Implement OpenAL?

Deathlike2 · Post by **Deathlike2** » Sun Jan 22, 2006 1:17 pm

I could say the same for OpenGL in Windows.. but there's a lot of mess in the video support so I can kinda pass on that... then there's the visual bugs..

There's a lot less bugginess in the audio (well, maybe not necessarily the sound core, or some stuff need implementing such as propery "emulation" of the SPC rape).. but wouldn't it be worthwhile to implement this all in OpenAL? I'm not too sure whether that makes sense or not. Obviously this isn't something that should be done in the near immediate future, but I'd like a dev to comment on this if this would be worthwhile.

I'm only suggesting this because I think it would be beneficial for the Windows/SDL port since it should make the audio codebase easier to maintain. (The sound in the DOS port isn't getting any better anytime soon anyhow). This "might" help the people with the audio lag on their ISA sound cards and OpenAL is open sourced with an OpenAL driver anyone can get from the OpenAL website www.openal.org

Aerdan · Post by **Aerdan** » Sun Jan 22, 2006 5:39 pm

OpenAL is a mess.

OpenGL, on the other hand, isn't all that hard to deal with; all we really need to do is add a Windows SDL port.

[EDIT: Not to mention the fact that OpenAL has a tendency to change its implementation just to break some games. OpenGL doesn't have this problem, however.

]

Deathlike2 · Post by **Deathlike2** » Sun Jan 22, 2006 7:41 pm

I see... examples of OpenAL breaking games?

Aerdan · Post by **Aerdan** » Sun Jan 22, 2006 11:35 pm

Eternal Lands.

Post by **pagefault** » Thu Jan 26, 2006 9:07 am

OpenAL would not help the sound problem.

The sound code is being rewritten and is being tested by select people. It will be released when we feel it is ready to stand up to the critics.

We are trying to ensure the highest quality so people are satisfied with our work.

Bahamut_ZERO_Clue · Post by **Bahamut_ZERO_Clue** » Sat Jan 28, 2006 1:48 am

OpenAL is also only supported by one sound card, Creative Labs. And not everyone has a Sound Blaster with OpenAL support.

Deathlike2 · Post by **Deathlike2** » Sat Jan 28, 2006 2:00 am

Bahamut_ZERO_939 wrote:OpenAL is also only supported by one sound card, Creative Labs. And not everyone has a Sound Blaster with OpenAL support.

You can definately use an OpenAL client driver from the link I've provided in my original post. I personally don't know if any other sound card has their own OpenAL client (the one provided at the website is most likely of the software acceleration variety). You definately do not have to have a Creative sound card to have support.

Creative Labs is not a sound card, thanks.

Reznor007 · Post by **Reznor007** » Sat Jan 28, 2006 2:23 am

OpenAL is a cross platform audio solution, not exclusive to Creative's stuff. nVidia is a major part of OpenAL, so Soundstorm supports it as well.

Post by **pagefault** » Tue Jan 31, 2006 11:27 am

If you can show me the support in the OpenAL drivers then I will consider it.

Deathlike2 · Post by **Deathlike2** » Tue Jan 31, 2006 2:36 pm

pagefault wrote:If you can show me the support in the OpenAL drivers then I will consider it.

I'm not sure what you're asking.. you can download a client OpenAL driver @ www.openal.org that is supposedly usable on all sound cards (though, probably uses software acceleration or some of the calls that DirectSound uses). The client driver assumes that you have properly installed your sound card drivers.

Reznor007 · Post by **Reznor007** » Tue Jan 31, 2006 5:20 pm

pagefault wrote:If you can show me the support in the OpenAL drivers then I will consider it.

Well, Unreal Tournament 2003/2004 both use OpenAL exclusively and that seems to work on most PC's.

Bahamut_ZERO_Clue · Post by **Bahamut_ZERO_Clue** » Wed Feb 01, 2006 9:53 pm

Basically he wants to see a wide range of products fully supporting "in hardware" OpenAL impliementations (not software only), and not just manufacturers like Nvidia and Creative Labs.

Realtek, C-Media, VIA, Intel, and ADI have yet to make hardware accelerated OpenAL drivers for any of their chipsets. Until they do so I'd say avoid OpenAL for now. The targeted audience for support is too small to be effective.

Reznor007 · Post by **Reznor007** » Wed Feb 01, 2006 11:41 pm

Most sound chips that aren't from Creative or nVidia don't even do Directsound hardware support. Most of them are basic CODEC's and not actual DSP's.

Like I mentioned earlier, Unreal Engine 2.x(UT2003/2004, Unreal 2, and others) all use OpenAL. The targeted audience for support was big enough to sustain Epic while they are working on Unreal Engine 3(which will also use OpenAL).

Bahamut_ZERO_Clue · Post by **Bahamut_ZERO_Clue** » Mon Feb 06, 2006 9:09 am

VIA and Realtek are the only ones that do hardware acceleration outside M-Audio, EchoAudio, Creative, and Nvidia, but mostly on newer chipsets only like those that did 5.1 and later. C-Media, Intel, and ADI are still software only.