Joseph_Joestar wrote on 2023-08-07, 18:17:

From what I gather, this indicates EFX 1.0 support, which may supersede EAX 5.0 (not entirely sure about that). The same entry appears in my log file, and it may explain why UT3 and Gears of War behave that way. Since both games were released in 2007, around the time when Vista started shipping with new PCs, it could have made sense for developers to use this approach.

Since I was doing some EAX testing, I decided to revisit Unreal Tournament 3 today. As before, here's my UT3 Launch.log when using an X-Fi Titanium:

1Init: ALAudio device requested : 
2Init: ALAudio device opened    : SB X-Fi Audio [0001]
3Init: AL_VENDOR      : Creative Labs Inc.
4Init: AL_RENDERER    : SB X-Fi Audio [0001]
5Init: AL_VERSION     : OpenAL version 1.1
6Init: AL_EXTENSIONS  : EAX
7EAX1.0
8EAX2.0
9EAX3.0
10EAX4.0
11EAX5.0
12
13Init: Device supports: EAX4.0
14Init: Device supports: EAX-RAM
15Init: Device supports: ALC_EXT_EFX
16Init: Found EFX extension with 4 effect slots and 4 potential sends
17Init: ...'reverb' supported
18Init: ...'equalizer' supported
19Init: ...'low pass filter' supported
20Init: XRAM           : YES
21Init: ALAudioDevice initialized.

And now, here's the same log when using an Audigy 2 ZS:

1Init: ALAudio device requested : 
2Init: ALAudio device opened    : SB Audigy 2 ZS Audio [EC00]
3Init: AL_VENDOR      : Creative Labs Inc.
4Init: AL_RENDERER    : SB Audigy 2 ZS Audio [EC00]
5Init: AL_VERSION     : OpenAL version 1.1
6Init: AL_EXTENSIONS  : EAX
7EAX1.0
8EAX2.0
9EAX3.0
10EAX4.0
11
12Init: Device supports: EAX4.0
13Init: Device supports: ALC_EXT_EFX
14Init: Found EFX extension with 2 effect slots and 2 potential sends
15Init: ...'reverb' supported
16Init: ...'equalizer' supported
17Init: ...'low pass filter' supported
18Init: XRAM           : NO
19Init: ALAudioDevice initialized.

Note this line on the X-Fi:

1Init: Found EFX extension with 4 effect slots and 4 potential sends

Versus this line on the Audigy 2 ZS:

1Init: Found EFX extension with 2 effect slots and 2 potential sends

The slots that the log file is referring to are described here. To summarize, with EAX 4.0, two out of the four slots are permanently assigned to reverb and chorus, leaving the other two slots free. However, with EAX 5.0 all four slots are always free to be used as the developer sees fit, which is what this log reflects. In conclusion, my hunch that Unreal Tournament 3 uses EFX to utilize EAX 5.0 functionality seems to be correct, and my previous assessment that it tops out at EAX 4.0 was wrong.

Lastly, note how the game actually detects EAX 5.0 capabilities on the X-Fi, while not finding that on the Audigy 2 ZS (see the lines right below Init: AL_EXTENSIONS : EAX).

And since we're comparing EAX 4.0 to EAX 5.0, here's another example from Prey (2006). The first screenshot is with the game running on an Audigy 2 ZS:

The second screenshot has the game running on an X-Fi Titanium:

The number of mono and stereo voices on the X-Fi is more than doubled compared to the Audigy 2 ZS. In practice, this provides a richer soundstage, as more sounds can be played back simultaneously. Additional details regarding the use of hardware voices on Creative's cards can be found here. Furthermore, the official page for Prey on Creative's website goes in depth about the use of EAX in that game.