I'm getting surround sound on games that don't support it. \ VOGONS

I'm getting surround sound on games that don't support it.

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First post, by thecrankyhermit

Posted on 2013-09-18, 04:46

thecrankyhermit Offline

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I have a 5.1 setup, and it works as it should with newer games that actually support 5.1. But when I play a DOS game, which I am certain only supports stereo (I typically emulate an SB16 for SFX), sound effects will play on all five speakers at once. I don't want this - I want my front left and right speakers to play the stereo sounds as intended, and my other speakers to be silent. MIDI music works this way just fine - I hear the music from the front left/right speakers only.

If I change my speaker setting to 2CH, then DOSBox sounds exactly how I want it to, but obviously this breaks 5.1 for games that support it properly.

Is this something changeable in DOSBox? Is it something changeable in Windows or my sound driver? I am still using WinXP, and have an integrated Realtek audio driver.

Running:
Windows 10
Core i5-6600
Geforce GTX 970
8GB RAM

Reply 1 of 5, by Mau1wurf1977

Posted on 2013-09-18, 04:54

Mau1wurf1977 Offline

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Realtek?

You like have the SPEAKER FILL enabled.

This upmixes Stereo to all speakers.

The setting is in the Realtek panel or accessible through the Audio device settings.

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Reply 2 of 5, by thecrankyhermit

Posted on 2013-09-19, 02:41

thecrankyhermit Offline

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I don't seem to have that option anywhere. My Realtek panel looks like this:

This differs from the resource I've found describing that option, which depicts a different looking control panel for what's probably a newer bit of audio hardware.

It's not in my audio device settings either. I'm running Windows XP, and I can only find instructions on how to access it in Windows 7.

I did a bit more experimenting... this may be more of a Windows issue than a DOSBox issue. I tried playing a random stereo mp3 in VLC, and it played on all speakers. Tried in in Windows Media Player, and again it played on all speakers. Tried it in Audacity, and only the front speakers played it. Videos on Youtube only play on the front speakers as well.

Running:
Windows 10
Core i5-6600
Geforce GTX 970
8GB RAM

Reply 3 of 5, by bloodbat

Posted on 2013-09-19, 03:09

bloodbat Offline

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Maybe your speakers have "matrix mode" enabled.

Reply 4 of 5, by thecrankyhermit

Posted on 2013-09-19, 03:23

thecrankyhermit Offline

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Joined: 2006-05-12, 03:47

Logitech X-530's. They don't support Matrix mode.

Running:
Windows 10
Core i5-6600
Geforce GTX 970
8GB RAM

Reply 5 of 5, by Malik

Posted on 2013-09-19, 09:49

Malik Offline

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Just choose the 2-channel (2.1 channel if it's available to select the sub-woofer) at the pull-down menu (where it's currently showing '6CH Speaker' in the pic above) whenever you're playing a DOS or other 2-channel only games.

All modern sound panels have the option to choose the speaker setup. If it's not available there, then use the Windows' sound/speaker setup to choose 2 or 2.1 channel speaker setup.

You need to do this manually for 5.1 and 2/2.1 games.

It's got nothing to do with Dosbox, but the sound output from a program. If you have a AV receiver/ Decoder, and if it supports Auto mode, that will automatically take care of the speaker output / decoding for you.

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