Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 2 - D3D/EAX not selectable

[ThreeDeeJay]

D3D/EAX is selectable with ALchemy (https://i.imgur.com/i2aZznZ.mp4) and in XP:

DSOAL just virtualizes stereo/mono which are the only available audio modes (https://i.imgur.com/dmIAZD1.mp4).
Notice RightMark 3D Sound works with DSOAL in the same folder, I also tried a bunch of older DSOAL versions including the XP fork without luck.
Perhaps DSOAL is just missing something that ALchemy does to expose D3D/EAX compatibility, or maybe I'm just missing something here 🤔

The same happens with the full game, but the free demo is available here: https://archive.org/download/nfshotpurs2/setup_US.exe

[ThreeDeeJay]

In-game footage:
DSOAL: https://i.imgur.com/pYyfCrX.mp4 - https://i.imgur.com/9LwIiwJ.mp4 - https://i.imgur.com/znaUKCU.mp4
ALchemy: https://i.imgur.com/RDy8xsr.mp4 - https://youtu.be/DqVuxQ-3F9U?t=4

[Kappa971]

On Windows 10/11 you need to add the following registry keys: CURRENT_USER.-.Add.dsound.zip
It is explained here: https://www.indirectsound.com/registryIssues.html

See if this solves the issue.

[ThreeDeeJay]

@Kappa971 I had already done that, but merged that registry key anyway. Still no luck.
Also ALchemy uses dsound.dll and it worked fine.
But who knows, lemme know if you get different results on your end.

[kcat]

I see the behavior with the demo. I'm not sure why though, nothing in the log seems out of the ordinary. No warns, fixmes, or errs. I see it create a device, call GetCaps, create a primary buffer with CTRL3D, and a secondary buffer with GLOBALFOCUS | CTRL3D | LOCHARDWARE, then gets the IID_IKsPropertySet interface from the secondary buffer and queries DSPROPSETID_EAX10_ListenerProperties on it, which succeeds. It then closes the device, opens a new one, and starts playing a stream. In the audio options, I can only switch between mono and stereo. I can only guess that something returned by GetCaps causes it to avoid EAX even though the query passes.

[ThreeDeeJay]

@kcat The ALchemy dsoundlog.txt doesn't seem helpful either, tho that Native Device not default line is rare in my experience, wonder if it means anything relevant. Is there even any documentation on ALchemy log errors and their meaning?

Native Device not default

Using Creative Software 3D Library
Native Device not default
Native Device not default
Native Device not default

My X-Fi sound card is the default playback device, otherwise ALchemy would refuse to initialize and log something like this when I switch to my onboard Realtek audio:

Failed to initializeCreative Software 3D Library
DirectSoundCreate : Failed to initialize Creative ALchemy, falling back to dsound.dll

[Kappa971]

It appears that ALchemy refuses to use the hardware acceleration of your X-Fi and uses internal emulation instead, or at least that's what it sounds like.

Anyway, as soon as possible, I will try DSOAL with this game to see if I get the same result too.

[Kappa971]

I confirm that EAX is not detected. In the log file, EAX is referenced only in this line:
13fc:trace:dsound:DSBufferProp_QuerySupport (12AB9FBC)->(DSPROPSETID_EAX10_ListenerProperties, 0x0, 0019FCC4)
I doubt this game only uses EAX 1.0 as it came out in 2002.

This would be the second game where, with DSOAL, EAX is not working. The other game is Far Cry (where EAX is oddly programmed), although in the menu it allows you to select it in any case. However it may be a game problem and not a DSOAL bug (as is assumed for Far Cry).

[kcat]

I tested making the DSPROPSETID_EAX10_ListenerProperties check fail, thinking perhaps it's supposed to fail for devices that have newer EAX versions which would cause it to test and use a later EAX version, but it doesn't change anything. I tried clearing the dwUnlockTransferRateHwBuffers value from the device caps, but nothing changed. The only other things I can think of is the device caps need more particular values, which unfortunately I can't use ALchemy to see what it would return for the call, or maybe it depends on specific device names, which DSOAL would be pretty limited in dealing with.

[Kappa971]

or maybe it depends on specific device names, which DSOAL would be pretty limited in dealing with.

This would mean that the game would not recognize the various Sound Blaster X-Fi models, as they were released after 2002. The latest patch came out in 2003, the first X-Fi models came out in 2005.

This could also explain why @ThreeDeeJay is unable to use the native device with ALchemy and his X-Fi (hardware accelerated EAX), and ALchemy's software emulation somehow deceives the game (perhaps by making the game believe that you are using an Audigy card).

But maybe I'm just saying a lot of nonsense.

[kcat]

This would mean that the game would not recognize the various Sound Blaster X-Fi models, as they were released after 2002. The latest patch came out in 2003, the first X-Fi models came out in 2005.

Depends on what exactly it's looking for. It might simply be searching for "Sound Blaster" at the start of the device name or as a substring. It's just a guess though, that may not be what it's doing.

[Kappa971]

Depends on what exactly it's looking for. It might simply be searching for "Sound Blaster" at the start of the device name or as a substring. It's just a guess though, that may not be what it's doing.

If so, it should have worked for me as I have a Sound Blaster Z (as well as @ThreeDeeJay), or does it have nothing to do with it?

EDIT
Maybe it reads "OpenAL Soft on" at the start of the device name...

[kcat]

Maybe it reads "OpenAL Soft on" at the start of the device name...

It doesn't use the device names enumerated by OpenAL, it provides the names as Windows has them. So it if works for you with ALchemy but not with DSOAL on the same device, I guess that's not it.

[ThreeDeeJay]

I just found out about ALchemy's secret debug mode, which unlocks more verbose logging.
Here's what I got from running NFSHP2, selecting D3D/EAX and then closing:

==================

Windows 6.2
4.008GHz Processor

DirectSoundCreate

Using Native OpenAL Renderer
DirectSound[0]::SetCooperativeLevel to PRIORITY
DirectSound[0]::GetCaps
DirectSound[0]::CreateSoundBuffer[0] - Flags :DSBCAPS_PRIMARYBUFFER DSBCAPS_CTRL3D Size is 0 bytes
DirectSound[0]::CreateSoundBuffer[1] - Flags :DSBCAPS_CTRL3D DSBCAPS_GLOBALFOCUS DSBCAPS_LOCHARDWARE 16Bit, 11025Hz, 1 Channel(s), Size is 128 bytes
DirectSound[0]::Release - Destroyed Object
DirectSound[0]::Deleting Object
Shutting down OpenAL
Closed OpenAL
DirectSoundCreate
DirectSound[0]::SetCooperativeLevel to PRIORITY
DirectSound[0]::CreateSoundBuffer[0] - Flags :DSBCAPS_PRIMARYBUFFER Size is 0 bytes
DirectSound[0]::CreateSoundBuffer[1] - Flags :DSBCAPS_GETCURRENTPOSITION2 DSBCAPS_GLOBALFOCUS 16Bit, 48000Hz, 2 Channel(s), Size is 76800 bytes
DirectSound[0]::Release - Destroyed Object
DirectSound[0]::Deleting Object
Shutting down OpenAL
Closed OpenAL
DirectSoundCreate
DirectSound[0]::SetCooperativeLevel to PRIORITY
DirectSound[0]::CreateSoundBuffer[0] - Flags :DSBCAPS_PRIMARYBUFFER Size is 0 bytes
DirectSound[0]::CreateSoundBuffer[1] - Flags :DSBCAPS_GETCURRENTPOSITION2 DSBCAPS_GLOBALFOCUS 16Bit, 48000Hz, 1 Channel(s), Size is 38400 bytes
DirectSound[0]::Release - Destroyed Object
DirectSound[0]::Deleting Object
Shutting down OpenAL
Closed OpenAL
DirectSoundCreate
DirectSound[0]::SetCooperativeLevel to PRIORITY
DirectSound[0]::CreateSoundBuffer[0] - Flags :DSBCAPS_PRIMARYBUFFER DSBCAPS_CTRL3D Size is 0 bytes
DirectSound[0]::CreateSoundBuffer[1] - Flags :DSBCAPS_CTRL3D DSBCAPS_GLOBALFOCUS DSBCAPS_LOCHARDWARE 16Bit, 11025Hz, 1 Channel(s), Size is 128 bytes
DirectSound[0]::CreateSoundBuffer[2] - Flags :DSBCAPS_CTRL3D DSBCAPS_GETCURRENTPOSITION2 DSBCAPS_GLOBALFOCUS DSBCAPS_LOCHARDWARE 16Bit, 48000Hz, 1 Channel(s), Size is 38400 bytes
DirectSound[0]::CreateSoundBuffer[3] - Flags :DSBCAPS_CTRL3D DSBCAPS_GETCURRENTPOSITION2 DSBCAPS_GLOBALFOCUS DSBCAPS_LOCHARDWARE 16Bit, 48000Hz, 1 Channel(s), Size is 38400 bytes
DirectSound[0]::CreateSoundBuffer[4] - Flags :DSBCAPS_CTRL3D DSBCAPS_GETCURRENTPOSITION2 DSBCAPS_GLOBALFOCUS DSBCAPS_LOCHARDWARE 16Bit, 48000Hz, 1 Channel(s), Size is 38400 bytes
DirectSound[0]::CreateSoundBuffer[5] - Flags :DSBCAPS_CTRL3D DSBCAPS_GETCURRENTPOSITION2 DSBCAPS_GLOBALFOCUS DSBCAPS_LOCHARDWARE 16Bit, 48000Hz, 1 Channel(s), Size is 38400 bytes
DirectSound[0]::CreateSoundBuffer[6] - Flags :DSBCAPS_CTRL3D DSBCAPS_CTRLFREQUENCY DSBCAPS_CTRLVOLUME DSBCAPS_GLOBALFOCUS DSBCAPS_LOCDEFER 16Bit, 22050Hz, 1 Channel(s), Size is 21242 bytes
DirectSound[0]::CreateSoundBuffer[7] - Flags :DSBCAPS_CTRL3D DSBCAPS_CTRLFREQUENCY DSBCAPS_CTRLVOLUME DSBCAPS_GLOBALFOCUS DSBCAPS_LOCDEFER 16Bit, 22050Hz, 1 Channel(s), Size is 136416 bytes
DirectSound[0]::CreateSoundBuffer[8] - Flags :DSBCAPS_CTRL3D DSBCAPS_CTRLFREQUENCY DSBCAPS_CTRLVOLUME DSBCAPS_GLOBALFOCUS DSBCAPS_LOCDEFER 16Bit, 22050Hz, 1 Channel(s), Size is 132462 bytes
DirectSound[0]::CreateSoundBuffer[9] - Flags :DSBCAPS_CTRL3D DSBCAPS_CTRLFREQUENCY DSBCAPS_CTRLVOLUME DSBCAPS_GLOBALFOCUS DSBCAPS_LOCDEFER 16Bit, 22050Hz, 1 Channel(s), Size is 87924 bytes
DirectSound[0]::CreateSoundBuffer[10] - Flags :DSBCAPS_CTRL3D DSBCAPS_CTRLFREQUENCY DSBCAPS_CTRLVOLUME DSBCAPS_GLOBALFOCUS DSBCAPS_LOCDEFER 16Bit, 44100Hz, 1 Channel(s), Size is 20150 bytes
DirectSound[0]::GetCaps
DirectSound[0]::DuplicateSoundBuffer[11][From 6]
DirectSound[0]::DuplicateSoundBuffer[12][From 8]
DirectSound[0]::Release - Destroyed Object
DirectSound[0]::Deleting Object
Shutting down OpenAL
Closed OpenAL

Not sure if this info's already known, but I used Creative ALchemy Universal with my onboard Realtek sound card, yet the game still displayed the D3D/EAX option so I guess that means ALchemy is solely responsible for enabling that option on modern systems.
That said, the device name is still relevant when initializing ALchemy in the first place, unless of course it wasn't patched like in ALchemy Universal to allow non-Creative sound cards to use it.

[kcat]

That unfortunately doesn't provide any more clues. I see the same behavior... create a device, call GetCaps, create primary and secondary 3D buffers, then closes the device (presumably it also queries EAX there which isn't logged). Then opens the device for playback using a simple stereo stream. Unless there's some other secret that I'm missing, the issue has to be with whatever GetCaps is returning not matching what the game wants. Either that, or the DSPROPERTY_EAX10LISTENER_ALL query shouldn't return KSPROPERTY_SUPPORT_GET | KSPROPERTY_SUPPORT_SET, but that wouldn't make much sense to do.