Audigy2 ZS Drivers

Necrosis

We are working on it..myself including another has two seperate projects going on making these drivers work on all previous cards. I've been set back by doing my recent upgrades but hopefully with a little more time & patience we'll have something worth while to show for our efforts. There is more than one reason why I bought a ZS.

fresco

Is there any chance to see the Graphic Equalizer working with an Audigy 2 (not ZS) ?

JCLW

A readme on how to install ZS drivers on Live!, A1, and A2 cards?

http://www.tech-pc.co.uk/audigy-2.php

Same as that, but modify ZS drivers, not the A2 drivers they link to.

Eck

This is just to offer to you guys testing this what my experience was. First, there is a new Soundfont Bank Manager update on Creative's site. This works fine, and is supposed to use less CPU ticks than the older one. The only problem is the "?" link to the help file, but I can go to the folder and click open the help file manually. Also, the system menu now reports the version number in an "About" screen. I have found that in order to use the 441's I must first install the 402's. I used the Evil One download of it which seems to be gone from the net, but it's the same (I believe) as the one on the Audigy 2 ZS cd. So, if you would click on the first link on the post of 4 a few posts back, I think you can snag the driver file there. By the way, I'm presentlly having a tough time downloading the a2zs-i.r00 file from that server on dialup. I've managed to get the other 3, but need all for the whole cd. Well, I followed the FAQ here with the files I downloaded months ago and that does work fine. The only change I make is to not install MediaSource and the Remote Center. I don't have a Live Drive, and I heard the MediaSource doesn't play well on the Live line with the 402, 441 driver series. So I just installed PlayCenter from my Compaq cd (3.02.52) and updated it to 3.02.70 from the Creative site. To jump from driver 383 to the 400 series, I first ctcomped the 441 setup and tried that, but got no sound. I then tried CTZAPPing it over itself and that appears to get it installed properly in Device Manager, but still no sound. I followed the readme and used Device Mgr to uninstall the joystick and SBLive driver, allowed Windows to install its own on reboot, and then ran CTZAPP from the Evil 402 driver to install that. Actually, the Device Mgr nicely got rid of all the .inf's, so going through this was not a bad thing. I then ran setup for the 441 driver, rebooted to sound, but it again is not listed properly as 441 and signed, but as 402 and suddenly unsigned. I just CTZAPP'd the 441 over itself, choosing to overwrite previous files. This works perfectly. All the software works with the exception of needing to keep AudioHQ in my systray to have easy access to the EAX Control. I posted elsewhere that the Advanced EQ Parametric setting needs to be manually clicked in order to hear audio. To set one of the Equalizations (Rock, Classical, etc.), I need to open EAX Control, set it to "Rock," for example, then scroll down to "Parametric," click that, then click the little Master Volume slider. The only other problem isn't really big. The Creative Diagnostic program isn't able to run its tests. Big deal! The difference in how my SBLive SB0100 sounds is huge. I mean, I don't know where Creative's been hiding the audio quality but the card has never sounded this good. The current sound puts my Santa Cruz and Acoustic Edge to shame. By the way, the driver also works with the older SBLive/Audigy 1 software. I had tried that first. I did have to go through the same stupid process of installing the 402, rebooting, installing the 441, and CTZAPPing over itself the 441's, uninstalling the 441's in device manager, then, after XP finishes installing its own driver and rebooting, finally running setup for the 441, rebooting, and CTZAPPing it over itself. That seems to be the way to get the 441 to work. A caveat though! Uninstalling the whole package after using these drivers makes any Creative installation (old or new) report that there is no Creative Audio Hardware installed! Yikes! For example, I've reformatted 4 times in the past week to try out all this stuff. I don't like that! I even successfully installed the drivers first, then tried to run the install and recieve the same message, and the install exits. Today, I read a post from someone who suggests adding the following lines to Audio.ini in the Audio/setup folder:

[Settings]
CardDetection = 0

Alas, he wasn't sure this would work and I, thankfully, haven't had the chance to test it yet. This seems to be some new evil Creative way to ensure that once you uninstall their stuff they won't let you use it again unless you reinstall Windows. So much for the colorful packaging claiming future upgrades to LiveWare will always keep your card current. Now its: Buy new cards or you can't access our improvements, and don't you dare uninstall it!

fresco

Well, maybe this is old news, but I just found a hidden creative application that I've never seen before

On one hand it has the same features as the device control (in the Audio HQ), and some more like the Eq
You can find it here:
C:\Programs\Creative\SBAudigy2\Program\WDM\COMMON\ CtPanel.exe

/edit:
Ack, too bad. When you activate the EQ, it is deactivated the next time you run the tool

/edit #2:
It doesn't matter that it deactivates itself, your settings still have effect on the sound - even after rebooting your system. But don't deactivate the EQ yourself, than it is deactivated

Eck

Alright! Got the whole cd downloaded. Burned a whole copy and a ctcomp patched copy. Installing it brings a problem not encountered with the Audigy 2 original cd. The Surround Mixer and a few other things open to a message stating that this version of the software is not intended for your current hardware and will now close. Now, you can still use EAX Control in AudioHQ and the Soundfont program. You can also access the normal Windows Mixer as well. So you can still change your speaker configuration through the Windows controls, but not through Creative Speaker Settings, which also gives that error message. For myself, being that you still need to click on the EAX master volume setting, and suspecting that there may be other EAX problems that could effect gameplay, I have returned to the official 252 drivers and software for the Live 5.1. Upon listening to music I have noticed that what may have appeared to be improved sound with the later drivers may simply have been more headroom, or hidden EAX set on by default (like some form of Creative's CMSS). The airyness that I thought was great with the new drivers , though nice with classical music, was becoming annoying with rock and jazz. I'm guessing there is CMSS enabled by default on the newer series that can be tuned off by controls besides the one for CMSS in PlayCenter, like that EAX Console that wont run on the Live. All in all, I'm pretty satisfied with the official Creative software and drivers for the Live at this point, though it was fun to experiment and see the newer stuff. Its nice to just click a setiiing in Surround Mixer and get the effect without rummaging through a bunch of software. I'm looking forward to reading what the folks working with the new software on the Live and Audigy 1 come up with, but I think the newer drivers cannot be fully controlled properly without the software that does not run on the Live, like Speaker Calabrator and EAX Console. They are unified drivers, but they activate stuff by default that cannot be turned off by the software that does work with the Live cards. For me, it seems the official way is the best way.

vdmpr

Thank Fresco, I never would guess there to have a look. I have one more way to force equalizer to work, with the help of a patch, but your way seems better.

schwret

Thank you for this driver CD.

schwret

The driver CD is she with new driver or old?????

BiGBrOwNPimpsta

Ok guys, here is a nice clear way of installing it.

I installed this on my Audigy 2, I have never tried it on Live! or Audigy 1 but they have gotten it to work through this method. I have explained how to install it on an Audigy 1/Live!, but until someone explains the method clearly for those cards I cannot gurantee it will work. Due to Live! not having the EAX Advanced HD chip, there are a few limitations such as no time scaling. Audigy 1 does not have DVD audio and depending on your card, it will not support surround modes higher than it can at maximum (i.e. SB Audigy 1 will not support 7.1) and bass boost is disabled on 5.1/6.1 modes, that is when bass redirection comes into play. so dont freak out if one of them is disabled.


**I nor DriverHeaven hold any responsibility if anything should happen, back-up your files, create a system restore point, read everything carefully. Feel free to discuss any problems in this thread
What you will need:

Audigy 2 ZS driver CD

Link for the 4 disk version (rar format), the download links are screwy and very slow at times. The 4 files should be relatively large in size about 90 MB or more each, disk 4 may differ slightly but still would be 80MB+. The downloads do cancel or restart, that's why a download manager (such as Download Accelerator Plus) would help speed things up and keep it stable. Make sure they are absolutely 100% complete and download each one by one for a safe download.

http://club.hitel.net/Club/ClubUser...4152_a2zs-i.rar
http://club.hitel.net/Club/ClubUser...8054_a2zs-i.r00
http://club.hitel.net/Club/ClubUser...7743_a2zs-i.r01
http://club.hitel.net/Club/ClubUser...3968_a2zs-i.r02

CTCOMP.exe compatibility patch

This is a more updated version; this link should be alive permanently and fast (thanks to DVDKingdom)

http://members.aol.com/dvdking2001/Pub/ctcomp.exe

Equalizer Patch

Grab this to get the EQ working fully (special thanks to necrosis)

Link 1: http://home.earthlink.net/~necrosis_2003/patch.exe
Link 2: PLEASE do not use this link unless link 1 is dead and please notify! http://members.rogers.com/bbp/patch.exe

WinRAR

WinRAR is used to extract many common formats (i.e. zip, rar, tar, ace), always is handy and should be left on your computer for any use.

http://www.rarlab.com

Creative Driver/Software Updates for Audigy 2 ZS

Visit http://www.creative.com and download all driver updates (necessary ones like the EAX 4 update) and software updates are optional (such as the EAX console) from any region.

Uninstall ALL SOUND BLASTER DRIVERS AND SOFTWARE BEFORE CONTINUING. Restart(s) are required after un-installation. During driver updates, restarts are required, not the applications like THX console or EAX console.

Instructions:
1. Download the 4 disk version as listed above or download the whole CD. Use WinRAR to extract the disks by right clicking the first disk (106431634152_a2zs-i.rar) and going “extract files…”. Select the directory to wish you want it to extract to, once the file has finished extracting, you will be prompted for the other disks in order (2, 3, 4). If you have a single file for the whole CD, simply extract it the same way nothing else will be prompted.

2. When the whole CD is extracted, run the CTCOMP.exe. It will ask you Audigy 2 CD directory is, this where your patch is to be applied. Apply it to your CD’s folder in /Audio/Setup folder, for example: “F:\Audio\Setup” is where my driver CD is located so I chose that as where it should be applied. Your directory may differ because it may be on your C: drive or desktop.


3. To being the install, run the START.exe in driver CD folder, located at /CTrun/Start.exe. Installation will start, follow the on screen directions should take about anywhere from 2-8 minutes depending on how fast your computer is. Once everything is installed, restart your computer. Once restarted your sound should be working and lots of Creative Labs junk to compliment it.

4. If you are an Audigy 2 user, install all downloaded Creative updates (driver updates in order of oldest to latest) from the Creative site, restart the necessary number of times and skip to step 6. If you are not using an Audigy 2 continue to step 5.

5. The CTCOMP patch must also be applied to driver updates (not application updates) and installed oldest to latest. To do so, you must extract the actual .exe update files with WinRAR the same way you did the driver CD. Right click on the file, select “extract files…” and select the directory to where you want it extracted. The using the CTCOMP patch, select the folder of the extracted update (just the root directory not any subfolders within) and click next. Do this for all driver updates and install them in order of oldest to latest.



6. To get the equalizer to work, after installing everything and verifying your sound is working, restart the computer in safe mode. Once booted, apply the patch.exe file. Verify the directory for your Creative folder (i.e. C:\program files\creative) and all files should be patched successfully.

Everything should work and the end result looks like this:



Now enjoy your enhanced Live!/Audigy/Audigy 2 soundcard!

Screw nForce soundstorm! Creative now has the eq, lower CPU usage and much higher sound quality. I tweaked the THX setings and on my inspire 5.1 im getting a lot clearer sound.

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M.W

Hello BiGBrOWnPimpsta,

Thanks for the post.
I'm getting "not found" in all 4 links above. The links are posted right? If so, there are any other mirrors?

Thanks in advance,
M.W

BiGBrOwNPimpsta

i guess they died, i wish zardon would let us put it up on the server but they are large downloads. if anyone can dedicated some bandwidth for it please do.

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Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Music | Logitech Z-5500 THX 5.1 Surround Sound Speakers | 2 Lite-On 20x S-ATA Burners | Logitech G700 Mouse | Logitech MX5500 Bluetooth Keyboard

BiGBrOwNPimpsta

links were edited, downloads should work

if someone wants to stick the readme would be good

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Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Music | Logitech Z-5500 THX 5.1 Surround Sound Speakers | 2 Lite-On 20x S-ATA Burners | Logitech G700 Mouse | Logitech MX5500 Bluetooth Keyboard

classic leon

already worked properly, thk BiGBrOWnPimpsta a billion!!!!!

yesterday my 0240 platinum worked unstability. then i posted in "kX Project Audio Driver Support Forum" to ask the question. now OK!

i think if we use PAX driver(d latest 1 is YouP-PAX ZS 1.2) which debugs original 443(e.g. play DTS-CD while itself auto mute) a lot & crack a2 well, it may get higher quality while crack audigy2 to audigy2zs. download in:

http://file2.mydrivers.com/sound/YouP-PAX-ZSv1.2.zip

http://file.mydrivers.com/sound/YouP-PAX-ZSv1.2.zip

http://file3.mydrivers.com/files/sou...PAX-ZSv1.2.zip

http://file4.mydrivers.com/files/sou...PAX-ZSv1.2.zip

http://crc.mydrivers.com/sound/YouP-PAX-ZSv1.2.zip

http://sc.mydrivers.com/sound/YouP-PAX-ZSv1.2.zip

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schwret

Have this driver now support for 6.1?????

classic leon

yup.not only 6.1, also supported 7.1 and DTS/DTS-ES decoding.
debuged 443 which mute when u play DTS CD.

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germanjulian

does anyone know the fix for ahh press button on keyboard and clicks come from soundcard... fix... dont happen with usb keyboard and doesnt happen with kx drivers PM me if you know fix.

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schwret

@ classic leon:

Thank you, for this driver very, very wonderful. The sond It is better than the orginal.

i||uSi0n^

7.1 support, i dont get that, cause i got Audigy 2, with Audigy 2 ZS drivers + progs installed, when i change speakers to 7.1, i dont get sound from "Side Right" speaker, tho i got 7.1 speakers "Creative T7700", only 6.1 works as "Audigy 2 supports 6.1" even with installing Audigy 2 ZS drivers, it dont make it 7.1....or am i not doing somthing right ?

i||uSi0n^

BiGBrOwNPimpsta

wait so this you pax driver, i dont understand the difference from the version i posted. tell me what's the diff

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Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Music | Logitech Z-5500 THX 5.1 Surround Sound Speakers | 2 Lite-On 20x S-ATA Burners | Logitech G700 Mouse | Logitech MX5500 Bluetooth Keyboard

BiGBrOwNPimpsta

guys, edited the driver setup guide there.

you can use bass boost on modes lower THAN 5.1, on 5.1/6.1 modes bass redirection is enabled. so its one of the either depending on your speaker mode

__________________
Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Music | Logitech Z-5500 THX 5.1 Surround Sound Speakers | 2 Lite-On 20x S-ATA Burners | Logitech G700 Mouse | Logitech MX5500 Bluetooth Keyboard

i||uSi0n^

BiGBrOWnPimpsta

i have install "audigy 2 zs soft + drivers" on my Audigy 2 (NOT ZS) as per your guide...my only question is, i have 7.1 speakers, when i make speakers setting to 7.1 i dont get sound from only 6 speakers, not 7...so even if i install A2 ZS drivers + prog, still i cant use my 7.1 speakers? only 6.1 ? as the A2 only support till 6.1 ?

thnx,
i||uSi0n^

dj_stick

www.electricstart.de has some electronics you can build to increase the i/o cabability of your card, use the S/PDIF header on the audigy 2

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BiGBrOwNPimpsta

well depending on your speakers, sometimes you can emulate a 7.1 channel. like my creative inspire 5.1 5300 speakers, if im using a 4.1 sound card, i can emulate a 5.1 sound channel by leaving the center channel unplugged. maybe something like that can be done for yours so check your manual

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Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Music | Logitech Z-5500 THX 5.1 Surround Sound Speakers | 2 Lite-On 20x S-ATA Burners | Logitech G700 Mouse | Logitech MX5500 Bluetooth Keyboard

classic leon

r u sure u r using the driver, YouP-PAX-ZSv1.2.zip?(http://file.mydrivers.com/sound/YouP-PAX-ZSv1.2.zip)
when u install this driver, attention the order:choose audigy2, then choose the sencond 1 while u r not using windows of Chinese version.

after all installation of driver&software, u need to proofread yr surround setting by using SPEAKER SETTING.

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i||uSi0n^

yes i have try that pack, i did install the way you explained, but only thing i get is 6.1 channel, thus i upmix my speakers to 6.1 to 7.1 to make all speakers work, what i wanted was true 7.1 without upmixing a 6.1 to 7.1, i thought after installing a2 zs drivers+prog i could get 7.1 ... guess its a hardware thing...A2 cant support more then 6.1 ...

i||uSi0n^

classic leon

no, a2 can do it! dun give it up!a2 definitely equals to a2 zs. this is the real thing which is proved by a lot f audio-expert.



mybe u can try this probation:



because line3 of audigy2zs is the special 1 slot:

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classic leon

but i think line out of a2 is the same as a2zs.

mybe u try to have full installation cracked with upgrade files.(including DTS:Neo6)

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i||uSi0n^

donno what to do next, coz i already tried that YouP-PAX-ZSv1.2, didnt work, then i got a iso image of audigy 2 zs cd, patched it with "ctcomp" same with updated drivers...still no way to get real 7.1... only 6 speakers would work...

i||uSi0n^

classic leon

i also dunno y. dun worry. i note this question to others 4 u.

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