Re: Mass Effect 1 PC Version Surround Sound Issue

by Fred_vdp
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Mass Effect 1 PC Version Surround Sound Issue

★★★ Newbie

I have seen and heard this game recently to a friend of mine his PC spec(corei7 920) asus P6T with onboard audio and 5.1 settings exactly like mine (logitech Z5450) ,so happy as i was seeing and hearing the game surround sound at his place quckly bought it it myself from Origin Package Mass Effect Trilogy After Installing all games i start playing the first one only to realise i have no surround sound only stereo it is depressing to work my mind around something i don`t know how to fix..My system (Phenom 955 Asus M3A78-VM) my friends sound and mine are the same way witch is (Direct Input) through jacks.Anybody knows a way to make the sound 5.1 or surround? Help.

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Re: Mass Effect 1 PC Version Surround Sound Issue

[ Edited ]
Hero

The only supported sound cards for this game are Creative Sound Blasters with EAX support. You may get surround on Asus Xonar as well, since those cards have EAX too. There are also some onboard audio solutions (like VIA or Realtek) that are compatible with a program called SoundBlaster MB, which upgrades the audio hardware with software emulation. I used a free trial of that once, and it worked, but then bought a sound card since that was cheaper that the software.

 

If you have supported audio hardware, you have to edit the BioEngine.ini file which is located in Documents - BioWare - Config. The part under [ISACTAudio.ISACTAudioDevice] should look like this:

 

MaxChannels=128
TimeBetweenHWUpdates=15.000000
MinOggVorbisDurationGame=20
MinOggVorbisDurationEditor=4
TotalAvailableChannels=128
DeviceName=
UseEffectsProcessing=True
ReserveChannels=2

 

Don't change any audio settings in the game after making this config change. If this tweak doesn't give you surround sound, your audio hardware is not compatible.



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Re: Mass Effect 1 PC Version Surround Sound Issue

[ Edited ]
Hero

The only supported sound cards for this game are Creative Sound Blasters with EAX support. You may get surround on Asus Xonar as well, since those cards have EAX too. There are also some onboard audio solutions (like VIA or Realtek) that are compatible with a program called SoundBlaster MB, which upgrades the audio hardware with software emulation. I used a free trial of that once, and it worked, but then bought a sound card since that was cheaper that the software.

 

If you have supported audio hardware, you have to edit the BioEngine.ini file which is located in Documents - BioWare - Config. The part under [ISACTAudio.ISACTAudioDevice] should look like this:

 

MaxChannels=128
TimeBetweenHWUpdates=15.000000
MinOggVorbisDurationGame=20
MinOggVorbisDurationEditor=4
TotalAvailableChannels=128
DeviceName=
UseEffectsProcessing=True
ReserveChannels=2

 

Don't change any audio settings in the game after making this config change. If this tweak doesn't give you surround sound, your audio hardware is not compatible.



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Re: Mass Effect 1 PC Version Surround Sound Issue

★ Novice

I know it's been 2 years since your reply, but I still wanted to thank you for the solution. This worked too when I connected the PC to a Home Theater (and the later to an HDTV) by HDMI. It seems that video cards with HDMI output don't support EAX (at least mine doesn't). But with the Sound Blaster MB software (and the file tweak) now I finally got 5.1 in Mass Effect.

 

Thank you again.

 

 

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