Bioshock EAX support

[kcajjones]

Using OpenAL Soft v1.23.1 with Bioshock (classic).
Game has working audio but in-game EAX toggle is greyed out.
Log file shows:
[ALSOFT] (EE) EAXSet [EAX_FX_SLOT] Flags out of range (value: 3; min: 0; max: 1)

Full log here:
bioshock.log

Game is listed as using EAX 5.0 which, as far as I know, every implementation has been using Creative's OpenAL.

[kcajjones]

Partially fixed by setting Bioshock.exe to Windows XP Service Pack 3 compatibility mode. Game now allows the EAX toggle and can be enabled.

I don't have a Creative Soundblaster X-fi card and Windows XP to test the correct EAX sounds but there are definitely some effects added using EAX via OpenAL Soft.

Further multiple errors in log:
[ALSOFT] (EE) EAXSet [EAX_SOURCE] Flags out of range (value: 23; min: 0; max: 7).

bioshock.log

[kcat]

If the game uses OpenAL natively, I'm curious why it would need to be set to XP SP3 compatibility mode to enable EAX. It'd make sense for DSound, which removed hardware acceleration (and EAX as a consequence) with Vista and later, so there'd be no reason to try if on Vista or later. But with OpenAL, hardware acceleration was always and still is available with appropriate hardware/drivers.

In any case, the Flags out of range errors may be bugs. When setting the EAXSOURCE_FLAGS source EAX property for EAX5, it forwards to eax3_set, which in turn checks against the EAX2 flags that fails against the EAX5 flags. Similarly with setting EAXFXSLOT_ALLPARAMETERS effect slot property for EAX5, it call Eax5AllValidator which first calls Eax4AllValidator, the latter of which only checks against the EAX4 flag.

It should be noted that OpenAL Soft doesn't actually handle the EAX5 flags. Something to do with upmixing, 3D elevation filters, and speaker levels. I can fix it for them to be recognized and not error, but they'll ultimately not do anything.

[kcat]

Commit f21e916 should fix the flags out of range errors.

[Kappa971]

I played BioShock months ago with an X-Fi Titanium HD which has OpenAL hardware support and I don't remember having to select Win XP compatibility. It's very strange, the game was released at the time of Windows Vista... Also I'm on Windows 11 (the card is theoretically not supported but still works).
I didn't try OpenAL Soft because luckily the card worked well throughout the campaign (except for a single BSOD).

[kcajjones]

I can't explain why, but it definitely makes it work.

There's a mention of it on PCGamingWiki stating that Windows 8 and above have an issue with sounds not playing that can be fixed with Windows XP SP3 compatibility mode. It references the Steam BioShock forums - although I couldn't find the post in question.

[Kappa971]

I can't explain why, but it definitely makes it work.

There's a mention of it on PCGamingWiki stating that Windows 8 and above have an issue with sounds not playing that can be fixed with Windows XP SP3 compatibility mode. It references the Steam BioShock forums - although I couldn't find the post in question.

I had stuttering audio issues after a few minutes of playing with a Sound Blaster Z card and its OpenAL software driver, no problems with X-Fi (except a BSOD), and I don't remember setting any compatibility modes.
Maybe there is some incompatibility with OpenAL Soft which is somehow mitigated by setting Win XP compatibility mode.
Are you sure it's not enough to run the game as administrator?

The part that tells you how to activate EAX doesn't make much sense... If you install OpenAL (by Creative), it installs wrap_oal.dll in SysWOW64 and System32 and the game should be directed to that via openal32.dll (located in the same folders).
wrap_oal.dll is listed as Generic Software and is used when you don't have OpenAL support in hardware, but it only supports EAX 2.0 so how is this supposed to help with BioShock?

Maybe there's something I don't understand? 😅

[kcat]

Maybe there's something I don't understand? 😅

Does the game ship its own openal32.dll for hardware only, perhaps? Or maybe it has issues detecting EAX support if it's using the router. Those are the two ideas I can think of off the top of my head for that.

[Kappa971]

Does the game ship its own openal32.dll for hardware only, perhaps?

I don't see openal32.dll along with bioshock.exe so no.

Or maybe it has issues detecting EAX support if it's using the router.

The game has no problems detecting EAX on X-Fi cards. Also I just tested with OpenAL Soft 1.23.1 (log file alsoft_log.txt)
and the game detects EAX, with soft_oal.dll renamed to openal32.dll and copied to the executable folder (although I don't know if it works correctly in game).

[ThreeDeeJay]

I also had to use Windows XP compatibility last time I tested it, using 1.22.2 (demo).

But even with EAX enabled, I wasn't able to get 3D audio, and I read that the game actually uses FMOD for audio mixing, not OpenAL or DirectSound, so if I understand correctly, it just applies EAX as a post-processing effect to the surround mix provided by FMOD, which might explain the unexpected behavior. I also tested it in Windows XP with an X-Fi sound card and still got the same result. Using wrap_oal.dll to convert OpenAL to DirectSound and then DSOAL would most likely have result, granted it doesn't break stuff to begin with.

Although the game is configured to use OpenAL, it only uses it for the nice EAX effects. Everything else is handled by FMOD
Source https://youtu.be/vq6rda4oJac

By default the game uses the proprietary FMOD audio engine, and you cannot successfully alter BioShock's audio system to another one, such as the generic OpenAL sound renderer (ALAudio.ALAudioSubsystem). This is because the game's main audio found under the \Program Files\2K Games\BioShock\Content\Sounds_Windows directory comes in FMOD's proprietary streaming .fsb format and so can only be played back by the FMOD engine. So altering the audio renderer will only result in sound playback in the game's main menu and duirng .bik movie files, but not in the game itself. If you're having sound issues with FMOD see the Audio Options under the In-Game Settings section for details of solutions.
Source: https://tweakguides.bidecraft.com/Bioshock_7.html

I can confirm attempting to replace FMOD's sound system with OpenAL fails to play everything but the main menu BGM
The same happens with a couple other Unreal Engine 2.5/3 games, so unless OpenAL Soft gets FMOD soundbank support, I don't think these games will ever get proper 3D audio (and even then EAX would probably be broken), though some like A Hat in Time can use X3DAudio HRTF.

The remaster is even worse because apparently they broke EAX altogether (it's even missing from the audio options and the config setting doesn't work, even on XP)

[mirh]

wrap_oal.dll is listed as Generic Software and is used when you don't have OpenAL support in hardware, but it only supports EAX 2.0 so how is this supposed to help with BioShock?

Wrap_oal is both "Generic Software" and "Generic Hardware".
The guy quoted in that thread, in turns references this. From the fact that they mention soundmax soundcards existing, I'm going to assume they may have as well been using windows XP.

so if I understand correctly, it just applies EAX as a post-processing effect to the surround mix provided by FMOD, which might explain the unexpected behavior.

So.. what? They still need an api to output the audio, and it's not like they could make their own EAX® with blackjack and hookers.

and you cannot successfully alter BioShock's audio system to another one

I mean, that sounds pretty normal tbh. It's the same in mass effect with ISACT, and in ME2 with wwise.

[Kappa971]

Wrap_oal is both "Generic Software" and "Generic Hardware". The guy quoted in that thread, in turns references this. From the fact that they mention soundmax soundcards existing, I'm going to assume they may have as well been using windows XP.

I don't know what "Generic Hardware" does but I doubt any modern sound card would be recognized as such, no cards today have dedicated hardware voices, so wrap_oal probably just creates a "Generic Software" device with EAX 2.0 support and stereo output, ergo that guide on PCGamingWiki may be wrong (Does BioShock support EAX 2.0?).

Download ALCapsViewer on a modern PC without Creative cards, install OpenAL (should install OpenAL32.dll and wrap_oal.dll), open ALCapsViewer and see what devices are listed (This might clarify everything).
This is what it lists with an X-Fi:

[mirh]

I don't know what "Generic Hardware" does but I doubt any modern sound card would be recognized as such

Of course there's no hardware directsound today, but that supposed fix is super old indeed.
Also, it hasn't stopped "geniuses" from using alchemy to sort-of fix native openal games this way.

(Does BioShock support EAX 2.0?)

It might be some fun to try to load the executable in ghidra.. But anyway, it appears the "creative eax audio" is actually a toggle for the entire openal subsystem? Patch 1.1 though probably blacklisted "generic software".

Download ALCapsViewer on a modern PC without Creative cards

I know.. I did make the OpenAL tools package after all.
But if you place dsound.dll (from either alchemy or dsoal) in the same folder of the router/wrapper/executable you'd see another entry pop up.

[Kappa971]

Of course there's no hardware directsound today, but that supposed fix is super old indeed. Also, it hasn't stopped "geniuses" from using alchemy to sort-of fix native openal games this way.

https://web.archive.org/web/20080514015042/http://www.soundblaster.com/products/gaming/article.asp?articleID=71545&categoryID=13
Generic Hardware

Non-OpenAL audio solutions
If you don't have an OpenAL compatible card installed, or your sound card drivers or OpenAL run-time are obsolete, 
then you might encounter problems with BioShock's sound when the "Use Creative EAX Audio" is set to "ON".
Some people have reported stuttering or crackling sound.

In this situation, OpenAL is still trying to process 3D audio for you, but it can't find a working OpenAL hardware
device. On a Windows XP system, it will instead look for a DirectSound3D sound card on your PC. OpenAL can pass the
game's audio  instructions onto DirectSound3D. The quality of 3D audio you will hear might not be great - 3D 
positioning and reverb quality may be compromised, and at worst the sound may be distorted.

How can this happen today? Forcing ALchemy to be used on non-Creative cards? For what purpose? I think it's better to use OpenAL Soft rather than ALchemy's EAX software emulation (it's pretty bad).

Generic Software

If there is no DirectSound3D device, or you are running Windows Vista which doesn't support DirectSound3D hardware
sound, then OpenAL's software mixer will take over. The OpenAL software mixer currently has not been optimized
for BioShock.

This is what PCGamingWiki recommends but I think it's wrong. Putting wrap_oal.dll in the game directory and renaming it to openal32.dll what does it do? Do you have 3D audio without EAX? Because I don't think the game is backwards compatible with EAX 2.0 and as you said it seems like an antiquated solution.

So, if you don't have a fully OpenAL compatible hardware solution, usually the best solution is to try the game
with "Use Creative EAX Audio" set "ON" and then "OFF" and see which sounds better! When the setting is "OFF",
you'll hear the default audio mixer which ships with BioShock. Without a proper OpenAL sound card, this might be your
best bet. It doesn't have hardware grade sample-rate conversion, state-of-the-art HRTF algorithms for headphone and
2-speaker 3D, or hardware accelerated reverb. But it does support features like reverb and 3D panning on 5.1 and
7.1 systems

So if you have a Creative card (with OpenAL hardware support, Host OpenAL works badly), you can enable Use Creative EAX Audio normally.
If you don't have a Creative card:

1. Use OpenAL Soft and enable Use Creative EAX Audio;
2. Disable Use Creative EAX Audio.

[mirh]

How can this happen today? Forcing ALchemy to be used on non-Creative cards?

I didn't say that (even though it's certainly possible and documented). I meant that some smartasses, rather than actually fixing openal in certain games, went the roundabout way through alchemy restoring the "generic hardware" renderer.

I think it's better to use OpenAL Soft rather than ALchemy's EAX software emulation (it's pretty bad).

Last time I checked it wasn't that bad (at least if you managed to hit "Using Native OpenAL Renderer" instead of "Using Creative Software 3D Library"). But sure, no doubt that openal soft is the only thing worth using in 2024.

Putting wrap_oal.dll in the game directory and renaming it to openal32.dll what does it do?

It does what it does in every single other game ever? Like, seriously?
It bypasses the router discovery and selection process, and it forces whatever compliant openal implementation(s) that are in the other dll (I wonder if the game couldn't be extra finnicky when the first device name it meets isn't also the default one?)

Do you have 3D audio without EAX?

As linked, the game likely blacklisted generic software in patch 1.1 (it would be nice to check the demo perhaps?).
If I had to take a guess (considering that I checked even the original 2007 disc, and it doesn't come with any openal dependency) they shipped the damn game not even knowing/understanding that a generic redist existed and that their premium audio option wasn't technically just limited to quality sound cards.