If the driver requires a specific DirectX version and installs that, then assume it depends on it. The major changes of DirectX updates are API interfaces, and dropping that earlier beyond what a driver cares about would likely lead for the worse. Also Creative are no strangers to bugs...

SBLive on DirectX6 didn't have stellar DOS support either. It's all inherited and iterated upon Ensoniq's AudioPCI emulation TSRs anyway, generations of technical debt.

Well, yeah, but if I swap the card for something that can survive just fine on DirectX7, then it stands to reason that I could downgrade the DirectX version without any trouble provided I did it right. Is there a procedure for that or is it just "copy the contents of the cab over C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM and say yes to overwrite everything"?

You don't need DirectX verion 9.0a to get the Audigy 2 ZS working reliably in Windows 9x. I'm going to guess it's because of some kind of software mixing DirectX 9 is required - like for the NVidia Soundstorm (it can also be installed without the mixer using previous versions of DirectX).

Use Device Manager to install the Driver. The VXD version will be inside a directory labeled "VXD." You may need to bounce back and forth during the installation between the 98_SE and COMMON subdirectories (you will be prompted). The INFs inside the VXD directory are labeled:

Emu10kx.inf
SB16.inf

You can leave ME at DirectX 7.1 (it's default), or upgrade to DirectX 8.2 (DirectPlay update makes it 8.2, otherwise it's 8.1). Voodoo3 has a beta release for DirectX 8, also. (Only DirectDraw is compliant, of course)

You can search for "DirectX Uninstaller." It erases whatever DirectX version is installed, and then you can reinstall after the reboot. Probably not an issue and more than likely cosmetic, but reinstalling DirectX7 on ME won't get you back to 7.1 - "merely" 7.0A. If there is an installer specifically for 7.1 and ME, I haven't seen it (or looked hard enough). Maybe there's an SDK somewhere.

The way I found that seems to have done the job was to uninstall DirectX entirely using 98lite, which I had installed so I could more surgically remove certain things I don't need like System Restore, the Task Scheduler, so on and so forth. (I take whole disk images as backups.) Then you can run the installer for the version you want (I went with 8.1 in this instance, as I have a few DX8 games installed) and it should Just Work™. I unironically had more issues getting my old sound drivers uninstalled and the new ones installed and working than I did downgrading DirectX, for future reference. But that DirectX Uninstaller idea sounds good also, I'll keep it in mind if I ever need it again.

DirectX Buster is the util I frequently use for this. Mostly with 98SE.

Something to think about with VXDs is they were being phased out. VXDs are low level and fast but they are also sources of instability. I usually try to figure out the DirectX version audio VXD drivers recommend and go with that. You want them to be in their happy place.

Well, the YMF744 is happiest with DirectX 7 according to its latest drivers from what I can tell. I left it at 8.1 because I have a few DX8-era games installed (Max Payne, The Sims, etc) that can run on fixed-function cards but otherwise require the updated libraries.

The Audigy2ZS is just kind of an inappropriate card for a PIII anyway -- you can make the argument it could have been a later upgrade, but if that was the case, why leave the (by that point poorly aging) Voodoo3 instead of upgrading to something like a Ti4200 or Radeon 9600 or somesuch? Yeah, it's got EAX, and that's fun, but I don't really need it -- the Sensaura stuff the YMF744 provides appears to be A3D compatible, and works really well even over speakers. Stuff like Diablo II doesn't use it -- 3D audio is grayed out there -- but UT99 and other stuff closer to the era of games this thing should be targetting work fine with it.

Sedrosken wrote on 2022-07-27, 22:24:

Yeah, it's got EAX, and that's fun, but I don't really need it -- the Sensaura stuff the YMF744 provides appears to be A3D compatible, and works really well even over speakers. Stuff like Diablo II doesn't use it -- 3D audio is grayed out there -- but UT99 and other stuff closer to the era of games this thing should be targetting work fine with it.

Depending on which driver version you use for the YMF744 card, you may be able to install a Sensaura upgrade patch. According to Sensinfo.exe this will give you A3D 1.0 as well as EAX 1.0 and EAX 2.0. However, A3D 2.0 games like Quake 3 likely won't work.

The EAX implementation on YMF7x4 cards doesn't sound too great, and seems to be relying on the CPU a fair bit, so it's probably emulated, at least in part. On the other hand, A3D 1.0 works quite well, especially in games like Thief, Unreal Tournament and Deus Ex. I've posted some of my own experiences in this thread: Sensaura on Yamaha YMF 7x4 cards

BTW, a SBLive card, using its stock drivers from the CD, will work fine with DirectX 7. Its EAX implementation is fully hardware based and sounds much nicer. Finding the right driver CD for a particular SBLive can be a bit of a hassle, but SB0100 models have generally worked fine for me.

Another option: replace the directx installer files with 8.1 - I tested this on a machine running ME and it worked.

Just copy all files off the Audigy 2 CD/ISO into a folder somewhere. Then download DX 8.1 (the version that extracts into a directory of your choosing). Replace the DX9 files with the DX8.1 files. Run the Audigy 2 setup program.

I just used DirectX Eradicator 2.o last night and previously, it works great but it removes it completely, then you install whichever version you want:

https://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/dire … eradicator.html