RetroGamer4Ever wrote on 2025-11-28, 12:57:

The Fallen is one of my favorite PC games and I'd love to see it get a proper re-release for modern systems, as it doesn't work well at all on today's PCs, without a lot of tinkering. I think Nightdive could do it right and possibly even get Avery to record all the Sisko dialogue.

I'd love that, as improbable as it may be.

I tried playing The Fallen a few times, but Sisko just doesn't sound right without Avery Brooks, and it always takes me out of the experience. DS9 is my favorite trek show, and Sisko is my favorite captain, so I just can't accept any substitutes.

RetroGamer4Ever wrote on 2025-11-28, 12:57:

I honestly don't know why Avery didn't voice Sisko in The Fallen, but he was a very busy guy during the heyday of DS9, also being a college professor and working-actor. He certainly has no disdain for video games, having recorded lines for two of the Star Trek PC games that featured Sisko. The Fallen is one of my favorite PC games and I'd love to see it get a proper re-release for modern systems, as it doesn't work well at all on today's PCs, without a lot of tinkering. I think Nightdive could do it right and possibly even get Avery to record all the Sisko dialogue.

Yes, please and an HD release of the show.

Joseph_Joestar wrote on 2025-11-28, 13:03:

I tried playing The Fallen a few times, but Sisko just doesn't sound right without Avery Brooks, and it always takes me out of the experience. DS9 is my favorite trek show, and Sisko is my favorite captain, so I just can't accept any substitutes.

Maybe someone could make a fan mod of The Fallen, with the recorded speech samples of Sisko's in-game lines replaced with speech generated by AI with Avery Brooks' voice.

I know, it would be ethically questionable to release something like that without the actor's actual consent, but it could potentially make the game sound and feel much better.

digger wrote on 2025-11-28, 17:20:

Maybe someone could make a fan mod of The Fallen, with the recorded speech samples of Sisko's in-game lines replaced with speech generated by AI with Avery Brooks' voice.

I know, it would be ethically questionable to release something like that without the actor's actual consent, but it could potentially make the game sound and feel much better.

Nah.

There's no way AI slop could ever capture the nuance and passion that Avery brought to the role.

Yeah, Avery had a unique cadence and tone to his Sisko voice that probably wouldn't come out with AI, which relies heavily on sampling. Though, I suppose anything is possible, especially with the way AI generation is changing and advancing at break-neck pace. Apart from the glaring absence of both Avery and Colm, the biggest flaws with The Fallen are the bad lighting and stark, mostly empty environments. If they remastered it, they could certainly put more NPC entities throughout the game and improve the environmental lighting dramatically, instead of leaving everything dark like the released game was.

Giants: Citizen Kabuto: https://youtu.be/plLkYz6z2OM (No EAX with the official patch apparently)
[EDIT] With EAX: https://youtu.be/oPlj0G6_cWI

Found a bunch of OEM discs and a dead Audigy 2 ZS they came with, in storage. The card is a retail SB0350 with gold coloured IO connectors. Doesn't show up in device manager at all as a device. Even in the BIOS it shows up as an empty slot, so I guess the card is toast. I did try cleaning it with iso-propyl alcohol, but alas, to no avail.

sharangad wrote on 2025-12-05, 00:00:

Giants: Citizen Kabuto: https://youtu.be/plLkYz6z2OM (No EAX with the official patch apparently)
[EDIT] With EAX: https://youtu.be/oPlj0G6_cWI

With the retail version of Giants, you need to manually enable EAX by copying over some files from the disc. The instructions are provided in the game's readme, but you can also find them on PCGW.

sharangad wrote on 2025-12-05, 00:00:

Found a bunch of OEM discs and a dead Audigy 2 ZS they came with, in storage. The card is a retail SB0350 with gold coloured IO connectors. Doesn't show up in device manager at all as a device.

Any signs of bulging capacitors on the card? If so, it might come back to life once those are replaced.

Joseph_Joestar wrote on 2025-12-05, 08:15:

With the retail version of Giants, you need to manually enable EAX by copying over some files from the disc. The instructions ar […]
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sharangad wrote on 2025-12-05, 00:00:

Giants: Citizen Kabuto: https://youtu.be/plLkYz6z2OM (No EAX with the official patch apparently)
[EDIT] With EAX: https://youtu.be/oPlj0G6_cWI

With the retail version of Giants, you need to manually enable EAX by copying over some files from the disc. The instructions are provided in the game's readme, but you can also find them on PCGW.

sharangad wrote on 2025-12-05, 00:00:

Found a bunch of OEM discs and a dead Audigy 2 ZS they came with, in storage. The card is a retail SB0350 with gold coloured IO connectors. Doesn't show up in device manager at all as a device.

Any signs of bulging capacitors on the card? If so, it might come back to life once those are replaced.

No bulging caps as far as I can tell. It was caked in dust and I think some of the contacts look really dirty. Also the contacts on the PCI slot seem to have oxidized. I did clean up the patina. But I don't know. I'll post a photo in a bit.

sharangad wrote on 2025-12-05, 09:50:

No bulging caps as far as I can tell. It was caked in dust and I think some of the contacts look really dirty. Also the contacts on the PCI slot seem to have oxidized. I did clean up the patina. But I don't know. I'll post a photo in a bit.

Try gently going over the contacts with a rubber eraser. The normal kind, that kids use in school.

It has a mildly abrasive effect, which can help when cleaning the contacts with isopropyl alcohol isn't enough.

Joseph_Joestar wrote on 2025-12-05, 10:03:

sharangad wrote on 2025-12-05, 09:50:

No bulging caps as far as I can tell. It was caked in dust and I think some of the contacts look really dirty. Also the contacts on the PCI slot seem to have oxidized. I did clean up the patina. But I don't know. I'll post a photo in a bit.

Try gently going over the contacts with a rubber eraser. The normal kind, that kids use in school.

It has a mildly abrasive effect, which can help when cleaning the contacts with isopropyl alcohol isn't enough.

There's also a fair bit of rust, it was exposed to the elements and I live close to the sea and a lake . I'll post a Pic under better lighting. I though it was my old extreme music, so I was a bit disappointed. Discovering an old Audigy though is never disappointing.

sharangad wrote on 2025-12-05, 10:11:

Joseph_Joestar wrote on 2025-12-05, 10:03:

sharangad wrote on 2025-12-05, 09:50:

No bulging caps as far as I can tell. It was caked in dust and I think some of the contacts look really dirty. Also the contacts on the PCI slot seem to have oxidized. I did clean up the patina. But I don't know. I'll post a photo in a bit.

Try gently going over the contacts with a rubber eraser. The normal kind, that kids use in school.

It has a mildly abrasive effect, which can help when cleaning the contacts with isopropyl alcohol isn't enough.

There's also a fair bit of rust, it was exposed to the elements and I live close to the sea and a lake . I'll post a Pic under better lighting. I though it was my old extreme music, so I was a bit disappointed. Discovering an old Audigy though is never disappointing.

Still dirty. I used a soft paintbrush and iPa.

sharangad wrote on 2025-12-05, 10:11:

There's also a fair bit of rust, it was exposed to the elements and I live close to the sea and a lake .

I can't be sure by looking at the picture, but it seems like some of the pins connecting the main chip to the PCB might be oxidized too. If that's the case, you may need to reflow those as well.

BTW, maybe make a new thread for help with restoring the Audigy to working condition. I don't mind that being discussed here, but you will likely get more eyes on it with a dedicated topic.

Joseph_Joestar wrote on 2025-12-05, 10:35:

sharangad wrote on 2025-12-05, 10:11:

There's also a fair bit of rust, it was exposed to the elements and I live close to the sea and a lake .

I can't be sure by looking at the picture, but it seems like some of the pins connecting the main chip to the PCB might be oxidized too. If that's the case, you may need to reflow those as well.

BTW, maybe make a new thread for help with restoring the Audigy to working condition. I don't mind that being discussed here, but you will likely get more eyes on it with a dedicated topic.

I would be willing to donate it to someone willing to restore and keep it. I'll create a separate thread for it.

[EDIT] I would probably mess up trying to restore it.

Joseph_Joestar wrote on 2025-12-05, 10:35:

sharangad wrote on 2025-12-05, 10:11:

There's also a fair bit of rust, it was exposed to the elements and I live close to the sea and a lake .

I can't be sure by looking at the picture, but it seems like some of the pins connecting the main chip to the PCB might be oxidized too. If that's the case, you may need to reflow those as well.

BTW, maybe make a new thread for help with restoring the Audigy to working condition. I don't mind that being discussed here, but you will likely get more eyes on it with a dedicated topic.

I've created a thread for it here:
Resurrecting an old, rusty and dirty Audigy 2 ZS

Do you know what the white connector on the edge was used for? One of my retro machines running W98 has an SB0350 with coloured jacks, and with the Audigy drive header connector missing; there're marking for the connector but no pins. The text on the board says Audigy 2, but it's spaced as if there's room for a 2 ZS left there instead of filling the entire rectangle. I got it off ebay from China and it was sold as an Audigy 2 ZS, but it looks like A2 Value with an SB0350 designation.

[EDIT] I should probably check the PCI ID, though that can probably be overwritten.

sharangad wrote on 2025-12-06, 09:24:

Do you know what the white connector on the edge was used for?

Oddly, that white connector doesn't seem to be documented in the card's manual. Old forum post such as this one claim that it was a front panel connector for certain PC cases. Based on the pinout from that post, it doesn't seem to conform to the AC'97 standard.

It wasn't meant for the actual Audigy drive, which connects to the card's AD_EXT header.

Joseph_Joestar wrote on 2025-12-06, 09:53:

sharangad wrote on 2025-12-06, 09:24:

Do you know what the white connector on the edge was used for?

Oddly, that white connector doesn't seem to be documented in the card's manual. Old forum post such as this one claim that it was a front panel connector for certain PC cases. Based on the pinout from that post, it doesn't seem to conform to the AC'97 standard.

It wasn't meant for the actual Audigy drive, which connects to the card's AD_EXT header.

The weird Sb0350 on my P4 machine has no AD_EXT connector. It doesn't have the joystick connector either. Just markings on the board for it.

sharangad wrote on 2025-12-06, 09:24:

The text on the board says Audigy 2, but it's spaced as if there's room for a 2 ZS left there instead of filling the entire rectangle. I got it off ebay from China and it was sold as an Audigy 2 ZS, but it looks like A2 Value with an SB0350 designation.

The model number of an Audigy isn't always a reliable way to identify it.

Check the serial number on the back of the card (printed on the white sticker) and see what that says. A list of Creative's sound cards with the relevant numbers can be found on this page. My guess is that your card could be an OEM variant from either Dell, HP or Gateway.

Dreamfall: The Longest Journey appears to work well with Alchemy on Win11 with the Audigy RX in EAX4 mode.

https://youtu.be/MufiGxYLHEY

On the WIn98 front:
Thanks @Joseph_joestar, I'll lookup the card's serial number as soon as I have time. I also seem to have static with it, a cyclic noise pattern whose amplitude increases with the loudness of the output waveform. MIDI seems unaffected. Games like vQuake 2 don't seem to have any static except at the start. All the extraneous inputs are muted.

Joseph_Joestar wrote on 2025-12-06, 10:22:

sharangad wrote on 2025-12-06, 09:24:

The text on the board says Audigy 2, but it's spaced as if there's room for a 2 ZS left there instead of filling the entire rectangle. I got it off ebay from China and it was sold as an Audigy 2 ZS, but it looks like A2 Value with an SB0350 designation.

The model number of an Audigy isn't always a reliable way to identify it.

Check the serial number on the back of the card (printed on the white sticker) and see what that says. A list of Creative's sound cards with the relevant numbers can be found on this page. My guess is that your card could be an OEM variant from either Dell, HP or Gateway.

SB0353 (Dell OEM), I think.

Character recognition failure

1Trade Name: Creativé Labs Model Number:SB0350
2
3Tested To Comply
4With FCC Standards
5FOR HOME OR OFFICE USE
6Complies with Canadian ICES-003 Ciass B
7Serlal No: M1SB0858515002548A
8
9D33022
10
11MADE IN MALAYSIA[b][/b]

sharangad wrote on 2025-12-11, 04:15:

SB0353 (Dell OEM), I think.

Yeah, OEM variants sometimes removed certain features to save the company a few cents. The missing AD_EXT connector on your card is one such example.

These cards can also be very picky about their drivers. Under WinXP, DanielK's Audigy pack should work, but you may also want to look into Dell's own drivers, just in case. The easiest way to find them is by looking up the relevant Dell Part Number, which should also be printed on one of the stickers on the back of the card. Whichever drivers you end up using, be sure to also install the latest version of EAX Unified and Creative's OpenAL after that.