You know everybody complains about MS, sometimes it isn't merited and sometimes it really is. Case in point:
Background:
Microsoft was never happy directsound/directound3D. DirectSound is the api (application programming interface) that allows the driver to communicate with the soundcard for all Hardware accelerated/surround sound systems. The most common is Creative's EAX system. The reason they didnt like it was because directsound passed through the Windows Kernel (the core of the OS). That means if there was ever a directsound crash, chances were the whole of Windows crashed too. They wanted devolopers to use OpenAL which did the sound accerlation through software rather than through hardware, and the fact that OPENAL is compatible for Pc and Xbox360 games.
The situation.
50% of todays games still use directsound. Microsoft decided to call these games 'legacy games' despite the fact they include games that were only released a month ago. WOW, NWN2, FEAR, Medieval 2 Total War, are all now considered as
'legacy'. Amazing isn't it?
In order to convince developers to use OPENAL they did a very radical thing, they removed the Directsound3d HAL from Windows Vista, almost without warning. This means those games that use Directsound no longer work except for 2D flat, tinny stereo.
This is not the fault of the sound card driver, but the fact the geniuses at MS removed a critical function for sound out of Windows Vista OS.
Bravo Microsoft, Bravo. First prize for Idiocy. Its not that MS doesnt have the right to improve their OS, its the fact they didn't TELL anybody about it until just before the OS was released. Of course by then it was too late for many developers to rewrite the audio support for their games.
Needless to say, companies like Creative Labs were very, very, displeased. In one full swoop MS had deactivated the 3D sound for 50% of games under VISTA. So much for MS claim of VISTA being a
"Gamers OS".
To remedy this Creative had created a software called ALchemy (currently available in BETA) which translates the Directsound calls into OpenAL calls. This will return 3D sound back. Theoretically it should work for any game. But only 25 games have been verified. The real kicker is that ALchemy
ONLY WORKS WITH THE Creative X-FI soundcards. If you are using a Audigy card or other card, you are s*** out of luck. You'll need to upgrade.
What his means to you.
If you DON'T have a X-FI card, don't upgrade to VISTA until you do. If you do have one you will need to download ALchemy, and even then not all your games are not guerenteed to work.
The link for ALchemy
http://preview.creativelabs.com/alchemy/default.aspx
