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Glossary:Sound

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Sound
Sound
Sound card
Surround sound

Key points

For the best audio playback, Windows 10 is recommended over Vista/7/8.x for clear and accurate sound due to improvements made in the audio subsystem, including a decrease in audio latency.[1][2][3][4]

Related articles

Surround sound
Sound card

Speaker setup

Many games (XAudio2 ones on Windows XP being a notable exception)[5] use the speaker configuration reported by the operating system so having it set correctly is crucial.
Configure speaker layout (Windows)[citation needed]
  1. Open Sounds in the Control Panel (mmsys.cpl).
  2. Ensure your output device is the default (marked with a tick True icon.svg)
  3. Click Configure.
  4. Choose your speaker layout and click on each speaker to ensure it is detected and positioned correctly.
  5. Adjust the speaker configuration as needed until it is correct.
  6. Click Next and follow the steps to save your new configuration.

Issues fixed

Sound problems (cracking, delays, missing music/effects, etc.)

Set sound quality to 24 bit, 48000 Hz (Windows Vista and later)[6]
  1. Open the Start screen/Start menu, type mmsys.cpl and press Enter.
  2. Open the Default Device (marked with a tick True icon.svg).
  3. Go to the Advanced tab.
  4. Change the Default Format box to 24 bit, 48000 Hz (Studio Quality).
  5. Click Apply and close all windows.
If the problem remains, repeat and choose 24 bit, 44100 Hz (Studio Quality) instead.
Adjust hardware sound acceleration level (Windows XP and older)[7]
  1. Press ⊞ Win+R, type dxdiag and press ↵ Enter.
  2. Choose Yes if prompted.
  3. Go to the Sound tab.
  4. Adjust the Hardware Sound Acceleration Level slider and test the game. If it is not already at Full, try Full first.
Setting the acceleration to Basic or No acceleration may affect advanced sound features in some games.

No surround sound

See Restoring DirectSound hardware path for DirectSound games
Make sure OpenAL games aren't using outdated libraries[citation needed]
  1. Navigate to <path-to-game>, where game executable is located
  2. Find OpenAL32.dll and rename it

Notes

Hypothesising OpenAL is already perfectly configured
Verify DS and OAL games hardware buffers number[citation needed]
  1. Download RightMark 3DSound
  2. Start RightMark3DSoundBench (aka CPU Utilization test)
  3. Note under the offended API node, the number of Hardware 3D Buffers available for the in use device.
  4. Check in game configuration files if number of "Buffers", "Channels" or "Voices" corresponds.

Game volume decreases

Disable communications activity sound reduction[citation needed]
  1. Open the Start screen/Start menu, type mmsys.cpl and press ↵ Enter.
  2. Go to the Communications tab.
  3. Choose Do nothing.
  4. Click OK to save your changes.

Can't enable EAX

Please refer to Restoring DirectSound hardware path for more information.

CD music not playing

CD-DA music (shows up as a music CD in media players)

Verify CD is in the "CD-ROM 0" drive
CD-DA music will only play in-game if the CD is in "CD-ROM 0".
  1. Open Disk Management.
    • Windows 8: right click the Start corner, choose Disk Management.
    • Vista and 7: open the Start menu, type diskmgmt.msc, press Enter.
    • Windows XP: press ⊞ Win+R, type diskmgmt.msc, press Enter.
  2. When Disk Management opens, ensure that the drive you are using the game CD in is listed as "CD-ROM 0".
  3. If the drive is not "CD-ROM 0", remove the disc and insert it in that drive.
Change drive ID order
If you are unable to insert your disc in "CD-ROM 0", e.g. if it is a virtual drive, do the following:
  1. In Disk Management, identify which drive is listed as "CD-ROM 0".
  2. Open Device Manager.
    • Windows 8: right click the Start corner, choose Device Manager.
    • Vista and 7: open the Start menu, type devmgmt.msc and press ↵ Enter.
    • Windows XP: press ⊞ Win+R, type devmgmt.msc and press ↵ Enter.
  3. Expand the DVD/CD-ROM drives entry.
  4. Right-click the drive Disk Management listed as "CD-ROM 0", choose Disable, choose Yes.
  5. Right-click the drive you want to use for the game CD, choose Disable, choose Yes.
  6. Right-click again on the drive you want to use, choose Enable.
  7. Right-click again on the other drive, choose Enable.
  8. Return to Disk Management and the drive you want to use will now be listed as "CD-ROM 0".

Non-CD-DA music (does not show up as a music CD in media players)

Verify drive letter is correct
Many games remember the drive letter the game was installed from even if you put the disc in a different drive.
  1. If you have multiple optical drives, try inserting the disc in a different drive.
  2. If possible, check the game's configuration files to see what drive letter it is expecting.
  3. Try reinstalling the game from the drive you want to use. This should make the game look to that drive letter instead.


References