Help~Is~Here
Banned
I'm not sure whether this fact has been know to all of us. I just stumbled upon this while browsing.
The fact is that Windows Vista doesn't support Direct3D Sound and uses another API called OpenAL. What does this mean? Well, it means that there is no more hardware based sound processing which means you don't have surround sound!! If you have a surround sound setup, all you will get is stereo sound! no 2.1 or 5.1.. etc.. etc.. So, if you already have a surround sound setup, your games will no longer be able to give you surround sound as most games supporting EAX® effects work only with DirectSound!
I don't know why Microsoft Fanboys still keep saying we should all embrace Vista!
.
.
The fact is that Windows Vista doesn't support Direct3D Sound and uses another API called OpenAL. What does this mean? Well, it means that there is no more hardware based sound processing which means you don't have surround sound!! If you have a surround sound setup, all you will get is stereo sound! no 2.1 or 5.1.. etc.. etc.. So, if you already have a surround sound setup, your games will no longer be able to give you surround sound as most games supporting EAX® effects work only with DirectSound!
If you are planning to upgrade to Vista as soon as it's out you should be aware that the hardware abstraction layer is not supported any more, not only that, but Microsoft has no idea when, or if at all, it will be fixed.
Therefore all those games you bought in the past which use DirectSound 3D won't be able to run with the surround sound you're used to.
Of course, if you are a stereo-in-two-channels kind of gamer then this won't really affect you, but those of us with surround sound who like to immerse ourselves in a bit of dog fighting or screaming crowds will be out of luck.
*www.hexus.net/content/item.php?item=7717).
With Microsoft's decision to remove the audio hardware layer in Windows Vista, legacy DirectSound 3D games will no longer use hardware 3D algorithms for audio spatialization. Instead they will have to rely upon the new Microsoft software mixer that is built into Windows Vista. This new software mixer will give the users basic audio support for their old Direct Sound games but since it has no hardware layer, all EAX® effects will be lost, and no individual per-voice processing can be performed using dedicated hardware processing.
EAX has become the de facto standard for real-time effects processing. It has been incorporated in hundreds of games and has become the method of choice for game developers wanting to add interactive environment effects to their titles. Some of the best selling games of all time use the EAX extensions to DirectSound 5.0 and beyond, including Warcraft3, Diablo2, World of Warcraft, Half Life, Ghost Recon, F.E.A.R. and many others. Under Windows Vista, these games will be losing the hardware support that came as standard under the previous Windows Operating Systems, and will no longer provide real-time interactive effects, making them sound empty and lifeless by comparison to the way they sound on Windows XP.
We all know the really big reason for using Windows is gaming, and this change will set Vista behind XP for the current generation of games.
This could be related to the DRM requirements for protected audio to meet the Advanced Access Content System (AACS) specification. It may be necessary to give up hardware accelerated sound in order to have DRM that meets the requirements of the MPAA and RIAA. Is this how far Microsoft is willing to go for DRM?
Windows Vista features a completely re-written audio stack. Because of the architectural changes in the redesigned audio stack, a direct path from DirectSound to the audio drivers does not exist. DirectSound and other APIs such as MME are emulated as WASAPI Session instances. DirectSound runs in emulation mode on the Microsoft software mixer. The emulator does not have hardware abstraction, so there is no hardware DirectSound acceleration, meaning hardware and software relying on DirectSound acceleration may have degraded performance, however with more powerful hardware, there may not be any performance hit. In the case of hardware 3D audio effects played using DirectSound3D, they will not be playable.
Third-party APIs such as ASIO and OpenAL are not affected by these architectural changes in Windows Vista. A solution for applications that wish to take advantage of hardware accelerated high-quality 3D positional audio is to use OpenAL. However, this only works if the manufacturer provides an OpenAL driver for their hardware
*en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DirectSound
I don't know why Microsoft Fanboys still keep saying we should all embrace Vista!
.
.