Sound issues with DirectX 9

[Zyriakus]

When running AC under dx 9, the in-game sound becomes tinny and thin. This is accompanied by sort of a "dull" or muted quality to it; as if it's lacking the proper amount of brightness/presence.

Best way I can describe it is that it sounds like it's coming out of an old AM radio or something.

This is on a brand new machine:

P4 3.0ghz
1 gig ram
Radeon 9800 Pro
Audigy 2
Win XP

I have all the latest drivers, and I also tried turning off hardware sound acceleration, but still no luck.

(I should also note that I experienced a similar problem with AC when upgrading from 8.1 on an older machine with completely different hardware and OS, which is why I believe dx 9 is a factor).

Only AC seems to have this problem, everything else runs great.

Any ideas?

Thanks.

[ArielleZeke]

The ambient sounds are good the regular sounds for my characters such as portals, dropping stuff, etc very very low and far away

Seems almost directional in nature


Spells and such are the same I should say spells from monsters are mine are "thin" thats a good description from the above post

And i did have to turn up the volume just in general in windows to hear anything.

DX 9 also

Creative AWE64 ;) i know time to upgrade still...

[Zyriakus]

Yeah, the ambient sound seems ok, but every other sound (spellcasting, combat, portals, interface) is poor quality.

Rather annoying when you upgrade to something and get WORSE performance, heh.

I would love to use 8.1 again, but this machine came with 9.0b factory-installed, and I'm not sure if I could downgrade very easily.

Glad to hear I'm not the only one experiencing this though.

[Messy]

Downgrading from the latest Direct X is feasible, but not recommended, or endorsed by Microsoft.

There are apps out there which will enable you to do this, althought at certain risk to your setup.

Re-installing windows (XP that is) will roll-back your computer to Direct X 8.1, as will using the repair/modify function within the OS.

[Zyriakus]

I tried using DirectX Eradicator, but couldn't seem to get it to work properly.

But you're saying that even though 9.0b came pre-installed on my machine, I can still rollback to 8.1 by reinstalling XP?

Would that require a full format or just a reinstall?

(Sorry about the basic questions, but my old comp had Win ME on it, so I just started using XP recently - still learning the ins and outs).

[Messy]

By rebooting your machine, with a copy of your Windows XP inside your drive, it'll give you the option to repair/modify your existing OS or to begin a complete re-install.

I had to do this once (a repair) after receiving a particularly nasty virus.

One thing I noticed, was that under DXDIAG, it had rolled-back to 8.1, without affecting any other of my existing drivers.

You'll have to activate windows again though once your finished, so make sure you have a valid cd-key to go along with your copy :)

Edit - I hope I'm ok as well : I have an eerily similar setup to yours, including an Audigy 2.

Still waiting for a cd-key to play again :rolleyes:

I'm surprised Turbine have made any progression with updating the current game engine to Direct X9, but I bet the upcoming expansion will require you to do so.

[Zyriakus]

Ok, thanks Messy - I will give that a shot.

[Messy]

Great, I hope it fixes your problem.

:)


Ive experienced a few teething problems within the first couple of hours of play, but nothing serious.

Z Buffering doesnt work with my Geforce FX, (I just get a black screen) and i experience weird slow-down in certain areas (lag?) but overall, its sound.

Let me know how you get on.

[Zyriakus]

I tried doing just the repair last night, but still ended up with 9.0b.

I then decided to go ahead and format the hard drive (since I didn't have much on there yet anyways), and was able to revert back to 8.1 that way.

Not the optimal solution, but at least it worked : )

[Messy]

Great. I'm glad that fixed it!