Sound Question

[SD Nihil]

First off thanks everyone for helping me with my video card issues. For sound I have Creative SB Live! Series (WDN). And since my video card had a site for updates, is there a site where I can get updates for my sound card? I found out EAA 2 is how high it goes in my Audio options in KOTOR 2. But I found out that if I change it to use hardware option I can hear echo sounds. I never use to.

[CoM_Solaufein]

Try Creative's website.

[SD Nihil]

When I did the auto update selection I clicked Sound Blaster then Live! and then Live! again since this audio card doesn't say anything like 24 or 32 bit this or that. So the results were that service for this card has been discontinued. Dang I guess it's old. But then again recently I got my new video card, but the audio card I got in 2001 when it came with the computer.

[racofer]

Honestly, Creative is terrible when offering support for their hardware. I had a Live card like yours and had tons of problems and overall poor audio quality using their drivers. As a workaround I used the KxDrivers which offers superb sound quality but there's a drawback, NO EAX.

 

But back on February I gave up on my good old Live and got myself a humble and cheap Audigy SE for $30 and couldn't be happier since then. The audio quality is ages better than Live's and works with everything. The drawback is that this card doesn't process audio on hardware, but rather on software. Some people claim it hurts gaming performance but IMO I haven't noticed any performance difference compared to my old Live card.

 

If I were you, I would pick this Audigy SE card since it's really cheap and gets the job done. It's like an onboard card (performance wise) but with audio quality comparable to a high end one. Just make sure it comes with the installation cd because the newer drivers suck.

[SD Nihil]

I'll check this card out. Thanks. By the way, what is EAX?

[racofer]

I think you misspelled when you said EAA on your original post, never heard of it and it doesn't exist anywhere on KOTOR's options. It's actually called EAX, and this card supports up to EAX 3 instructions, whereas the Live goes to a maximum of 2.

 

Now if your really want to know what it does, I suggest you google for it since it's hard to explain, but it gives environmental effects to your audio and makes everything sound way more realistic.

Edited December 27, 2007 by racofer

[SD Nihil]

And is it simply that it's an old game? When I look at KOTOR 2 and then look at KOTOR 1, KOTOR 1 looks so well...premative. KOTOR 2 looks more there. KOTOR 1 looks more like a daydream. Ok if you close your else and imagine something it's less there than if you actually see it. You get what I mean. KOTOR 1 just looks less bright even though both games are at the same brightness.