Creative “Offer” ALchemy Refunds For Audigy Owners!

I really couldn’t believe this post on the Creative user forums. It looks as if Audigy owners may finally be getting heard. It’s called an “offer”. It’s as close to an apology as we are going to get I’m afraid.

Hello Soundblaster forum users,

I have an update for ALchemy for Audigy users. The same rules Cat mentioned apply, keep the discussion constructive and in the Feedback Thread please.

_______________

Creative has reviewed the discussions concerning ALchemy for Audigy on this forum and others. A new free version of the ALchemy application for Audigy owners will be released in the week of May 19th. Audigy owners that have already purchased ALchemy are being offered a refund of the purchase price of $9.99. To request a refund, please visit here. Complete the email form specifying the email address you used to purchase ALchemy For Audigy. The refund will be made to the credit card that was used for the original purchase. Please allow 30 days for the refund to take place. This offer is valid until 30th June.

The ALchemy application is being provided independent of the drivers, as it is not a driver. The new version of the application works with both X-Fi and Audigy products, and we have added additional updates relating to some popular games that behave differently on the X-Fi chipset as compared to the Audigy chipset. We would suggest you download the latest version from CREATIVE.COM when it becomes available.

Thank You.
The Soundblaster Team.

Forum Moderator
Creative Labs

So there we have it. If you purchased Alchemy from the Creative online store you are entitled to a full refund. You need to do it fast, because the “offer” ends 30th June 2008.

I personally welcome this move. Customers shouldn’t have to buy their features back simply because a new operating system arrives. I refuse to be persuaded in to buying an X-Fi until I see a company worth buying from. I don’t understand why the “offer” can’t last longer either.

I was sold my Audigy cards based on their high end features and luxurious glossy advertisements. Maybe they should have government health style warnings that state “the support is only valid for 90 days and is usually automated”.

Yes, I welcome the move -it’s a step in the right direction.
Shame they can’t “offer” working official drivers yet.

 

“Most people downloaded ALchemy Universal anyway”.

X-Fi Vista Support Pack v2.15.0004 Driver SBXF_VTDRV_LB_2_15_0004A

Quite a few people have contacted me asking about the Sound Blaster X-Fi Vista Support Pack v2.15.0004. The SBXF_VTDRV_LB_2_15_0004A driver seems to have vanished from the internet without trace. I know you X-Fi noobs are eager to get your hands on them, and maybe if I post it - you’ll stop asking.

Big thanks virtualex for the heads up, and daniel_k for the fixes.

< Compiled on Feb 13 2008 by Daniel Kawakami >

Supports both 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Vista (including Service Pack 1)

Supports all X-Fi cards with a Hardware CA20K DSP chipset (OEM / Retail models)

Does NOT support the following OEM / Retail models:

- Host / software-based cards including X-Fi Xtreme Audio PCI and PCI-E
- any external X-Fi soundcards

This setup program will install the following items:

- Audigy series driver 2.15.0004.4
- APO Interface Module 1.30.00
- Audio Console 2.50.10
- MediaSource DVD-Audio Player 2.00.76
- SoundFont Bank Manager 3.20.20

Exclusive features in this unofficial driver:

- Dolby/DTS decoder (working on 32-bit/64-bit, requires Windows Vista Service Pack 1)
- DVD Audio (32-bit only)
- Hardware MIDI synthesizer (includes 2Mb, 4Mb and 8Mb SoundFont banks)

Release notes / Known issues:

- Windows Security warning during driver installation
When prompted with “Windows can’t verify the publisher of this driver software”, choose “Install this driver software anyway”.

- WaveRT Pull Mode enabled by default
Does not seem to cause any problems, but if you ever need to disable it, follow these steps:

• run the Registry Editor (Regedit) and open the following registry tree:
  HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class
• Select Search (or press the F3 key) and type EnableWaveRTPullMode, deleting the value when found.
• Restart the computer. Restart the computer.

For more information on WaveRT, access:
http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/devi [...] tport.mspx [...] Http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/devi tport.mspx

- MediaSource DVD-Audio Player does not support the 64-bit edition of Windows Vista

- Built-in Decoder (Built-in Decoder (requires Windows Vista Service Pack 1)
To use the built-in decoder, make sure it is enabled in Audio Console.

Select “SPDIF Out (Creative SB Audigy (WDM))” as the output device of Select “SPDIF Out (Creative SB Audigy (WDM))” as the output device of your player and then configure the AC3/DTS filter to send the stream through SPDIF.
When you restart your computer, the Tone settings (Bass and Treble) may not be applied. Just readjust one of the controls one time per boot.

- Windows Vista MIDI Device Configuration Utility
Use this utility to change the MIDI playback device for 32-bit and 64-bit applications.
The driver installer automatically selects the first hardware MIDI synthesizer found.

All files are property of Creative Labs, Inc.

Copyright (c) 2007 Creative Technology Ltd. All rights reserved.

Download
Mirror 1 (Rapidshare) - SBXF_VTDRV_LB_2_15_0004A -38.3 MB (40,230,029 bytes)
Mirror 2 (MediaFire) - SBXF_VTDRV_LB_2_15_0004A -38.3 MB (40,230,029 bytes)

Daniel Kawakami Says Goodbye

Daniel Kawakami has posted a farewell to the Creative Labs community. In his post on the Creative Labs Forums, he elaborates further on the purposely disabled driver features.

daniel_k Super Contributor My goodbye message to all supporters with some clarification and my legacy Unfortunately, the situation did not change for us.They did say an updated Audigy driver would eventually be released, but don’t be optimistic about it (their priority is the launch of X-Fi 2).What I can say for sure is the features I’ve enabled will not be made available in an official driver update.Although I still have my doubts, they’ve said I would not be threatened if I provided patches instead of the actual binaries, because of licensed technologies built into them (Dolby/DTS).While this could even be true, most of the disabled features are Creative’s own technologies, which means they’ve disabled them on their own choice.That’s funny when people think you are an idiot.They were after me and, on a chat session, they asked me what I’d like from them, as if I were expecting something.They’ve promised me a free X-Fi 2, but I told them it was not necessary, because I was getting a couple of cards from other companies that contacted me. Well, at least they are getting flammed all over the web and they are certainly mad about it and I could feel it while chatting with them. That is an enough reward for my hard work. I’m not releasing a patch to enable DDL on any X-Fi neither Crystalizer for Audigy because, as they’ve pointed out to me, providing an alternative for their customers is good for them and increase their sales, specially when someone is doing it for free. Given the current situation, I cannot let this happen. I just hope their competitor companies do something about it. And I really hope people don’t forget this. Thank you very much for your support and your donations. Best regards, Daniel Kawakami Below are the links for my drivers, beware where you download them from, I’ll add CRC32, MD5 and SHA-1 hashes to all files: SB Audigy series Vista Support Pack v2.15.0004EQ with Equalizer (02/24/2008)SB Live! series Vista Support Pack 2.10.0001A (03/07/2008) Gameport support pack for Vista 32-bit (x86), updated on 02/01/2008 SB Audigy Value/SE/LS & Live! 24-bit Windows Vista Pack 1.04.0077B (02/06/2008) SB X-Fi Xtreme Audio Windows Vista Pack 1.04.0078A (02/06/2008) There are people asking my PayPal account (dkbox2000@hotmail.com), so I’ll leave this link. Thanks again.

I really felt sad as I was reading through it. Daniel has helped thousands of people world-wide. Then I reached “I just hope their competitor companies do something about it” part. Now that part sounds promising.

A sad day indeed. We’re on our own now guys.

To be continued…

“We Need You daniel_K”.

Xpert Vision ATi HD 3850 PCI-E Graphics Card Review

Official Product Website:  http://www.xpertvision.com/

My old graphics card just wasn’t coming up with the frame rates it used to. I’m becoming increasingly more addicted to games such as Team Fortress 2. My battle-hardened Geforce 6800 was pretty good in most games surprisingly - but there were signs of trouble. In some certain games (my son’s Marvell Ultimate Alliance particularly) the GPU just couldn’t handle the extra shadows, geometry and particles.

So I browsed my local e-tailers for something to put a smile back on my gaming family’s face. I was torn between ATi HD 2900Pro or the mighty new ATi HD 3850. I found a nice cheap 3850 (with 256mb) on Overclockers.co.uk for less than £100 with tax and delivery!

Click the pictures to see higher resolution images.

The Xpert Vision HD3850 box. It’s kind of Terminator-like to say the least.

The contents of the box include PCI-E Graphics card, multi-language quick-start guide, 2 molex –> PCI-E power lead, Tomb Raider Anniversary game disc and driver disc.

The actual PCB looks quite dated, in fairness. This image reveals a standard heat-sink and fan, 6 pin power input. Nothing unusual there. I have to admit I was quite gutted when I didn’t see a lovely red plastic flame exhaust thing. Oh well it was really cheap and it might be quite good. Though if you look closely you’ll see a VGA output, a Dual-Link DVI output and what’s this? A HDMI socket, not a DVI to HDMI adapter - a real proper HDMI socket!

Ok fancy some technical guff? Here’s the specifications while I plug it in and test it.

• Bus interface: PCI Express® 2.0
• Memory Support: 256MB GDDR3
• Memory Interface: 256 bit
• Memory Clock: 1656 MHz (828 MHz x 2)
• Core Clock: 668 MHz
• RAMDACs: 400 MHz
• Full Microsoft® DirectX® 10.1 Shader Model 4.1 support
• Dual-link DVI output supports 2560×1600 resolution display
• Superscalar unified shader architecture
• 320 stream processing units
• 128-bit floating point precision for all operations
• Dynamic Geometry Acceleration
• ATI CrossFireX™ Multi-GPU Technology
• ATI Avivo™ HD video and display technology
• HD audio controller with multi-channel (5.1) AC3 support
• Native HDMI
• Built for Microsoft® Windows Vista™

After playing a couple of games I can comfortably say that this card is probably more than enough power for most gamers. I’ve not had a single gaming, driver, hardware issue with it. It may not have enough video memory to play Crysis at 2560×1600 with full details and Anti-aliasing, but for under £100 it is an amazing buy.

I suspect you could probably run Team Fortress 2 in high definition though -with 4x Anti-aliasing and full 16x Anisotropic filtering. I can’t remember the last time I bought a graphics card for under £100 that was any good. It does actually run Crysis fine with medium and high settings mixed. You can forget Anti-aliasing sadly though. Still looks great though and plays smooth so no real problem in reality.

We also tried NFS: Pro-Street, Unreal Tournament 3, Call of Duty 2, Call of Duty 4, Guild Wars, Counter Strike:Source, Disney Pixar’s Cars, Spider-Man: Friend or Foe, Assassin’s Creed, Sonic Riders, Half Life 2 series and they all worked flawlessly. Fast frame rates and Superior image quality. Some game engines really allowed me apply insane amounts of detail with no performance loss at all.

The video power was far superior to my previous Purevideo offering. ATi offer motion picture acceleration on most video files unlike my old nVidia’s Purevideo’s WMV and DVD support. AVI formats like DivX and Xvid through hardware acceleration is noticeably better. No scaling bugs either (nVidia please note this).

The fan is not loud, even under stress. The card only fills one expansion slot, yet the bracket is a double. A little strange - but I suppose it prevents overheating. Just think of it as bit of surplus metal for free!

It drains very little power too. There’s not much heat coming from it either. I guess you can figure it has good overclocking possibilities, right?

I just cannot stress how happy we are with our purchase. We love it here, and it’s getting plenty of use! I just had to share the gossip, otherwise I wouldn’t sleep tonight. Welcome to the goat herd, ATi and Xpert Vision!

Performance:

Price Rating:

Features:

Pros
Xpert Vision HD3850 is a really Über-great value and well built graphic’s card.
You get a top title game (Yes, even if it’s Tomb Raider and not Orange Box).
You get native HDMI support which is quite nice to see.
It’s great for home theater. Quiet cooling.
 

Cons
It’s not really very pretty. Maybe think twice if you have a chassis with a window.
People might think you own a Radeon 9800Pro.
256mb of GDDR3 is fast, but may not be enough for future games. 512mb versions are available though.

“It’s cheap & very cheerful.”

GG Xpert Vision for a good budget product.
GG Overclockers.co.uk for the excellent service, as always.

More Creative Fun!

Ok I just found some more hilarity. Creative labs decided to comment on recent events. Still no official word from Phil O’Shaugnessy, the man who launched a thousand ships.

Dale-CL
Moderator
Posts: 2400
Registered: 07-13-2006
We have read the strong feedback about Creative’s forum post regarding driver development by Daniel_k and other outside parties. Creative’s message posted on our behalf by our Company spokesperson tried to address our concern about the improper distribution of certain software which is the property of other companies. However, we did not make it as clear as we would have liked that we do support driver development by independent third parties. The huge task of developing driver updates to accommodate the many changes in the Vista operating system and the extensive testing required, including the lengthy Vista certification requirements for audio, makes it very difficult for Creative to develop updates for all past products. Outside developers have been very helpful to Creative and our customers by developing updates for many of our Sound Blaster products, and we do support and appreciate these efforts. This however does not extend to the unauthorized distribution of other companies’ property. We hope to work out a mutually agreeable method for working with Daniel_k in supporting his efforts in driver development. Going forward, we are committed to doing a better job of working more closely with third parties to support their development for our products and our customers.

Amid calls for Phil O’Shaugnessy’s resignation, the typical response of Creative fan-base can be seen here. The images speak for themselves really. So I’ll leave it here and go do some real work.

 

 

Creative Get Slaughtered On Cafepress

I’ve just found this really interesting selection of products. A user on the Creative Labs support(?) forum saw this on cafepress. Drivers not working? Not allowed to donate to daniel_k? The solution could be a nice cuppa, from your Creative Sucks mug. Failing that, check out the T-shirts.

Daniel Kawakami Speaks On Wired

For those who missed it, I thought I’d post the interview with daniel_k at Wired.com. It’s a really great insight into the Creative Labs company. He’s a hero, so I guess we know what that makes Creative…

ALchemy

It all started when Creative released the first beta of ALchemy for X-Fi cards, saying it used X-Fi’s advanced capabilities (EAX5).

After some investigation, I’ve found an EAX5.0 check and patched it… and it worked!

Sometime later, they released the final version of ALchemy X-Fi and the paid version of ALchemy Audigy.

I was realy mad at them, they didn’t release a new Audigy driver and were charging Audigy owners for a software that runs on top of bugged drivers? What is the point of that?

Then I modified the X-Fi “free” version of ALchemy, not the paid version.

I did the same with the later versions, but when they released the 1.00.11, I couldn’t patch it anymore.

So I bought it, just for the sake of it.

Well, I did manage to patch the latest version of ALchemy X-Fi to run on any card, without even removing Safecast, but I’m done with that.

The Audigy drivers

They took several days, countless Vista reinstalls.

Creative purposedly modified the Audigy drivers to disable some features when Vista is detected and also purposedly introduced some bugs to prevent some XP utilities from running.

I did a complete analysis of the driver to determine where all the checks and bugs were introduced and started modding.
Features that I’ve successfully enabled:

- Dolby/DTS decoding (originally discovered by another Creative forum member, but I’ve explained how to use it)
- CMSS, CMSS2 and Stereo Surround (originally only “CMSS” was available, this setting also affects ALchemy/OpenAL, so it is really useful)
- Advanced EQ and Special FX presets
- DVD Audio
- Hardware MIDI synthetizer (I wrote a small utility that automatically detects and changes the default Vista MIDI Synth during driver install or can change it later using its GUI. Some media players lets you choose the MIDI synthesizer)
- Equalizer (with preset saving, very hard to accomplish, had to deal with bugs in Creative software and use my creativity to find a workaround).
- WaveRT (a Microsoft replacement for ASIO, however I don’t know if it really works or not)

The Live!/Live! 5.1 drivers

Creative have always released UDA (Unified Driver Architeture) drivers.

They purposedly ruined the Live! support in Vista: 2.1 speakers setting resulted in distorted sound.

After some investigation, I discovered the culprit module and replaced it with one from the last XP version and the problem was fixed.

In the later releases, Bass Management, Equalizer and EAX effects using software processing and Hardware MIDI support were added.

There was also an ALchemy for Live! cards.

The X-Fi drivers

I’ve added the following improvements: Hardware MIDI and WaveRT.

I didn’t have a X-Fi to test, so modding was then limited to these features.
 

The Audigy LS/SE/Value/Live! 24-bit drivers

Officially, they lack Bass Management, Equalizer and EAx effects, once available in XP drivers.

I’ve found that the Audio Center utility (originally from the Vista Audigy Advanced MB drivers) worked just fine with these cards, so I made it available.

Also fixed an annoying bug present in the official drivers that cause the speaker type changing to Full Range speakers on reboot (disabling Bass Management).
 

The X-Fi Xtreme Audio drivers
Have the same speaker type bug. I fixed it.

Gameport support pack for Vista
Allows a limited number of gameport controllers to work on the x86 version of Windows Vista.

What Creative didn’t like

I’ve learned how Creative enables or disables a feature for a specific model.

Alchemy:
My last ALchemy release (1.00.08) was complately unlocked and could be used with any sound device from any vendor.

Audigy cards:
Successfully enabled the software-based X-Fi Crystalizer for use with Audigy cards.

X-Fi:
Got Dolby Digital Live enabled on any X-Fi card. To clarify, I still didn’t manage to enable DDL on Audigy cards.
A friend of mine bought a X-Fi, so I could test it, it really works.
The only current X-Fi based card that supports DDL is the Auzentech Prelude.

The P17 to Xtreme Audio mod
P17 is the codiname for a simple PCI audio controller that powers the Audigy LS/SE/Value, Live! 24-bit and X-Fi Xtreme Audio host-based soundcards.

Completely modded the P17 drivers to transform any Audigy LS/SE/Value and Live! 24-bit into a X-Fi Xtreme Audio (enabling Crystalizer).

Modding is OK

I don’t think there was something wrong with mods themselves.

Modding is a common practice among enthusiasts and I don’t recall some company threatning a modder, unless you allow an exclusive feature to be used with competitor products (ie: SLI on non-NVIDIA chipsers or ALchemy on competitor products, as I’ve said before).

Remember the Promise Ultra to Fasttrak mod? It was even published on a well known review site.
There was also the GeForce to Quadro mod, the NVIDIA nForce 4 to SLI mod, also published on review sites.

What I did wrong

I’ve asked for donations.

Do I really need the money? No, thank God I don’t.

I thought it would be ok to ask for donations so I could buy new hardware to support.

I did buy some hardware: an used Live! 5.1 for ~$15 and a new Audigy SE for $60.

Computer hardware is really expensive here in Brazil.

An X-Fi Xtreme Gamer costs about $240 here, with taxes and shipping, The same card can be bought for ~$80 in the US.

I just can’t spend my money buying new hardware that I won’t even use.

Even the features I’ve enabled, I don’t use.

Later I tried to encourage donations to release the DDL feature for X-Fi and Crystalizer for Audigy.

I said something like “the more people donate, the faster I’ll release”.

This was even worse, but I was so eager to modding that I didn’t think straight. I was hoping to get a X-Fi asap.

While I did ask for donations, once released, the downloads would be public.

I do recognize that I deserve some criticism for that.

To date, I’ve got $146, with amounts ranging from $1 to $50 (this value is still uncleared).

Reversing ALchemy was also wrong, I know. But I reiterate, what is the point of improving ALchemy and changing for it, when it requires an improved driver? It was my protest against Creative.

What Creative did wrong

- They publicly threatened me, just to show their arrogance.
If they had contacted me by e-mail or private message I would do the same thing (remove everything) and no one would know about their insatisfaction.

- Removed everything I posted in the forums, even if unrelated to the “forbidden” stuff.
If they can’t provide better drivers, let people make their own choice.

- They did not recognize my hard work.
I’ve been supporting about every Creative PCI soundcard, would even support USB devices if I had one of them.

To date, the Audigy Vista Support Pack was downloaded about 20,000 times.

The current situation

DDL encoder and Crystalizer were not publicly released.

I’ve deleted the P17 to Xtreme Audio mod and ALchemy from FileFront (where I store the files).

I’ve been told they will allow me to continue with my mods, except the “forbidden” ones.
I’m also allowed to receive donations.

You can download all daniel_k’s files from here!

Sound Blaster Audigy series Vista Support Pack - Feb 24 2008 by Daniel Kawakami

Warning: These drivers and softwares are unofficial, not supported by Creative Labs, Inc.

Use them at your own risk.

Sound Blaster Audigy series Vista Support Pack - Compiled on Friday, April 25, 2008 11:47 AM by Daniel Kawakami

 

Changelog:

* 02/24/2008:

- Finally fixed Speakers and CMSS setting synchronization, so Audio Center was removed.

- Completely uninstall the previous version, including all applications, before installing this one.

* 02/21/2008:

- Under certain circunstances, Speakers and CMSS setting are still not synchronized.

- Now includes the full featured Creative Graphic Equalizer, with Preset saving, see screenshot below.

* 02/19/2008:

- Changed the driver version from v2.15.0004B to v2.15.0004EQ (with Equalizer).

- Windows speaker settings are now synchronized with Audio Console / Speaker Settings speaker configuration.

- Enabling CMSS in Audio Console or EAX Settings now properly activate effects in Creative APO; Stereo focus slider does not work, so Audio Center is still required for that.

- Audigy 2 ZS Notebook is now properly supported / detected by Setup

- Completely uninstall the previous release before installing this one.

Supports both 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Windows Vista (including Service Pack 1).

Supports all Audigy card with a Hardware EMU10K2 DSP chipset (OEM / Retail models):

- Audigy (including ES, MP3+, X-Gamer and Platinum)

- Audigy 2 (including Value, Platinum and Platinum Ex)

- Audigy 2 ZS (including Platinum and Platinum Pro)

- Audigy 4 (including SE and Pro)

- Audigy 2 ZS Notebook (PCMCIA) - Uses software MIDI emulation that does not (currently) work in Vista.

Does NOT support the following OEM / Retail models:

- Host / software-based cards including Audigy LS / SE / Value, Audigy 2 SE, Live! 24-bit)

- any external Audigy soundcards

Integrated setup program to install the following items:

- Audigy series driver 2.15.0004 (the latest X-Fi driver)
- APO Interface Module 1.30.00
- Audio Console 1.20.57 (including Graphic Equalizer)
- EAX Settings 1.10.05

- MediaSource DVD-Audio Player 2.00.76 (32-bit only)
- SoundFont Bank Manager 3.20.20
- Speaker Settings 2.00.60

Exclusive features in this unofficial driver:

- Equalizer

- CMSS and Stereo Surround with Stereo focus control

- Advanced EQ and Special FX available (see notes below)

- Dolby/DTS decoder (working on 32-bit/64-bit, requires Windows Vista Service Pack 1)

- DVD Audio (32-bit only)

- Hardware MIDI synthesizer (includes 2Mb, 4Mb and 8Mb SoundFont banks)

- 4 Gb RAM approved (tested on Intel C2D E6400, Gigabyte 965P-DS3, 4Gb RAM)

Release notes / Known issues:

- Windows Security warning during driver installation

When prompted with “Windows can’t verify the publisher of this driver software”, choose “Install this driver software anyway”.

- MediaSource DVD-Audio Player requires Audigy 2 or better

Do not install if you have the first Audigy model.

The application does not support Windows Vista 64-bit and setup will close with an error message.

- WaveRT Pull Mode enabled by default
Does not seem to cause any problems, but if you ever need to disable it, follow these steps:

- run the Registry Editor (Regedit) and open the following registry tree:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class

- select Search (or press the F3 key) and type EnableWaveRTPullMode, deleting the value when found.

Restart the computer.

For more information on WaveRT, access:
http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/device/audio/wavertport.mspx

- Built-in Decoder (requires Windows Vista Service Pack 1)

To use the built-in decoder, make sure it is enabled in Audio Console.

Select “SPDIF Out (Creative SB Audigy (WDM))” as the output device of
your player and then configure the AC3/DTS filter to send the stream
through SPDIF.

When you restart your computer, the Tone settings (Bass and Treble) are not applied.

Just readjust one of the controls one time per boot.

- EAX effects, Advanced EQ and Special FX

EAX effects only work in 4.1, 5.1 e 7.1 speaker settings.

Advanced EQ and Special FX only work in 2.1 speakers or Headphone settings.

- EAX effects, Advanced EQ and Special FX (Using SPDIF Out)

All effects work properly, but when you restart your computer, the Tone settings (Bass and Treble) are not applied.
Just readjust one of the controls one time per boot.

- There is no sound in games with OpenAL support or using Creative ALchemy

Disable Advanced EQ and Special FX selecting “No effects” before running the game or program.

- Equalizer settings are lost

It happens after you run a game with OpenAL support or using Creative ALchemy. This issue also occurs in Windows XP, so it is not specific to this Windows Vista driver.

When you restart the computer or run Equalizer, the saved setting is automatically loaded.

- No sound when CMSS is enabled using Audio Console (4.1 or more speakers)

Just move the Stereo Focus slider and set it back to the desired position, even if it is 0 (zero). Once the setting is saved, works properly. This issue does not affect EAX Settings.

- Windows Vista MIDI Device Configuration Utility

Use this utility to change the MIDI playback device for 32-bit and 64-bit applications.

The driver installer automatically selects the first hardware MIDI synthesizer found.

Note: The Audigy 2 ZS Notebook (PCMCIA) does not have a hardware synthesizer.

Some screenshots:

- Equalizer:

- Stereo Surround:

- Decoder:

- Mplayer Classic: select “SPDIF Out (Creative SB Audigy (WDM))” as the output device of
your player

- Mplayer Classic: configure the AC3/DTS filter to send the stream through SPDIF

- Hardware MIDI:

 

Download from: FileFront 61.03 MB (63,991,397 Bytes)

 

All files are property of Creative Labs, Inc.

Message Edited by daniel_k on 03-26-2008 10:05 PM

Message Edited by Dale-CL on 03-28-2008 05:14 PM

 

 

Creative Labs Kill Third Party Development

Well it had to happen sooner or later. Creative have chosen to step in and prevent people from “modding” drivers. This link to Creative Forums contains confirmation that Creative own the rights to Audigy software - and they don’t want you to use it under Vista. Finally some sort of stance from them I can believe.

Daniel_K:
We are aware that you have been assisting owners of our Creative sound cards for some time now, by providing unofficial driver packages for Vista that deliver more of the original functionality that was found in the equivalent XP packages for those sound cards.  In principle we don’t have a problem with you helping users in this way, so long as they understand that any driver packages you supply are not supported by Creative.  Where we do have a problem is when technology and IP owned by Creative or other companies that Creative has licensed from, are made to run on other products for which they are not intended.  We took action to remove your thread because, like you, Creative and its technology partners think it is only fair to be compensated for goods and services.  The difference in this case is that we own the rights to the materials that you are distributing.  By enabling our technology and IP to run on sound cards for which it was not originally offered or intended, you are in effect, stealing our goods.  When you solicit donations for providing packages like this, you are profiting from something that you do not own.  If we choose to develop and provide host-based processing features with certain sound cards and not others, that is a business decision that only we have the right to make.

Although you say you have discontinued your practice of distributing unauthorized software packages for Creative sound cards we have seen evidence of them elsewhere along with donation requests from you.  We also note in a recent post of yours on these forums, that you appear to be contemplating the release of further packages.  To be clear, we are asking you to respect our legal rights in this matter and cease all further unauthorized distribution of our technology and IP.  In addition we request that you observe our forum rules and respect our right to enforce those rules.  If you are in any doubt as to what we would consider unacceptable then please request clarification through one of our forum moderators before posting.

Phil O’Shaughnessy
VP Corporate Communications
Creative Labs Inc.

Forum Moderator
Creative Labs

Well that’s really sad if you ask me. Grab them while you can, while the links are still available. Many thanks to daniel_k for all his hard work. Creative Labs even grudge us modding old drivers it seems. Come on lets all return the favour and buy new Creative soundcards… NOT

Pffft

I Have Team Fortress 2 Wooohooo!!

Some years ago, Valve Software kindly gave me a STEAM account to review the legendary game Half-Life 2. What a treat - I can tell you. I was given a press account and persued to review one of the best games ever. I’d reviewed a few games (for the site in question), but HL2 really defined the pinnacle of high end gaming at that time. I was chuffed.

Today’s gamers however, are spoilt for choice. With games such as BIOSHOCK, Crysis and stuff like Gears of War on the market -there’s a lot at stake. One game which I have been really looking forward to is Team Fortress 2.

I’ve been busy with real life commitments lately and haven’t had a chance to do much gaming. I thought it was about time to fire up the STEAM again. I had wondered a few times if it would be available on my account, so I was really quite ecstatic that Valve Software had added the game for me to sample. I’m installing it immediately and will post a little review as soon as I’ve been owned (so much that I have to turn it off)…

In the meantime, here’s what I’m drooling over.

Nintendo Wi-Fi USB Connector XP/Vista Driver Version 1.06 (10/22/07)

Finally I can dispose of my Windows XP partition.

Recently, I decided to try one of the many work arounds to try and get our Nintendo Wi-Fi USB Connector working in Vista. I’d tried before, but had very little success to say the least.

As a last resort, I visited the Nintendo download section. I say visited, what I really mean is trawled through millions of pages trying to find the actual download page. I am quite amazed that Google didn’t find it with terms such as “WiFi Vista Nintendo” and “Nintendo WiFi Driver”. Anyway I eventually found the page I was looking for….. and it had been updated!

Wow. Nintendo have finally updated the software to work on Windows Vista. I knew the software wasn’t going to be too great, but I had nothing to lose so gave it a shot. I have to say -it works much better now.

This version features the following upgrades/corrections from version 1.05:

• Reduction of CPU load when the Nintendo Wi-Fi USB Connector is not connected.
• Changes to certain registration tool message displays.
• Added Windows Vista compatibility.
• Change to specification that requires the Nintendo Wi-Fi USB Connector to be attached when uninstalling.

Nintendo Wi-Fi USB Connector version 1.06 - Install Instructions

! You MUST uninstall any previous versions of the software.
! You MUST have the Nintendo Wi-Fi USB Connector plugged in during the uninstall.

1. The uninstall can be found in your Programs list in the “Nintendo Wi-Fi USB Connector” folder.

2. Run the “Uninstall Nintendo Wi-Fi USB Connector Registration Tool” click OK.

3. If the software prompts you to insert the Nintendo Wi-Fi USB connector, please ensure the connector is inserted into the USB port it was inserted into during the installation process.

4. The software will ask you to restart your PC, click “Restart.”

5. Remove the Nintendo Wi-Fi USB Connector.

6. Open the NintendoWiFiUSB106 folder where you found these
Instructions, and open the NintendoWFCReg folder. Run the Setup.exe file found there.
For complete setup instructions:
Wii: http://www.nintendo.com/consumer/systems/wii/en_na/connectingOnline.jsp?entryId=usbInstall
DS: http://www.nintendo.com/consumer/wfc/en_na/ds/connect.jsp?entryId=usbInstall

For troubleshooting, go to:
http://support.nintendo.com

Download:
Nintendo Wi-Fi USB Connector
XP/Vista Driver Version 1.06
FROM HERE.
Having problems? Try This Download Link instead.

RocketDock - Too Cool To Keep To Myself

Well I’ve found something really cool, so cool. It’s a groovy way to tidy your desktop and it’s very practical. Forget Vista’s sidebar and it’s CPU-hogging evilness. Forget your quick launch toolbar.

It’s also totally free, which is a real bonus. There are many ways to customise it and works on both Vista and Windows XP. I was really impressed with the way it uses minimal resources. It has to be said, it works really well on all the systems I’ve installed it to.

On my Vista machine, it minimizes videos to icon size - which really looks cool. I love it -and now you can too.

Program Features

• Minimize windows to the dock
• Real-time window previews in Vista
• Running application indicators
• Simple drag-n-drop interface
• Multi-monitor support
• Supports alpha-blended PNG and ICO icons
• Icons zoom and transition smoothly
• Auto-hide and Popup on mouse over
• Positioning and layering options
• Fully customizable
• Completely Portable
• ObjectDock Docklet support
• Compatible with MobyDock, ObjectDock, RK Launcher, and Y’z Dock skins
• Runs great on slower computers
• Unicode compliant
• Supports many languages and can easily be translated
• A friendly user base
• And best of all… its FREE!!!

Download
Download Mirror 1: Latest Version 1.3.5 (6.20 MB)

Audigy Series Vista Driver Pack 2

No More Goat Soup are pleased to announce the second improved and updated Vista driver install package. Before installing any new drivers or software, please take a moment to end your CTHELPER.exe process. Then download and install Guru3D - Driver Sweeper.

FnF has updated the latest Driver Sweeper release to include a whole bunch of Creative files & entries that cause drivers to fail to install, or not install correctly. Many, many common issues are resolved by simply running this BEFORE installing new drivers.

Audigy Series Vista Drivers

Release Notes

Version 2.15.0003

This setup file is intended for Windows Vista. The driver should support:

• Creative Sound Blaster Audigy including Platinum and Platinum eX series
• Creative Sound Blaster Audigy 2 including Platinum, Platinum eX, and Value series
• Creative Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS including Platinum and Platinum Pro series
• Creative Sound Blaster Audigy 4 Pro and Sound Blaster Audigy 4
• Creative Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS Notebook PCMCIA

Known issues:

• Applications from the original Sound Blaster Audigy XP Software CD will not work with this download. For compatible software, please Download Daniel Kawakami’s Unofficial SB Audigy Series Software CD for Windows 2000 / XP / Server 2003 / Vista (32/64-bit)
• Users are advised to use Audio Console included in this download to change speaker configurations.
• This driver does not support DirectSound®-based EAX games. (Download ALchemy)
• This driver does not support 6.1 speaker mode.

Requirements:

• Windows Vista 64-bit or Windows Vista 32-bit
• Creative Sound Blaster Audigy audio devices listed above.

Release History:

Version 2.15.0003:
• Utilized Creative Audio Console™ from previous release.
• Replaced ctac32k.sys with the Dell driver counterpart to provide better functioning AC3 decoding support.
• Updated device drivers to SBXF_PCDVT_LB_2_15_0003 (6.0.1.1303) 20th September 2007
• Adds MIDI Playback
• Adds EAX® Effects
• Adds PCM stereo output through Optical Out
• Adds Line-in connectivity
• Adds SPDIF passthrough (supported on both Vista 32-bit and Vista 64-bit) *UNCONFIRMED / MAY NOT WORK*
• Adds Recording capabilities.

Version 2.15.0002:
• Utilized Creative Audio Console™ from previous official release
• Updated device drivers to SBXF_PCDVT_LB_2_15_0002 dated 10th May 2007
• Replaced ctac32k.sys and ctdvda2k.sys with the Dell driver counterparts to provide better functioning AC3 decoding support and SPDIF in features.
• Added “Goat_Says_Read.txt” to install package

Install Instructions

• Simply download from the mirror of you choice, self-extract files to destination of your choice and run the setup.exe contained in Vista Decoder 2_15_0003 folder.

Download

Audigy Vista Decoder 2150003 - Mirror 0 (added 14th November 2007) 19.27 MB

Audigy Vista Decoder 2150003 - Mirror 1 19.27 MB

Audigy Vista Decoder 2150003 - Mirror 2 19.27 MB

Audigy Vista Decoder 2150003 - Mirror 3 19.27 MB

Audigy Vista Decoder 2150003 - Mirror 4 19.27 MB

Guru3D - Driver Sweeper v1.0 Final Relased

No More Goat Soup Salutes FnF
FnF has updated the Guru3D - Driver Sweeper. This release includes many improvements on previous version and even a handy Desktop Icon Position Restorer. Best of all, he’s very kindly added a whole bunch of Creative Vista files/entries for us. Mainly the files that have caused many hours of stress for many people here….

This utility is awesome. It’s going to solve many install errors, and I find it an essential tool for Creative updates in Vista. I’ll also take a moment to add that the Guru3D.com community rules.

Go download it right away!

Guru3D - Driver Sweeper is a fast tool to remove driver leftovers from your system. It’s very important to remove your drivers on a proper way, because driver leftovers can cause problems like stability and startup problems. You can use it if you want to update/remove drivers from your system. The current supported drivers are NVIDIA (Display and Chipset), ATI (Display), Creative (Sound) Realtek (Sound), Ageia (PhysX) and Microsoft (Mouse).

More info can be found at the Guru3D Driver Sweeper homepage.

System requirements:
The Guru3D - Driver Sweeper is fully tested on Windows 2000, XP and Vista. Both 32-bit and 64-bit versions are supported.

New functions: 

• Desktop Icon Position Restorer. This can restore the positions of your desktop icons. Only 32-bit Windows versions are supported at the moment.

Updated: 

• Help is now opened maximized.   
• Improved Creative File Cleaning. Thanks to MrBozack.   
• Improved Creative Registry Cleaning. Thanks to MrBozack.   
• New icons on toolbar.   
• Added Spanish translation. Thanks to GalForD.   
• Added Portuguese translation. Thanks to AmnesyA.   
• Optimalizations.   
• Window positions from Logs, Backups, Options and Desktop Icon Restorer are now at the center of main. Special thanks to Na’Ryan and Mr. T. for this release! 

Download:

• Download (with installer) :
  http://downloads.guru3d.com/download.php?det=1655
• Download (no installer, pure binaries) :
  http://downloads.guru3d.com/download.php?det=1672

*UPDATED* Unofficial Audigy Series Software CD for Win2000 / XP / Server 2003 / Vista 32/64-bit

Daniel Kawakami has just posted an updated installation CD for Audigy Series on the Creative user forums. The CD has been compiled for Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, Windows Vista 32bit and Windows Vista 64bit. He’s put a lot effort in, and produced a great multi language installer. I’ll try and arrange some alternative file hosting, but for now Daniel’s original links are located at the bottom. Enjoy!

Unofficial SB Audigy Series Software CD for

Windows 2000 / XP / Server 2003 / Vista (32/64-bit)

by Daniel Kawakami

Fully integrated and automated install, supporting Windows 2000, XP, Server 2003, Vista (32-bit and 64-bit), installs proper drivers. Includes all latest software available.

It is MANDATORY to disable UAC (User Account Control) before installing the package on Windows Vista (specially the 64-bit version).

Known “Windows Vista only” issues (so far):

- Diagnostics is incorrectly available in Setup under 64-bit. It does not work under that OS.

- “Speaker Settings” crashes during uninstall; just close the “Windows encountered a problem” and uninstall will proceed.

- Environment presets acts as Karaoke presets (effects are applied to Microphone).

- Advanced EQ and Special FX presets are available through “EAX Settings” application. You can edit and save the presets, but you can’t delete or edit them once saved.

Known issues:

- The Microphone controls may be disabled in Karaoke player. Just use the Windows Mixer and “EAX Settings” / “EAX Console” and to adjust the Microphone volume and effects, respectively.

- Do not install Entertainment Center unless you have one of the supported remote controls (RM-900, RM-1000, RM-1500, RM-1800), otherwise it is useless.

Hardware supported:

- Audigy
- Audigy 2
- Audigy 2 Value
- Audigy 2 ZS
- Audigy 2 ZS Notebook
- Audigy 4
- Audigy 4 Pro

Software for Windows Vista:

- AudioConsole
- EAX Settings
- SoundFont Bank Manager
- Speaker Settings
- Volume Panel
- Diagnostics
- DVD Audio Player (32-bit only, Audigy1 is not supported)
- Karaoke Player
- SB Performance Utility (Audigy2 ZS Notebook)
- Smart Recorder
- Wavestudio 7
- Vienna SoundFont Studio
- Media Toolbox
- Entertainment Center
- MediaSource 5
- Online Manual (PDF / CHM)
- MIDI Guide
- Drivers (working Advanced EQ presets)

Software for Windows 2000 / XP / Server 2003:

- AudioConsole
- EAX Console
- SoundFont Bank Manager
- Speaker Settings
- THX Console
- Speaker Calibrator
- Surround Mixer
- Volume Panel
- Diagnostics
- DVD Audio Player (32-bit only, Audigy1 is not supported)
- Karaoke Player
- SB Performance Utility (Audigy2 ZS Notebook)
- Smart Recorder
- Wavestudio 7
- Vienna SoundFont Studio
- Media Toolbox
- Entertainment Center
- Sound Blaster Plug-in (Media Center only)
- MediaSource 5
- Online Manual (PDF / CHM)
- MIDI Guide
- Drivers

Revision 2 release notes:
- Removed “Diagnostics” from 64-bit systems.
- “Smart Recorder” for Windows XP now works with MP3 files and has a more friendly “My Recordings” interface.
- Includes “MP3 write” codec, the latest free version included in Audigy CDs, doesn’t work with WaveStudio 7, though.
- Updated the Windows Vista driver to ver 2.15.0002.2 (build 6.0.01.1302), latest version for X-Fi which also works with Audigy cards.
- Removed old WHQL driver and non-WHQL multilanguage driver to save space.
- “Creative Engine” installer and modules updated. Installers of applications using this engine were updated as well.
- Do NOT use this new CD to uninstall or add components of a previous installation, remove the old version completely before using this new version (see note above).
Source: Creative Labs Support Forum

Note the ISO has been split into pieces, which must be extracted together to form the ISO file using WinRAR and then burnt using something like PowerISO

Download UPDATED RELEASE With Bittorrent:
Download Unofficial Audigy Software CD: Download CD Torrent

Download UPDATED VERSION In 2 Parts:
Download Unofficial Audigy Software CD: Download CD Part 1
Download Unofficial Audigy Software CD: Download CD Part 2

Download ORIGINAL RELEASE In 2 Parts:
Download Unofficial Audigy Software CD: Download CD Part 1
Download Unofficial Audigy Software CD: Download CD Part 2

Download ORIGINAL RELEASE In 5 Parts:
Download Unofficial Audigy Software CD: Download CD Part 1
Download Unofficial Audigy Software CD: Download CD Part 2
Download Unofficial Audigy Software CD: Download CD Part 3
Download Unofficial Audigy Software CD: Download CD Part 4
Download Unofficial Audigy Software CD: Download CD Part 5

All credits go to Daniel Kawakami. He’s the man to thank for this one.
You can download all daniel_k’s files from right here!