Windows 7 - Direct3D support or still OpenAL?

[darkguset]

Like the topic says, will it change from Vista back to DS3D support or still support OpenAL?
I understad that most of the code is based on the Vista model so it will probably go for the OpenAL, but it is such a same for everyone to just drop DS3D support. They could at least make it optional somehow...

 

[Ares_]

OpenAl. There is no need for DS3d anymore, even with my X-Fi elite pro i do not miss it. Not only are all calls now translated to OpenAl, but new games support their own scheme. This has allowed new, and better, sound cards to come along (like the Asus ones). Additionally, moving the code the way they did, it is now impossible for my x-fi to bring down the system, something creative is famous for.

Long live the new driver model.

 

[darkguset]

OpenAl. There is no need for DS3d anymore, even with my X-Fi elite pro i do not miss it. Not only are all calls now translated to OpenAl, but new games support their own scheme. This has allowed new, and better, sound cards to come along (like the Asus ones). Additionally, moving the code the way they did, it is now impossible for my x-fi to bring down the system, something creative is famous for.

Long live the new driver model.

Well i guess missing a few fps here and there is not big deal now with super CPUs and multiple cores. It looks like Sound Cards might be completely replaced by the CPU in the future since OpenAL is just software calls. THey could rather easily implemend a core on the CPU that handles software calls for OpenAL. I agree that the system should be more stable BUT, they saved Windows from crashing from DS3D calls and in Vista they introduced another 500 different ways of crashing or freezing the OS! That looks like they scored one goal and the other team scored 500! Great move Microsoft! Surprisingly i almost never had major issues with Creatives' products and i have had a lot for over 10 years now. Same thing with WinME! Most of my friends and people i know claim that WinME had been ****, I on the opposite have had a great experience and not one BSOD. It must have been my hardware and OS configurations i guess..
Anyway, i think still DS3D should be at least optional in Vista.

 

[Ares_]

Windows ME was terrible, although it never BSODed for me either. I got in a routine with my AMD thunder bird 1.2 to reinstall every month. I replaced so many parts in that thing thinking something was faulty, but it was never fixed until i installed xp on it. Now it is rocking 640mb of ram and a Geforce 6200 with an old Creative Audigy 1 that i literally found in a garbage. sadly, Me is still the best DOS system...

Back on topic, i do not think you are losing FPS or introducing new problems; nevertheless, i guess a Q6600 @3.0 is not a great test bed for that type of thing.

 

[Zoron]

Audio codecs (integrated audio) = software. Anyone using integrated audio isn't getting hardware accelerated audio anyway. I used to love Creative sound cards... but after my previous build had nothing but issues (the infamous VIA chipset bug)... I started using integrated audio. I really wanted to upgrade to a Xi-Fi for my new build, but couldn't justify the extra money on something that may or may not have worked for me.

OpenAL is also hardware accelerated... but only if your hardware supports it. (Much like OpenGL). Since sound codec chips are strictly a software solution to begin with... then quite obviously whether you use OpenAL or DS3D makes no difference. I really haven't noticed any performance issues so far and my sound quality doesn't seem to have suffered... so I just may continue to use integrated audio. (Unless Creative comes up with something truly revolutionary...)

 

[Ares_]

There is no gaming sound card anymore, but my X-Fi (although no hardware acceleration) is easily justifiable for music. Compared to the Realtek 888 or my zune, it blows both of them away.

 

[Zoron]

I thought the whole point of the Xi-Fi was hardware acceleration? If you're not getting that, then to me that does seem a waste of money.

Edit: Just as I thought... a quick browse of the Sound Blaster website proves that Xi-Fi does indeed have hardware acceleration of OpenAL... but only under Vista. I would think that this will carry over to Windows 7 as well. Host-based audio processing is a fallback. All I can say is that is a very good thing.... because I can't justify spending more than $50 or $100 on a sound card that won't provide any hardware acceleration.

 

[Ares_]

When i got my Elite pro it was essentially for $30 new. I know there are better cards for music, but for $30 there was nothing that had a S/N ratio of 119 and nothing else that could make my music sound good while also being a decent recorder for music when someone needs a quick recording job.

I guess i am biased because i payed very little for it, and the rest of my system is not very good. (Amp is a Denon DRA-245R, Headphones are AKG 240s and Denon C551ks, and speakers are Marantz Sp1000s). Therefore, i do not care about losing hardware acceleration.