BF2:Getting EAX4 working for All SB Live! and Audigy sound cards
From BattleWiki
Warning: BETA Drivers
Install the latest beta drivers for your Audigy which "Improves performance of all OpenAL game titles, including Battlefield 2"
WindowsXP 64:
Super Sweet Hacker Version For Soundblaster Live! and ALL Audigy Cards:
You can actually use the Audigy2 drivers designed specifically for Battlefield 2 (the version 2.05 drivers) on any Soundblaster Live! or Audigy Card.
PREPARATION - Read the entire contents of this page over thoroughly before you decide to change your drivers. Some older SB Live! cards may require manual editing of files to get them to work.
The first thing you will need to do is to download the entire software suite that normally ships with an Audigy 2 sound card. As of this writing, there are two locations from which to download the full Audigy 2 suite, coming in at 119MB compressed. These links are:
http://www.filesearching.com/cgi-bin/s?q=sb_install_multilang.rar&t=f&d=&l=en&x=0&y=0
(These 2 below dont work)
http://users2.ev1.net/~dallasstar/a2/sb_install_multilang.rar
ftp://server.topo.auth.gr/topolab/temp/Smiro/Audio/sb_install_multilang.rar
You'll also want to download the update for the Audigy 2 drivers (ver 2.05) and applications that have been made available since the original suite's release. The choice of software updates is up to you, but be aware that DVD-Audio will not function on the older cards, so there is no point in obtaining that update. You can get the updates here:
- Download the ver 2.05 drivers here.
PATCHING
- If you have a Soundblaster Live!, Audigy, or Audigy2 Value, then you will need to patch the driver (ver 2.05) AND the Audigy Software Suite to let the installer install it on your card. The patch allows the software to recognize your hardware by updating its list of recognizable cards.
- Extract the driver (Audigy2_Beta_0405zip) zipfile, then using WinRaR extract the exe's contents into its own folder. WinRaR will allow you to manually extract the contents of an exe and make them visible. If you have loaded WinRaR in Window's shell, right click onto the driver exe and select extract. Double clicking on the exe will not work to extract its contents.
Download this patch this patching program, run it, have it point to the \Audio\Setup folder of the Full Software Suite that you downloaded, and then proceed with patching. The updated driver file (ver 2.05), must be patched as well. Run the patch and point it to the main folder where you extracted the contents to. The application updates that you may also have downloaded need no modification. If all went well (very unlikely that it didn't), then you should be ready to install.
- BEFORE YOU INSTALL
Live! owners should be absolutely sure not to install the EAX Console or the Creative Speaker Calibration applications unless they want to be in for a world of headaches.
Before installing any of this, make sure that your old drivers and software are uninstalled. Do this by using Add or Remove Programs in the Control Panel, first uninstalling any updated driver pack, then uninstalling the original software. Then delete the Creative folder just to be safe. I also recommend running a program called Driver Cleaner Pro here
- INSTALLATION
To install the software suite, you can either burn it to a CD and have it autorun, or navigate to the \CTRun folder and run Start.exe. The installation itself should be pretty self-explanatory. If you have a Live! or Audigy drive that came with your card, be sure to select the Audigy 2 Platinum as your device. Audigy users should have no problems installing all of the software available to them in the installation, but Live! owners should be absolutely sure not to install the EAX Console or the Creative Speaker Calibration applications. Unfortunately, these applications just don’t cooperate well with the Live! cards.
- Install the new drivers by double clicking the Setup.exe found in the folder you extracted the contents to.
TIPS
After installing the latest drivers over the Full Software Suite, there is an EAX Control Panel available. In the Master and Source selection tabs you're able to adjust your chrous and reverb settings. The default settings may have reverb and chorus on to 100% which may affect some games. Experiment with what sounds right to you and save your settings.
TROUBLESHOOTING
There are two methods for modifying the Audigy 2 drivers to get them to install properly using the Audigy and Live! cards, automatic and manual. The automatic method above is recommended, the manual method is only included in the event of problems with the automatic method. However, there should be no difficulties if you follow the instructions properly.
These two links will give information on troubleshooting and how to manually install the updates if needed.
http://www.tech-pc.co.uk/audigy-2.php
http://www.driverheaven.net/showthread.php?p=606765#post606765
installing audigy 4 drivers onto an older soundblaster
http://www.driverheaven.net/showthread.php?t=75905
The original(and clearer) guide can be found here: http://www.techenclave.com/forums/guide-installing-audigy-2-drivers-843.html]
