Ahoy,

before i bought this game i wanted to find out if it supports surround sound(5.1, 7.1, ...)
and on this site it states that it does not
www.pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/Blade_Runner#Audio_settings


I bought the game anyways because my AVR does have ProLogic2+Heights built in to enhance stereo source, which does a damn fine job if needed.

Well, no need to use PL2 because actually the game does use at least 5.1 multi channel surround sound!
Its working, although a little bit clumsy sometimes (-example: when turning on a TV or talking to people, depending on where they are located on the screen it is a little too loud on either left or right side and not loud enough in the middle speaker)

Can anyone else confirm the use of surround sound? Preferably some1 who also uses surround speakers, please.

Or maybe scummVM has anything to do with that? Like a built in sound upmixer setting or something which could explain the little issue i described?

btw, thanks for the game GOG!

The reference note in the pcgamingwiki page links to a post of mine on the ScummVM forums.
https://forums.scummvm.org/viewtopic.php?p=87877#p87877

So yeah. Not proper surround but, there is code, at least in the ScummVM Blade Runner engine, for emulating speech sound coming from where an actor is at on the screen. I know that a fellow ScummVM developer worked on this (peterkohaut) and he could potentially provide a lot more technical info.

As noted, there are some known issues with this; I am aware of stuff like TV sound not coming from the proper "direction" and I'll be working for a fix for it at some point.

Please, if you are aware of other specific glitches, or even listing the ones you've mentioned above in more detail (which screen, which dialogie, which actors etc ) that would help a lot.

Ok, i have written down some examples that i witnessed but i am not far into the game right now. Gonna look out for more while playing on.
Just to be clear, i also tested with normal Stereo output without a possibility of my AVR interfering and its the same problem on specific sounds.

L= too dominant on the left speakers
R= too dominant on the right speakers

PoliceHQ: Elevator Voice(hover mousepointer over button) L
Floor#2 - Radio(orTV?) newscast L
Maincomputer+Esper voice R

MCCOYS Apartment: Bedroom TV R

some examples where its working better:

no problems in cutscenes!

In the beginning in Runciters AnimalShop- Talking to Mr Ranciter is a good way to see/hear how
sound positioning works actually because he moves around in the shop while
talking sometimes. sounds good actualy...

HysteriaHall, CrazyLegsLarrys- First time entering the building
CLL talks while being far left, when CLL rolls to the center of the screen voice shifting from left to middle
speakers....NICE!

MCCoys Inner Monolouges are very balanced on all speakers, mostly on the center speaker wich is a good
thing, no problem here.

i made a little illustration picture on how i feel the game handles the sound positioning depending on where the sound object is located.
The center speaker just doesnt get enough attention, if at all sometimes. Maybe the Transition is too small.

so the sound coming from the rear speakers is just upmixed by scummVM ?

the original game manual mentions the use of Microsoft DirectSound btw,
but i didnt find any directsound data in the game folder or a way to start the game without scummVM in this GOG release.