rec.autos.simulators

by **Haqsa** » Tue, 13 Jan 2004 04:40:36

I have been asking a lot of questions about sound cards lately and I
appreciate all the answers, but I realized there is one special case that
has been the most problematic for me and for which I don't think I have an
answer yet - GPL running in XP Pro. My SBLive used to work fine for GPL
under Win9x, but under XP Pro I ran into all kinds of problems. Tried all
the fixes that were suggested, none of them were 100% reliable. So I would
like to know specifically from users of the Audigy 2 and the Turtle Beach
Santa Cruz who are running XP if the sound in GPL works okay for them,
without any workarounds. Also if any of the people using those cards are
playing Battlefield 1942, similar question - under XP can you turn on
hardware acceleration within the game and get good sound quality with no
distortion, crackles or pops, and no missing sounds?

Thanks,
Hal

by **Bob** » Tue, 13 Jan 2004 06:10:52

TB Santa Cruz with WinXP here, no problems with GPL, or any other sim.
Haven't tried BF 1942, so can't comment.

by **rms** » Tue, 13 Jan 2004 08:36:01

I was very surprised to discover the cpu hit my santacruz causes in gpl,
when compared to the onboard nforce2 soundstorm. My
full-field-back-of-the-pack starts went up by a full 3 frames/sec, while
sound quality was identical, when using Soundstorm.

Onboard sound is getting increasingly better in the newer motherboards
(though you have to research what sound chipset is actually installed and
choose wisely), but if you have to buy a separate soundcard now I personally
would lean towards something like the Audigy2 (which by all accounts has
very low cpu usage) or possibly the Fortissimo3.

The SantaCruz is certainly a classic soundcard and a decent value, but
I'd be looking for a more modern design myself.

rms

by **Haqsa** » Tue, 13 Jan 2004 09:10:51

I have actually been thinking lately of putting my SBLive back in, just to
get the extra I/O jacks for the headset I use with TeamSpeak. Audio quality
would be a big concern but some searches showed that there are several
homebrew fixes available now for the problems I had with it. One thing I
would like to know, do you know how the Santa Cruz compares to the SBLive in
terms of CPU utilization? No point in putting it back in if I'm going to
take a hit in framerate.

by **bhoeni** » Tue, 13 Jan 2004 10:08:34

I went from an SB Live to a TB Santa Cruz under WinXP because I had horrible
sound in GPL. ( Lots of pops and hisses). The Santa Cruz sound is much better,
but I find that the volume drops severely after a collision or other major sound
event. That is somewhat annoying and I haven't found a workaround for it yet.
This is the only issue that I have in any sim with this card.

Would appreciate knowing what drivers you're using for your Santa Cruz card.

Thanks!

"Bob G

> TB Santa Cruz with WinXP here, no problems with GPL, or any other sim.
> Haven't tried BF 1942, so can't comment.

> > I have been asking a lot of questions about sound cards lately and I
> > appreciate all the answers, but I realized there is one special case that
> > has been the most problematic for me and for which I don't think I have an
> > answer yet - GPL running in XP Pro. My SBLive used to work fine for GPL
> > under Win9x, but under XP Pro I ran into all kinds of problems. Tried all
> > the fixes that were suggested, none of them were 100% reliable. So I
> would
> > like to know specifically from users of the Audigy 2 and the Turtle Beach
> > Santa Cruz who are running XP if the sound in GPL works okay for them,
> > without any workarounds. Also if any of the people using those cards are
> > playing Battlefield 1942, similar question - under XP can you turn on
> > hardware acceleration within the game and get good sound quality with no
> > distortion, crackles or pops, and no missing sounds?

> > Thanks,
> > Hal

by **Glaspa** » Tue, 13 Jan 2004 10:42:12

I've used a Hercules *** Theatre XP in an AMD-ViaKT400 and P4-Intel845PE
system.

GPL is the only sim that gives me sound problems in XP Pro.
I've tried reducing sound acceleration and different drivers, with no luck.
Even removing it and using the integrated Realtek, with the same result.
Also, I searched RAS and Racesim Central for help.

It's pretty much put the brakes (sorry) on GPL for me.
Which is a great disappointment.
I could dual-boot with Win98SE, but I haven't yet bothered.

Good luck.........

by **Dave Henri** » Tue, 13 Jan 2004 10:54:09

I'm starting to believe a-lot of our hardware problems are motherboard based.
I used to have a pretty crummy Asus with both SDR and DDR ram slots. That system
locked up regularly and the shutdowns(a famous win98 problem) were often
screwed up. Since I replaced that with an Abit Nforce2 board, I haven't had
any similar problems. I wonder if all the creative oddities are as much a problem
with the various motherboards we have as the hardware itself.

dave henrie

by **rms** » Wed, 14 Jan 2004 03:11:44

Did you turn down sound acceleration to one notch above minimum.

rms

by **bhoeni** » Wed, 14 Jan 2004 08:10:41

I'll give that a try. Thanks.

> >The Santa Cruz sound is much better,
> > but I find that the volume drops severely after a collision or other major
> sound
> > event.

> Did you turn down sound acceleration to one notch above minimum.

> rms

by **Larr** » Thu, 15 Jan 2004 03:08:13

The TBSC has been better than any Creative Card I've ever used. Totally
trouble free for me.

However, TB may be losing interst in Sound and it's hard to tell what their
intentions are right now.

-Larry

> I went from an SB Live to a TB Santa Cruz under WinXP because I had
horrible
> sound in GPL. ( Lots of pops and hisses). The Santa Cruz sound is much
better,
> but I find that the volume drops severely after a collision or other major
sound
> event. That is somewhat annoying and I haven't found a workaround for it
yet.
> This is the only issue that I have in any sim with this card.

> Would appreciate knowing what drivers you're using for your Santa Cruz
card.

> Thanks!

> "Bob G

> > TB Santa Cruz with WinXP here, no problems with GPL, or any other sim.
> > Haven't tried BF 1942, so can't comment.

> > > I have been asking a lot of questions about sound cards lately and I
> > > appreciate all the answers, but I realized there is one special case
that
> > > has been the most problematic for me and for which I don't think I
have an
> > > answer yet - GPL running in XP Pro. My SBLive used to work fine for
GPL
> > > under Win9x, but under XP Pro I ran into all kinds of problems. Tried
all
> > > the fixes that were suggested, none of them were 100% reliable. So I
> > would
> > > like to know specifically from users of the Audigy 2 and the Turtle
Beach
> > > Santa Cruz who are running XP if the sound in GPL works okay for them,
> > > without any workarounds. Also if any of the people using those cards
are
> > > playing Battlefield 1942, similar question - under XP can you turn on
> > > hardware acceleration within the game and get good sound quality with
no
> > > distortion, crackles or pops, and no missing sounds?

> > > Thanks,
> > > Hal

by **Larr** » Thu, 15 Jan 2004 03:09:26

I've read recently that this may not be as good of advice as it used to be.
Apparantly under WinXP (and possibly Win2K), using this old trick from the
98 days may actually turn of sound hardware accelleration _completely_, even
though you only move it one notch.

-Larry

by **Mitch_** » Thu, 15 Jan 2004 03:42:57

You keep saying that Larry but he wasnt asking for comparisons of the
Live vs the TBSC he was initially asking about the A2 vs TBSC. I HAVE
BOTH and the A2 sounds better and has a lower CPU utilization which IMHO
makes it a better card. Is the A2 perfect, no but its a sight better
than the TBSC.

Mitch

> The TBSC has been better than any Creative Card I've ever used. Totally
> trouble free for me.

> However, TB may be losing interst in Sound and it's hard to tell what their
> intentions are right now.

> -Larry

--
<<<--- Posted using Mozilla for Linux x86 --->>>

by **Larr** » Fri, 16 Jan 2004 04:21:10

Well, the way things are looking, if I want a new sound card it might _have_
to be an A2. Turtle Beach doesn't seem interested in bringing out updated
products (ANY of their products), and Hercules actually went with a
lower-end chipset in the new GameTheatre XP 7.1 setup. That one really
confuses me... And the M-Audio is reportedly wonderful for music, but hard
on frame rates.

Creative is one of those companies that has pissed me off SO bad in the
past, they almost have to be the last choice for me to go back.

-Larry

> You keep saying that Larry but he wasnt asking for comparisons of the
> Live vs the TBSC he was initially asking about the A2 vs TBSC. I HAVE
> BOTH and the A2 sounds better and has a lower CPU utilization which IMHO
> makes it a better card. Is the A2 perfect, no but its a sight better
> than the TBSC.

> Mitch

> > The TBSC has been better than any Creative Card I've ever used. Totally
> > trouble free for me.

> > However, TB may be losing interst in Sound and it's hard to tell what
their
> > intentions are right now.

> > -Larry

> --
> <<<--- Posted using Mozilla for Linux x86 --->>>

by **Schoone** » Fri, 16 Jan 2004 04:17:19

Seems to be just about everyone's feeling. Everyone hates CL but they are
the only choice :(

> Well, the way things are looking, if I want a new sound card it might
_have_
> to be an A2. Turtle Beach doesn't seem interested in bringing out updated
> products (ANY of their products), and Hercules actually went with a
> lower-end chipset in the new GameTheatre XP 7.1 setup. That one really
> confuses me... And the M-Audio is reportedly wonderful for music, but
hard
> on frame rates.

> Creative is one of those companies that has pissed me off SO bad in the
> past, they almost have to be the last choice for me to go back.

> -Larry

> > You keep saying that Larry but he wasnt asking for comparisons of the
> > Live vs the TBSC he was initially asking about the A2 vs TBSC. I HAVE
> > BOTH and the A2 sounds better and has a lower CPU utilization which IMHO
> > makes it a better card. Is the A2 perfect, no but its a sight better
> > than the TBSC.

> > Mitch

> > > The TBSC has been better than any Creative Card I've ever used.
Totally
> > > trouble free for me.

> > > However, TB may be losing interst in Sound and it's hard to tell what
> their
> > > intentions are right now.

> > > -Larry

> > --
> > <<<--- Posted using Mozilla for Linux x86 --->>>

by **Eldre** » Sat, 17 Jan 2004 12:49:09

>Seems to be just about everyone's feeling. Everyone hates CL but they are
>the only choice :(

Interesting. I actually *like* Creative...

Eldred
--
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