Hi Jim, Actually, DirectX 8.1 doesn't really support 5.1 and 7.1 hardware based mixing. DirectSound 8 was actually written for 4.1 stereo sound cards like the Soundblaster Live which was the top quality cards of the late 1990's and early 2000's. However, since most modern cards have 7.1 surround sound support, and the fact Windows Vista and Windows 7 has a fully updated software mixer Microsoft pretty much had to either fully upgrade DirectSound or replace it with something else. They chose to drop DirectSound in favor of a new audio library called XAudio2 which handles 5.1 and 7.1 sound cards, speakers, etc much better than DirectSound. On the one hand Microsoft's XAudio2 3d virtualization is light years better than DirectSound, but on the other hand it doesn't have any simple 2d stereo pan controls etc. So anyone who wants to use XAudio2 to do some simple panning will have to write his or her own 2d pan control using the 3d virtualization like I had to do for OpenAL on Linux.
FYI. The other issue with DirectSound's 3d mixer is that it is incompatible with Windows Vista and Windows 7. As you know I've been working on a new 3d engine for the blind, and the biggest problem of using DirectSound is that it doesn't properly render 3d audio on Vista/Windows 7. The reason is that under Vista and Windows 7 there is a new software mixer designed for newer sound cards, which DirectSound doesn't really support, and as a result rendering audio isn't quite the same as it was on XP. Why Microsoft didn't simply upgrade DirectSound I'll never know, but as I said earlier they decided to resolve the problem by releasing XAudio2, and it is now the default audio API on Windows 7 now. As to running older software on newer versions of Windows that really all depends on the software in question. For example, I have a copy of Microsoft Office 2000 around here and I'd much rather use it than Office 2007. Thing is Office 2000 won't even run on Windows 7. I tried and it gives me some kind of runtime error and locks up. I've got several mainstream games here that work perfectly fine with XP, but crash when I try and start them under Windows 7. That's the one and only reason why my wife and I are holding onto one XP box for games. Truth is with Windows 7 a lot of older software doesn't work, but that doesn't mean some older software won't work. Cheers! On 1/17/11, Jim Kitchen <j...@kitchensinc.net> wrote: > Hi Shaun, > > DirectX 8.1 which I use does definitely have the advanced 3d ability. So it > is not a limitation of VB6 and DirectX 8.1 but of me. I do not have a 5.1 > or 7.1 surround sound speaker system and wouldn't have the place to set them > up correctly even if I did. So I am perfectly happy with the panning and > volume control that I use for my stereo speaker set up. > > I actually like that people need to down load and install my WinKit.zip > file. As then they have the game menu system that I designed and write my > games to use. > > And yes, I guess that eventually we will see if some future version of > Windows will no longer be able to run VB6 programs. As I have mentioned I > still run programs that were written for Windows 3.1 and they run perfectly. > > BFN > --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. You can make changes or update your subscription via the web, at http://audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org. All messages are archived and can be searched and read at http://www.mail-archive.com/gamers@audyssey.org. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org.
