Realtek R2.16 X-Fi mod driver

[FuzzyKitten]

I made yall a name moded driver for vista
Realtek_XFi_MB_R221.7z - 23.65MB

enjoy, they are the DK drivers with a new X-Fi name

 

[Studabaker]

Could be all this weed I've been smoking but I have no idea what's going on anymore.

Are Ket's or even DK's modded drivers giving people actual X-Fi audio or just the name?

That is the biggest question right now.

 

[Ketxxx]

I'm not disputing what may or may not be improvements, just stating what others have already said and common knowledge. Its also a very valid point bringing up how DK is related to creative, if you were a shady company like creative who deliberately cripples software to force people to "upgrade", would you not want to protect your oh-so-precious software?

I may not be the most skilled driver modder, I never made any such claims to begin with, but I do take advice from people who are arguably some of the best programmers in the world, namely, the guys I talk to specialise in writing retina security software, writing a sound driver is something they could do with their eyes closed. People can make what they will of the driver, I never laid claims to any magical improvements, just done what kainxs asked if somebody could do. Even renaming things in drivers can cause issues, in some cases the driver will install but the hardware not work properly and/or features will be missing. Weather these drivers have a improvement or not is neither here nor there, what is relevent are details like why does a vanilla Realtek install only use 5MB, but a modded version uses 60MB? Something else is going on there. The comparison of modded drivers is something of a moot point as both are modded, you want a comparison of vanilla and modded, something I have always requested prom people claiming better audio to see is they really are getting better audio or not. If your going to say something at least address all points raised

@ studabaker, this post wasn't directed at you, you just happen to post before I could finish typing

 

[btarunr]

A certain banned user is creating multiple accounts. If you see a new poster on this thread with the typical "ketxxx's driver kills kittens" kind of posts, report it, so we take a look.

 

[silkstone]

Well it still looks like the creative xi-fi MB software won;t work even in vista, with either set of drivers. so i guess all this fighting has been for nothing. No Difference in audio quality, no difference in software that is able to run....... I'm going to buy an audigy and run it as a xi-fi methinks

 

[Studabaker]

I'm going to buy an audigy and run it as a xi-fi methinks

Those $30 Audigy SE's that are stocked by the hundreds at every Wal-Mart, Best Buy and CompUSA is what I picked up, now I have an X-Fi Xtreme for free. It's the way to go.

 

[seriousClown]

I just tried out the "Daniel_K" drivers, and the creative software is still not working on Vista64, so what's the purpose of them??

 

[Studabaker]

I just tried out the "Daniel_K" drivers, and the creative software is still not working on Vista64, so what's the purpose of them??

just to stir up bullshit. either danial_k (lulz) or someone pretending to be him (probably realtek and/or creative themselves) wants to discredit ketxxx and muck things up for everyone.

 

[BuzMack]

Might help to read the history here a bit... basically the last 2 pages. The INF file which has "Danial_K" in it... was posted by BuddahBelly as an example on how to do a simple find/replace... to change your driver name (hence the misspelled name). If you doubt, go grab Daniel_K's drivers from Daniel_K's site and see for yourself.

Which leads me to...

Ket: doing a bulk find/replace without checking your work leads to making changes like this:
Node.RTHDMIOut ="Realtek X-FiMI Output"

In this case... why change HDMI to X-FiMI? That's just... for lack of a better word, stupid. Doesn't accomplish anything.

Purely changing the name of the driver by messing with friendlyname strings in INF files is about the same as taking a VW Touareg, removing all the VW badging and replacing with Porsche badging (and doing nothing else!) and calling the result a Porsche Cayenne.

IF (and I mean IF) the name change is purely to fool Creative's software to run, then it's a valid attempt at a mod. However driver software relies on GUIDs, registry key entries among other things. Since none of the GUIDs in Ket's drivers have been changed, nor the order or type of file registration... it's no wonder that the Creative software doesn't work on Vista, since it can't (and won't) find the hardware it's looking for.

Me, I've uninstalled everything and went with stock 2.22 drivers from Realtek since I wasn't looking for "better audio" but a 5.1 solution to S/PDIF output.

Better audio? If you think you're getting better audio, great for you. Me, I call BS when I see it.

 

[seriousClown]

Might help to read the history here a bit... basically the last 2 pages. The INF file which has "Danial_K" in it... was posted by BuddahBelly as an example on how to do a simple find/replace... to change your driver name (hence the misspelled name). If you doubt, go grab Daniel_K's drivers from Daniel_K's site and see for yourself.

Which leads me to...

Ket: doing a bulk find/replace without checking your work leads to making changes like this:
Node.RTHDMIOut ="Realtek X-FiMI Output"

In this case... why change HDMI to X-FiMI? That's just... for lack of a better word, stupid. Doesn't accomplish anything.

Purely changing the name of the driver by messing with friendlyname strings in INF files is about the same as taking a VW Touareg, removing all the VW badging and replacing with Porsche badging (and doing nothing else!) and calling the result a Porsche Cayenne.

IF (and I mean IF) the name change is purely to fool Creative's software to run, then it's a valid attempt at a mod. However driver software relies on GUIDs, registry key entries among other things. Since none of the GUIDs in Ket's drivers have been changed, nor the order or type of file registration... it's no wonder that the Creative software doesn't work on Vista, since it can't (and won't) find the hardware it's looking for.

Me, I've uninstalled everything and went with stock 2.22 drivers from Realtek since I wasn't looking for "better audio" but a 5.1 solution to S/PDIF output.

Better audio? If you think you're getting better audio, great for you. Me, I call BS when I see it.

From what I take from your post, you feel as though Ketx's drivers do nothing but change the display name.

However, from my own RMAA tests, I have see improvements between stock and Ketx's drivers. I can't perceive any difference, but RMAA says there is a difference.

This whole matter has become confusing and I don't really know what to believe anymore. I wouldn't put it past creative to spread FUD (fear uncertainty and doubt) amongst us here as modifying their drivers has not exactly gone over well in the past.

 

[silkstone]

But Ket hasn't modded any creative driver. why should they care?

 

[seriousClown]

How strange, the daniel_K blog has now deleted the post about the modded drivers...

 

[reeven]

Daniel_K now worked for Creative, i think. He deserve it. Creative must tell him to delete the Realtek mod.
I want this mod for my laptop, and Toshiba. For Desktop i have XFI Xtreme Audio. No Mod can transforme an Realtek into an XFI, but Volume and application is ok, mostly Crystalizer ON.

 

[BuzMack]

From what I take from your post, you feel as though Ketx's drivers do nothing but change the display name.

I don't "feel" that's all Ket's drivers do. I know that's all his drivers do. If you doubt... download the reference 2.21 drivers from RealTek and do a binary diff between the Realtek installation package and Ket's package. The only differences you'll find is in the INF files, where names have been changed "HD" and "High Definition Audio" replaced with "X-Fi" blindly (hence an entry of an "X-FiMI" device.). Diff tool I used: Windiff (available with certain versions of Microsoft Visual Studio).

On Vista this does absolutely nothing other than rename the device. Using my previous analogy, Touareg/Cayenne... simply changing the name doesn't change how it performs. Under the name it's still going to be a Touareg.

However: I'm NOT saying that adding the X-Fi MB software over the top of these drivers on XP do nothing. On Vista... they do nothing, since they won't find the device (since the device GUID hasn't changed remember, neither has the registered binaries). Since my interest is for Vista/Win7, I'm not interested in how or if things work on XP.

However, from my own RMAA tests, I have see improvements between stock and Ketx's drivers. I can't perceive any difference, but RMAA says there is a difference.

You have set up your device in BOTH instances to disable all effects and have the mixer set to exactly the same settings with both Ket's and RealTek reference drivers, WITHOUT having the X-Fi MB software installed right? And you have run the RMAA series of tests multiple times right? (A sample size of "one" is not statistically useful).

If you're running your RMAA tests on an XP system with the X-Fi MB software installed, you're skewing the results since the X-Fi software will be tweaking the audio before it gets rendered. Apples/Apples comparison and all that...

Question: how much of an improvement does RMAA report? If the change is less than 1% then it is not of interest since you'll never hear that minor amount of change. (unless you're an audiophile in which case: why are you not using a better soundcard to begin with)

This whole matter has become confusing and I don't really know what to believe anymore. I wouldn't put it past creative to spread FUD (fear uncertainty and doubt) amongst us here as modifying their drivers has not exactly gone over well in the past.

In this particular case I don't see the point for Creative to be spreading FUD... since Creative's drivers are not the ones being modded, Realtek's drivers are.

In the end, do your own analysis and draw your own conclusion. I've presented my own conclusion and reasoning, you're entitled to yours.

 

[WhiteLotus]

WWWWWHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSHHHHHHHHHHHHHH


^The sound of this thread going over my head^

All i can say is that before the sound was tinny, quiet, and generally crap when it came to watching videos.
Now the sound is... well... like it is out of my MP3 player. Now i never updated the sound drivers, just used what came with it.

Maybe i just needed to update the drivers, or maybe Kets drivers actually do something - i don't know. But i do know that without this thread i would still have God awful sound bad enough to make baby Jesus weep.

 

[BuzMack]

WWWWWHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSHHHHHHHHHHHHHH


^The sound of this thread going over my head^

All i can say is that before the sound was tinny, quiet, and generally crap when it came to watching videos.
Now the sound is... well... like it is out of my MP3 player. Now i never updated the sound drivers, just used what came with it.

Maybe i just needed to update the drivers, or maybe Kets drivers actually do something - i don't know. But i do know that without this thread i would still have God awful sound bad enough to make baby Jesus weep.

I'd bet that you were running drivers older than version 2.16 which didn't sound so great.

Here's a partial list of changes to RealTek's driver history (it's in the readme.txt as part of their package. I'm only pulling out their list of fixes here. Highlighted is the 2.16 change...

Driver Package R2.22
6. Add/Fix
1.) Driver :
1. Customizations.

Driver Package R2.21
6. Add/Fix
1.) Driver :
1. Customizations.
2. Support ALC275.

Driver Package R2.20
6. Add/Fix
1.) Driver :
1. Customizations.

Driver Package R2.19
6. Add/Fix
1.) Driver :
1. Customizations.
2.) Package :
1. Fix upgraded warning dialog for Small VGA mode .
2. Add failed run installation by count .

Driver Package R2.18
6. Add/Fix
1.) Driver :
1. Customizations.
2.) Package :
1. Support driver folder of Windows Server 2008 in package .
2. Disable Status Dialog when small VGA Mode enabled .
3. Fix CreativeUp folder disappear issue .

Driver Package R2.17
6. Add/Fix
1.) Driver :
1. Customizations.

Driver Package R2.16
6. Add/Fix
1.) Driver :
1. Customizations.
2. Update directsound acceleration engine for XP driver.

Driver Package R2.15
6. Add/Fix
1.) Driver :
1. Customizations.
2. Change Creative components for the certain customers.
2.) Package :
1. Change Japanese language on finish Dialog of installation .
2. Fix DCC uninstalled issue. Both MSI and GUID uninstallation procedure supported .
3. Fix uninstall problem in Windows 7 . The DIFxAPI DLL file supported in Windows 7 .

Driver Package R2.14
6. Add/Fix
1.) Driver :
1. Customizations.
2. Change EAPD control method for the certain codecs.

Driver Package R2.13
6. Add/Fix
1.) Driver :
1. Customizations.

Driver Package R2.12
6. Add/Fix
1.) Driver :
1. Customizations.
2. Support encryption feature for ALC670.

Driver Package R2.11
6. Add/Fix
1.) Driver :
1. Customizations.
2. Add DisplayVersion registry key in INF files.

Driver Package R2.10
6. Add/Fix
1.) Driver :
1. Customizations.
2. Support ALC665.

Driver Package R2.09
6. Add/Fix
1.) Driver :
1. Customizations.

Driver Package R2.08
6. Add/Fix
1.) Driver :
1. Customizations.
2. Support Andrea microphone effect mixer type GUI.
2.) Package:
1. Change setup program install location to meet the requirements of OEM Ready Certification Tool 1.1.0.1101

Driver Package R2.07
6. Add/Fix
1.) Driver :
1. Customizations.

Driver Package R2.06
6. Add/Fix
1.) Driver :
1. Customizations.

The changelist is pretty darn large and contains far more than what I've listed here. You be the judge of what fixed your problems.

 

[seriousClown]

I'd bet that you were running drivers older than version 2.16 which didn't sound so great.

Here's a partial list of changes to RealTek's driver history (it's in the readme.txt as part of their package. I'm only pulling out their list of fixes here. Highlighted is the 2.16 change...



The changelist is pretty darn large and contains far more than what I've listed here. You be the judge of what fixed your problems.

Where did you find that list ? Did you make that from the individual release readme files?

 

[BuzMack]

Where did you find that list ? Did you make that from the individual release readme files?

Download the reference drivers from Realtek's site:

http://www.realtek.com.tw/downloads...=24&Level=4&Conn=3&DownTypeID=3&GetDown=false

Currently version 2.22
Extract. In the root directory of your extracted files there's a "readme.txt" which contains the entire driver history all the way to release R1.0 (just search for "history" in this textfile... that'll take you to the most recent changelist)

All I did was copy/paste the information from this file (which by the way is in Ket's driver pack, and Daniel_K's too) and only reference the fixes/changes mentioned. Fairly easy to see a major code change update at version 2.16

 

[Mussels]

As my own update to this thread: Daniel_K has gotten some of the X-fi featurse working in vista. He has managed to outdo Kets work there (no surprise - he's got years of experience modding this kind of thing, and ket always said he was more interested in the XP modding)

For now, vista users should check out daniel K's latest driver - XP users can choose whoever they like. IMO daniel_K hasnt been very pleasant with this whole thing, his unprofessional attitude stinks.

 

[BuzMack]

BTW, Daniel_K never removed the drivers from his blog... http://danielkawakami.blogspot.com/

Still available, and by the looks of it, have been updated to support R2.22.

 

[seriousClown]

Xfi-MB software pack still doesn't work for me. Installed DK's 2.22 on Vista64, ALC888S on Asus IPIBL-LB motherboard.

Prior to installing, uninstalled all realtek/creative software/drivers. Restarted, then ran Driver sweeper, restarted and then followed installation instructions.

When luanching audio console, it says cannot find supported device.

 

[MilkyWay]

daniel_k is a dickhead simple he wasnt beign nice about the whole thing, even if his drivers are better which i have yet to try then he shouldnt be trashing

his work is good for vista users but he wants to trash the competition to get interest in his drivers

he should be confident in his work instead of trash talking


so was kets out first or this guys, he was able to mod the creative side of the drivers where ket cannot, that is why kets is better for xp because no modding is required to get the features on xp but modding is required becasue the creative programs dont work on vista

the point of the drivers is to get extra performance from the stock sound chip and if we get the creative features like crystaliser then that is an improvement


im going to try daniel_k drivers because im interested in the creative features

 

[Ketxxx]

Its all been stated what I was going to say, but heres one thing that was not. Without me making the modded XP drivers making the crapative software work with any Realtek chip, think DK would of even bothered with a Vista version? No? I thought not. Theres always going to be somebody that wants to leech off somebody elses work, in this case, Daniel K leeching off mine. All I done is what KainXS asked me to do, nothing more.

What I am now going to spend a incredibly long time doing at some point is creating a whole new thread, compiling a plethora of information, observations, facts, and user experiences. That should shut the trolls up, fanbois, Daniel K, creative dipshits, and let everybody else make up their own damn mind.

 

[silkstone]

daniel_k is a dickhead simple he wasnt beign nice about the whole thing, even if his drivers are better which i have yet to try then he shouldnt be trashing

his work is good for vista users but he wants to trash the competition to get interest in his drivers

he should be confident in his work instead of trash talking


so was kets out first or this guys, he was able to mod the creative side of the drivers where ket cannot, that is why kets is better for xp because no modding is required to get the features on xp but modding is required becasue the creative programs dont work on vista

the point of the drivers is to get extra performance from the stock sound chip and if we get the creative features like crystaliser then that is an improvement


im going to try daniel_k drivers because im interested in the creative features

Were any of the users actually DK who trashed Ket's drivers?

 

[erocker]

My thoughts on much of this: Who cares? Nobody actually gives a shit where anything comes from as long as it works. You might as well look for praise from your stuffed animal collection rather than from people on the internet. Oh wait.. am I anonymously bashing people on the internet? Where are my repercussions?!!!! All of this garbage is just being stirred up by a very bored person with no social life. Don't worry about it. If some drivers work for you great, if they don't use something else.

Were any of the users actually DK who trashed Ket's drivers?

How would anyone know? And if so why should anyone care? OMG we wouldn't want to tarnish anyone's internet image!!!