5.1 3D Sound rear speaker and other issues in games (OpenAL related)

[Cold0ne]

I have the same problem in a number of games, mostly games which use the OpenAL sound system (Call of Duty 5), but other older games too such as Deus Ex which just uses "Hardware 3D" option (so I'm not sure what type its using exactly, EAX, OpenAL, etc), but here is the issue:

-Sounds which are supposed to come from the player's perspective like gunshots, footsteps, grunting sounds, come from the rear speakers only in my 5.1 setup
-All environmental audio like gunshots from enemies around me come from the correct 3D position (front, then right front, then right rear, etc as i turn).
-The speech or conversations in Deus Ex all come from the front speakers only, even when turning away from someone talking it will continue to play in the front speakers and get quieter as you walk away

The conversation issue isnt really noticable in a game like Call of Duty which dont have any in-game conversations (only 3rd person view cutscenes) but I'll bet it would do the same thing as Deus Ex. There were a few other games which have this issue, all of them using openAL, but I cannot recall their exact titles right now, besides Call of Juarez which gives you an option to switch between DirectX sound and OpenAL, thankfully. OpenAL has the same issue of my gunshot sounds coming from behind me.

All I know is games using pure EAX or Direct3D surround sound work perfectly, where all conversations, sounds, everything comes positionally from around me as I turn. Also the gunshots and such come mostly from in front, you might hear a tiny bit of the blasts from behind as well (as you might hear in real life). I dont think anyone who created OpenAL decided "hey wouldnt it be cool if we made the sound of gunshots come from behind the player?"... that doesnt make much sense to me. So I think it is some kind of error or driver issue. I wonder if anyone else has noticed this in certain games, and if they think it is an error or the way it was actually designed to be?

My setup is:
-Auzentech X-Fi Prelude 7.1 on digital spdif coax output to my home theater system which is 5.1 Sony (I have PC hooked up to HDTV in living room)
-Latest drivers from Auzentech
-Latest OpenAL installed/updated
-Auzentech drivers have EAX 4 included

Anyhow, I cant help noticing these sound issues and it breaks my immersion into a game. I personally wish no games used OpenAL, isnt it a cheap substitute for game designers who dont really want to program a proper EAX sound system? Just import OpenAL into the game?

I hope someone has a solution, currently Im not really enjoying any games which use OpenAL 3D sound only.

[RockmasteR]

Hello and welcome to TSF,

you should change you speakers settings, to do that:

Control Panel (Classic View) -> Sounds and Audio Devices
under Speaker settings choose "Advanced"
under speaker setup, choose the settings that you have
(eg: if you have a 5.1 sound card, choose 5.1 surround, if you have only 2 speakers, choose "Desktop Stereo Speakers", etc...)

[Cold0ne]

Umm, maybe you didnt get what I was describing, although I did explain it in pretty good detail. This has nothing to do with stereo or 5.1 speaker settings (I do have my speakers set to 5.1 in windows and consequently in my soundcard's control panel settings), this has to do with the behavior of the 3D sounds in 5.1 surround sound mode. Changing it to stereo is by no means a "fix" to this issue.

I hope someone has experienced the specific issue I am speaking of, and might know a solution. There have been a few cases online Ive found where people describe the same exact issue on various game forums, but no one has replied a fix so far.

[Cold0ne]

*bump*

[Mcninjaguy]

@coldone
Have you checked the sound options in the game's menu?