Win 7, 5.1 sound over Digital

[quantum112 10]

Hello. I am having trouble getting ArmA2 (& OA) to output 5.1 surround sound over a digital output.

I have a Gigabyte GA-X48-DQ6 motherboard with the Realtek ALC889A chipset, latest Realtek drivers 2.51. OS is Windows 7 64 bit. Speaker system is Logitech Z-5500 with in-built decoder that supports DTS and Dolby Digital.

Here is the issue: using standard 3.5mm analog plugs (the 3 of them), I get 5.1 sound with no problem. This is because of the way ArmA detects sound configuration: by reading the settings in control panel or drivers. All fine.

Unfortunately, the sound quality of onboard analog sucks, and I'd much rather prefer to use the optical output. The problem with this is, it goes through a separate device called Realtek Digital Output. As we all know, Digital signal can only carry 2 channel PCM, unless the signal is encoded with DTS or Dolby Digital - my motherboard supports "DTS Interactive (5.1 Surround)" option.

When I tick that, the same option gets selected in the control panel, and if I use this option I get working 5.1 in pretty much all other games which normally support it. However, since ArmA reads this info from the control panel, I am guessing it doesn't know what to do with "DTS Interactive (5.1 Surround)" (as it doesn't say how many speakers exactly there is, and you can't use the Configure option like you can for analog to set Stereo, Quadraphonic, 5.1, 7.1 etc) so it assumes the default - Stereo, and as such I only get sound from the left or right.

Is there a way to force ArmA2OA to output 5.1 regardless of the control panel because my gear is obviously capable of giving 5.1 over Digital output, yet the game assumes it can't (shoddy coding, this. There should be an option in game to select what speaker configuration you want to use...)

Thanks

[djdeluxe76 10]

Add "-openal" to your shortcut then it will work. I have the exact same setup (well, except for the mobo but the Realtek chip is the same) Just set the Z5500 to PLII Music and don't worry it will be real 5.1 surround meaning the sound will rotate with your when you rotate your character. I guess OpenAL encodes true 5.1 signals for optical out.

With the right sound mods those speakers and ArmA 2 really love each other. I cannot recommend both highly enough. The battle sounds so real! Too real actually... my hands are shaking, lol ;)

[quantum112 10]

Hmm, close, but no cigar. I did a test. I placed a T90 tank on the runway, started the engine then went out and walked around it. Only the front and center channels actually played the engine noise, and it wasn't too reflective of the way I turned around. I heard only some kind of bird chirps on the rear channels every once in 10 seconds or so.

To compare, I did this same test using analog output, and as I turned around with the tank behind me I could clearly hear the sound moving through all the speakers according to how I turned.

Not so with Digital Output (it's still using pure stereo :/ ). Thanks for the idea though. I guess it is already using OpenAL or I wouldn't be getting 5.1 even in analog.

Anyone else have ideas feel free to chime in :)

[quantum112 10]

Would really appreciate some input on this...stereo is not very fun :confused:

[fusionofp 0]

Ok, some input, I used an AV amp for some time, 5 speakers as I am too cheap to buy a powered sub :)

I also tried a tank on the runway test, all sounds were fine except with my back to the tank the engine was heard through the front speaker when it should be equally spread between the rears :(

The motherboard is an Asus P5 Vm-hdmi, uses an earlier version of ACL8xxx and plays films perfectly in Dolby Digital or DTS.

I'm now using a Trust 5.1 USB headset (really does have more than 2 speakers in it ) and this is accurate despite Win 7 thinking it has 2 speakers.

So, no answer to your problem but I'm guessing it's an Arma thing because, as you noticed, other games handle the sound properly.

[enforcer1975 0]

You need a special soundcard that supports 5.1 digital output. I had the same problem.

The card needs to support Dolby Digital Live or DTS Connect.

A SB X-Fi Titanium would solve your problem. I tried it and gave it back because it didn't work. Afterwards i found out the problem was with the setting of my reciever :(

But i didn't bother getting it again because i didn't really need it that desparate at that moment.

[tonygrunt 10]

No solution but I can confirm the problem with both ArmA2 and OA.

Using onboard Realtek HD audio, drivers 2.51, Dolby Digital Live and a toslink connection to my receiver.

PS: I have a SB X-Fi Titanium hanging around, will see if I find time to install it and check how it works in DDL and DTS Interactive.

Edited August 15, 2010 by TonyGrunt

[fusionofp 0]

You need a special soundcard that supports 5.1 digital output.

If the sound source, amplifier and game/film are DTS or DD certified then it should work.

Does Arma2 or OA have a DTS symbol on the dvd case ? (no)

This is a partial quote by Dwarden on the Steam forums :

"to resolve isseus with X-FI drivers we suggest to try disable CMSSD3D and SVM

also on W7/Vista there seems to e 5.1/7.1 vs 2.1 problems so try different output settings"