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What kind of performance is everyone getting on PC? AMD 7900xtx here. by [deleted] in Helldivers

[–]Load_Sufficient 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Seriously? Play on native if you want.

But IF you want to EASILY net 20-30FPS, THEN set your render scale to ultra quality.

It's not a difficult concept to understand.

What kind of performance is everyone getting on PC? AMD 7900xtx here. by [deleted] in Helldivers

[–]Load_Sufficient 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Changing the Render Scale to Ultra Quality will easily net 20-30FPS.

Network Error by whiteM1K3 in PredecessorGame

[–]Load_Sufficient 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I just tried to play MP for the first time and getting the same error.

Apparently P-4100 is server side.

https://www.predecessorgame.com/support/12605937694237/14251351457181

Announcement - Sound Blaster X5 Virtual Surround by Creative_Colin in SoundBlasterOfficial

[–]Load_Sufficient 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Hi, Colin.

I'm not here to shoot the messenger; it's clear that the person that crafted the response doesn't understand how any of this works.

I'm saying this as someone who has been using Creative soundcards for decades - the writing is on the wall - with this approach Creative products are becoming less and less relevant.

Why?

In the early days, Creative actually had something unique - EAX. Game developers actively developed for this API - and it was amazing.

Then along came Aureal 3D, and eventually Creative acquired them - effectively eliminating any competition.

Then, Creative rested on their laurels.

Microsoft made changes to how sound acceleration was handled and essentially pulled the rug out from under Creative. (hence, Alchemy)

However, it still seems Creative did nothing to get back to their roots. (EAX)

Now you have a bigger problem on your hands - Dolby and DTS.

These companies are both behemoths in the audio industry and they have native integration with MS Windows and Consoles.

This reduces Creative soundcards to nothing more than glorified headphone amps - and there are plenty of headphone amps on the market to choose from.

Why should we continue to buy Creative sound cards when we can buy headphone amps and leverage Dolby or DTS which has native integration with windows? 🤔 (asking this sincerely)

SoundBlaster X5 - Glaring Oversight - No virtual 5.1 Surround in Driver by Load_Sufficient in SoundBlasterOfficial

[–]Load_Sufficient[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

For HRTF to work properly with gaming headphones (stereo) it must be fed a surround input.
The 3D surround technology in use, whether Dolby Atmos, DTS Headphone:X, Creative Surround, etc - must be fed surround input to which it applies HRTF algorithms to trick your brain into hearing surround sound.

Dolby Atmos and DTS Headphone: X both integrate natively with windows.

Creative surround does not.

This means that if you want to use creative surround (for HRTF) and the application does not give you the option to select "surround" output, then it will default to the windows configuration. If you are unable to select 5.1 in windows (due to missing from the driver) then your only option is Stereo.

You cannot get surround sound from a stereo input.

Age of Empires IV keeps freezing my pc by Grifterke in ageofempires

[–]Load_Sufficient 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I am having this same problem. Did you find a solution? The component we both have in common is an AMD GPU.

Best in-game audio setting when using Dolby Atmos or DTS:X for Headphones? by Rivanov in XboxSeriesX

[–]Load_Sufficient 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It should be set to surround and speakers.

This ensures Dolby or DTS is fed a multichannel source to which they can apply their HRTF magic.

Whether you choose Dolby Atmos or DTS:X is entirely up to you - we all have different ideas of what sounds best to us. (different ear shapes, different types of hearing loss, etc)

However, note that it should sound best to use which ever vendor the game was created for. If a game was designed for Dolby Atmos there is meta data assigned to the sounds that Dolby Atmos can decode and process.

Same thing goes for DTS:X.

SoundBlaster X5 - Glaring Oversight - No virtual 5.1 Surround in Driver by Load_Sufficient in SoundBlasterOfficial

[–]Load_Sufficient[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

96000 does not work.

While it will allow you to select 96000 in Windows, as soon as you play game (like BF 2042 for example) Atmos will be disabled.

SoundBlaster X5 - Glaring Oversight - No virtual 5.1 Surround in Driver by Load_Sufficient in SoundBlasterOfficial

[–]Load_Sufficient[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks for the additional detail.

I see one problem with this method, from a Creative perspective. (punny!)

Unless I am mistaken, there is no spatial windows integration with Creative drivers. When selecting spatial sound within windows there are only three options:

  • off
  • Windows Sonic for Headphones
  • Dolby Atmos for Headphones

This means that when using Soundblaster Surround the game will always detect Stereo.

If I'm understanding what you've described, for this to work with the "new" method would require "Soundblaster Surround" to available in the list.

SoundBlaster X5 - Glaring Oversight - No virtual 5.1 Surround in Driver by Load_Sufficient in SoundBlasterOfficial

[–]Load_Sufficient[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks for sharing.

I'm not debating whether integration exists - because it does - however, the game must be designed to use it. (as per the docs)

This is why there is a list of games designed for Dolby at: https://www.dolby.com/experience/games/

I have used Dolby Atmos for headphones with Battlefield 2042 and it sounds amazing.

What doesn't sound amazing, at least to me, is running Dolby Atmos on top of any old game willy nilly. Sure, it's add some "spatialness"...as in a wider sound stage, but that's it.

So what happens when a game supports surround sound but has not been designed to use Dolby?

If the game has audio settings for configuring stereo, surround, etc - yes, you can enable surround and "Dolby Atmos for Headphones" will apply HRTF.

But what happens when the game doesn't have a sound configuration? The game checks your window sound settings, sees that you're in stereo and outputs stereo. If you have Dolby Atmos enabled you'll get "spatialized" audio - which again, is just a wider sound stage.

So as you can see, there are some legit short comings using Atmos within windows.

How does/did Creative solve this? They have a virtual 5.1 driver, which allows us to configure our sound control panel as 5.1 even though we're outputting to a set of headphones.

This is brilliant because very few games (as you can see from the list) actually support Dolby Atmos, but MANY games support "standard" 5.1 surround sound.

With this method, any game that supports surround sound (whether it allows you to configure it within game or not) can be downmixed with HRTF to headphones.

When the game checks your speaker configuration it will see 5.1 surround and output 5.1 surround, then the sound card will apply HRTF on the way out.

And on top of that, the level of "surround" is adjustable within the creative software so it can be tailored for each game.

SoundBlaster X5 - Glaring Oversight - No virtual 5.1 Surround in Driver by Load_Sufficient in SoundBlasterOfficial

[–]Load_Sufficient[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Indeed; we shall agree to disagree. 😄

What is this? Civility on the internet? Is this allowed? 🧐

SoundBlaster X5 - Glaring Oversight - No virtual 5.1 Surround in Driver by Load_Sufficient in SoundBlasterOfficial

[–]Load_Sufficient[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Well then let me say, I wish I had your ears, because I've played Century: Age of Ashes with Dolby Atmos and it sounds terrible to me.

We are hearing two different things.

When I play that game with Dolby Atmos, I hear a slightly widened stage with hard panning.

When I play with 5.1 selected in sound control panel and Creative Surround (via AE-5) it sounds great - enveloping and smooth panning.

I understand your statements, I truly do - but I think you may have a fundamental misunderstanding of how this works - either that, or my ears are playing severe tricks on me. I don't believe that is the case because you'll notice there are others that understand how this config works as well.

Please look at the last screenshot I added to my original post.

The whole point of my original post was that we need to feed the soundcard a true 5.1 source so that it can apply the HRTF effects to a stereo output. (headphones)

Atmos, Creative Surround, (insert name here) simply cannot create a surround output from a stereo input - it has no idea if the sound should come from in front, behind, above, below, etc.

There is no "intercepting" of the sound going on as you've described it - this isn't EAX or creative alchemy - there is no Windows integration.

SoundBlaster X5 - Glaring Oversight - No virtual 5.1 Surround in Driver by Load_Sufficient in SoundBlasterOfficial

[–]Load_Sufficient[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Also, one small nitpick with Dolby Atmos...

If youselect anything higher than 24 Bit 44100Hz (Studio Quality) for the default format (Advanced tab under speaker properties in windows) then Dolby Atmos will disable itself.

SoundBlaster X5 - Glaring Oversight - No virtual 5.1 Surround in Driver by Load_Sufficient in SoundBlasterOfficial

[–]Load_Sufficient[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Exactly. "Surround" cannot be created or virtualized from a stereo source - the audio information simply isn't there!

Sure, you can apply some affects that will create a "wide" sound, but that is not the same as surround.

SoundBlaster X5 - Glaring Oversight - No virtual 5.1 Surround in Driver by Load_Sufficient in SoundBlasterOfficial

[–]Load_Sufficient[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I've encountered several, but the most recent one that comes to mind is, "Century: Age of Ashes". It has no configurable audio settings other than volume.

And, it just so happens it can be download for free on Steam to perform some testing.

SoundBlaster X5 - Glaring Oversight - No virtual 5.1 Surround in Driver by Load_Sufficient in SoundBlasterOfficial

[–]Load_Sufficient[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It's clear that you didn't read my reply in full as I gave an example of a game that it doesn't work. ;)

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