I came across this front panel that looks slightly different (left) to the usually one (right). Anyone know the story behind it? Recon3D version?

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

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

There are persistent rumours that "Recon" is short for "Reconquista" - Creative's latest attempt to enter the on-board sound market and squeeze out Realtek.
When motherboard manufacturers didn't want to get involved, Creative started producing its own sound cards because it had manufactured a large number of chips.

zuldan wrote on 2025-12-27, 10:35:

I came across this front panel that looks slightly different (left) to the usually one (right). Anyone know the story behind it? Recon3D version?

The attachment 27CB614C-8D74-4581-B973-D5A982683848.jpeg is no longer available

The attachment 11773EC4-19FA-41B5-8221-3A9021A95479.jpeg is no longer available

The one with the white markings are from a recon 3d. The other, an xfi fatality c. E.

The buttons are labeled differently. The recon has thx trustdio, headphones and speakers. The other has cmss, crystalizer and something else.

They're probably compatible apart from the mislabelling if you use the wrong card, but I'm not sure.

I used a later live drive 2 (or later, not sure which one) with an Audigy 1, (I upgraded the drive for the 2 ZS and X-fi because it's incompatible with the Live/Audigy 1)2 zs and later an x-fi extreme music. All 3 drives had the same io ports and used a differently wired ide cable the same cable with the same pin out. It was an ide cable with non-standard wiring.

shevalier wrote on 2025-12-27, 10:40:

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

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

There are persistent rumours that "Recon" is short for "Reconquista" - Creative's latest attempt to enter the on-board sound market and squeeze out Realtek.
When motherboard manufacturers didn't want to get involved, Creative started producing its own sound cards because it had manufactured a large number of chips.

Maybe, but Creative sells a Realtek based card Audigy FX V1/V2 with software EAX, that is officially supported by Alchemy, unlike the poor old Audigy 5/RX, which has to use the cracked version.

I would say Realtek won that war.

sharangad wrote on 2025-12-27, 10:50:

I used a later live drive 2 (or later, not sure which one) with an Audigy 1, 2 zs and later an x-fi extreme music. All 3 drives had the same io ports and used a differently wired ide cable the same cable with the same pin out. It was an ide cable with non-standard wiring.

There have been some discussions about that on this forum. If I'm remembering it correctly, the pinout for the SBLive and Audigy 1 front panel is the same, so those drives can be used with either card. Likewise, the front panel pinout of the Audigy 2 and the X-Fi (PCI version) is the same.

But you can't put a SBLive front panel on an X-Fi or Audigy 2 card. Nor can an Audigy 2 front panel be hooked up to a SBLive card. Those pinouts are not compatible, despite looking similar physically.

Joseph_Joestar wrote on 2025-12-27, 11:14:

sharangad wrote on 2025-12-27, 10:50:

I used a later live drive 2 (or later, not sure which one) with an Audigy 1, 2 zs and later an x-fi extreme music. All 3 drives had the same io ports and used a differently wired ide cable the same cable with the same pin out. It was an ide cable with non-standard wiring.

There have been some discussions about that on this forum. If I'm remembering it correctly, the pinout for the SBLive and Audigy 1 front panel is the same, so those drives can be used with either card. Likewise, the front panel pinout of the Audigy 2 and the X-Fi (PCI version) is the same.

But you can't put a SBLive front panel on an X-Fi or Audigy 2 card. Nor can an Audigy 2 front panel be hooked up to a SBLive card. Those pinouts are not compatible, despite looking similar physically.

I did manage it OR maybe I upgraded the drive, can't remember. I must've upgraded the drive. I don't have the kit anymore, but I do remember I transitioned from the Live to Audigy 1 and later the Audigy 2 ZS to the X-Fi. I *might've* upgraded the drive.

[EDIT] Yup, just found the receipt. I bought the 2 ZS drive bay from the Creative online store. Sorry for spreading misinformation.

Joseph_Joestar wrote on 2025-12-26, 08:15:

As its name implies, OpenAL was originally open source, but then Creative made it proprietary at some point. Basically, it's an […]
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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.

Thanks for the explanation, but if Windows XP does not need OpenAL and ALchemy, why are we still required to install them on XP? (per your own Guide: Installing Windows XP drivers on PCIe X-Fi Titanium sound cards (version 1.2)?)

C0deHunter wrote on 2025-12-28, 11:54:

Thanks for the explanation, but if Windows XP does not need OpenAL and ALchemy, why are we still required to install them on XP? (per your own Guide: Installing Windows XP drivers on PCIe X-Fi Titanium sound cards (version 1.2)?)

You misunderstood what I said. OpenAL works on both WinXP and Vista. It's used by many games from the WinXP era, such as Unreal 2 and Doom 3.

Creative ALchemy is only intended for Vista and up. It's a separate tool entirely, and can't be installed on WinXP. And while ALchemy needs OpenAL in order to function, the opposite isn't true.

Rightmark 3D positioning tests on Audigy RX, Win11. You'll need to disable all processing on your audio device including virtual surround and listen through headphones:
https://youtu.be/kaPNaqFd5y0

Someone with an X-Fi should probably post a comparison because the X-Fi had Sensaura tech for the headphones and sounded a lot better.

@Joseph, I read in an old Vogons post that you do some EAX gaming in Windows 7. Are you simply using XFI_SupportPack_8_0_Refresh3.exe for your SB0886 or are you using additional tweaks to get things going? and are you using 32bit or 64bit Win7?

zuldan wrote on 2025-12-30, 11:23:

@Joseph, I read in an old Vogons post that you do some EAX gaming in Windows 7. Are you simply using XFI_SupportPack_8_0_Refresh3.exe for your SB0886 or are you using additional tweaks to get things going? and are you using 32bit or 64bit Win7?

I'm using Win7 Pro x64 with DanielK's latest X-Fi drivers that you mentioned. Not sure if that fully takes care of all the OpenAL issues, but I don't recall having any problems with BioShock at least.

It's a good platform for games which use DX10 but still have EAX support.

Joseph_Joestar wrote on 2025-12-30, 12:27:

zuldan wrote on 2025-12-30, 11:23:

@Joseph, I read in an old Vogons post that you do some EAX gaming in Windows 7. Are you simply using XFI_SupportPack_8_0_Refresh3.exe for your SB0886 or are you using additional tweaks to get things going? and are you using 32bit or 64bit Win7?

I'm using Win7 Pro x64 with DanielK's latest X-Fi drivers that you mentioned. Not sure if that fully takes care of all the OpenAL issues, but I don't recall having any problems with BioShock at least.

It's a good platform for games which use DX10 but still have EAX support.

Thanks so much for the quick response.

Yep DX10 + EAX. I’m trying to cover all the bases but still would like to play some older games like Doom 3. With Daniel K’s, do I still need to do some hacks to get it working?https://steamcommunity.com/app/9050/discussio … 860311975977795

zuldan wrote on 2025-12-30, 12:33:

Thanks so much for the quick response.

Yep DX10 + EAX. I’m trying to cover all the bases but still would like to play some older games like Doom 3. With Daniel K’s, do I still need to do some hacks to get it working?https://steamcommunity.com/app/9050/discussio … 860311975977795

I don't know if/how the situation changes if you're using source ports.

But the original Doom 3 is a DX9 game which uses OpenAL (when fully patched). Therefore, it should work without any issues under Win7. Haven't played it there myself, since I run most games that don't use DX10+ under WinXP. As for the so called "EAX twitching" that Doom 3 exhibits on some systems, I have never encountered that problem on my rig, so I can't really comment on it.

Joseph_Joestar wrote on 2025-12-30, 13:07:

zuldan wrote on 2025-12-30, 12:33:

Thanks so much for the quick response.

Yep DX10 + EAX. I’m trying to cover all the bases but still would like to play some older games like Doom 3. With Daniel K’s, do I still need to do some hacks to get it working?https://steamcommunity.com/app/9050/discussio … 860311975977795

I don't know if/how the situation changes if you're using source ports.

But the original Doom 3 is a DX9 game which uses OpenAL (when fully patched). Therefore, it should work without any issues under Win7. Haven't played it there myself, since I run most games that don't use DX10+ under WinXP. As for the so called "EAX twitching" that Doom 3 exhibits on some systems, I have never encountered that problem on my rig, so I can't really comment on it.

It's an OpenGL game.

I never encountered the twitching on XP with an X-Fi Extreme Music or on Win11 with an RX.

Here a brief playthrough of Doom 3 which I posted earlier: https://youtu.be/kzOWqKrP8y8 There doesn't appear to be any twitch there. The only place I've seen this twitch is on youtube.

sharangad wrote on 2025-12-30, 13:45:

It's an OpenGL game.

My bad, it is indeed an OpenGL game.

What I meant to say is, the graphics of Doom 3 remain the same, whether you play it under WinXP or Win7. While in other games like BioShock, you get a slight visual improvement if you use their DX10 mode.

Ok great. Thanks for the info gents!

sharangad wrote on 2025-12-27, 10:50:

The one with the white markings are from a recon 3d. The other, an xfi fatality c. E. […]
Show full quote

zuldan wrote on 2025-12-27, 10:35:

I came across this front panel that looks slightly different (left) to the usually one (right). Anyone know the story behind it? Recon3D version?

The attachment 27CB614C-8D74-4581-B973-D5A982683848.jpeg is no longer available

The attachment 11773EC4-19FA-41B5-8221-3A9021A95479.jpeg is no longer available

The one with the white markings are from a recon 3d. The other, an xfi fatality c. E.

The buttons are labeled differently. The recon has thx trustdio, headphones and speakers. The other has cmss, crystalizer and something else.

They're probably compatible apart from the mislabelling if you use the wrong card, but I'm not sure.

I used a later live drive 2 (or later, not sure which one) with an Audigy 1, (I upgraded the drive for the 2 ZS and X-fi because it's incompatible with the Live/Audigy 1)2 zs and later an x-fi extreme music. All 3 drives had the same io ports and used a differently wired ide cable the same cable with the same pin out. It was an ide cable with non-standard wiring.

For some reason I can’t get the front panel switches to turn on when I install the drivers for a sb0880 so I suspect they are running different firmware inside. Don’t have time to investigate further at the moment so it’s on the todo list for down the track.

Question:
If I install the latest patch of original (non Steam, non GOD) certain games (Battlefield 2, Quake 4 for instance, which removes the DRM on these games as well), would I loose the EAX and positional audio 3D if played on an XP time-machine system? (What I am trying to say that Steam and GOD has a tendency to break these games)

For instance I installed Battlefield 2 (original version off my personal collection on disc) on my period correct WinXP time machine, is it ok to install the latest https://www.pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/Battlefield_2?

(I usually get my patches from pcgamingwiki.com)

C0deHunter wrote on 2025-12-31, 09:31:

If I install the latest patch of original (non Steam, non GOD) certain games (Battlefield 2, Quake 4 for instance, which removes the DRM on these games as well), would I loose the EAX and positional audio 3D if played on an XP time-machine system? (What I am trying to say that Steam and GOD has a tendency to break these games)

Applying the latest official patch to the retail copy of a game shouldn't affect EAX support.

C0deHunter wrote on 2025-12-31, 09:31:

For instance I installed Battlefield 2 (original version off my personal collection on disc) on my period correct WinXP time machine, is it ok to install the latest https://www.pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/Battlefield_2?

Both Battlefield 2 and Battlefield 2142 run fine under WinXP with their respective patches installed. And yeah, EAX works too. I played both games on my retro rig, and had no issues. You will need an offline profile workaround for BF2142, but that's just how that game is.

In F.E.A.R. Gold, I only have 'Enable EAX 2.0' option, how come EAX 3.0 (or even EAX 4.0 for that matter!) is not listed?

I already have installed EAX Unified and OpenAL according to Joe's guide.

It's strange...