GP4 EAX environmental sound option enabled, engine reverb in Monaco Tunnel, no CTD. GPXPATCH use CPU ALL

Guys at Github, or the creator of DSOAL is looking at this, they created a post here:-
[github.com]

Amazing.

Works under Linux with a non-Creative Labs Soundcard too!

1. As above, download dsound.dll and dsoal-aldrv.dll into your game folder.

2. ***EXTRA STEP*** Tell WINE to look for them (WINE CONFIGURATION, select GP4.exe, go to LIBRARIES tab and ADD dsound.dll and dsoal-aldrv.dll [defaults are fine])

3. Run the game, go to SOUNDS and finally that pesky 3D sound option is no longer greyed out, so select it.

4. Have fun.

As a Linux user I never imagined this feature would ever work for me, but it does.

For the record, my soundcard is an Asus Xonar Virtuoso D2X

Thanks for the heads-up GP4Wonder!

@Noog you are welcome.
playing it in eax mode just changes the game completely, not just that but with all cpu cores.
thanks to that software eax emulator.

I have been modifying and testing it in lan multiplayer, guys at github have been fantastic.
though so far the eax emulation seems broken in multiplayer, even though it is enabled ingame.

Funny thing is, I've NEVER had a problem using all cores in any flavour of Linux - and I think that supports the idea that all core crashing in Windows was related to the dsound.dll all along.

But yes, installing this has brought new life to the game for me as well.

Hi Noog, are you able to lan two machines linux style and see if eax works?
I'm thinking perhaps it may work in linux.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/28/2023 04:31PM by gp4wonder.

I'm afraid not bud: not for a week or two anyway. It's a very busy time for me and my spare machine is doing something else. But for what it's worth I strongly suspect it would work - although TBH I would have expected it to work Windows as well. Seems illogical that it doesn't.

no rush, just when you have time....

If you want the latest builds get it from here, it gets updated regularly:-
[github.com]

Ok the verdicts in, great work from 3DJ:-

Results are in: pretty much the same as DSOAL and ALchemy, except in multiplayer the game hangs momentarily at times where I think it's entering/exiting EAX reverb zones.
[github.com]

Single player: [youtu.be]
Grand Prix 4 (Single player) - EAX working with X-Fi CMSS-3D on Windows XP

Multiplayer: [youtu.be]
Grand Prix 4 (Multiplayer) - EAX not working with X-Fi CMSS-3D on Windows XP

will try and get hold of the guys who wrote gpxpatch, per 3DJ comments maybe something they can implement



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/29/2023 06:22AM by gp4wonder.

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Issue #233 SUBMITTED
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Edit
GP4wonder GP4wonder
GP4wonder GP4wonder created an issue 25 minutes ago
I have copied the 2 dll's, to main GP4 folder from latest EAX emulator build here:-
[github.com]

I have found that if i play single player eax works great. But if i do lan multiplayer game with 2 pc's eax is not working, even though EAX is enabled ingame, so it's something to do with multiplayer, Is it possible to get EAX working for multiplayer?

3DJ from Github has tested this with EAX hardware soundcard and the issue remains the same:-
[github.com]

It may be worth inspecting to see if there's an easy workaround on DSOAL's side, though there might not be anything DSOAL itself can do and it needs an exe patch.

If someone finds what needs to be patched, maybe @gp4wonder could suggest it to the GPxPatch if that's still in development.
It already applies some patches (on the fly, without modifying the executable), including some related to 3D sounds.

That could be useful to figure out if it ever worked or not. For all I know, the devs may have purposely disabled reverb during multiplayer races, thinking it was a bit too distracting if players were also expected to talk to each other or play nearby each other.

Results are in: pretty much the same as DSOAL and ALchemy, except in multiplayer the game hangs momentarily at times where I think it's entering/exiting EAX reverb zones.

Single player: [youtu.be]
Multiplayer: [youtu.be]
Comments (1)
GP4wonder GP4wonder REPORTER
[www.youtube.com]

Just 3 videos with EAX emulator working in singleplayer

Have you tried this mod at other circuits? Estoril for instance?

I did a couple of laps late last night because it just happens to be next in my current championship and I got some strange results, ie the sound fades to nothing at certain points on the track - but I went straight back into Monaco and it was fine again.

So because I'd made an edit or two in the alsoft.ini after my Monaco test I reverted to the default one, but Estoril was still fading in and out. But as far as I know (which might not be much) the track dat and wad has no way to impact on sound at all so I'm intrigued and I would be interested to hear if anyone else is finding this (so I might be able to tell if it's a Linux issue or not).

I just have the vanilla GP4 installed without 9.6patch, for testing purposes.
I haven't found issue yet, tested monaco, silverstone and melbourne



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/29/2023 02:22PM by gp4wonder.

Noog Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> So because I'd made an edit or two in the alsoft.i
> ni after my Monaco test I reverted to the default
> one, but Estoril was still fading in and out.

Hello Noog.
I'm running in Windows (7), highly modified (personal/handcraft) 2001 season.

Anyway, wich edits have you made in alsoft.ini?

GP4Addicted Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Anyway, wich edits have you made in alsoft.ini?

I'm still experimenting, but one thing I will mention, is that I'm not certain the EAX feature in GP4 is actually the most interesting aspect of all this, because I was surprised to find you can get some excellent effects WITHOUT actually selecting that in the game.

For instance, if you have a 5 or 7 speaker sound system, and you put front-stablizer = true in the alsoft.ini you can leave the game set to 2D sound (ie unclick 'EAX' and 'use multiple speakers' ) and then you'll find any other stuff you have already playing outside the game, such as music etc, will be using your 5 or 7 speaker set up as normal but the game will seem VERY focused on your centre speaker, which in my case is right behind my monitor, giving the game a really intense feel that I've never experienced before*.

* At the moment this is my best solution for my Estoril problem, but I'm sure it'll get even better once I've had time to learn more about what alsoft.ini can do.

I've also experimented with the default-reverb option (I'm using default-reverb = ParkingLot in my alsoft.ini), because the default reverb is a little bit strong for a racing game in my view.

But your sound setup (and your ears) will be different to mine so you need to play around with it yourself really. I certainly wouldn't want to be without it though as it definitely brings a new dimension to the game and I'm so glad gp4wonder brought it here.

Thanks again!



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 10/30/2023 09:59PM by Noog.

Noog Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> GP4Addicted Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Anyway, wich edits have you made in alsoft.ini?
>
> I'm still experimenting, but one thing I will ment
> ion, is that I'm not certain the EAX feature in GP
> 4 is actually the most interesting aspect of all t
> his, because I was surprised to find you can get s
> ome excellent effects WITHOUT actually selecting t
> hat in the game.
>
> For instance, if you have a 5 or 7 speaker sound s
> ystem, and you put front-stablizer = true in the a
> lsoft.ini you can leave the game set to 2D sound (
> ie unclick 'EAX' and 'use multiple speakers' ) and
> then you'll find any other stuff you have already
> playing outside the game, such as music etc, will
> be using your 5 or 7 speaker set up as normal but
> the game will seem VERY focused on your centre spe
> aker, which in my case is right behind my monitor,
> giving the game a really intense feel that I've ne
> ver experienced before*.
>
> * At the moment this is my best solution for my Es
> toril problem, but I'm sure it'll get even better
> once I've had time to learn more about what alsoft
> .ini can do.
>
> I've also experimented with the default-reverb opt
> ion (I'm using default-reverb = ParkingLot in my a
> lsoft.ini), because the default reverb is a little
> bit strong for a racing game in my view.
>
> But your sound setup (and your ears) will be diffe
> rent to mine so you need to play around with it yo
> urself really. I certainly wouldn't want to be wit
> hout it though as it definitely brings a new dimen
> sion to the game and I'm so glad gp4wonder brought
> it here.
>
> Thanks again!

Amazing reply, dear Noog!

I have a 5 speaker system.

Since i'm with onboard Realtek soundcard, i had to install their propetary 3Dsoundback app and enable GP4.exe in there, some months ago.

Though, i didn't like the results in multi-speaker with my personal edited version of engine sounds and related .txt, with some of the fading/clipping you having at Estoril.

With the these DSOAL DLLs, i'm liking the results in stereo, with this .ini setting: stereo-mode=headphones.

To my ears, as you say, the stereo mix is simpler, but with better results for my setup, gamewise.

Is there are any difference with another settings?

Also, i feel the same as you about the reverb being a bit strong for a racing game.

Where to place those lines you mention in the .ini?

Anywhere in the main commands line block?

Another thing: since the sound sampling in game is 22Khz or 11Khz, should i follow what it states in the .ini and keep it to 44Khz or 48Khz as in the Windows soundsetting?

Go and get the latest version:

And take a look at the alsoft.ini in there. It's much more comprehensive than the one in the OP here and it has lots of comments to show you where everything goes.

My primary samples in my personal GP4 mods are always 44Khz, so I'm using 44Khz, which is the default, but you'll see how to change it in the alsoft.ini above.

Yes, headphones. I was using that at first, then speakers, but I've been using stereo-mode = auto tonight. Not sure which works best for me yet.

Still trying to get my head around some of the other options, because a lot of this surround sound stuff is completely new to me.

Hi Guys,

@Noog, thank you.

I have been been concentrating on the lan multiplayer aspect with eax, changing the extension of the gp4.exe to gp4.ini, opening it up with textpad editor and search for eax module
there's:- samples\reverbdata\reverb_%s.bin and samples\crowddata\%s.crd.
changed %s to say %a save the file, change it back to .exe you won't hear that effect.
I'm probably barking up the wrong tree here but thought of mentioning it, since in multiplayer were missing tunnel reverb and the crowd sounds.
I can break this in singleplayer, so i know it must be those lines that are being read, but where does it break in multiplayer? are the same lines being read.
It's already been established that this does not work even with eax hardware, so i don't think any changes i make in alsoft.ini will matter.
If only we could get Geoff Crammond to read this post, maybe he could tell us how to switch it on for lan multiplayer.

just out of interest the alsoft.ini that came with the moddb website the file contents was in the form of:-

[General]
channels=
frequency=48000
stereo-mode=headphones
cf_level=0
sources=512
slots=64
sends=16
sample-type=float32
resampler=cubic
default-hrtf=Built-In 48000hz
hrtf=true
drivers="-dsound,"
period_size=128
periods=3


the one on the url latest build has quite a few comments in it and you need to switch on what you want.

for the sake of it i just turned on:-

## enable: (global)
# Sets whether to enable EAX extensions or not.
enable = true


Started the game up and sure enough eax effects was enabled
exited the game and put the above to false
started game up again and eax effects was greyed out

Just note here make sure dsound.dll, dsoal-aldrv.dll and alsoft.ini
are in the GP4 folder and that you haven't copied them elsewhere
that way you know by changing settings in alsoft.ini, are being picked up,
by that file in that location.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 10/31/2023 12:31AM by gp4wonder.

@ gp4wonder

Thanks for the info. I'm guessing you're right that the developers probably turned off EAX in lan mode deliberately. Not only would it be a bit chaotic in the same room, but the game stretched even a top end machine back in the early 2000s and I noticed last night that if I left a video running and played the game the game sound got a bit of a stutter, like the soundcard (?) was struggling to keep up - and it's many years since I played GP4 over a lan but I seem to recall the framerate always dropped a bit when I linked up - and while the machines of today are far superior, we are still pushing the boundaries even today with all our HD cars and tracks.

Took a quick look at my 'spare' spare machine last night, but I'm short a CPU heatsink, which is a shame, although I strongly suspect that because GP4 runs in WINE under linux my results would be exactly the same as yours. Top marks to you for hacking into the exe though (that's a bit out of my league).

Tonight, if I get time, I want to look into some of the more obscure sections of alsoft.ini to see if I can tune it to my sound system better, because at the moment if I disable front-stablizer = true the sounds seem to be drawn to my right side while the left fades in and out as I move around the track - but there's so much I don't yet understand in the alsoft.ini that I'm just flailing around in the dark really!

It's all good fun though. Best of luck in your quest.

@Noog You are welcome

Multiplayer lan works great, I do have lan races from time to time, used to alot in GP2 days and that's going back quite abit.
it's all experimantation with the alsoft.ini file.

The way i look at it, GP4 just came out now with EAX enabled.

Actually that's right: it was GP2 I used to play linked up too. Don't think I've ever tried to run GP4 on a lan now that I think about it.

Funny thing is, the guy I used to race against back then came over the other day and I just happened to have GP4 running when he turned up. He was absolutely amazed at how it looked (and sounded, because I'd just added alsoft into the mix ) so I gave him a full installation of one of my mods to take home and try. He and I are both very ancient now but he was as fanatical about GP2 as I was back in the day, so maybe we'll be rolling back the years together soon. Who would have thought a 20 year old game could still achieve that wow factor like it does? Quite incredible really.

Hahahahaa same. My friend i used to race GP2, he actually worked at Monza track as barista i think lol
he was hard to beat. we never forgot one race we did with GP2, this particular race
came to the wire, last lap, i thought i had won, he slipped streamed me right near the finish line and beat me by a nose
imagine racing for an hour and half to come down to that....
we were pumped the whole time, the excitement, fun we had..you said it the wow factor



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/31/2023 10:55AM by gp4wonder.