24 replies to this topic

[Andrea C.]

I had forgotten about occlusion. This spurred me to looking further into it and it looks like the occlusion effects from EAX were only available with VxD drivers (basically, the drivers for Windows 98). WDM drivers (for Windows XP) did away with occlusion. It looks like Microsoft really gradually destroyed good audio in games as it went along.

Now Im toying with the idea of building a Windows 98 machine to play BG the way it was meant to be.

[skellytz]

it looks like the occlusion effects from EAX were only available with VxD drivers (basically, the drivers for Windows 98). WDM drivers (for Windows XP) did away with occlusion.

If you mean that VOGONS thread, I think it's clarified further on occlusion worked even with WDM drivers back when the game was more popular after its release. I'm pretty sure it worked for me even years later on my sound card; but then again, it wasn't an Audigy. Apparently, Creative changed something in their drivers at some point. To be fair, sound card drivers randomly caused me quite a few issues in other games too; it wasn't all sunshine and rainbows 

 

In any case, I'll try to restore these effects when possible!

[Andrea C.]

Ive just re-read the entire VOGONS thread and they do insist occlusion is only available on Win98 all the way through. They mention something about the game being hardcoded to use VxD drivers for those effects.

Ive got my eyes on a retro PC with an Audigy 2 ZS sound card. Should I eventually pull the trigger, Ill probably run Win98 on it just for the sake of safety.

[skellytz]

Ive just re-read the entire VOGONS thread and they do insist occlusion is only available on Win98 all the way through. They mention something about the game being hardcoded to use VxD drivers for those effects.

The guy who reported it also said this later:

I just tried it on my Sound Blaster Live! 5.1 (SB0100). That's the oldest EAX 2.0 capable sound card that I have. The results were interesting. When using the original installation CD from 2001 both VxD and WDM drivers properly provided occlusion in Baldur's Gate 2.

 

I even tried a newer SBLive installation CD from 2004 and those WDM drivers still properly provided occlusion. At a guess, Creative changed something within the Audigy (and X-Fi) code branch of the WDM drivers. After that change was made, BG2 occlusion became broken on those cards when using WDM drivers, while still remaining functional with VxD drivers. Either that, or there's a hardware difference between SBLive and Audigy cards that WDM drivers don't account for.

 

I think I'd gotten mine to work with a Hercules Gamesurround Muse DVD 5.1 using drivers from 2003. Since these were the last drivers ever released for that card, I had to keep using them even some years later when I played BG2. I believe I remember this because I didn't like the effect at first; in other games, EAX occlusion was typically used for muffling sounds coming through walls or underwater, not from sources simply being farther away from you, so I thought it was a bit weird. I could be wrong, of course; this was a long time ago. I kind of like the effect now because it softens sounds off-screen, which complements the positional audio.

 

Let me know when you get a chance to test all this on a retro PC. I'd be grateful if you could confirm whether this issue is related to Creative drivers or Windows.

[Andrea C.]

Ah, I see. Thats a different thread from the one I was reading. Creative botching drivers isnt news to me; they were never their strong suit. Now I have to choose between two options: get an older SB Live! card and use Windows XP, or get a newer Audigy 2 ZS card and use Windows 98 SE.