a3D Alchemy just randomly starting working for me. I Uninstalled a3d_Live deleted the DLL files and installed A3D alchemy no problem. I just always instal as Admin. Windows 10 is a weird OS It seems to behave differently from one install to the next even on identical hardwarte configs.

Presbytier wrote on 2020-05-02, 03:35:

a3D Alchemy just randomly starting working for me. I Uninstalled a3d_Live deleted the DLL files and installed A3D alchemy no problem. I just always instal as Admin. Windows 10 is a weird OS It seems to behave differently from one install to the next even on identical hardwarte configs.

Suddenly today A3d Live installed. But sadly the a3d drivers didn't so i couldn't utilize it.
I had to use a3d alchemy instead. Can you please tell me how i can check a3d features are working on top of Dsound3d

Discrete_BOB_058 wrote on 2020-05-05, 16:37:

Presbytier wrote on 2020-05-02, 03:35:

a3D Alchemy just randomly starting working for me. I Uninstalled a3d_Live deleted the DLL files and installed A3D alchemy no problem. I just always instal as Admin. Windows 10 is a weird OS It seems to behave differently from one install to the next even on identical hardwarte configs.

Suddenly today A3d Live installed. But sadly the a3d drivers didn't so i couldn't utilize it.
I had to use a3d alchemy instead. Can you please tell me how i can check a3d features are working on top of Dsound3d

I honestly am not sure. That is why I use the A3D spalsh screen to indicate if it at least sees it. I know for me my test game is Dark Forces 2 as it only supporst A3D

There's an alternative a3d.dll floating around the net you can use instead of the one that comes with A3D-Live, A3Dx5, supposedly developed by Creative. The latest version I found (80.0.0.5) is included with older unofficial patches for Interstate '76 Nitro Pack because it solves a critical sound bug with that game (I also added it in my own I76 Patch in A3D folder).

The instructions there say to install A3D-Live, then replace a3d.dll with an alternative one, (A3Dx5) and the older version of it (80.0.0.3) is also at linked at PCGW. That page says to install A2D drivers (A3D 2? - a2ddrivers312.exe) first then use a3dx5 or A3D-Live. A2D drivers and A3D-Live are hosted on the same russian website.

a2ddrivers312.exe package only has a3dapi.dll. Somewhere else, I found a3ddrivers312.exe, which also has a3d.dll and a3d.vxd, the latter is definitely Windows 9x driver. It seems both a2ddrivers and a3ddrivers can be ignored when it comes to modern OS, so install A3D-Live, then find references in registry under HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT with an absolute path to a3d.dll, change it to just say a3d.dll so you can put and use the alternative a3d.dll in particular game's folder if it works better with it. Or is there better way? I'm a bit lost when it comes to A3D stuff.

Another A3D wrapper (a3d.dll) one may come across goes by the name of QSound.

Is there a reason to use A3D mode if the particular game has good DirectSound backend? All those wrappers use DirectSound internally.

Presbytier wrote on 2020-05-06, 20:38:

Discrete_BOB_058 wrote on 2020-05-05, 16:37:

Presbytier wrote on 2020-05-02, 03:35:

a3D Alchemy just randomly starting working for me. I Uninstalled a3d_Live deleted the DLL files and installed A3D alchemy no problem. I just always instal as Admin. Windows 10 is a weird OS It seems to behave differently from one install to the next even on identical hardwarte configs.

Suddenly today A3d Live installed. But sadly the a3d drivers didn't so i couldn't utilize it.
I had to use a3d alchemy instead. Can you please tell me how i can check a3d features are working on top of Dsound3d

I honestly am not sure. That is why I use the A3D spalsh screen to indicate if it at least sees it. I know for me my test game is Dark Forces 2 as it only supporst A3D

Better to try A3D 2.0 game as many other wrappers can emulate A3D 1.0

Choum wrote on 2020-04-16, 07:13:

For Voyager Elite force I just tried. […]
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Presbytier wrote on 2020-04-15, 19:22:

I did it still sounds pretty bad in comparison to how A3D Alchemy did. Not really sure why. Other things do seem to sound fine although Voyager Elite Force crashes when I try to enable A3D now.

For Voyager Elite force I just tried.

A3d wrapper alone -> Crash ( probably because the game will try to load the default Dsound.dll from windows)
A3d Wrapper + Alchemy -> ok

A3d live works (option on) also with this game because this wrapper do not use default dsound.dll but a rename indirectsound dll. (Dsound.dll -> a3dsnd.dll)

Sorry to dig up an old thread. I installed the a3d wrapper and A3d will enable fine in EF. However every sound but the character dialog is staticy (best I could describe it). i have tried both using DSOAL and Creative Alchemy and both give the same results. Anybody know what might be causing that? Regular non a3d audio is fine.

I'm using Windows 8.1 and Windows 10 and A3D Creative works fine for me in some games (Battlezone, The Red Odyssey), but not others, such as Klingon Academy and Heretic 2 which causes both games to crash. There are probably others that I haven't tried yet. The only solution is to uninstall creative A3D and reboot or those games won't start at all and just keep crashing. Is there no way to disable A3d without completely uninstalling it like you can with Creative Alchemy?

BEEN_Nath_58 wrote on 2020-05-01, 19:46:

Presbytier wrote on 2020-04-15, 04:57:

Yeah using A3D_Live has a lot more compatibility issues from what I can tell. Several games crash whereas they ran fine with A3D Alchemy.

How did you install it? I alwayd get a install failed optiom even whilr having admin privileges.

Not sure I can help I just installed it like normally and it installs fine. I’ve done this on both Windows 10 and 11 installs.

Presbytier wrote on 2022-04-11, 18:14:

BEEN_Nath_58 wrote on 2020-05-01, 19:46:

Presbytier wrote on 2020-04-15, 04:57:

Yeah using A3D_Live has a lot more compatibility issues from what I can tell. Several games crash whereas they ran fine with A3D Alchemy.

How did you install it? I alwayd get a install failed optiom even whilr having admin privileges.

Not sure I can help I just installed it like normally and it installs fine. I’ve done this on both Windows 10 and 11 installs.

Yes I got it working in these months 😀

BEEN_Nath_58 wrote on 2022-04-11, 19:00:

Presbytier wrote on 2022-04-11, 18:14:

BEEN_Nath_58 wrote on 2020-05-01, 19:46:

How did you install it? I alwayd get a install failed optiom even whilr having admin privileges.

Not sure I can help I just installed it like normally and it installs fine. I’ve done this on both Windows 10 and 11 installs.

Yes I got it working in these months 😀

Sorry replied to the wrong comment 🤣 I was half asleep when i noticed this had life in it again and tried responding 🤣