shevalier wrote on 2025-07-02, 17:04:

NOPE. Nowhere. In XP just slider "hardware acceleration" Which is responsible for everything at once and for nothing (in fact, f […]
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Mondodimotori wrote on 2025-07-02, 16:57:

luckybob wrote on 2025-07-02, 16:43:

I dont have it memorized - I'd start in the settings and check under "sound" and go from there.

Erh... I can't seem to find it. Is it even present on Windows XP?

NOPE. Nowhere.
In XP just slider "hardware acceleration"
Which is responsible for everything at once and for nothing (in fact, for the level of compatibility with DirectX)

Great...
well, I still have some news.
The cracking and popping is not ever present. I can listen to music and play random games like most wanted and carbon no issue.

Except when I play games that support EAX acceleration like vice city and San Andreas. The popping and cracking sound appears every time a new audio effect starts playing. And only at the beginning.
The in game radio works perfectly. But a car passes by my side, or I shot a gun, the instant that sound starts to play, it cracks a little.

WEIRD. I'll update the main post with this find.

Yup, I can confirm almost at 99% that's only an issue in games with EAX enabled. I tested the first assassin's creed and it sure has 3d accelerated audio but... Every time a new sound effect starts playing, it cracks. And in the city, with tens and tens of sound effects playing every second, it really destroys the immersion. Yall remember those NPCs talking to the people? The second I start jumping between roofs their voices starts cracking and popping like crazy, with every sound effect doing almost the same thing.

I'm playing it with headphones, it does this both from the back and the front panel.

I guess I'll now test it with official creative drivers.

Mondodimotori wrote on 2025-07-02, 17:18:

Yup, I can confirm almost at 99% that's only an issue in games with EAX enabled.

The digital part of X-Fi audio cards on the PCI bus (not pci-e) starts to fail when the largest capacitor dries out.
This is a known problem.
But the card is awesome, and the feeling in the headphones(yep, CMSS3D is awefull) is magical.
If there is a possibility of replacement - it should be repaired, it is worth it.
If not - card should be replaced.
The seller should still be responsible.

shevalier wrote on 2025-07-02, 17:26:

The digital part of X-Fi audio cards on the PCI bus (not pci-e) starts to fail when the largest capacitor dries out. This is a […]
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Mondodimotori wrote on 2025-07-02, 17:18:

Yup, I can confirm almost at 99% that's only an issue in games with EAX enabled.

The digital part of X-Fi audio cards on the PCI bus (not pci-e) starts to fail when the largest capacitor dries out.
This is a known problem.
But the card is awesome, and the feeling in the headphones(yep, CMSS3D is awefull) is magical.
If there is a possibility of replacement - it should be repaired, it is worth it.
If not - card should be replaced.
The seller should still be responsible.

OK then, it's likely an hardware problem then. I'm still in the process of installing original drivers to see if it changes anything. But it's a real shame that it doesn't work only in EAX games. Those someone buys this card for.

I'll see if the seller just takes it back, because I don't know how much it would cost to change the capacitor (I know a lab in the city that does it, but they are currently closed for the next couple of weeks).

shevalier wrote on 2025-07-02, 17:26:

The digital part of X-Fi audio cards on the PCI bus (not pci-e) starts to fail when the largest capacitor dries out. This is a […]
Show full quote

Mondodimotori wrote on 2025-07-02, 17:18:

Yup, I can confirm almost at 99% that's only an issue in games with EAX enabled.

The digital part of X-Fi audio cards on the PCI bus (not pci-e) starts to fail when the largest capacitor dries out.
This is a known problem.
But the card is awesome, and the feeling in the headphones(yep, CMSS3D is awefull) is magical.
If there is a possibility of replacement - it should be repaired, it is worth it.
If not - card should be replaced.
The seller should still be responsible.

COUNTERORDER!

I installed the X-Fi Fatal1ty drivers that I found on "The Retro Web" (they appear to be original creative ones), and the cracking and popping is basically gone (I can force it to happen if I scroll very fast with the mouse the menu in GTA Vice City, with that very low bass sound it makes when going through options).
I tested it in both GTA Vice City and San Andreas (it isn't very impressive EAX in those games), and then I went back to Assassin's Creed and OMG, no cracking or popping, just great spatial audio. When landing on wooden roofs, I can feel the echoes under it. I never experienced EAX, but if this is it, it's pretty nice indeed.

And after that, I popped in the CD of Quake 4. Now, after troubleshooting the low quality textures (I upgraded to a 2GB card, thus Quake 4 doesn't really like it), I went to the advanced audio options.
There I can select "OpenAL" and "EAX" on yes, thus I THINK I have EAX enabled. The game does sound pretty good and immersive, with all the explosions going around.
Also, the front pannel, while it may be gimmik, it's kinda useful when you want to pluin headphones and use those instead of speakers for those EAX games.

A thing I noticed is very low quality voices in both Quake 4 and Assassins Creed... I have the italian dub on.

Is there a game to actually test if EAX is working? Since I never experienced it before?

Boohyaka wrote on 2025-07-02, 12:02:

On Logitech speakers this rustling when turning the volume knob is due to the lubricant used that dries up. Turn the speakers off, then quickly turn the volume knob from 0 to max volume several times, which will spread the lubricant and (at least temporarily) diminish or even completely fix the problem. Just do it again when it comes back. I've been doing that for years with my own Logitech 2.1 set and it still completely cancels the issue when I do it....only for it to come back if I don't use it for some time.

Guess what? Messing with the volume knob does bring back the left speaker to the same volume level as the right one, but it's still so very sensitive. I barely touch it and the volume on it goes back down. I tried quickly going up and down when off, but nothing changes. Maybe the lubricant is completely gone... I mean, they're not that old, but I paid for them 10€at a flea market. And it's a shame since the volume knob is directly connected into the subwoofer, meaning I can't just use another one and keep the sub+speakers.

Mondodimotori wrote on 2025-07-02, 19:11:

Is there a game to actually test if EAX is working? Since I never experienced it before?

Right after starting Quake 4, open the console via CTRL+ALT+~ (tilde). Then, press Page Up four times to scroll up the console log. You should be seeing this:

If you're curious about EAX, you may want to check this out: EAX appreciation thread

Joseph_Joestar wrote on 2025-07-02, 19:17:

Right after starting Quake 4, open the console via CTRL+ALT+~ (tilde). Then, press Page Up four times to scroll up the console l […]
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Mondodimotori wrote on 2025-07-02, 19:11:

Is there a game to actually test if EAX is working? Since I never experienced it before?

Right after starting Quake 4, open the console via CTRL+ALT+~ (tilde). Then, press Page Up four times to scroll up the console log. You should be seeing this:

If you're curious about EAX, you may want to check this out: EAX appreciation thread

I'll have to take a look tomorrow at the console command before reassembling the whole machine.
One thing is that my card doesn't appear to show as an "SB X-Fi" when selecting "audio device" in quake 4 options, but as an "SB001" or something.
Is still let me enable both "OpenAL" and "EAX" options.
But that video of Quake 4 in your appreciation thread do sound pretty much the same as it did on my end. Maybe just the voices are lower sample rate, but maybe it's just the Italian dubbing, just like in AC (it's incredible the contrast between the pristine ambient sounds/music and the voices of NPCs).

I am indeed curious, since my next move in the audio department would be a card for the 9x pentium III + Ti4200 box.

A lot of times audio crackling and popping is related to processing latencies in the audio chain (software, drivers, PCI/PCIe/USB/etc). For modern Windows, you can use LatencyMon (https://www.resplendence.com/latencymon) as an initial system test. Trying different drivers, disabling audio driver processing, etc. can improve things.

y2k se wrote on 2025-07-02, 19:55:

A lot of times audio crackling and popping is related to processing latencies in the audio chain (software, drivers, PCI/PCIe/USB/etc). For modern Windows, you can use LatencyMon (https://www.resplendence.com/latencymon) as an initial system test. Trying different drivers, disabling audio driver processing, etc. can improve things.

Gotta edit the main post tomorrow, once confirmed...

It appears that it was a driver issue. It was happening only in EAX games and I had installed Daniel_K drivers after problems getting out any sort of sound (it was the speaker's fault). Today I reverted back to creative official drivers, and crackling and popping is basically gone.

So yeah, tomorrow I'll confirm that EAX is actually running and working an I'll add a final edit to the main post.

Mondodimotori wrote on 2025-07-02, 16:57:

luckybob wrote on 2025-07-02, 16:43:

I dont have it memorized - I'd start in the settings and check under "sound" and go from there.

Erh... I can't seem to find it. Is it even present on Windows XP?

I just wanted to point it out. It's been in the same place SINCE windows XP. Still (luckily) in the same place in windows 11. Always good to crank it with a higher-end sound card.

Sounds like the main problem was a driver issue. Nice job on figuring it out!

Mondodimotori wrote on 2025-07-02, 19:11:

I installed the X-Fi Fatal1ty drivers that I found on "The Retro Web" (they appear to be original creative ones), and the cracking and popping is basically gone

Congratulations!
Can you list all the rest of hardware?

Major Jackyl wrote on 2025-07-02, 21:54:

I just wanted to point it out. It's been in the same place SINCE windows XP. Still (luckily) in the same place in windows 11. Always good to crank it with a higher-end sound card.

The attachment Screenshot 2025-07-02 164733.png is no longer available

Sounds like the main problem was a driver issue. Nice job on figuring it out!

Weird, yesterday evening I wasn't able to find it. I'll check again. I'm on XP SP3

shevalier wrote on 2025-07-03, 05:20:

Congratulations!
Can you list all the rest of hardware?

Sure thing! You can find a link to the thread I made for the pc in the first post too.

E8600 (up to 4ghz)
2x2 corsair 800 4-4-4-12
RADEON HD6970
And, now, X-Fi Fatal1ty pro 64mb

Mondodimotori wrote on 2025-07-03, 11:52:

Sure thing! You can find a link to the thread I made for the pc in the first post too. […]
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Sure thing! You can find a link to the thread I made for the pc in the first post too.

E8600 (up to 4ghz)
2x2 corsair 800 4-4-4-12
RADEON HD6970
And, now, X-Fi Fatal1ty pro 64mb

You generally don't want to max out the format setting without a proper reason. You want to pick the format that best matches the source material you are listening to, because everything else will get resampled to what you've chosen. My guess for WinXP-era is that will be 44.1kHz or 48kHz. 16/24/32 bit is not as important. 24/48 is what I use on my modern systems.

Mondodimotori wrote on 2025-07-03, 11:52:

Sure thing! You can find a link to the thread I made for the pc in the first post too. […]
Show full quote

Sure thing! You can find a link to the thread I made for the pc in the first post too.

E8600 (up to 4ghz)
2x2 corsair 800 4-4-4-12
RADEON HD6970
And, now, X-Fi Fatal1ty pro 64mb

It's strange, because the config is completely standard for XP. The chipset is from Intel, about the same time.

y2k se wrote on 2025-07-03, 12:09:

You generally don't want to max out the format setting without a proper reason. You want to pick the format that best matches the source material you are listening to, because everything else will get resampled to what you've chosen. My guess for WinXP-era is that will be 44.1kHz or 48kHz. 16/24/32 bit is not as important. 24/48 is what I use on my modern systems.

Still can't find that menu setting on Win XP SP3. I can find it in 5 seconds on Windows 10, but not on XP.

shevalier wrote on 2025-07-03, 13:46:

It's strange, because the config is completely standard for XP. The chipset is from Intel, about the same time.

Ok, now I can confirm it: It's GTA San Andreas especially (and Vice City) that have terrible audio. Even on the realtek onboard audio it cracks and pops whit some sound effects like car horn, the sound always ends with a crack. Smashing the horn will make it sound terrible.
Every other game works fine. Even the "GoldMine" demo works without issues.
I was oneguy'd by Rockstar terrible PC ports.

Joseph_Joestar wrote on 2025-07-02, 19:17:

Right after starting Quake 4, open the console via CTRL+ALT+~ (tilde). Then, press Page Up four times to scroll up the console l […]
Show full quote

Right after starting Quake 4, open the console via CTRL+ALT+~ (tilde). Then, press Page Up four times to scroll up the console log. You should be seeing this:

If you're curious about EAX, you may want to check this out: EAX appreciation thread

Here' what I see. EAX 100% works. I tested with it enabled and disabled in driver, and the difference in sound fidelity is massive. Only mine doesn't show the actual name of the card, but just "BF00". Even in the windows "sounds" settings it shows up as a "BF00". Maybe I need a different official driver?

Mondodimotori wrote on 2025-07-04, 07:49:

Still can't find that menu setting on Win XP SP3. I can find it in 5 seconds on Windows 10, but not on XP.

It's not there, it never was. Windows XP never had OS level capability to resample sound like that, you could do it only though drivers and programs. That probably was first introduced with Win Vista, don't know for certain as I'm not sure have I ever used Vista even passingly, Win7 does have it for certain. Major Jackyl is mistaken and I'm guessing luckybob has probably been using digital output, which unless I'm mistaken does let you change the format through Creative driver control panel.

Here' what I see. EAX 100% works (I tested with it enabled and disabled in driver), and the difference in sound fidelity is massive. Only mine doesn't show the actual name of the card, but just "BF00". Even in the windows "sounds" settings it shows up as a "BF00". Maybe I need a different official driver?

I don't think it matters as long the card is working as it should, but if it bothers you feel free to try some other driver. Do be aware Creative had trouble with OpenAL with their later drivers, 2.18.0015 should be fine with that card but as far as I know few driver releases earlier than that are buggy as is the very last one released.

I think I used 2.09.0006 driver with that very same card while I was using it, which was on the install disc it came with. Give those a go if you run into issues with 2.18.0015.

Mondodimotori wrote on 2025-07-04, 07:49:

Here' what I see. EAX 100% works. I tested with it enabled and disabled in driver, and the difference in sound fidelity is massive. Only mine doesn't show the actual name of the card, but just "BF00". Even in the windows "sounds" settings it shows up as a "BF00". Maybe I need a different official driver?

Shouldn't really matter what your card is called internally, as that probably varies between PCI and PCIe models. The important thing is that EAX 5.0 support shows up in the console log.

As for the drivers, I think I used this installation CD with a similar card, and had good results. After determining which driver works best for your system, you may also want to install Creative's latest version of OpenAL as well as their EAX Unified pack.

Sombrero wrote on 2025-07-04, 08:20:

It's not there, it never was. Windows XP never had OS level capability to resample sound like that, you could do it only though drivers and programs. That probably was first introduced with Win Vista, don't know for certain as I'm not sure have I ever used Vista even passingly, Win7 does have it for certain. Major Jackyl is mistaken and I'm guessing luckybob has probably been using digital output, which unless I'm mistaken does let you change the format through Creative driver control panel.

Yeah, I thought that while searching on the internet about it.

Sombrero wrote on 2025-07-04, 08:20:

I don't think it matters as long the card is working as it should, but if it bothers you feel free to try some other driver. Do be aware Creative had trouble with OpenAL with their later drivers, 2.18.0015 should be fine with that card but as far as I know few driver releases earlier than that are buggy as is the very last one released.

I think I used 2.09.0006 driver with that very same card while I was using it, which was on the install disc it came with. Give those a go if you run into issues with 2.18.0015.

Joseph_Joestar wrote on 2025-07-04, 08:41:

Shouldn't really matter what your card is called internally, as that probably varies between PCI and PCIe models. The important thing is that EAX 5.0 support shows up in the console log.

As for the drivers, I think I used this installation CD with a similar card, and had good results. After determining which driver works best for your system, you may also want to install Creative's latest version of OpenAL as well as their EAX Unified pack.

Yeah. Because now I believe that Assassin's Creed doens't have EAX enabled, since it requires EAX Unified, and I don't know if it ships with the GOG version. I can't seem to hear echoes at all in that game, while both in Quake 4 (that does istall OpenAL) and GoldMine I can hear all the effects.
I'll install those drivers and test it again

Anyway, here's again the attachment of what I see on Quake 4, since it seems to be borked in the previous post.

Mondodimotori wrote on 2025-07-04, 09:56:

Anyway, here's again the attachment of what I see on Quake 4, since it seems to be borked in the previous post.

Looks good. But you may want to apply the latest official patch for Quake 4 as well. Based on the log output, it seems that you're running the unpatched retail release.

BTW, with regards to OpenAL and EAX Unified, be sure to only install those after installing the Creative drivers. And not vice versa. Otherwise, the relevant DLLs may get overwritten by older versions.

Joseph_Joestar wrote on 2025-07-04, 10:24:

Looks good. But you may want to apply the latest official patch for Quake 4 as well. Based on the log output, it seems that you're running the unpatched retail release.

BTW, with regards to OpenAL and EAX Unified, be sure to only install those after installing the Creative drivers. And not vice versa. Otherwise, the relevant DLLs may get overwritten by older versions.

Yes I am. I had installed this game from my original CD just to test out the computer itself, and never got around updating it.
I'll uninstall any "OpenAL" version I find on the PC and replace them with the links you provided, thanks a lot!

A real shame that GTA games have terrible audio by defaulr... because I swear that in Vice City, while rampaging, I could hear the helicopter's explosions reverberating in the scenery. One helicopter blowing up would produce several explosions sounds coming from several directions in rapid succession.