 3D sound making a comeback with VR at least...[/quote]
Actually, I always wondered about that! I still have an old Audigy 2 PCI card (which obviously I can' use since PCI is "a thing of the past". But MAN! How EAX sounded! Nothing today can still reproduce that - sadly:( )
Here is me wishing for EAX (in any form) making a come-back and stick around for good this time!
RAGEdemon said:
I also wanted to say something about EAX, how creative Labs screwed over A3D, how MS threw hardware sound acceleration out of the window with Windows XP and later, only now beginning to bring it back, and how old Audigy cards were far more powerful which included true onboard 3D sound processing than anything available today, but that would be a long, rant-like post which would serve little purpose as most of the information is already available out there already :)
Glad to see proper 3D sound making a comeback with VR at least...
Actually, I always wondered about that! I still have an old Audigy 2 PCI card (which obviously I can' use since PCI is "a thing of the past". But MAN! How EAX sounded! Nothing today can still reproduce that - sadly:( )
Here is me wishing for EAX (in any form) making a come-back and stick around for good this time!
1x Palit RTX 2080Ti Pro Gaming OC(watercooled and overclocked to hell)
3x 3D Vision Ready Asus VG278HE monitors (5760x1080).
Intel i9 9900K (overclocked to 5.3 and watercooled ofc).
Asus Maximus XI Hero Mobo.
16 GB Team Group T-Force Dark Pro DDR4 @ 3600.
Lots of Disks:
- Raid 0 - 256GB Sandisk Extreme SSD.
- Raid 0 - WD Black - 2TB.
- SanDisk SSD PLUS 480 GB.
- Intel 760p 256GB M.2 PCIe NVMe SSD.
Creative Sound Blaster Z.
Windows 10 x64 Pro.
etc
Yeah Heli, those were the days hehe!
FYI, you can use a cheap PCIe x1 to PCI adapter card for Audigy's without problems. I had the opposite running for years - a ZxR running in a PCI slot via an adapter. The bandwidth is not a limitation with sound.
However, I am unsure about the driver support.
Although EAX has been replaced by (software) OpenAL, you can still get old EAX games to work using Alchemy, though I haven't tried that in a Long time.
More on that here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_Audio_Extensions
Nowadays, Creative simply offload everything to the CPU through their infamous drivers. Their audio processors, however, get less and less sophisticated.
Just as a fun comparison, here are the generations of cards, older first. Keep an eye on Audio processing chip size / pin count:
SoundBlaster Audigy 2 (2002)
[img]https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f1/Creative_Sound_Blaster_Audigy_SB0090.jpg/800px-Creative_Sound_Blaster_Audigy_SB0090.jpg[/img]
SoundBlaster X-Fi (2005)
[img]http://www.esaitech.com/images/detailed/8/40c5dd32_vbattach56075.jpg[/img]
SoundBlaster Z series, underneath the fancy heatsink (2012)
[img]https://content.hwigroup.net/images/products_xl/174363/17/creative-sound-blaster-zxr.jpg[/img]
SoundBlasterX AE5 (2017)
[img]https://images.idgesg.net/images/article/2017/06/soundblaster_ae5_y-100725528-large.jpg[/img]
One can argue that although their hardware gets worse and cheaper for them to produce every new generation, their software gets better to compensate. I shall have to admit that with the lack of EAX, and with with SBX included on all new boards, that has been true. Certainly, due to the immense power of a multi core CPU nowadays, one can also argue that a more powerful Audio processor is not needed :)
As far as audio "quality" goes, it has been proven in double blind studies that no-one can tell the difference between 16-bit/44KHz sound and anything above, so all the new tech with 24-bit/96KHz/128KHz, or newer 32-bit/384KHz sound is pretty redundant, only used for marketing purposes.
What is different, however, is the source content of the HD remaster audio, and the power handling of the equipment. Simply put, instead of getting more expensive snake oil hardware such as external AVs and sound cards etc, if one doesn't need the features of said hardware, then one would actually benefit far more from getting better speakers/headphones and playing remastered/less lossy content :)
FYI, you can use a cheap PCIe x1 to PCI adapter card for Audigy's without problems. I had the opposite running for years - a ZxR running in a PCI slot via an adapter. The bandwidth is not a limitation with sound.
However, I am unsure about the driver support.
Although EAX has been replaced by (software) OpenAL, you can still get old EAX games to work using Alchemy, though I haven't tried that in a Long time.
Nowadays, Creative simply offload everything to the CPU through their infamous drivers. Their audio processors, however, get less and less sophisticated.
Just as a fun comparison, here are the generations of cards, older first. Keep an eye on Audio processing chip size / pin count:
SoundBlaster Audigy 2 (2002)
SoundBlaster X-Fi (2005)
SoundBlaster Z series, underneath the fancy heatsink (2012)
SoundBlasterX AE5 (2017)
One can argue that although their hardware gets worse and cheaper for them to produce every new generation, their software gets better to compensate. I shall have to admit that with the lack of EAX, and with with SBX included on all new boards, that has been true. Certainly, due to the immense power of a multi core CPU nowadays, one can also argue that a more powerful Audio processor is not needed :)
As far as audio "quality" goes, it has been proven in double blind studies that no-one can tell the difference between 16-bit/44KHz sound and anything above, so all the new tech with 24-bit/96KHz/128KHz, or newer 32-bit/384KHz sound is pretty redundant, only used for marketing purposes.
What is different, however, is the source content of the HD remaster audio, and the power handling of the equipment. Simply put, instead of getting more expensive snake oil hardware such as external AVs and sound cards etc, if one doesn't need the features of said hardware, then one would actually benefit far more from getting better speakers/headphones and playing remastered/less lossy content :)
Windows 10 64-bit, Intel 7700K @ 5.1GHz, 16GB 3600MHz CL15 DDR4 RAM, 2x GTX 1080 SLI, Asus Maximus IX Hero, Sound Blaster ZxR, PCIe Quad SSD, Oculus Rift CV1, DLP Link PGD-150 glasses, ViewSonic PJD6531w 3D DLP Projector @ 1280x800 120Hz native / 2560x1600 120Hz DSR 3D Gaming.
My old Windows 10 machine from 2007 has PCI slots.
The case is pretty small making it hard to fit a GTX 980. Need to cut away a portion of the chassi to make it fit or change to a larger chassi.
Currently running a 560 Ti.
I seriously doubt there are Windows 10 drivers available but there might be drivers for Windows 7 which I dual-boot.
My current 3 year old machine lack PCI ports.
Another legacy feature is the COM port. I have the bracket installed in my old machine but didn't realize it works on my new computer too.
https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/1897
Then in the comments, I saw a link to newer versions on a github with 32 and 64 bit versions.
https://github.com/kosumosu/x3daudio1_7_hrtf/releases
If you try it, you'll need to drop it into the game folder that contains the game exe.
I think this is standalone, as in that you do not need the DLL located in your Microsoft folders. This should already be on your system, as it is included with with directX installations. But if it's not working, you might want to see if this DLL is there and if not download and install the latest directX package???? I'm not sure
https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_other-gaming/x3daudio17dll-what-is-this-dll-file-and-why-do/9642f626-804f-4dd6-84d4-78939459b221?auth=1
Anyways, I almost never use headphones, but I tried this for the hell of it and noticed a difference. I only did so for a few minutes, just to see if it worked.
So anyhow, enjoy. Perhaps it might help in a game that you are playing. That's if you do not have some software already doing this for you.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Head-related_transfer_function
* No idea how involved they have been in developing this into something practical since then. I'm not going to claim that Australia invented this, and I still cringe every time someone here claims we invented WiFi - we had nothing to do with it, but it seems we did come in first for patent trolling and our ability to confuse courts into thinking that "black holes" and "WiFi" are the same thing.
2x Geforce GTX 980 in SLI provided by NVIDIA, i7 6700K 4GHz CPU, Asus 27" VG278HE 144Hz 3D Monitor, BenQ W1070 3D Projector, 120" Elite Screens YardMaster 2, 32GB Corsair DDR4 3200MHz RAM, Samsung 850 EVO 500G SSD, 4x750GB HDD in RAID5, Gigabyte Z170X-Gaming 7 Motherboard, Corsair Obsidian 750D Airflow Edition Case, Corsair RM850i PSU, HTC Vive, Win 10 64bit
Alienware M17x R4 w/ built in 3D, Intel i7 3740QM, GTX 680m 2GB, 16GB DDR3 1600MHz RAM, Win7 64bit, 1TB SSD, 1TB HDD, 750GB HDD
Pre-release 3D fixes, shadertool.py and other goodies: http://github.com/DarkStarSword/3d-fixes
Support me on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/DarkStarSword or PayPal: https://www.paypal.me/DarkStarSword
I've only tried it in Skyrim SE and Fallout 4, and the precision is spot on, soundstage size is also great !
Standing in a keep in Skyrim with some chatter from different directions, and the rain is dancing on the roof sounds just amazing, and still you are able to hear the fireplace, both the direction and distance :)
Thanks D-Man11, it's higly recommended !!
Win7 64bit Pro
CPU: 4790K 4.8 GHZ
GPU: Aurus 1080 TI 2.08 GHZ - 100% Watercooled !
Monitor: Asus PG278QR
And lots of ram and HD's ;)
1x Palit RTX 2080Ti Pro Gaming OC(watercooled and overclocked to hell)
3x 3D Vision Ready Asus VG278HE monitors (5760x1080).
Intel i9 9900K (overclocked to 5.3 and watercooled ofc).
Asus Maximus XI Hero Mobo.
16 GB Team Group T-Force Dark Pro DDR4 @ 3600.
Lots of Disks:
- Raid 0 - 256GB Sandisk Extreme SSD.
- Raid 0 - WD Black - 2TB.
- SanDisk SSD PLUS 480 GB.
- Intel 760p 256GB M.2 PCIe NVMe SSD.
Creative Sound Blaster Z.
Windows 10 x64 Pro.
etc
My website with my fixes and OpenGL to 3D Vision wrapper:
http://3dsurroundgaming.com
(If you like some of the stuff that I've done and want to donate something, you can do it with PayPal at tavyhome@gmail.com)
CPU: Intel Core i7 7700K @ 4.9GHz
Motherboard: Gigabyte Aorus GA-Z270X-Gaming 5
RAM: GSKILL Ripjaws Z 16GB 3866MHz CL18
GPU: Gainward Phoenix 1080 GLH
Monitor: Asus PG278QR
Speakers: Logitech Z506
Donations account: masterotakusuko@gmail.com
It's a headphone dll, and headphones is per defination stereo / 2 speakers and not 5.1 :)
But if you want to use it with your headphones, it's mandatory that you disable virtual surround in your normal software !
Win7 64bit Pro
CPU: 4790K 4.8 GHZ
GPU: Aurus 1080 TI 2.08 GHZ - 100% Watercooled !
Monitor: Asus PG278QR
And lots of ram and HD's ;)
If it's not working for you it may also be that your ear shape is not close enough to the shape they are emulating and your brain isn't recognising the distortion - ideally this is something that would be personalised for each individual, since everyone's ears are shaped differently, and it is nowhere near as accurate if they are using a generic "ideal" ear shape. Problem is, calibrating it for each individual requires microphones placed inside the ear while a tone generator is moved around the room to profile which frequencies are being distorted from which directions, or possibly very accurate 3D scans of the ear to simulate how the sound waves interact with it, and funnily enough neither option is available in every household just yet.
2x Geforce GTX 980 in SLI provided by NVIDIA, i7 6700K 4GHz CPU, Asus 27" VG278HE 144Hz 3D Monitor, BenQ W1070 3D Projector, 120" Elite Screens YardMaster 2, 32GB Corsair DDR4 3200MHz RAM, Samsung 850 EVO 500G SSD, 4x750GB HDD in RAID5, Gigabyte Z170X-Gaming 7 Motherboard, Corsair Obsidian 750D Airflow Edition Case, Corsair RM850i PSU, HTC Vive, Win 10 64bit
Alienware M17x R4 w/ built in 3D, Intel i7 3740QM, GTX 680m 2GB, 16GB DDR3 1600MHz RAM, Win7 64bit, 1TB SSD, 1TB HDD, 750GB HDD
Pre-release 3D fixes, shadertool.py and other goodies: http://github.com/DarkStarSword/3d-fixes
Support me on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/DarkStarSword or PayPal: https://www.paypal.me/DarkStarSword
IIRC, only FO and Skyrim support this dll.
But for universal compatibility, the vast majority of games nowadays use 5.1 as standard.
There are good technologies out there which convert this standard 5.1 into 3D positioning for headphones:
Creative labs SBX @ 100, (or older CMSS-3D), Razer, Dolby, Realtek etc have their own versions.
Examples here (view with headphones only!):
Generally, SBX @ 100 is considered the best - I personally use it in all games when wearing headphones at night. Also great for 5.1 movies.
Granted, it might not be as good as real HRTF as used in Senua's Sacrifice, I believe it's the best we have right now without too much fidgeting around from game to game.
I also wanted to say something about EAX, how creative Labs screwed over A3D, how MS threw hardware sound acceleration out of the window with Windows XP and later, only now beginning to bring it back, and how old Audigy cards were far more powerful which included true onboard 3D sound processing than anything available today, but that would be a long, rant-like post which would serve little purpose as most of the information is already available out there already :)
Glad to see proper 3D sound making a comeback with VR at least...
Windows 10 64-bit, Intel 7700K @ 5.1GHz, 16GB 3600MHz CL15 DDR4 RAM, 2x GTX 1080 SLI, Asus Maximus IX Hero, Sound Blaster ZxR, PCIe Quad SSD, Oculus Rift CV1, DLP Link PGD-150 glasses, ViewSonic PJD6531w 3D DLP Projector @ 1280x800 120Hz native / 2560x1600 120Hz DSR 3D Gaming.
Actually, I always wondered about that! I still have an old Audigy 2 PCI card (which obviously I can' use since PCI is "a thing of the past". But MAN! How EAX sounded! Nothing today can still reproduce that - sadly:( )
Here is me wishing for EAX (in any form) making a come-back and stick around for good this time!
1x Palit RTX 2080Ti Pro Gaming OC(watercooled and overclocked to hell)
3x 3D Vision Ready Asus VG278HE monitors (5760x1080).
Intel i9 9900K (overclocked to 5.3 and watercooled ofc).
Asus Maximus XI Hero Mobo.
16 GB Team Group T-Force Dark Pro DDR4 @ 3600.
Lots of Disks:
- Raid 0 - 256GB Sandisk Extreme SSD.
- Raid 0 - WD Black - 2TB.
- SanDisk SSD PLUS 480 GB.
- Intel 760p 256GB M.2 PCIe NVMe SSD.
Creative Sound Blaster Z.
Windows 10 x64 Pro.
etc
My website with my fixes and OpenGL to 3D Vision wrapper:
http://3dsurroundgaming.com
(If you like some of the stuff that I've done and want to donate something, you can do it with PayPal at tavyhome@gmail.com)
FYI, you can use a cheap PCIe x1 to PCI adapter card for Audigy's without problems. I had the opposite running for years - a ZxR running in a PCI slot via an adapter. The bandwidth is not a limitation with sound.
However, I am unsure about the driver support.
Although EAX has been replaced by (software) OpenAL, you can still get old EAX games to work using Alchemy, though I haven't tried that in a Long time.
More on that here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_Audio_Extensions
Nowadays, Creative simply offload everything to the CPU through their infamous drivers. Their audio processors, however, get less and less sophisticated.
Just as a fun comparison, here are the generations of cards, older first. Keep an eye on Audio processing chip size / pin count:
SoundBlaster Audigy 2 (2002)
SoundBlaster X-Fi (2005)
SoundBlaster Z series, underneath the fancy heatsink (2012)
SoundBlasterX AE5 (2017)
One can argue that although their hardware gets worse and cheaper for them to produce every new generation, their software gets better to compensate. I shall have to admit that with the lack of EAX, and with with SBX included on all new boards, that has been true. Certainly, due to the immense power of a multi core CPU nowadays, one can also argue that a more powerful Audio processor is not needed :)
As far as audio "quality" goes, it has been proven in double blind studies that no-one can tell the difference between 16-bit/44KHz sound and anything above, so all the new tech with 24-bit/96KHz/128KHz, or newer 32-bit/384KHz sound is pretty redundant, only used for marketing purposes.
What is different, however, is the source content of the HD remaster audio, and the power handling of the equipment. Simply put, instead of getting more expensive snake oil hardware such as external AVs and sound cards etc, if one doesn't need the features of said hardware, then one would actually benefit far more from getting better speakers/headphones and playing remastered/less lossy content :)
Windows 10 64-bit, Intel 7700K @ 5.1GHz, 16GB 3600MHz CL15 DDR4 RAM, 2x GTX 1080 SLI, Asus Maximus IX Hero, Sound Blaster ZxR, PCIe Quad SSD, Oculus Rift CV1, DLP Link PGD-150 glasses, ViewSonic PJD6531w 3D DLP Projector @ 1280x800 120Hz native / 2560x1600 120Hz DSR 3D Gaming.
The case is pretty small making it hard to fit a GTX 980. Need to cut away a portion of the chassi to make it fit or change to a larger chassi.
Currently running a 560 Ti.
I seriously doubt there are Windows 10 drivers available but there might be drivers for Windows 7 which I dual-boot.
My current 3 year old machine lack PCI ports.
Another legacy feature is the COM port. I have the bracket installed in my old machine but didn't realize it works on my new computer too.
Thanks to everybody using my assembler it warms my heart.
To have a critical piece of code that everyone can enjoy!
What more can you ask for?
donations: ulfjalmbrant@hotmail.com