Forgotten Hope Public Forum

Forgotten Hope 2 => FH2 Help / Support => Topic started by: 16floz470ml on 06-07-2011, 04:07:34

Title: X-Fi Sound Card and Windows 7 = BSOD
Post by: 16floz470ml on 06-07-2011, 04:07:34
I have this problem sometimes when FH2 changes maps at about 14% my computer will BSOD.  It does not happen everytime but it is regular and really pisses me off.  I have a Forte X-Fi and FH2 sounds awesome with X-Fi ultra setting.  If I take the card out and use my onboard Dolby I can play with no issues.  I have searched for a fix but with no luck.  Seems like a lot of people have this problem.  Any help is appreciated.  Windows 7 64bit...X58...i7920...560gtx sli...12gb memory.
Title: Re: X-Fi Sound Card and Windows 7 = BSOD
Post by: Dukat on 07-07-2011, 00:07:41
IMHO this is a general problem of Battlefield 2. As long as the game exists, people had problems with Creative Soundcards and complained about it.

I somewhat doubt that the problem is burried within FH2.
Title: Re: X-Fi Sound Card and Windows 7 = BSOD
Post by: 16floz470ml on 07-07-2011, 02:07:14
I do not think that the problem is with FH2.  People on the PR forums have the exact same issue.  It is a BF2 problem.  I am just curious to see if anyone here has found a fix.  FH2 is the main game I play.  I would like to use the card because it sounds so damn good.  It really is a night and day difference.     
Title: Re: X-Fi Sound Card and Windows 7 = BSOD
Post by: cannonfodder on 07-07-2011, 10:07:09
Hmm...that's interesting.

Do you mean people who have a "Forte X-Fi" are getting the BSOD, or just X-Fi's in general?


I've got an X-Fi Titanium (and Win 7 64-bit) and I get the odd BSOD, but I'm pretty sure I'm close to the limit with my PSU, and as such I just assumed they were caused by the PSU running outta juice when pushed hard... :-\

 - I've had a couple while playing AIX (on large maps).

 - There's a couple of big NAW maps that I can't get through without blue-screening.

 - I haven't played much FH2 lately, but I can't recall getting one (plenty of CTD's, but no BSOD)...I'll go play a few rounds on Totalize or something and let you know how I go.


At a guess, I'd say it must have something to do with the extra load put on the engine by the mods because I know I've never had a BSOD playing vanilla (and I play it regularly)... :-\
Title: Re: X-Fi Sound Card and Windows 7 = BSOD
Post by: 16floz470ml on 09-07-2011, 02:07:30
No I do not mean just with my forte.  All x-fi cards are affected from what I can tell from my research.  I also have a x-fi prelude and it has even more issues.  Again only with BF2.  I guess I need to do an xp partition just for FH2.   
Title: Re: X-Fi Sound Card and Windows 7 = BSOD
Post by: psykfallet on 09-07-2011, 03:07:24
I have x-fi but win xp and never get bluescreen
Title: Re: X-Fi Sound Card and Windows 7 = BSOD
Post by: cannonfodder on 09-07-2011, 09:07:47
Weird, it's never blue-screened while loading for me.

I played a round of Brest against the bots (over an hour) with no problem. After I quit back to the main menu, I went into the settings just to make sure my offline profile was set to Ultra High in Audio, but as soon as I clicked on that Audio tab, the fucking thing blue-screened on me!

Never seen that one...the only other times I've had BF2 blue-screen has been in the middle of the round while playing against bots.

I tried to replicate it (although I played a different map), clicked on the Audio tab after quitting to the menu - no problem... ???


In general though, I don't have a problem running BF2 on 7, and I haven't got BF2 on a separate partition or anything...it's on my C:\ drive with Windows and everything else.
Title: Re: X-Fi Sound Card and Windows 7 = BSOD
Post by: Strat_84 on 09-07-2011, 12:07:21
I have a X-FI, Windows 7 pro 64bit and I've never had any sound problem (X-FI + optimum setting).

My guess is that you need to find a proper driver for this to work, CREATIVE has a very old and verified reputation of good hardware but insanely crappy softwares/drivers.  ;)
Title: Re: X-Fi Sound Card and Windows 7 = BSOD
Post by: Die Happy on 13-07-2011, 17:07:56
i got creative X-FI gamer and win 7 x64, and everything works fine, always did.
Title: Re: X-Fi Sound Card and Windows 7 = BSOD
Post by: 16floz470ml on 16-07-2011, 18:07:14
Ok.  I got a x-fi titanium fatal1ty, installed the new beta driver and so far everything works great.  I guess it was a software issue.  I tried every driver for the auzentech cards known to man.   
Title: Re: X-Fi Sound Card and Windows 7 = BSOD
Post by: Hoak on 18-07-2011, 02:07:50
I have an X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty, and have experienced BSOD's and CTD's as described on Windows NT 6.1 (Windows 7 x64 and Server 2008 R2).  I do however get rock steady performance on Windows Server 2003 (both 32 and 64-bit versions). I think this is because the Creative driver is able to run in kernel mode on NT 5.1 OS and are better behaved then the newer, virtualized protected mode driver for NT 6.1 (the exact opposite of what should be the case); you also get the advantage of hardware acceleration on NT 5.1...

Some fixes you can try include: running BF2's audio in 'Software Mode', and/or setting your driver to operate in 'Audio Creation Mode' -- this will disable EAX effects, but positional information should still be effecacious, and audio fidelity will be technically better -- so you're not giving up everything for just a stability fix. One hack that has been reported to work, though I have not tried it, and would definately not endorese it on a production system is forcing the installation of XP (NT 5.10) drivers on Windows 7 or Vista.

Hope this helps, the FH2 Fellers have done a fantastic job on game Foley that goes well above and beyond just weapon sounds!

 ;)

Title: Re: X-Fi Sound Card and Windows 7 = BSOD
Post by: cannonfodder on 19-07-2011, 10:07:12
Turns out my BSOD's are all sound related, every single one concerns portcls.sys.


FH was working fine yesterday (offline), I turn it on today to have a quick round on Totalize against the bots, aaand it blue-screens while 'verifying files' (just before 'Join Game' appears).

PC boots back up, and I repeat the process (same map)...and the exact same thing happens again... ???

Ok, I think, maybe Totalize is SNAFU in SP, so I try it again with a different map...nope, same fucking problem.

Then I try again with a third, and then a fourth map...all to no avail.


So I set the Sound Quality to 'High', instead of 'Ultra High' and I finally succeed in loading a map... :P


I'm going to reinstall the drivers later to see if that makes any difference.
Title: Re: X-Fi Sound Card and Windows 7 = BSOD
Post by: Moku on 19-07-2011, 10:07:15
I have win 7 x64 and X-Fi Titanium. If I set Audio Renderer to Creative X-Fi there is no sound and if trying to access the Audio tab leads to CTD. Only way for me to get sound is to use either Software (which gives bad quality sound...) or Hardware which then distorts some sound effects... Everything worked fine when I had XP but with 7 owning a Creative card has been a nightmare. :(
Title: Re: X-Fi Sound Card and Windows 7 = BSOD
Post by: Hoak on 20-07-2011, 05:07:52
Moku, run:

"C:\Program Files (x86)\Creative\AudioCS\CTAudCS.exe"

On the "Mode" tab, try first setting to "Game Mode", you'll have to redo you're settings in BF2/FH2, save and restart the game... If that doesn't fly, try "Audio Creation Mode", redo your settings in BF2/FH2 again...

Also choose "Hardware" rather then your card in the game, and try disabling EAX... These settings seem to work for most users on Windows 7 with the latest X-Fi Driver:

In the Creative Audio Control Panel
- Audio Creation Mode

In Forgotten Hope 2
- Audio Renderer: Hardware
- EAX: unchecked

Different things work relieably for different people, if I disable the Creative Audio Service (Dolby garbage), I'm able to get just about any setting combination to work relieably...

Good luck let us know how you make out!

 ;)
Title: Re: X-Fi Sound Card and Windows 7 = BSOD
Post by: Moku on 22-07-2011, 09:07:40
Okay I just unchecked EAX from game options and put X-Fi to Audio Creation and now it sound better. Thanks! :D

EDIT: I just realised that when using Audio Creation there is no option for CMSS-3D for headphones...
Title: Re: X-Fi Sound Card and Windows 7 = BSOD
Post by: Hoak on 06-08-2011, 02:08:03
Yes Moku  CMSS-3D  is just a software binaural emulator that actually intrduces a a fair amount of PMD and TID (phase modulation distortion and transient intermodulation distortion) to achive it's effects; Audio Creation Mode disables all the software DSP that is not DAP and that may introduce distortion in the driver/software chain.

While the HRTF model emulated in CMS-3D may work pertty well for some people, you can take a look at this Wiki article (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Binaural_recording) to understand why it doesn't really work very well as it's just emulating binaural from stereo, it's not really binaural audio. So, again, you're getting technically better fidelity without it, though of course some people may subjectively perfer the aesthetic CMS-3D offers.

Lastly for people that still have trouble with X-Fi stability, you may find more stability with the X-Fi PAX Modded Drivers (http://www.hardwareheaven.com/pax-download-pci-x-fi-series/210425-pax-pci-xfi-all-os-driver-v4-55-release-redownload.html) (as well as better fidelity, and audio off-load performance).  The link above offfers general informaiton and master link to other sites that host the drivers and more information. Please note, this is not an endoresement of the X-Fi PAX Modded Drivers, some people swear by them, some report less stability, and still others (like me) apply individual hacks and tweaks found in this driver distro individually.

Hope this helps, let others know how you make out so they can benefit from your experience and better enjoy FH2!

 ;)