How to use it right???

[iAskel]

1)First of all I do not see anywhere (neither on githab, nor off-site and somewhere else) normal guide how it is still customize? I mean setup via alsoft-config, that there is a responsibility "about" clear, but where the exact guide, we (gamers and those who understand the PC at the level of an experienced user) are not interested "approximately", we are interested in how. And to say that everything depends on your audio setup is not necessary, it’s nonsense, because if you do not know how it will work on one sound card or how it will sound on another 5.1 receiver (because you just dont tested it on 5-7 setups), then who knows, Creative Company or seriously? It’s not a complaint, I just don’t understand.

2)Secondly. Why you release openalsoft 1.23, and DSOAL does not update and it does not work with the new version, as designed for 1.22 and dsound wrapper (dsound.dll) which is built there is calculated as I understand the previous version. Do I at least have a no-work and crush, I don’t know maybe I don’t understand, but in my way always if you do two programs they must be fully compatible or there are idiots using your free openal driver but not for "good old" Windows XP directsound games? And where is the official website of DSOAL or do you seriously think that gamer likes to compile code where the finished build? Or nexus is official, but where’s version 1.5?
(i mean nexus off site this: https://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/65094?tab=posts)

3. Third why your soft desnt work properly if i dont edit by regedit this https://www.indirectsound.com/registryIssues.html on third party site and dont official (if wrong sorry) of openal/dsoal? Its tweaks even not for dsoal, its for directsound but if i dont edit this EAX doesnt works.

4)What I’m saying is... I’ll repeat the question, where is a full Guide as your software generally works, no build that I have to (it’s already some extreme level of idiocy) compile because it’s the same great githab (this is for cool super programmers with "brains" and not for modern gamers who have seen nothing but gamepad and assassin creed in life) and the finished software that installed, configured in a couple of days and everything works, and not run any checks through the command line? I understand that the software is still in development, but then why set up tests on users, sit around and check in your office/crude basement I do not know. And the second question is going to take a long time to finish, maybe two years, maybe forever?

My setup is JBL 305p MKii + Ifi Zen DAC signature and AKG K701 + Fiio E10k-TC + Windows 10 x64 Pro with last updates.

[kcat]

1)First of all I do not see anywhere (neither on githab, nor off-site and somewhere else) normal guide how it is still customize? I mean setup via alsoft-config, that there is a responsibility "about" clear, but where the exact guide, we (gamers and those who understand the PC at the level of an experienced user) are not interested "approximately", we are interested in how. And to say that everything depends on your audio setup is not necessary, it’s nonsense, because if you do not know how it will work on one sound card or how it will sound on another 5.1 receiver (because you just dont tested it on 5-7 setups), then who knows, Creative Company or seriously? It’s not a complaint, I just don’t understand.

OpenAL Soft's configuration options (as of 1.23.0) can be seen here. That describes what's available and what the options do. DSOAL doesn't have any configuration options itself currently, which is why you don't see any here, but that may change in the future. For now, whatever configuration options you set for OpenAL Soft will also affect DSOAL.

2)Secondly. Why you release openalsoft 1.23, and DSOAL does not update and it does not work with the new version, as designed for 1.22 and dsound wrapper (dsound.dll) which is built there is calculated as I understand the previous version. Do I at least have a no-work and crush, I don’t know maybe I don’t understand, but in my way always if you do two programs they must be fully compatible or there are idiots using your free openal driver but not for "good old" Windows XP directsound games? And where is the official website of DSOAL or do you seriously think that gamer likes to compile code where the finished build? Or nexus is official, but where’s version 1.5?
(i mean nexus off site this: https://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/65094?tab=posts)

There are no official releases of DSOAL yet. Any binaries are provided by a third party (except those in the CI/Actions builds). DSOAL hasn't been in a state I felt was stable enough to use with many DSound apps without running into significant issues, but it has been a lot better recently. I have been planning to make a release, but I don't know if I'll be doing that before or after the planned rewrite/cleanup.

And second why your soft desnt work properly if i dont edit by regedit this https://www.indirectsound.com/registryIssues.html on third party site and dont official (if wrong sorry) of openal/dsoal? Its tweaks even not for dsoal, its for directsound but if i dont edit this EAX doesnt works.

Due to the way some games load DirectSound, on newer versions of Windows they don't see dsound.dll in their own folder and will instead always load it from c:\windows\system32 or syswow64. There's a lot of discussion in issue #34 about it, and it's not clear what needs to be done (and apparently the fix mentioned in that URL doesn't work for everyone on Windows 11, so something else may be needed).

4)What I’m saying is... I’ll repeat the question, where is a full head as your super software generally works, no build that I have to (it’s already some extreme level of idiocy) compile because it’s the same great githab (this is for cool super programmers with "brains" and not for modern gamers who have seen nothing but gamepad and assassin creed in life) and the finished software that installed, configured in a couple of days and everything works, and not run any checks through the command line? I understand that the software is still in development, but then why set up tests on users, sit around and check in your office/crude basement I do not know. And the second question is going to take a long time to finish, maybe two years, maybe forever?

I don't expect it to ever be "finished". DirectSound has a lot of quirks that different applications can run into, which will need addressing as they're found. Not all issues are easily solvable, and there will always be ways it can be improved. I do hope and expect it will eventually get to a point where it works without issues more often than not, but there are a lot of games that use DirectSound out there. Having users test and use it helps me know what's working and what still needs work, and for the games it does work with, there's no harm in them using it, with the understanding that it's not perfect.

[iAskel]

Okay thx for answer and forgive me for being rude, just sore (it’s not about dsoal/openal),I’m just annoyed that Microsoft has ruined EAX/hardware sound in games, and now their support doesn’t even know what exactly affects the sampling rate and bitness in their sound mixer, and people are still trying to figure it out, it’s certainly not your fault (on the contrary, you’re trying to restore it) and they would if they were doing their OS normally, no third party software would be needed at all.

1. And i have question about openal soft1.23, if i want use it i need (if im right understood) I have to compile DSOAL myself and still with version 1.4 it does not work? If so i think i just install 1.22 and will be wait update.
2. And last question DSOAL its not your soft its belong another author? (sry if stupid question)

[mirh]

and apparently the fix mentioned in that URL doesn't work for everyone on Windows 11, so something else may be needed

You sure it doesn't? I'm not aware of people reporting problems with the HKCU and HKLM fix (on windows at least, wine is still likely faulty).

Due to the way some games load DirectSound, on newer versions of Windows

(spoiler alert: it very much possibly has nothing to do with windows version)

Microsoft has ruined EAX/hardware sound in games

I'd place more blame on creative really

if i want use it i need (if im right understood) I have to compile DSOAL myself and still with version 1.4 it does not work?

You should be able to easily mix any dsound.dll and dsoal-aldrv.dll, I think?
Minus perhaps those from before and after march of last year, when eax handling was completely reinvented.

And last question DSOAL its not your soft its belong another author?

He is the (main) author. But being licensed under LGPL doesn't mean he "owns" anything in a strict sense. This is also yours.

[iAskel]

After launch openal-info32.exe i see this:

It’s all right or this screenshot is something you have to change?

By the way it is not clear why the sampling frequency is specified 44kHz, when in my windows and alsoft-config is 48?????

[iAskel]

Is when I installed openal from creative labs from https://www.openal.org/ After I deleted it, I copied openal32.dll from the "router" folder in version 1.23. After that, the command line showed me this:

Its okay?

And I’ve been meaning to ask. Why, when you turn on (return) the hardware sound/EAX and the game starts to work through the good old directsound becomes not clean/crypsy/clear/detailed but like... on the contrary, it is more blurry/muttering/bass and less legible. Let’s put down the 3D effect, talk about sound quality. I had so long ago when I had a card x-fi titanium hd/fatality champion and windows 7/XP. Now here I have a USB DAC + Win 10 (yes i can install seven but why?) and everything is fine, but once I turn on the game + in your software hardware sound from creative and times Windows XP everything is getting smooth again. Although on each corner write about the super clarity/cripsy/clean (again and again fans of creative talk about that on internet especially on Russian internet im russian by the way) of the sound creative. The question in price is to improve the 3D effect due to the loss of sound quality or else... buyer cheating/branding or is it possible that something is working wrong?!! = ) I would even say it always worked so on two PCs, with different sound setups (or maybe even such a hearing from birth). I hope you know.

[kcat]

You sure it doesn't? I'm not aware of people reporting problems with the HKCU and HKLM fix (on windows at least, wine is still likely faulty).

In the linked issue, they said they applied the registry tweaks as suggested in that IndirectSound page, and it still wasn't working for them in Windows 11. When they downgraded to Windows 10, it started working. Maybe they did it wrong, but as it is, more testing will be needed on Windows 11 to know for sure.

After launch openal-info32.exe i see this:

Something's not right there, since OpenAL Soft is listed as the default device but it's opening a Generic Software device. You should be able to run D:\openal-info32.exe "OpenAL Soft" to make it open an OpenAL Soft device instead. But that shouldn't be an issue for DSOAL, which doesn't use OpenAL32.dll, strictly speaking.

By the way it is not clear why the sampling frequency is specified 44kHz, when in my windows and alsoft-config is 48?????

Because of the way the Generic Software driver is coded, it creates a DirectSound playback stream using 44.1khz, rather than trying to detect and match the system sample rate. Generic Software is Creative Labs' implementation of a software-based OpenAL driver, which isn't as featured or advanced as OpenAL Soft.

Is when I installed openal from creative labs from https://www.openal.org/ After I deleted it, I copied openal32.dll from the "router" folder in version 1.23. After that, the command line showed me this:
...
Its okay?

As long as you don't want or need Creative's router or Generic Software driver, that's fine.

And I’ve been meaning to ask. Why, when you turn on (return) the hardware sound/EAX and the game starts to work through the good old directsound becomes not clean/crypsy/clear/detailed but like... on the contrary, it is more blurry/muttering/bass and less legible. Let’s put down the 3D effect, talk about sound quality. I had so long ago when I had a card x-fi titanium hd/fatality champion and windows 7/XP. Now here I have a USB DAC + Win 10 (yes i can install seven but why?) and everything is fine, but once I turn on the game + in your software hardware sound from creative and times Windows XP everything is getting smooth again. Although on each corner write about the super clarity/cripsy/clean (again and again fans of creative talk about that on internet especially on Russian internet im russian by the way) of the sound creative.

I'm having a bit of trouble understanding what you're asking, unfortunately. With the sound being "more blurry/muttering/bass and less legible", it looks like you're have plain stereo output, so it wouldn't be HRTF or anything interfering. Is it perhaps the Cubic resampler? For low sample rate sounds, a proper resampler may make the sound more muffled since it doesn't have high frequencies, whereas low quality resamplers or certain device features may add some high frequency noise to make the sound seem "sharper" or "brighter" than it actually is.

Or are you talking about EAX effects, like when a sound gets filtered by walls or the environment? What game is this happening in, and can you make a recording?

[iAskel]

Yes i will be record video tomorrow and post here on some games, I talk about games like Half-Life 2/DiabloII/Oblivion or more (games that have EAX and without it).

You told about generic driver...hmm maybe problem in Equlizer APO that install own APO instead of native from sound card (really honestly I don’t know if he has my ifi zen dac and fiio with their xmos driver)/ But maybe problem is APO?

[mirh]

@iAskel System openal has nothing to do with dsoal
If you need help to configure everything and the kitchen sink, try the 3DJ or I Drink Lava discords.

In the linked issue, they said they applied the registry tweaks as suggested in that IndirectSound page, and it still wasn't working for them in Windows 11.

That's like the first post...
And the only mystery seemed to be the absence of the HKLM fix (or OP launching the game with alternatively different privileges, they never clarified).

Maybe they did it wrong, but as it is, more testing will be needed on Windows 11 to know for sure.

It's not so much that "testing" per se is needed, people at all still caring are short to come by.
Like, I get that my discovery process was pretty convoluted (if not overly long, with the first doubts coming up almost a year ago) but by now I literally linked the microsoft docs documenting what is happening.

Something's not right there, since OpenAL Soft is listed as the default device but it's opening a Generic Software device.

That's par for the course for programs loading the router from the local folder, hence giving precedence to the driver dlls in there.
Nothing different from the head scratchers I/we had at kcat/openal-soft#574 (comment) and kcat/openal-soft#757 (comment).