Alchemy With Fallout 3 on Win 7 Final Solution
I was very frustrated, because I bought my X-Fi Extreme Gamer only for Fallout 3. On other soundcards radio sound was distorted. There was no solution, but I've read on other forums there is something like Creative Alchemy and that it fixes that problem. So I've bought it. Imagine how furious I was when I found Fallout 3 crashes every 5 minutes with Alchemy enabled. I was even more pissed off noticing crushing superiority of Alchemy enabled sound over standard. If a game for Windows 7 doen't use OpenAL - DirectX sound SUCKS! It's flat, no spatial effects, very poor dynamics, some sounds are way to silent, some way to loud. With OpenAL or Alchemy - it's just it - perfect. Yep. But the crashes...
So it was almost 6 month I haven't played F3 because those crashes. And a week ago I found a solution. I found it, because I was annoyed with other crashes, with Windows itself, after exiting standby mode (STR). Well, power management issues are usualy connected to BIOS and mobo drivers. And gues what. After spending some time with goolge I finally found a driver for my mobo (ABIT KN9). After installing this driver my PC no longer crashes after resuming from STR and... TADA...
Alchemy in Fallout 3 WORKS! No crashing! (Except normal F3 CTDs from time to time, well, no software is perfect)
If YOU have the same problem - distorted radio music, CTD's every 5 minutes or more often - do the following and it should help.
1. I don't know if Creative X-Fi Gamer soundcard is required for it, I've heard there is similar to Alchemy software for Realtek HD audio (present on most mobos by default) - anyway - if you have X-Fi Gamer (or better) - it's a good start
2. Install Alchemy (or equivalent soft for Realtek)
3. Set up 10, 5, 128 values in Alchemy for Fallout 3 (sound stutters without it)
4. SWITCH X-FI TO GAME MODE - the game will crash in a minute or less if not run with other than GAME MODE
5. INSTALL THE LATEST MOBO DRIVERS - I know, you can use Windows and even other games for years without it, but see my story - STR and Fallout 3 was fucked only because Windows 7 alone couldn't handle my mobo correctly!
And the moral is - it was not Bethesda's fault, not Microsoft's, not even Abit's - but mine fault, all the time! If you're installing new OS you MUST install all required drivers or have problems.
I was very frustrated, because I bought my X-Fi Extreme Gamer only for Fallout 3. On other soundcards radio sound was distorted. There was no solution, but I've read on other forums there is something like Creative Alchemy and that it fixes that problem. So I've bought it. Imagine how furious I was when I found Fallout 3 crashes every 5 minutes with Alchemy enabled. I was even more pissed off noticing crushing superiority of Alchemy enabled sound over standard. If a game for Windows 7 doen't use OpenAL - DirectX sound SUCKS! It's flat, no spatial effects, very poor dynamics, some sounds are way to silent, some way to loud. With OpenAL or Alchemy - it's just it - perfect. Yep. But the crashes...
So it was almost 6 month I haven't played F3 because those crashes. And a week ago I found a solution. I found it, because I was annoyed with other crashes, with Windows itself, after exiting standby mode (STR). Well, power management issues are usualy connected to BIOS and mobo drivers. And gues what. After spending some time with goolge I finally found a driver for my mobo (ABIT KN9). After installing this driver my PC no longer crashes after resuming from STR and... TADA...
Alchemy in Fallout 3 WORKS! No crashing! (Except normal F3 CTDs from time to time, well, no software is perfect)
If YOU have the same problem - distorted radio music, CTD's every 5 minutes or more often - do the following and it should help.
1. I don't know if Creative X-Fi Gamer soundcard is required for it, I've heard there is similar to Alchemy software for Realtek HD audio (present on most mobos by default) - anyway - if you have X-Fi Gamer (or better) - it's a good start
2. Install Alchemy (or equivalent soft for Realtek)
3. Set up 10, 5, 128 values in Alchemy for Fallout 3 (sound stutters without it)
4. SWITCH X-FI TO GAME MODE - the game will crash in a minute or less if not run with other than GAME MODE
5. INSTALL THE LATEST MOBO DRIVERS - I know, you can use Windows and even other games for years without it, but see my story - STR and Fallout 3 was fucked only because Windows 7 alone couldn't handle my mobo correctly!
And the moral is - it was not Bethesda's fault, not Microsoft's, not even Abit's - but mine fault, all the time! If you're installing new OS you MUST install all required drivers or have problems.