So my new motherboard came with a DVD that had this Sound Blaster X-Fi MB3 included.

I haven't installed any games to test Alchemy yet, but I'm considering giving it a try.

However, my first impressions are slightly negative. First of all stuff like SBX Pro Studio ("suite of audio technologies creates unprecedented levels of audio realism, add dynamics and punch to every gunshot, explosion and gaming sound. It includes stunning surround effects, producing an incredibly realistic surround sound experience even from just a pair of stereo headphones.") seems to simply add lots of bass and make sounds louder overall. Luckily you can disable all this. I want it only for Alchemy for EAX in older games. Also, and for a strange reason this is why I dislike it most, it causes the Sound Blaster X-Fi MB3 logo to appear for a seconds or two when the program is loaded when Windows starts. I find it annoying.

Going to download NWN and check EAX out. However, I'm considering uninstalling this and only installing it if I need to play an older game where EAX is important.

Well, I ran NWN and the EAX option indeed becomes enabled after enabling the game in Alchemy.

But I'm not sure I notice much of a difference with it being on or off in the starting area.

What's the best way of checking it out? Some cave or something?

Dude, you just posted what I've already found here in this same thread..

OK, think I'll leave Sound Blaster X-Fi MB3 and Alechemy, till I decide to play an old game with EAX and then see whether it's worth keeping it. The splash screen on Windows startup is an annoyance, but if EAX works properly, I don't really care.

Try Thief 1. I don't know what's the best place to check EAX though.

I don't own it.
From the games I have I know BG uses it (easily seen in caves), and NWN (not sure where to check it).

Anyway, it's Alchemy, which generally is regarded as the best way of emulating EAX, so I think I'll keep it around.

I wasn't finished Phaolo in win10 you need to set the Alchemy unlocker to use win7 compatibility and use as administrator in the properties tab and then it works LOL!

I don't think EAX 3.0/4.0 will make your game *sound* better. EAX only adds effects to certain areas. That's it.

It also allows you to emulate DirectSound, which *can* be an improvement. The only thing I really noticed is that it's simply louder. It's still emulated.

This is really difficult to explain, as it really depends on how much you're paying attention to what you hear, but what I noticed is that the effects depend mainly on the sound card itself.

I tried EAX Prince of Persia Sands of Time with and without a SoundBlaster, and with the on-board sound card, the echo effects inside the cave with the dagger were... I dunno, hollow, cold? Wheras with the Audigy 2 they sounded much richer.

Of course, I made that experience a long time ago, and probably on-board audio has improved a lot, but unless you're using a really good set of speakers with your laptop, AND you have extremely good hearing, trying to get newer versions of Alchemy to work with your sound card is really unnecessary work, in my opinion.

But hey, if you want to, go ahead. I certainly didn't notice any improvement.

If you have a desktop, do yourself a favour and just get a SoundBlaster Z. Spare yourself the headaches.

Yes, my friend, I know the difference: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=thief+deadly+shadows+EAX

Hi!

I'm the author of IndirectSound, and always happy to try and improve it. I'd be curious why you think it's "terrible"; there could be bugs that I'm not aware of. (If you don't want to post here and hijack the current thread you can feel free to email me at indirectsound@gmail.com :)

Thanks for responding. It works for some people (including me) using Windows 10 Pro 64-bit, so there is likely something else wrong. It sounds like it's not a problem, though, because you are happy with Realtek 3D SoundBack :-)

That is correct Jonpol I am also using ALchemy with the Alchemy unlocker tool which helps alot!

Ok, cool. If you ever want to troubleshoot IndirectSound in the future feel free to send me an email. It really helps for people to let me know if they run into problems, because there might be system configurations different from mine or games I don't have that reveal issues I would otherwise never know about.

Use dsoal https://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/65094
This also wraps directsound calls to OpenAL but you have a lot of customisation options.
Here's the config documentation https://github.com/kcat/openal-soft/blob/master/alsoftrc.sample
There's a reverb boost option with which you can adjust the EAX loudness. This is not a complete solution but it's something.