galacticninja

I've read that Windows Vista and 7 stopped supporting hardware acceleration of DirectSound/DirectX Audio. Many of the old games (most of them released in the 90's-early 2000's) that I used to play in Windows XP support hardware accelerated EAX 1 and/or 2 thru DirectSound.

I would like to know if Windows 7 can still do the EAX 1 and 2 sound effects (even without hardware acceleration) in these old games (many of these games weren't designed to support OpenAL).

Will there be significant performance issues (speed, correct emulation and quality of EAX sound effect emulation) in these old games under Windows 7?

My laptop's motherboard has an integrated SoundMAX sound card (SoundMAX Integrated Digital Audio). I am using Windows Update-provided drivers. Is there any software/driver I can use to enable EAX 1 and 2 (with or without hardware acceleration) if Windows 7 can't support it (in XP, this sound card was able to support EAX 1 and 2)?

Matth

The Virtual Blue Angels: Windows 7 Sound Fix with OnBoard Realtek HD

It seems, with some reservations, that you can get 3D SoundBack to work in Win7, effective on legacy games using the DirectSound / Direcsound3D interfaces (will degrade performance or cause problems if selected for programs which are native OpenAL).

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Mary had a little lamb,
Her father shot it dead
Now Mary takes her lamb to school,
Between two crusts of bread

Judas

sound hardware acceleration isn't required at all within windows 7.. it's less problematic... performance is generally far better too.. and EAX is a bit of a dead standard now too.

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BigBodZod

There is another option that I use, it doesn't work in all older games but most.

Download the Creative Labs Alchemy app and install that then reboot.

You can easily add older EAX supported titles to the alchemy app which allow you to use the added functionality with EAX games.

galacticninja

Will either Realtek Soundback or Alchemy work on my laptop's integrated SoundMAX sound card (SoundMAX Integrated Digital Audio, according to Device Manager). I am using Windows Update-provided drivers.

I understand EAX is now not used by modern games, but I'm talking about the older games that use it.

BigBodZod

Alchemy is only for Creative Labs Audigy Sound Cards and above so no it would not work with your ADI (Analog Devices) Soundmax Codec, sorry.

I do believe that many AC97 and HD/Azalia Class Codecs had EAX1 and sometimes EAX2 support but I think that disappears under both Vista and Windows 7 due to the new HAL design for the sound devices.

Obviously if you decided on getting any of the X-Fi model sound cards from Creative Labs then you can of course use their Alchemy app for this very thing