Joseph_Joestar wrote on 2025-12-11, 07:07:

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.

Thanks!

I'm using it under w98se with your audigy 1 drivers. If I get around to dual booting xp, I'll look into the Dell drivers, though Danielk's would probably be easier.

sharangad wrote on 2025-12-11, 08:19:

I'm using it under w98se with your audigy 1 drivers.

You mean from my guide?

If so, I'm a bit surprised that those drivers worked with an OEM card. But it's interesting to know.

Joseph_Joestar wrote on 2025-12-11, 08:39:

sharangad wrote on 2025-12-11, 08:19:

I'm using it under w98se with your audigy 1 drivers.

You mean from my guide?

If so, I'm a bit surprised that those drivers worked with an OEM card. But it's interesting to know.

Yup, they installed without any problems, except for the fm synth which installed a dummy and needed updating. I got it off ebay from a seller in China. It was listed as an Audigy 2 zs. Maybe the device ID was flashed?

sharangad wrote on 2025-12-11, 08:50:

Joseph_Joestar wrote on 2025-12-11, 08:39:

sharangad wrote on 2025-12-11, 08:19:

I'm using it under w98se with your audigy 1 drivers.

You mean from my guide?

If so, I'm a bit surprised that those drivers worked with an OEM card. But it's interesting to know.

Yup, they installed without any problems, except for the fm synth which installed a dummy and needed updating. I got it off ebay from a seller in China. It was listed as an Audigy 2 zs. Maybe the device ID was flashed?

The second major problem with X-fi/Audigy after the capacitors near the DSP dry out is firmware failure.
As far as I remember, the second byte of the device identifier is usually damaged.
In the worst case, the card starts to identify itself as an ‘generic Kx processor’.

If I'm not mistaken, it's been around since the days of SBlive! But I'm not a big fan of theirs, so I didn't pay much attention to it.
https://sblive-narod-ru.translate.goog/BAD_ME … &_x_tr_pto=wapp

shevalier wrote on 2025-12-11, 08:59:

The second major problem with X-fi/Audigy after the capacitors near the DSP dry out is firmware failure. As far as I remember, t […]
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sharangad wrote on 2025-12-11, 08:50:

Joseph_Joestar wrote on 2025-12-11, 08:39:

You mean from my guide?

If so, I'm a bit surprised that those drivers worked with an OEM card. But it's interesting to know.

Yup, they installed without any problems, except for the fm synth which installed a dummy and needed updating. I got it off ebay from a seller in China. It was listed as an Audigy 2 zs. Maybe the device ID was flashed?

The second major problem with X-fi/Audigy after the capacitors near the DSP dry out is firmware failure.
As far as I remember, the second byte of the device identifier is usually damaged.
In the worst case, the card starts to identify itself as an ‘generic Kx processor’.

If I'm not mistaken, it's been around since the days of SBlive! But I'm not a big fan of theirs, so I didn't pay much attention to it.
https://sblive-narod-ru.translate.goog/BAD_ME … &_x_tr_pto=wapp

I remember reading somewhere that the device id being lost was a bug in the drivers or somewhere which overwrote the device id in a flashable chip. I *think* CTZAPXX could still install the drivers if you ran it manually, but there's no auto-detection. In the case of my rusty old card, it doesn't show up in the slot. The BIOS of the machine I tested it in shows the device class and type for all its slots. It doesn't show up at all, almost as if there's nothing in the slot.

sharangad wrote on 2025-12-11, 09:33:

*think* CTZAPXX could still install the drivers if you ran it manually,

I'm not sure.
As far as I remember, the firmware for the DSP (which is strictly necessary for the sound card to work) is loaded by the driver specifically via the DEV_ID, and the Creative applications themselves track the DEV_ID.
The DEV_ID itself is not stored in the DSP, but in the EEPROM located nearby.

Strictly speaking, there is an ‘initial dev_id’ in the DSP, so even without EEPROM, the card will be identified, but as ‘some generic Creative card,’ and the drivers will not work either.

Call of Duty 2 (EAX3):
https://youtu.be/9kLdkyy7GB0
(sorry for the poor gameplay, was a bit out of it).

Great thread and many thanks for the amazing insights, you guys are unbelievably knowledgeable.

OK, I have couple of questions:

1) If a the Creative Labs' EAX enhancements (OpenAL, etc.) works for certain games (in my case, Quake 4, Doom III) does it mean that other games would work automatically as well? (UT 2004, UT 3, EAX 2.0 games ,etc.)

2) How does one test and verify the EAX setting for various games? I believe that Joe_Joessar mentioned by consulting the game manuals, read me's etc. but is it just trial and error?

3) How would I submit additional games to the Vogon's Wiki Games list? I have bunch of games that are not listed in that Wiki.

Many thanks!

C0deHunter wrote on 2025-12-21, 10:28:

1) If a the Creative Labs' EAX enhancements (OpenAL, etc.) works for certain games (in my case, Quake 4, Doom III) does it mean that other games would work automatically as well? (UT 2004, UT 3, EAX 2.0 games ,etc.)

Generally, yes. If OpenAL is properly installed and the sound card drivers support it, every game which uses it should work fine.

C0deHunter wrote on 2025-12-21, 10:28:

2) How does one test and verify the EAX setting for various games? I believe that Joe_Joessar mentioned by consulting the game manuals, read me's etc. but is it just trial and error?

Not sure what you mean exactly. If you want to know which version of EAX a game uses, here are some of my guidelines for that.

C0deHunter wrote on 2025-12-21, 10:28:

3) How would I submit additional games to the Vogon's Wiki Games list? I have bunch of games that are not listed in that Wiki.

Post them here, and I can add them to the wiki if they check out. Be advised that there were many false positives on the old lists that were circling around the internet in the past. I specifically curated the Vogons wiki list to be as accurate as possible, so just adding supposedly EAX capable games without definitive proof and a thorough vetting process is a no go. Check the "Debunked EAX games" section in the first post to see the games which didn't pass the testing criteria.

"Not sure what you mean exactly. If you want to know which version of EAX a game uses, here are some of my"

For instance, in your X-Fi PCIe, you mentioned how to test for EAX in Quake 4:

"6.4 Start the Quake 4 Multiplayer demo and go to Settings > System > Advanced Audio Settings and set Sound System to OpenAL then click Close Advanced Audio
6.5 After the sound system re-initializes, press CTRL + ALT + ~ to open the console, then press Page Up four times and you should see that the game is now using EAX 5.0 via OpenAL"

I meant to ask are there similar methods to check for other games as well?

As usual, many thanks for your amazing efforts!

C0deHunter wrote on 2025-12-21, 10:47:

For instance, in your X-Fi PCIe, you mentioned how to test for EAX in Quake 4:

I meant to ask are there similar methods to check for other games as well?

Not really.

Quake 4, Doom 3 and Prey are all based on the same engine, so they are the exception. Most other games don't tell you which EAX version they use, unless it's clearly described in their readme, manual or options menu.

The packaging also contains EAX logos, which may be version specific or generic (EAX/EAX Advanced/EAX Advanced HD/EAX 2-3-4-5), depending on the age of the title and whims of the publisher.

I am bit uncertain about the VxD drivers (Win9X), and WDM drivers (XP):

I have 2 different, *separate* time-machine builds, Build A (Win98SE has Audigy 2 ZS), and Build B (XP, has X-Fi Titanium PCIe), and have installed the exact same games (ranging from 1996 to 2003) on both the Win98SE build, and XP build.

Questions:

1) Should I install the OpenAL and EAX Unified on the Win98SE build as well?

2) For compatibility's sake (VxD vs WDM) should I play 1996-2001 games on Win98SE then?

3) Can I play the exact games (1996-2001) on XP build? Or would I run into issues?

Many thanks in advance!

C0deHunter wrote on 2025-12-23, 17:00:

1) Should I install the OpenAL and EAX Unified on the Win98SE build as well?

I'm not sure if OpenAL even works with VxD drivers. Older versions of EAX Unified might work, but I don't remember testing the latest version in that environment. In practice, you won't need either of those for games made in 2001 and before. Also, games which use EAX Unified usually ship their own version on the disc. So if such a game is officially compatible with Win9x, then its (older) version of EAX Unified will run there too.

C0deHunter wrote on 2025-12-23, 17:00:

2) For compatibility's sake (VxD vs WDM) should I play 1996-2001 games on Win98SE then?

It varies from game to game, but usually yes. I think I mentioned Baldur's Gate 2 and Need for Speed: High Stakes as two games which don't sound 100% correct with WDM drivers. There might be more, but those are the ones that myself and others have verified through testing.

C0deHunter wrote on 2025-12-23, 17:00:

3) Can I play the exact games (1996-2001) on XP build? Or would I run into issues?

You can play those games under WinXP, but some of them won't sound 100% correct. To be clear, EAX will still work, but some effects will sound off. If you look at the Vogons wiki EAX list, I've put a few notes for games that need VxD drivers. If you check the references for those notes, you'll find links to specific examples. Such as this video by Phil, where he demonstrates that some EAX effects sound wrong in NFS High Stakes when WDM drivers are used.

You are amazing! thanks!

One last question:

What is the difference between the OpenAL, ALchemy and EAX Unified?

I understand the Alchemey was devised to remedy the lack of EAX in newer OS, but I never understood the point of OpenAL and EAX Unified (why does it say "Open" is it an open source project outside Cretive)

C0deHunter wrote on 2025-12-23, 18:18:

What is the difference between the OpenAL, ALchemy and EAX Unified?

As its name implies, OpenAL was originally open source, but then Creative made it proprietary at some point. Basically, it's an API which delivers 3D positional audio, and provides an alternative to DirectSound3D. From a retro gaming perspective, the main difference is that OpenAL works on Vista and above, while DirectSound3D doesn't. Therefore, games which use OpenAL can utilize hardware accelerated EAX even on newer Windows versions. More info can be found here.

Creative ALchemy is a wrapper which translates DirectSound3D to OpenAL on Vista and up. Without ALchemy, most games which use 3D sound acceleration won't work on Vista because it has no hardware DirectSound3D support (Microsoft deliberately removed it). Same goes for all newer Windows versions. You can read more about that on Creative's ALchemy FAQ page.

EAX Unified is a tool made by Creative, which allows sound cards with EAX 2.0 capabilities to partially utilize EAX 3.0 and EAX 4.0 in games which support it. Not all functionality of the higher EAX versions is retained, but it's better than nothing. During the mid 2000s, most on-board audio solutions (Realtek and such) only supported up to EAX 2.0. For that reason, EAX Unified was useful to developers who wanted their games to work well enough on those systems. Also, some games require EAX Unified to be installed, and won't let you enable 3D audio if it's missing. Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness is one such example.

Many thanks for thorough explanation as always. On a side note, did X-Fi Titanium Fatality Pro PCIe ever came with a front panel I/O? The reason I am asking is that I found a listing on eBay for Recon3D Fatal1ty Champion which comes with this I/O unit (see attached images):

Apparently if you press the three red button labeled Speakers, Headphones, THX Trustudio, not only they will light up, but they select the appropriate mode in Creative Console utility on your PC!

Is Recon3D Fatal1ty Champion, even considered a good contender for X-Fi PCIe?

If the I/O panel somehow works with X-Fi Titanium Fatality Pro, it would be amazing!

Another cool feature of this I/O Panel is that you can pop out the 3.5 size unit from its 5 1/4" housing, if you have a 3.5 size bay in your PC case!

C0deHunter wrote on 2025-12-27, 09:25:

Many thanks for thorough explanation as always. On a side note, did X-Fi Titanium Fatality Pro PCIe ever came with a front pane […]
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Many thanks for thorough explanation as always. On a side note, did X-Fi Titanium Fatality Pro PCIe ever came with a front panel I/O? The reason I am asking is that I found a listing on eBay for Recon3D Fatal1ty Champion which comes with this I/O unit (see attached images):

Apparently if you press the three red button labeled Speakers, Headphones, THX Trustudio, not only they will light up, but they select the appropriate mode in Creative Console utility on your PC.

Is Recon3D Fatal1ty Champion, even considered a good contender for X-Fi PCIe?

If the I/O panel somehow works with X-Fi Titanium Fatality Pro, it would be amazing!

That has software emulation of EAX 1-5 (SoundCore3D DSP, the card is a fatality branded Recon3D, a much later Creative card). It doesn't have an EMU-20k or 10k series DSP. I think all it's processing is done in software on the host CPU, at least for EAX. It's a post X-Fi card. The X-Fi Fatality championship (PCI-E) edition did come with a severely cut down front panel drive bay, but I think it only had headphone and line in and a few other things. Once upon a time I had one of those card without the front panel drive. I guess it's somewhat rare.

Thanks, for some reason, I can NOT find any image of this front panel (The X-Fi Fatality championship PCIe) that you mentioned. All the images show the front panel unit bundled with this Recon 3D model instead. (unless these are just the same unit that were produced for X-Fi series and then yars later were bundled with Recon 3D models)

C0deHunter wrote on 2025-12-27, 09:38:

Thanks, for some reason, I can NOT find any image of this front panel (The X-Fi Fatality championship PCIe) that you mentioned. All the images show the front panel unit bundled with this Recon 3D model instead. (unless these are just the same unit that were produced for X-Fi series and then yars later were bundled with Recon 3D models)

The first and second images you posted are different. With the first image, the Recon3D, the card has a visible window into its inside. With the X-Fi Fatality Championship card, the card is sealed and none of its internals are visible.

The drive bay is the same I guess. It's severely cut down compared to the older PCI X-Fis. The labelling is different, one says X-FI and the other just says Sound Blaster. It's most probably the same bay with the same connector.