First post, by Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman
- Rank
- l33t
Stumbled upon this list, and it confirms my experience: many of my favorite old games like Neverwinter Nights 1 and 2, Max Payne, Freedom Force, and Warcraft III can work with either EAX 1, EAX 2, or both. Some games, like GTA San Adreas, support EAX HD 4, but they also support EAX 2 and 1. Only few games need EAX HD 5.
My next HTPC will use Windows 7, especially since my wife and stepdaughter aren't really familiar with the older Windows XP 😁 . Also, 16 GB of RAM certainly won't hurt, especially since the HTPC will also be used for Zoom meetings and desktop Whatsapp for my daughter's school during COVID pandemy. Regarding old EAX games, I have two options:
The first option is DSOAL as mentioned here. The downside that it only has full support for EAX 2, with only partial support for EAX 1, 3, and 4. But like I mentioned above, my favorite old games are EAX 2 games anyway.
The plus side is, of course, that DSOAL can work on any sound card. I haven't tried it myself, but at least in theory, it should work with GPU's HDMI sound output, thus delivering EAX sound on lossless, multi-channel PCM (LPCM). But even if it doesn't work with GPU's HDMI sound, at least I can use non-Creative sound cards like ASUS Xonar DSX with DTS Connect out of the box. If LPCM is unavailable, DTS is still an adequate alternative --certainly better than Dolby Digital.
The second option is, you know, using a typical Creative sound card with Alchemy, perhaps something like X-Fi or whatever. But I have two concerns:
(1) A Creative sound card needs Creative DTS Connect Pack to encode a game's multi-channel sound into DTS. The last time I checked, this kind of pack required online activation (though I may be mistaken, it's years ago). Does Creative DTS Connect Pack still need activation? I have tried Creative website and failed to find the answer.
If I couldn't use DTS Connect with a Creative sound card, then I'd have to use multi-channel analog ouputs, which is not only bothersome, but I'd lose most of my AVR's functionality like bass management, room EQ, and DSP. I actually like Yamaha CinemaDSP, and I'd like to use it with EAX games.
(2) The reason I have stopped using Creative cards is bloated software and driver. This is really bothersome. For this reason alone, I don't want to use Creative sound cards unless it's really necessary.
So, what are your thoughts and suggestions? If you're in my shoes, would you use a Creative sound card for the purpose?
Never thought this thread would be that long, but now, for something different.....
Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman.