Does the Unreal/Vengeance engine support 7.1 surround sound?
- Thread starter All-Star
- Start date
P
Phalanx.old
Guest
For things like games (where sound is positioned, not predetermined tracks) it has to do with the sound drivers and the way they are connected to by the program. A 7.1 soundcard with the right drivers should use all "7.1" (its not really being decoded from AC3, DTS or Vorbis) of it while doing direct 3D sound, but a movie may only be encoded to use 5.1. Most games will already use all 7 speakers through the sound drivers and audio connections. Just how sound in the game is positioned may not be aimed at that many speakers.
S
Skarsnik
Guest
Seems to work fine in 7.1 on my Audigy 2 ZS with Creative T7700 speakers.
Btw. hearing the mortars flying behind you when running with the flag is great
7.1 speakers rock in this game.
Btw. hearing the mortars flying behind you when running with the flag is great
7.1 speakers rock in this game.
Last edited:
S
Skarsnik
Guest
marantz, what do you mean? My sound card has 8 seperate outputs and my speakers have 8 inputs... why does it need to encode it?
for video games you cant beat the audigy2 ZS line of sound cards. im not a huge fan of creative for many reasons but i have to admit that their ZS line of cards is really quite good (compared to the sub par crap they've shoveled for years).FishStix said:
for non gaming applications the via ice-1724 based cards are absolutely amazing. for 27 dollars the chaintech av-710 is an amazing bargain. you could even justify it for gaming. while the performance isnt as good as the audigy series the price more than makes up for that. i had my chaintech av-710 shipped to me from newegg.com for a total of 28 dollars.
the game needs to have the sound encoded in an 8-channel format though, and i'm currently unaware of any that exist. i'd much rather see the game designers fix bugs or the netcode before worrying about 7.1, which is a pretty useless format anyway. a 4.0 or 5.1 format would more than suffice for any game setting. i strongly prefer 2.0 or Dolby Headphone though, since using a good pair of headphones with a quality stereo source gives you more of a sense of surrounding than any multichannel DSP i've heard.Skarsnik said:marantz, what do you mean? My sound card has 8 seperate outputs and my speakers have 8 inputs... why does it need to encode it?
if the engine automatically renders sound based on real-time events and somehow supports 7.1 then i guess i'm wrong (and that'd be pretty cool), but hey you learn something new every day
P
Phalanx.old
Guest
marantz said:
marantz said:the game needs to have the sound encoded in an 8-channel format though, and i'm currently unaware of any that exist. i'd much rather see the game designers fix bugs or the netcode before worrying about 7.1, which is a pretty useless format anyway. a 4.0 or 5.1 format would more than suffice for any game setting. i strongly prefer 2.0 or Dolby Headphone though, since using a good pair of headphones with a quality stereo source gives you more of a sense of surrounding than any multichannel DSP i've heard.
if the engine automatically renders sound based on real-time events and somehow supports 7.1 then i guess i'm wrong (and that'd be pretty cool), but hey you learn something new every day
Incorrect. DTS ES, Dolby EX and THX all support 7.1. Vorbis can also be set directly to 7.1 (or nearly any setup they want).
DirectSound, and the windows audio server does not care how many speakers you have. As long as the driver supports it, and the position is sent to the driver, the driver will set the speakers in action for direct sound. Games do not encode sound into DTS, Dolby of any other of these audio formats. The reason for this is it skips EAX (which is ment for games) and it incures massive rights that are not required. It brings no increase in audio quality, but would only drop performance (and slow down the game with the sound being slightly out of time). There are no majour games that output these formats. This is the reason Creative's digital speaker systems do not use the standard optical or digital cables. The cables Creative uses also have analog connections in them, for games and other audio which is really not comming from AC3, Dolby or DTS (eg a DVD).
7.1 has nothing to do with games, just like AC3, Dolby or DTS has nothing to do with games (there has been one in the past, but no one used it so it died quickly). All the game needs to worry about is saying where the sound is positioned compared to the user. The driver cares about what speakers to use. If your driver can do it, your sound card can do it, then you will hear it like that as long as the game's code does not try to stop it (which would be really pointless).
Speaking of sound I miss Aureal. Those guys were awesome.
you sound correct on all the rest of what you typed, but i do know for a fact that this is incorrect. the Dolby Digital spec only allows for up to 5.1 discrete channels to be encoded within a DD signal. DD-EX (aka THX-EX) is a 6.1 matrixed format, with 5.1 discrete channels of sound and an additional 6th rear center surround speaker channel matrixed into the surround channel information. extrapolating the surround channel from a DD-EX signal is exactly like how center and surround info was extracted by Dolby Pro Logic back in the day from VHS tapes.Phalanx said:
DTS-ES, on the other hand, supports up to 6.1 discrete channels of audio information. it gets confusing cuz some DTS tracks are 5.1 discrete, some are 6.1 matrix, and some are 6.1 discrete. however, DTS' encoding algorithms do NOT support 7.1 channels of information. they just don't.
most people get confused by this: THX is not a surround format; it's a certification process (ha!) which imposes equalization presets on a certain film's soundtrack to attempt to equalize it for the best theater-like presentation possible. the problem with this is that every room requires different equalization, and every volume level does as well, so it's pretty much a waste of money. i could go into it more in depth, but just in general, THX is a pretty sticker that is really expensive and means jack shazbot.
P
Phalanx.old
Guest
marantz said:
Fistly, while THX is not a audio format, their certification does not stop when it comes to 7.1, that is why I listed them. I never claimed them as a format.
As for 7.1, it is the same story as with 6.1, it is matrixed in. It is used to give better quality sound on Dobly EX and DTS ES as the 2 back channels suit the human head better than a single channel speaker (they are made channels when decoded, not channels from the start). It is not an offical standard, and most media will not come with the 8 channels (though some do but not normally in DVDs. I know Vorbis can do the 7 channels, but I have not seen it used). Most of this is done with Dolby Pro Logic 2.
TetraTimboman
Veteran X
I have a C-media and a Creative 5200 5.1 speaker system. Other games sound great but the T:V beta has some 3D sound issues for me... I don't care that much though.
At least T:V's 3D sound is alright -when I enable anything other than Miles fast 2D audio in Tribes 2, it sounds as if someone went and stuck a large metal bucket over my head.
At least T:V's 3D sound is alright -when I enable anything other than Miles fast 2D audio in Tribes 2, it sounds as if someone went and stuck a large metal bucket over my head.
btw for those looking for a really kick ass inexpensive sound card (hint you c-media folks) go to newegg and take a look at the chaintech av-710. dont let the price fool you, this card is a powerhouse. it wont give you ingame performance as good as a creative audigy2zs card but for 30 bucks its a great card.
also, creative speakers dont use real speaker connections cause they suck balls.
also, creative speakers dont use real speaker connections cause they suck balls.
You speaker jockeys will never learn.
Cans are the way to go.
My Sennheiser HD650's are connected to a HeadRoom BlockHead amp with stepped attenuators, complete with HeadRoom's latest module. You cannot hear truer sound. I too run a ZS as it is the best that I am aware of.
Now I am a bit of an audiophile, and I would not recommend spending thousands on rig unless you really have a pashion for it, hehe.
P.S. Hooking up a rig like mine to a computer game isn't exactly the best idea in the world. When you reach that tier of audio phonic performance, you can really hear just how ugly and unrefined the sounds in a game are lol.
Cans are the way to go.
My Sennheiser HD650's are connected to a HeadRoom BlockHead amp with stepped attenuators, complete with HeadRoom's latest module. You cannot hear truer sound. I too run a ZS as it is the best that I am aware of.
Now I am a bit of an audiophile, and I would not recommend spending thousands on rig unless you really have a pashion for it, hehe.
P.S. Hooking up a rig like mine to a computer game isn't exactly the best idea in the world. When you reach that tier of audio phonic performance, you can really hear just how ugly and unrefined the sounds in a game are lol.
im also an audiophile and i can tell you from a PROPER 2.0 setup your going to get 'surround' sound anyways... just like headphones can do for you a lot cheaper
7.1 is a gimmick, to sell more junk. hell if you NEED a subwoofer because your speakers dont go that low then its junk ;-)
7.1 is a gimmick, to sell more junk. hell if you NEED a subwoofer because your speakers dont go that low then its junk ;-)