DrLucienSanchez wrote on 2025-08-26, 19:50:

I recently tried original Mass Effect in Windows 10, Daniel K Drivers, everything appeared to work fine, but some dialougue sound cut off here and there

If you're using a PCIe X-Fi Titanium, there is an issue with newer Creative drivers and OpenAL games. I think DanielK fixed it in his very latest X-Fi support pack, but I haven't tested that extensively. For WinXP and Win7, it might be best to stick with older drivers as per this guide of mine.

No idea if that was causing the audio cutouts that you mentioned though. Could be something unrelated.

Joseph_Joestar wrote on 2025-08-26, 19:56:

DrLucienSanchez wrote on 2025-08-26, 19:50:

I recently tried original Mass Effect in Windows 10, Daniel K Drivers, everything appeared to work fine, but some dialougue sound cut off here and there

If you're using a PCIe X-Fi Titanium, there is an issue with newer Creative drivers and OpenAL games. I think DanielK fixed it in his very latest X-Fi support pack, but I haven't tested that extensively. For WinXP and Win7, it might be best to stick with older drivers as per this guide of mine.

No idea if that was causing the audio cutouts that you mentioned though. Could be something unrelated.

Danielk drivers doesn't fixed problem with openal and xfi titanium because daniel pack use creative officiel drivers. I have the last danielk pack since some years and bugs stills exist.

What do Daniel’s drivers do, then, if they don’t fix bugs with Creative’s?

AndreaColombo86 wrote on 2025-08-27, 20:33:

What do Daniel’s drivers do, then, if they don’t fix bugs with Creative’s?

DanielK’s packs are not new drivers. If you read his blog https://danielkawakami.blogspot.com/ you’ll see that the drivers included in his packs are the official ones. What DanielK mainly did was restore a lot of software that Creative had removed over the years, add some extra features, and fix a few issues that weren’t problems with the driver itself. There’s been a long-standing belief that DanielK made alternative drivers, but if you read his blog carefully, that has never been the case. That’s why the bugs in Creative’s drivers, like the issue with OpenAL and the X-Fi Titanium, were never fixed by DanielK.

for example, last xfi danielK pack
https://danielkawakami.blogspot.com/2020/08/s … rt-pack-50.html

Aug 2, 2020 SB X-Fi Series Support Pack 5.0 This software/driver pack is unofficial, not supported by Creative Labs. Use it at y […]
Show full quote

Aug 2, 2020
SB X-Fi Series Support Pack 5.0
This software/driver pack is unofficial, not supported by Creative Labs.
Use it at your own risk.

Items that will be installed, depending on the detected card: […]
Show full quote

Items that will be installed, depending on the detected card:

- Creative SB X-Fi / SB077x series driver 2.30.0011
- Creative SB X-Fi / SB077x series driver 2.30.0012 WHQL for Windows 10
- Creative SB X-Fi Titanium series driver 2.40.0015
- Creative SB X-Fi Titanium series driver 2.40.0026 WHQL for Windows 10
- Creative SB X-Fi Titanium HD driver 3.00.2021
- Creative SB X-Fi Titanium HD driver 3.00.2022 WHQL for Windows 10
- Creative SB X-Fi Titanium OEM HP/Fujitsu 2.16.0001.63 WHQL
- Auzentech X-Fi Prelude driver 2.14.0001.28 RefCD5
- Auzentech X-Fi Forte driver 2.20.0000.34
- Auzentech X-Fi HomeTheater HD driver 2.20.0000.34
- Gigabyte SB X-Fi Titanium driver 2.16.0004.46 WHQL
- Onkyo Wavio SE-300PCIE (R2) driver 2.16.0004.42

they are official drivers in his packs.

What is the best driver to use for an X-Fi Fatal1ty on Windows 7 x64?

AndreaColombo86 wrote on 2025-09-08, 15:56:

What is the best driver to use for an X-Fi Fatal1ty on Windows 7 x64?

If you mean PCI X-Fi Fatal1ty card, then latest web-driver for Win8/7/Vista/XP works fine. Well, or I haven't noticed any problems yet.

SBXF_PCDRV_L11_2_30_0004.exe (still available on the official site)

AndreaColombo86 wrote on 2025-09-08, 15:56:

What is the best driver to use for an X-Fi Fatal1ty on Windows 7 x64?

Hard to say, as anything above 2.17.0008 likely has issues with OpenAL on PCIe X-Fi cards. And I haven't tested that particular version thoroughly on Win7, as I rarely use EAX on anything newer than WinXP. I think using the official X-Fi Titanium installation CD from 2009 and then updating the driver to 2.17.0008 might work, but your mileage may vary.

This is if you're talking about a PCIe X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty of course. The older (non-Titanium) PCI versions of the X-Fi Fatal1ty should be unaffected by the OpenAL issue, so they are probably less picky about the drivers.

Joseph_Joestar wrote on 2025-09-10, 06:15:

I think using the official X-Fi Titanium installation CD from 2009 and then updating the driver to 2.17.0008 might work, but your mileage may vary.

Why start from the installation CD and not download and install driver 2.17.0008 directly?

AndreaColombo86 wrote on 2025-09-10, 21:27:

Why start from the installation CD and not download and install driver 2.17.0008 directly?

That way, you get all the accompanying Creative utilities from the installation CD, and then just need to update the driver.

Of course, you could instead download everything separately from Creative's support website, but I'm not sure how well that works for legacy products nowadays.

I have a few questions.

I have the Audigy RX which supports EAX only up to 4.0, is it worth upgrading to an X-Fi just for EAX 5.0? How much of a difference would it make in Bioshock or Mass Effect? I am not even sure EAX makes much of a difference at all in Mass Effect but i correct me if i'm wrong.

If i understand correctly, Bioshock uses OpenAL under Vista/7, just like Doom 3, Quake 4 and Prey so Alchemy is not needed for this game and enabling EAX in the game menu is enough to make it work if a Creative card is installed, am i right? Does running the game under Vista/7 with OpenAL allows to game to use EAX 5.0 or is it still limited to 4.0 because of the Audigy card?

OM606 wrote on 2025-09-11, 13:02:

I have the Audigy RX which supports EAX only up to 4.0, is it worth upgrading to an X-Fi just for EAX 5.0? How much of a difference would it make in Bioshock or Mass Effect? I am not even sure EAX makes much of a difference at all in Mass Effect but i correct me if i'm wrong.

From my experience, EAX 5.0 mainly provides improved audio positioning, better subwoofer use (e.g. for stuff like explosions) and a more immersive sound stage due to 128 hardware voices. How well games use that functionality can vary. I haven't played Mass Effect on the PC, but BioShock sounded pretty good on my X-Fi Titanium. If it helps, the best use of EAX 5.0 that I've experienced was in Quake 4, Prey and Battlefield 2.

If i understand correctly, Bioshock uses OpenAL under Vista/7, just like Doom 3, Quake 4 and Prey so Alchemy is not needed for this game and enabling EAX in the game menu is enough to make it work if a Creative card is installed, am i right?

Correct. There is no need to use ALchemy for games that support OpenAL.

Does running the game under Vista/7 with OpenAL allows to game to use EAX 5.0 or is it still limited to 4.0 because of the Audigy card?

OpenAL is just an interface which games can use to access your hardware. So you'll still be limited to EAX 4.0 on an Audigy card.

Thank you for your fast and clear answer! Is there anything to gain by using Daniel_K's drivers vs the latest stock drivers from Creative with my Audigy RX under XP and 7?

Creative's EAX SDK has a closed source code (since EAX 3.0).

However, EAX header files are freely available, so they can be analyzed.
This doesn't give a complete understanding of EAX, but some conclusions can be drawn.

I asked Grok to compare eax4.h and eax5.h and it gave the following result (I removed boring stuff):

What's Added in 5.0? […]
Show full quote

What's Added in 5.0?

• Support for up to 4 active sends/FX slots (vs. 2), enabling more layered effects.
• Macro FX factor (global/per-source) for large-scale environmental audio tweaks.
• 2D source properties and speaker-level controls for better multi-channel (e.g., 7.1) and headphone support.
• Session management for EAX version compatibility.
• Enhanced occlusion on FX slots.
• Significantly richer reverb simulation (more params for modulation, echo, air absorption).
• New flags for upmixing, elevation filtering, and speaker application.
• Error codes for better debugging in mixed-version setups.

What's Removed or Deprecated?

• Nothing explicit; 5.0 is superset-compatible with 4.0 (via aliases).

Key Themes in Changes:

• Multi-Channel and Flexibility: More support for surround sound, upmixing, and per-speaker tweaks.
• Performance/Complexity: Higher active slots and sends for advanced games.
• Reverb Realism: Major upgrade, likely for more immersive environments (e.g., DOOM 3's atmospheric audio).
• Compatibility: Session properties ensure apps can query/downgrade to EAX 4.0 if needed.

OM606 wrote on 2025-09-11, 13:45:

Thank you for your fast and clear answer! Is there anything to gain by using Daniel_K's drivers vs the latest stock drivers from Creative with my Audigy RX under XP and 7?

BTW Bioshock doesn't have any EAX unless you have an X-Fi. With an Audigy RX you're left with vanilla positional audio (via OpenAL). There's no fallback to EAX4 for the Audigy. Other games like Quake 4 do fallback to EAX4.

The Bioshock problem should be fairly clear from my videos. I actually made two Bioshock videos and they both have poor/no EAX.

In that case the Vogons Wiki might need updating. Bioshock lists both EAX 4.0 and EAX 5.0 if memory serves.

AndreaColombo86 wrote on Yesterday, 08:19:

In that case the Vogons Wiki might need updating. Bioshock lists both EAX 4.0 and EAX 5.0 if memory serves.

That's because Creative listed Audigy cards as supported (but suboptimal) in their official BioShock Audio Guide. Even if the Audigy support is bad, they still openly advertised it.

Also, BioShock's manual states that EAX 4.0 is supported on page 3.

sharangad wrote on 2025-09-11, 15:44:

OM606 wrote on 2025-09-11, 13:45:

Thank you for your fast and clear answer! Is there anything to gain by using Daniel_K's drivers vs the latest stock drivers from Creative with my Audigy RX under XP and 7?

BTW Bioshock doesn't have any EAX unless you have an X-Fi. With an Audigy RX you're left with vanilla positional audio (via OpenAL). There's no fallback to EAX4 for the Audigy. Other games like Quake 4 do fallback to EAX4.

The Bioshock problem should be fairly clear from my videos. I actually made two Bioshock videos and they both have poor/no EAX.

I think you are right. I have an Audigy RX and i don't hear much if any noticeable difference vs an onboard audio chip under both XP and 7x64. Bioshock is one of the games i played the most so i should notice changes. Played the game over and over from late 2007 to mid 2008 and beat it again many times since, always with onboard sound.

I am tempted to pick an X-Fi XtremeGamer SB0730 near me for only 5€, is this card fine for a no hassle EAX 5.0 experience or should i get something better? SNR noise level rating is a bit better than the newer RAX too. Also, is there any reason to favor Daniel_K's driver instead of the latest driver on the Creative website?

RE: American McGee's Alice EAX2 and Reverb in Windows 11 with X-FI PCI-E and latest Daniel K Support pack - if helpful, I have just copied the installation folder from my 98 system to my Windows 11 system, as didn't want to go through the bother of the issues installing the game on W11 via disc. Added the game folder and base folder to Alchemy, enabled EAX2, game launches fine, works fine, no issues, also now have reverb. have played a bit, no graphical issue or sound issues such as cutting out etc.

OM606 wrote on Yesterday, 09:17:

sharangad wrote on 2025-09-11, 15:44:

OM606 wrote on 2025-09-11, 13:45:

Thank you for your fast and clear answer! Is there anything to gain by using Daniel_K's drivers vs the latest stock drivers from Creative with my Audigy RX under XP and 7?

BTW Bioshock doesn't have any EAX unless you have an X-Fi. With an Audigy RX you're left with vanilla positional audio (via OpenAL). There's no fallback to EAX4 for the Audigy. Other games like Quake 4 do fallback to EAX4.

The Bioshock problem should be fairly clear from my videos. I actually made two Bioshock videos and they both have poor/no EAX.

I think you are right. I have an Audigy RX and i don't hear much if any noticeable difference vs an onboard audio chip under both XP and 7x64. Bioshock is one of the games i played the most so i should notice changes. Played the game over and over from late 2007 to mid 2008 and beat it again many times since, always with onboard sound.

I am tempted to pick an X-Fi XtremeGamer SB0730 near me for only 5€, is this card fine for a no hassle EAX 5.0 experience or should i get something better? SNR noise level rating is a bit better than the newer RAX too. Also, is there any reason to favor Daniel_K's driver instead of the latest driver on the Creative website?

Avoid the XtremeAudio, that doesn't do EAX5, I *think*.

OM606 wrote on Yesterday, 09:17:

I am tempted to pick an X-Fi XtremeGamer SB0730 near me for only 5€, is this card fine for a no hassle EAX 5.0 experience or should i get something better?

That's a good card. Being PCI and not PCIe, it shouldn't be susceptible to the OpenAL issue that later X-Fi drivers introduced. You will miss out on the extra X-RAM that comes with the more expensive Fatal1ty and Elite X-Fi models, but it's debatable how much that even matters for gaming on more powerful WinXP systems (Core 2 Duo and up).

One thing to consider, PCI X-Fi cards might potentially have issues on some newer motherboards which don't have native PCI support, and use bridge chips for that functionality.