3D surround sound

[JuggernautOfWar 1]

Are you using digital or analog 5.1?

[cjph 0]

Analog (I believe - how do you tell ?).

cjph

Edited September 3, 2009 by cjph

[kklownboy 43]

well its how you plug in the cables... I use a XFI with my 1/8th jack cables coming from the backpane to my Klispch 5.1 sub/amp, All analog, and 5.1 works great.

[JuggernautOfWar 1]

What sort of cables are coming out from your computer? Are they 3.5mm speaker wires, optical audio cords, or what?

[PaGoO 10]

well its how you plug in the cables... I use a XFI with my 1/8th jack cables coming from the backpane to my Klispch 5.1 sub/amp, All analog, and 5.1 works great.

Hi kklownboy,

I hve a Xfi card to and can't make it work in 5.1 with Arma2.

Did you do something special to make it work?

[kklownboy 43]

what speakers do you have? Are you using three of the connector jacks on the back of the XFi card? Is the sound devices properties set to speakers, and is your headphones connected at the same time...

[cjph 0]

Hi

I use 3.5mm cables to link to the Speedlink 5.1 box - must be analog.

cjph

[PaGoO 10]

what speakers do you have? Are you using three of the connector jacks on the back of the XFi card? Is the sound devices properties set to speakers, and is your headphones connected at the same time...

Thk you for trying to help.

Sincerely i don't what i did (i guess i did nothing) and last time i played it was a REAL 5.1 and it's so great to be able to localise all the sounds around!

[Bad Pilot 0]

oktane i have missed this thread for a while and will try your program over this weekend.

[cjph 0]

Did some testing last night - it is really hard to tell the difference between front and rear speakers in the 5.1 setup I have (Audigy + Speedlink Medusa headphones) though I don't know if it is just a function of the speakers in the 'phones or a specific problem. Arma II, control panel and everything else is setup for 5.1, so my point was whether 7.1 (with the additional side speakers) would be a significant difference, using a virtual 7.1 USB soundcard and headphones (such as the Steelseries ones) ? Or would using onboard 7.1 sound and a pair of G35 'phones be a better option ?

Thanks for any replies.

cjph

[TheMantis 10]

My auzentech x-f1 forte and ATH AD-700 are perfect. I had a pair of the turtle beach 5.1's and even though these aren't true 5.1, the sound direction is perfect.

[Bad Pilot 0]

Well, I did a bit more testing on my 3-screen 5.1 setup before attempting to fix it.

- engine noises usually behave completely properly, though less well behaved for helicopters

- engine noises sometimes have the wrong volume

- weapon noises are incorrectly positioned: once they're off the centre screen, they sound like they're out of sight way off to the side even when they're actually just a bit off centre

---

Then I ran Oktane's little test and it ran perfectly - I was able to navigate to any relative position with my eyes closed.

---

Then I set the Default Communication Device to some other device on the other (X-Fi) soundcard. Previously, it was set as my 5.1 headphones.

Having made that change, I played Arma2 ...with mixed results.

- engines have gone insane: it's like my left ear is simultaneously inside every engine within a 1km radius. In the background, I can hear the correct engine sounds...

- weapon sounds are correctly placed, _I think_

The game is now unplayable :D

EDIT ---

plugged in some stero headphones and set that default comms device to Speaker

Arma2 now works perfectly. Nice one, oktane!

Edited September 5, 2009 by Mr Fenix
further test

[Alpha-Kilo 36]

I am going to buy a new PC with an Asus P6X58D-E motherboard capable of 7.1 sound. The OS will be Win7 64. I use headphones only, no speakers. Currently I am using an ordinary stereo headset. The only game I play regularly is Arma2.

Can I expect to get the full surround sound with 7.1 onboard sound and a stereo headset or do I have to buy a gaming headset?

I have considered buying the Razer Megalodon which comes with its own 7.1 sound-card but if ArmA2 produces 5.1 sound, will the Megalodon work? Some reviewers said they received strange noises when they listened to 5.1 sound with the Megalodon.

One user said in this thread, the Megalodon works well in the editor and SP-missions but it fails to work in MP battles. Is this still true or has the sound system been patched in the meantime?

[Nasz 10]

Interested in this thread too!

Just bought a new rig with Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium PCIe Fatal1ty Pro and a Razer Megadon headset. So is there anything I need to do to get surround sound, since there doesn't seem to be any options in ARMA2 to select!

My old rig has a CL Fatality card already, but not noticing any surround sound?!

[MavericK96 0]

Sorry for the necro, but I'm getting the same issues using an X-Fi Titanium card and Senn HD590 headphones. The positional surround in a headset is just not very good for the rear speakers. I get perfect 5.1 sound through my speakers, but the headphones make it very hard to tell where things are behind you (side to side works fine). I've tried CMSS-3D both on and off, and neither seems to really help. Is there anything to be done about this? Using headphones is essential when using TS or VoN.

[zeep 3]

ARMA2's 3D audio engine simply is pretty bad.

In all games, including on the Unreal Tournament engine (1999), i get 3D audio through my headphones perfectly. COD, BC2, Red Orchestra + mods, no 3D problems.

Up to this day ARMA2 has always given me shit. Directional audio is simply buggered in this engine. If it works for you, great. The rest of us, i tried 3 different audio cards/interfaces with XP SP3, are out of luck.

I gave up a long time ago.

[MavericK96 0]

I guess the most we can probably hope for is better sound in ArmA3 then. :(

EDIT: Actually, after following this image posted above:

http://www.ultimate-filez.com/images/cmss3d-tut.png

I got some decent (not amazing, but decent) surround sound in headphones. Particuarly, paying attention to Step 5 is important. I had everything else set up correctly, but CMSS-3D or not I couldn't get good sound. It may be a placebo, but turning MacroFX and ElevationFilter "On" instead of "Auto" seems to have helped. Might be worth a shot.

Edited August 12, 2011 by MavericK96

[MavericK96 0]

Yeah, actually with some further testing there's not a huge difference. Things behind or in front of you sound almost exactly the same, and it's screwed me over in MP quite a few times now. Would getting a true 5.1 headset do any good, or is it not worth the effort?

EDIT: Turning CMSS-3D off completely gives you sharper differences between left and right, but you still don't get any sort of variation between front and back. I also didn't notice any difference between having Windows 7 set as 5.1 sound or Stereo in terms of directionality, so leaving it on 5.1 seems to be fine.

Edited August 15, 2011 by MavericK96

[zeep 3]

It's near impossible to distinguish a difference in audio coming from the front or from the back. The 3D filtering isn't working i'd say.

Even though i only have 2 speakers many other games have solid 3D audio.

I played ARMA at a friends house who also has a very decent audio setup too, with 2 speakers, couldn't hear what's in front and what's behind there either.

[xXxatrush1987 10]

i read so many in this thread about 5.1 not working, but why in gods name i have got full 5.1 sourround? if a friend online drives around me in a abrams i could clearly say on which position he is.

got an xonar d2x, gx disabled, in game on 128 sounds set.

if i throw a grenade and turn fast the sound of the explosion is turning around me on all 5 speakers.

in pvp i can clearly say where the enemy is, even how far away he is.

normal windows 7 64bit, normal arma 2 co, normal sandy bridge sys.

[MavericK96 0]

Yeah, it works okay with actual 5.1, but my main concern is that using a headset (in my case, high-end stereo headphones) results in no real difference between front and back. I was curious to know if a "5.1/7.1 headset" would make a difference or not in this game.

[MavericK96 0]

Has anyone tried anything like this before?

http://www.amazon.com/Force-Channel-Dolby-Surround-Processor-Mac/dp/B003O0KICS/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1313972961&sr=8-6

[MavericK96 0]

Just thought I would update with an interesting bit of info.

After doing some research, I found that for headphones there are basically two virtual surround algorithms: Creative's CMSS-3D and Dolby Headphone. I have an X-Fi card, and so have tried CMSS-3D in ArmA2 with little to no success, the main problem being that it is nearly impossible to distinguish between front and back.

However, I wanted to try Dolby Headphone to see if it was any better. I purchased an Asus Xonar DG sound card (only $16 after rebate, normally around $25), which is a 5.1 PCI audio card with a dedicated headphone amp and Dolby Headphone.

As soon as I got it set up and tried ArmA2 with DH, the result was amazing. In my opinion Dolby Headphone works WORLDS better than CMSS-3D in ArmA2. The only downside to the Xonar DG is that the sound quality with speakers is not as good as the X-Fi (96 kHz sample rate vs 192 kHz on the X-Fi), but there is a Xonar Essence ST/STX which also has the DH and headphone amp with better sample rate, but it is much more expensive. So for right now, I will stick with the DG, which is by no means a slouch for the price.

Anyway, just thought I would share my experience. I am using Sennheiser HD590 headphones, by the way, which have a very nice soundstage. I've heard the Audio Technica AD700s are better, but I don't have the money to test that theory yet. :cool:

[Striezel 10]

Since I have tried the ACRE-Mod, I am interested in some 3D Sound for ArmA 2.

In Arma, I use my Plantronics .Audio 770 Stereo-Headphones with plain old onBoard-Sound. Aside from that, I use the Creative I-Trique 3220 2.1 sound system

Now, I was thinking of getting a better sound card mainly for the purpose of better sound direction detection. So far I have seen recommendations for the

Creative X-FI XtremeGamer and the

Asus Xonar Series

DS,

DG or the

D1.

The reviews for the Creative Recon3d cards were rather bad and since EAX is sort-of-dead I am leaning towards the Asus cards. I bet some of you have already tested some of these cards and are able to give me a recommendation.

Which gives you a better feeling for sound direction in game?

Would I want Dolby Headphone only (DG) or DTS only (DS) or Dolby Headphone with Dolby Digital Live (D1)?

Edited May 4, 2012 by Striezel

[Striezel 10]

Well, I bought a D1 now.

The sound has much more punch with the additional "Dolby Headphone" and "7.1 Speaker Simulation" combined.