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News: March 15-21, 1999
Sunday, March 21, 99 Kert on Sensaura Kert has posted an article on Sensaura's 3D audio technology: Digital Ear, MacroFX and MultiDrive'. His hope is that the ESS Canyon3D will give a good account of Sensaura's technology. For more on Sensaura you can also check out our own Sensaura Technolgy Article as well as Simon's report on his visit to Sensaura's London office. A3D 2.0
Problems with Sin? I had not seen nor heard of any problems with the the A3D 2.0 enabling Sin patch with A3D 2.0 capable cards but just incase you do fall into that boat I found and shamelessly ripped the following from Blue's News courtesy of Watz. As many others, I ran into a problem with SiN (v1.03) after I installed the new A3D 2.0 (v2.05) drivers SiN just locked up when started. I found an easy solution to this problem after upgrading your A3D 2.0 drivers to v2.05, just overwrite the older a3dapi.dll (part of SiN's v1.03 patch) in your SiN directory with the new a3dapi.dll found in your /windows/system directory. Bits & Bytes Firing Squad has posted Part 3 of their overview of the Game Developers Conference. InMotion
3D Audio Producer Thanks to Aureal A3D Central for passing on a press release from Human Machine Interfaces announcing the release of the InMotion 3D Audio Producer. This software application allows musicians, sound designers, audio production studios, and web page designers to create 3D audio presentations for playback over conventional stereo speakers. You can also get more information on InMotion from the PDF file they supplied. Also in PDF format is what looks to be a very good white paper on 3D Audio and Acoustic Environmental Modeling. More
on X-Wing Alliance Demo Thanks to Gary for pointing out that I jumped the gun in my earlier
post where I said the 3D sound options were grayed out. As it turns out I tried to
configure the sound after I launched the mission. The sound options have to be set
after the game is launched but before the mission starts. Just hit escape and select
sound. Update: Thanks to another astute reader for pointing out that the web demo does not appear to include the High Quality Sounds. VLSI Selects Yamaha XG Software Wavetable I missed this one from earlier in the week. The Yamaha S-YXG50 SoftSynthesizer, high performance XG software wavetable synthesizer, is now bundled with the new VLSI Technology, Inc. Thunderbird Q3D audio accelerator chip. You can get all the details from the press release. Unreal
223 Update The Unreal Tech site has been updated with information from the 223 readme file. No word on when it will be released. The only 3D sound item is they have fixed the razorjack sound crash problem with 3D sound. New
CL Environmental Audio Site Creative Labs has completely revampted their Environmental Audio site with a new layout and lots of new information. X-Wing
Alliance Demo A 28 MB demo for Lucas Arts' latest Star War title has just been released. 3D sound options are enabled in the demo. Just be sure to set them before you get into the gameplay or they will be greyed out. A neutral family fights for its business -- and its survival -- and is swept up in the struggle against the encroaching Empire. You must defy the strong-arm tactics of a rival family who will stop at nothing to destroy your trading company. Ultimately, you will join the Rebel Alliance for a series of covert assignments and uncover information about the Empire’s second Death Star project Grab the demo from 3Dfiles or from Gamecenter.com The final game will feature a rich, soundtrack which fills out the experience, including extensive new recorded dialog, dynamic audio that interacts with game events, the original Star Wars music and authentic sound effects in glorious 3D audio. Wild Metal
Country Demo Thanks to for letting us know that the just released Wild Metal Country demo supports DS3D with EAX, A3D and Dolby Pro Logic. Here is a snip from DMA's (the developer) web site: This game moves forward the state-of-the-art in Physics, AI and Software Rendering and provides a combination of a unique driving experience and a close-in third person fighting game. The levels are set on large detailed terrains with many and varied opponents ranging from tanks and gun towers to hover vehicles and aircraft. The player controls a range of sophisticated vehicles with turret-fired projectiles and mines the like of which have never been seen before. You can also grab the 12 MB demo from 3Dfiles. TerraTec
XLerate Pro Thanks to Fred Mah for pointing out some fairly new information from TerraTec on their Vortex 2 based XLerate Pro. No 3D
Sound in Kingpin? I snipped the following from a recent chat log posted on Planetkingpin. Participating on the chat were Drew Markham, President and Lead Designer of Xatrix, Greg Goodrich, Executive Producer and COO of Xatrix, Dan Koppel, Technical Co-ordiantor and Senior Level Designer and Rafael Paiz, Lead Programmer at Xatrix. A question on 3D audio support received a very "interesting" answer: <Budack> Has
the decision been made to support 3D audio in the game??? The reason I call it an interesting answer is because of the response we got from Xatrix back in January to an inquiry about 3D audio which said: "without 3D sound, Kingpin couldn't work. All action, speech and dress within the game is raw." "They're in the process of working out the strengths and weakness' of one (3D Audio API) vs.the other." S2/Midiland
4030 Review Extreme Hardware has posted a review of the S2/Midiland 4030 Speaker System. It's Midiland's mid-range system, priced at $199. and according to EH, it has excellent sound quality. Here's a snip from the review: "The sound quality is so good that I almost jumped in my seat when someone surprised me with a chaingun. The in-game performance of the 4030 speakers overall, is rather good, although in some games there isn't much noticeable difference. One game that is greatly enhanced with the 4030 speakers is The Need for Speed III. Already playing with a Voodoo II and a force feedback driving wheel, the 4030s seem to be the final link in creating the ultimate NFS3 gaming experience. Flying through the streets with the music blaring, cops talking over the scanner, and swerving around police and pedestrian cars is probably one of my favorite gaming experiences. The music in NFS3 is programmed to speed up when the action heats up (a cop starts chasing you for example), and the excitement is especially heightened with the 4030s." David Gasior
on GDC Aureal's David Gasior has posted an excellent report on the Game Developers Conference over at Aureal A3D Central. Here is his intro to a very informative report. I won't snip any of the good stuff but suffice to say there's lots there: For those of you who don't know, this week marked the 13th Annual Game Developers Conference. Basically one of these big shows like Comdex, but geared toward the game developer. Of course, Aureal had a booth at the show, as well as all the major audio players. Anyway, I thought I would give my own little recap, highlighting what I took away from this show, from an insider's point of view. Please bear in mind that I write this at 12:40 in the morning after leaving the Microsoft party, so my grammar and spelling may not be anywhere near accurate (or English even)! Qsound SDK
Upgrades QSound Labs, Inc., today announced Version 5 of their DirectX®-compatible interactive audio SDKs QMDX™ and QMixer™. Both SDK’s now feature support for EAX. Here is the part I was looking for to complete the new I3DL2 standard. Support for the new cooperatively-developed environmental acoustics API from the 3D Working Group of the Interactive Audio Special Interest Group is expected to follow once the specification is finalized. Red Odyssey Demo TeamVolve has released a 22MB stand-alone demo for their upcoming expansion pack for Battlezone call Red Odyssey. Battlezone (and the expansion pack) already supports A3D 1.x. and also has an optional IAS patch. As of this post I have not been able to connect to their server to get the demo in order to test for 3D audio support. Note that while the demo is stand-alone the final version will require the original full version of Battlezone. SB Live Wins Front Line Award 1998 Audio Hardware: Consumer Sound Cards These awards are handed out by Game Developer magazine. The ceremony took place on Monday, March 15 during the 1999 Game Developers Conference. Aside from the Consumer Sound Card award winners were selected in 13 other categories representing programming, art, audio, production tools, and graphics and audio hardware. You can get a summary of the other awards in the PR issued by the publishers of Game Developer Magazine. Starsiege
Shipping!! In the battle of the big bots, Starsiege from Dynamix is now shipping. I have been playing through the various beta versions of the excellent title can tell you that its a winner. 3D audio support is by DS3D and A3D 1.x. Unfortunately, neither the EAX or A3D 2.0 SDK was available soon enough in Starsiege's development cycle to allow Rick Overman and the rest of the Dynamix team to incorporate those API's into game at a high enough level of quality to meet their high standards. Look for support of EAX 2 (or 3?) and A3D 2.0 in future titles from Dynamix. For more on the audio in Starsiege, check out our past interview with Rick Overman. Slave
Zero Preview Game Post has put up a preview of Slave Zero which is being developed by Accolade and is scheduled for a Summer 1999 release. Game Post thinks that Slave Zero could turn out to be the sleeper hit of the action genre this coming year. Here is a snip on the Audio. There's lots more good stuff in the preview so be sure to check it out. Sound will be a major factor in presenting the player with a feeling of size when playing Slave Zero. Meaty effects accentuating actions such as gunfire and the movements of the Slave add to the feel of piloting such a huge vehicle. Simply running along causes a rhythmic thudding sound, coupled with a slight screen vibration on each impact with the ground. Jumping down from a high building produces a shuddering crash also couple with a screen jarring vibration. Explosions are also strong audio wise, with a strong low rumbling effect. Atmospheric effects are also handled well; car horns beep loudly after crashing into the Slave, Hover cars give off a soft hum, and enemy attack planes shriek through the air. There is already an alpha tech demo of Slave Zero with EAX support available for download. The final game is slated to support both DS3D with EAX and A3D. Turtle
Beach Quadzilla Box Shot Just a little splash of colour for the afternoon. Thanks to Mike from Voyetra Turtle Beach for sharing this with us:
Even
More Support for I3DL2 First I had better state what this Level 2 guideline is. The IASIG Level 2 guideline, combined with the previous Level 1 guideline (embodied in Microsoft's DirectSound 3D API), provides baseline interactive 3D audio environments with reverberation for 3D games, web browsers and interactive or recorded music on the PC platform. What's nice to see is is the level of cooperation that's leading to this industry standard. To illustrate this I have lifted a couple of quotes of Mark Miller, Chairman of the IA-SIG from Aureal's, Creative's and Sensaura's Press Releases on I3DL2. ``Aureal has consistently provided innovative technology for interactive 3D audio and their contributions to the IA-SIG's efforts have been substantial,'' "I applaud Creative Labs efforts to help define these new IA-SIG guidelines for 3D audio enhancements. Creative has played a major role in the working group process by providing primary concepts and materials from their Environmental Audio Extensions API (EAX), drafting the specification, and incorporating feedback from all of the participating companies. Their efforts were undertaken with exactly the kind of spirit which leads to industry wide improvements in mass market entertainment technology," "We are very proud to announce Sensaura’s support for these enhancements. It is through exactly this type of industry co-operation that great progress can be made"Now we wait for the supporting announcement from Qsound. More
Support for I3DL2 Good times are ahead for 3D audio. This time its Sensaura pledging their support for advancement of the industry. According to the release, the level two guidelines, which are based on Creative’s Environmental Audio Extensions (EAX) to Microsoft’s DirectSound3D (DS3D), will be published later this year. Firing
Squad GDC Report Thanks to Kenn from Thresh's Firing Squad for emailing us about their Game Developers Conference update. There's lots of good stuff in it. Here is a bit on audio: Creative is also revamping the drivers for SBLive, for even less CPU utilization, and get this: HRTFs on all four speakers. It seems Creative's learned the benefits of supporting head-related-transfer-functions to aid in sound positioning, and they'll be the only ones doing it on all outputs. See, your thoughts do matter! Well we know that last bit is not quite true as Sensaura's Multidrive technology will also do HRTFs on four speaker outputs. The first chip to use Sensaura's multidrive technology is ESS's Canyon3D. You can learn more about the MulitDrive Technology by checking out Simon's report on his visit to Sensaura and by checking out our Sensaura Technology article. Aureal
Supporting I3DL2! Thanks to 3DAI for the news that Aureal has announced support for the IA-SIG audio standard, I3DL2. I shamelessly ripped the following right from 3DAI: The new Level 2 guidelines are designed to increase the quality and consistency of 3D audio entertainment on the PC and other digital entertainment platforms. Aureal intends to support I3DL2 in future generations of its award-winning A3DTM applications programming interface (API), Vortex(r) audio processors, and Vortex-based sound cards. New
Dell TB Montego Drivers Dell has released new drivers for their OEM Vortex 1 based Montego A3DXsteam card. Thanks to Aureal A3D Cental for the news. Heretic II
EP Released Finally!! A3D 3D 2.0 enhanced 3D sound support and EAX enhanced 3D Sound support. You can get all the scoop on the heap of additional enhancements and download the EP from 3Dfiles.com Note: The Heretic II Enhancement Pack requires A3D 2.0 drivers for A3D sound card compatibility. If you are experiencing problems related to A3D it is recommended that use the DEFAULT SOUND option. Aureal Semiconductor has released generic A3D 2.0 drivers that should work with any A3D sound card. You can get the latest drivers from Aureal Downloads also available from HereticII .com and Activision (14.5MB) . I am trying to download right now and hope to post some first impressions sometime later on Thursday. Server Problems I just want to apologize for our continued server problems at the hands of webhosting.com. We have been going thorough a few weeks of regular frustration with them and our daily email and phone calls just don't seem to be getting through. You can help us out by adding the following email to your address book and anytime you cannot connect or the page is slow or corrupted, please email them with 3dsoundsurge.com in your subject and a brief description of the problems. If you can run a tracert from the a dos box and include it in the email, then all the better. The address is: Heretic II EP
Soon I cought this on VoodooExtreme who got it from HereticII.com's forums. Raven's Jake Simpson has the following to offer: Ok, well, you heard it here first. The EP is done. Officially. I just got word that QA has signed off on it. One signature is required, and it'll be available on the website to download. I know that Activision is a bit snowed under what with Civilisation being dealt with and the Golf game as well, so hang in there. At least you know there are no more coding delays SinCTF Beta
1 is out! Thanks to AGN3D for the pointer to the plan of Scott Alden of Ritual where he states the following about the A3D 2.0 and EAX supporting Sin: This is a public beta to just help us get
the kinks worked out. We set up two servers that you can connect to: debugctf.ritual.com and sinctf.ritual.com I don't have Sin to check it out but hopefully Frank can grab this beta and let us know if A3D 2.0 and EAX are supported in the CTF. Tuesday, March 16, 99 Team Fortress II to Ship with A3D 2.0 Aureal today released a PR reaffirming that Team Fortress II will ship with A3D 2.0 out of the box. FPS2000 Shipping Cambridge Soundworks today announced that their new FPS2000 speaker system is shipping at a retail price of less than $200. More details are available in the press release. Creative also issued a release describing their contributions to the development of the DLS2 standard. Thanks to all who emailed about these prs including ALive and 3Dspotlight EAX 3.0! Yes thats right! EAX 3.0. Creative breaks it down into three phases to date:
According to the press release new tools will "include the ability to use and tune localized reflection clusters or isolated individual reflections, to continuously ``morph'' between environments, and to further improve distance rendering and naturalness with Creative's proprietary statistical reverberation model. These features allow the developer to create dynamic reverberant environments with superior, more robust distance cues and enhanced control over each audio event in the virtual sound scene. " Look for lots more on EAX 2. 0 and 3.0 from us in the coming weeks. For now you can get the rest of the details right from the press release. Reminders Its a pretty slow morning for news and none of our own new in house features are quite ready so I though I would remind people one last time that this is probably the last week to get in on the Aureal Survey/Contest. Also check out our most recent reviews such as Motorhead and Half-Life. Our new price guide and our visit with Sensaura. Another couple features worth a second look was our interview with Stuart Denman of Surreal and our interview with Toni Schneider of Aureal. Finally, check out our most recent Week in Review. Bits & Bytes Firingsquad has posted a Celeron 433 review, including a look at how fast it overclocks; ExtremeHardware has posted a review of the Thrustmaster Flight System, which includes the Elite Rudder Pedals, Attack Throttle and the Top Gun flight stick Monday, March 15, 99 Canyon3D Sensaura is going for a much higher profile these days. First they announce their MacroFX technology and their Multi-drive multispeaker solution (see next post) and then ESS announces their new 3D audio chip called the Canyon3D. The Canyon3D technology, which supports the Microsoft DirectSound3D (DS3D) API, uses HRTF algorithms for each of the four individual speakers to provide the vertical sound cues. I know that Simon was very impressed with what he heard during his visit with Sensaura. This looks like a pretty promising chip to go with Sensaura's 3D technology. You can get more details from www.Canyon3D.com and we will be sure to follow up with more details and a hands on look as soon as we can get our hands on one. Press releases Sensaura released two press releases this morning, one about their MacroFX technology and the other about their Multi-Speaker solution. You can read more about these two technologies and Simon's impression about them in our Sensaura Technology article and in Simon's on site visit at Sensaura. Other pressreleases we recently put up on the press release page are:
FP2000 review AGN has posted a review of Creative's new FPS 2000 Digital Speakers which should be available in US for less than $200 at the end of this month. Here's their verdict Overall – 10 Stars The FPS 200 system delivers the perfect solution for the PC user who is looking to take advantage of 4-speaker support. The quality of the output and the impressive features of the FPS200 are sure to leave the competition in the dark ages of single speaker system lore. Viva la Quad Speakers! Thanks to Nigel for the pointer. Motorhead Review I have just posted my review of Motorhead. This arcade style racer has a lot to offer gamers including true colour graphics, force feed back support and best of all support for all the major 3D audio API's. In doing the review of Motorhead I tested it with six different soundcards, the details of which are in the review. Week in Review For all the sound happenings of last week and what we anticipate for this week check out our latest week in review.
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