villeneuve wrote on 2023-05-07, 13:19:
Good point, I didn't think about the fact if there even were EAX4 capable games that supported Windows 9x.
Thanks for checking and finding out that Tomb Raider game that does.
Since my appropiate systems are packed up currently I'd really be interested in your test result.
Just tested it with Tomb Raider: Angel of Darkness v52 (latest official patch applied) and EAX Unified version 4.0.0.1 (from here). The game simply crashes on startup while "Enumerating Audio Devices" if VxD drivers are used.
On the other hand, when using WDM drivers from that same installation CD, the game runs fine and properly detects EAX4 under Win9x:
TRAOD_EAX4.jpg
I have also tested Colin McRae Rally 04 (demo version from here) and got the same result. Meaning, with VxD drivers, EAX4 was not available, while it worked perfectly fine with WDM drivers under Win9x:
CMR04_EAX4.jpg
In conclusion, I don't think EAX4 is viable under Win9x when using VxD drivers. And while I can't say for certain that it's not supported, it doesn't look promising, at least based on these tests.
P.S.
I have also tested a few EAX3 games such as the original Splinter Cell and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, and they worked fine under Win9x using VxD drivers.