X-Fi and Vista

[QuantumPion]

I bought an X-Fi a short while ago before reading about the removal of direct3d in vista. Should I return it to the store while I can, or will its functionality be restored with drivers in the near future? I really like the sound quality and the positional accuracy of the X-Fi in games with XP. I haven't bought vista yet but plan to soon. FWIW, my 680i motherboard has the HD audio chip, which I've read is well supported in vista.

 

[43st]

Originally posted by: QuantumPion
I bought an X-Fi a short while ago before reading about the removal of direct3d in vista. Should I return it to the store while I can, or will its functionality be restored with drivers in the near future? I really like the sound quality and the positional accuracy of the X-Fi in games with XP. I haven't bought vista yet but plan to soon. FWIW, my 680i motherboard has the HD audio chip, which I've read is well supported in vista.

The X-fi is fully supported (including all version of EAX) in games using the OpenAL sound API, even in Vista. Creative also makes a wrapper called ALchemy for older games that require direct sound.

 

[QuantumPion]

Does ALchemy use hardware acceleration to equal the performance of direct3d in XP? Or is it a software runaround?

 

[BD2003]

Originally posted by: QuantumPion
I bought an X-Fi a short while ago before reading about the removal of direct3d in vista. Should I return it to the store while I can, or will its functionality be restored with drivers in the near future? I really like the sound quality and the positional accuracy of the X-Fi in games with XP. I haven't bought vista yet but plan to soon. FWIW, my 680i motherboard has the HD audio chip, which I've read is well supported in vista.

I'd hold off on using the X-fi in vista until the drivers are out of beta. I had a LOT of problems with mine.

 

[JasonCoder]

Originally posted by: QuantumPion
Does ALchemy use hardware acceleration to equal the performance of direct3d in XP? Or is it a software runaround?

At the risk of being pedantic, Direct3D has nothing to do with sound. DirectSound is the API that is part of DirectX that devs sometimes use to work with sound in games. I thought it only supported 2 channel PCM tho... dunno why EAX would be dependent on it.

 

[QuantumPion]

Sorry that was a typo, I meant to say directsound3d. So what I meant to ask was does ALchemy allow for hardware acceleration of sound in games in vista, or is it a software workaround that uses your CPU power?

 

[Fishy007]

I'm running the X-Fi in Vista right now. The latest drivers are ok, but there are still performance issues. The X-Fi does not operate 'cleanly' within Vista. Tabbing between programs may cause pops or static. Also the system does get *slighty* sluggish when using the card. The CMSS (surround sound) option in the drivers are working well though.
As for the ALchemy wrapper, I can't say that I've noticed a difference. It doesn't seem to work for me. Warcraft sounds 'tinny' and small, but new drivers are expected by March. If you really don't want to put up with the mediocre sound, I'd say to return Vista (unless you got a deal) and wait. What's the worst that can happen? You may find it on sale for a bit less in a month. MS won't reduce the price, but the stores may have some sort of general sale.

 

[Brian48]

Using an X-FI with Vista right now. OpenAL games sound about the same as they did under WinXP. I suppose that's good considering these drivers are Beta. For games requiring the Alchemy wrapper, it does seem to do what it's suppose to do. Directsound commands are "transmuted" to OpenAL dynamically so that hardware acceleration is possible. Then again, I've only tested this with FEAR. Without Alchemy, I could not enable HW audio and EAX HD under the game options.

I would say get the X-FI. You're not going to see a better option anyway if you want hardware acceleration under Vista for gaming. Currently, it's the only sound card that does HW acceleration for OpenAL under Vista anyway. That said, I believe Creative also is the only manufacturer offering a work-around for this issue of "legacy" Directsound support. I certainly would like to see something like this for my VIA based cards and systems running the on-board Realtek.

 

[Puffnstuff]

I want my control panel back.:disgust: Otherwise they seem to work ok but I really want the eq function so I can shape my sound and not just bass and trebble it.

 

[tboo]

Originally posted by: Puffnstuff
I want my control panel back.:disgust: Otherwise they seem to work ok but I really want the eq function so I can shape my sound and not just bass and trebble it.

Same here

 

[Noema]

This and the lack of Line 6 drivers are the main reason I'm staying off the Vista bandwagon until at least November.

No rush for me to upgrade.

 

[SEAL62505]

This is exactly what I was messing around with this weekend... With the poor driver support (Creative has always sucked... and freakin A, VISTA IS OUT IN THE STORES... so where is the non-beta driver!?!?) I was actually testing my onboard audio (I had never used it before) prior to even testing the x-fi in vista. It is a shame that EAX was aweful in Battlefield 2142 with my onboard (Abit AB9). This force me to give the x-fi a shot again. I am going to test more tonight, but I believe 2142 is an open AL game, and therefore shouldn't need the Alchemy software. So the end result should be the same sound as in XP... (hopefully!)

 

[JasonCoder]

Originally posted by: QuantumPion
Sorry that was a typo, I meant to say directsound3d. So what I meant to ask was does ALchemy allow for hardware acceleration of sound in games in vista, or is it a software workaround that uses your CPU power?

No problem. Just to add... DirectSound is being deprecated moving forward. From what I've read it just doesn't make as much to have hardware accelerated sound anymore... today's CPUs can more than handle the load. XBox360 == no hardware accelerated sound. Besides, the big boys aren't using DirectSound.

Having said that, if I had a card that I wanted to get some use out of, I'd try to get it to work too.

 

[BD2003]

Originally posted by: JasonCoder

Originally posted by: QuantumPion
Sorry that was a typo, I meant to say directsound3d. So what I meant to ask was does ALchemy allow for hardware acceleration of sound in games in vista, or is it a software workaround that uses your CPU power?

No problem. Just to add... DirectSound is being deprecated moving forward. From what I've read it just doesn't make as much to have hardware accelerated sound anymore... today's CPUs can more than handle the load. XBox360 == no hardware accelerated sound. Besides, the big boys aren't using DirectSound.

Having said that, if I had a card that I wanted to get some use out of, I'd try to get it to work too.

Well, thats because creative has chosen to hold back the development of 3d sound by years, and trickle out new products and enhancements slowly. Whereas CPUs and GPUs are subject to massive competition between the companies that put the products out.

We could probably have had 100% real audio by now, if aureal was still around. Thanks creative.