X-Fi Support Syndicate & Owner's Clubhouse

[imperialreign]

apparently 'mystery firmware' f**ks things up - nuff said - thanks for the post bluesman. now i know all creative's driver programming team need to be lined up in front of a firing squad & shot.

this set of drivers is as bugged out as the last 2

I think their making a mistake somewhere - a conflict between the XP & vista perhaps??? IDK but thats what im assuming since all drivers for each O/S are included in the same installation package.

however if this were to be the case, it wouldn't surprise me - creative are doing nothing out of the norm.

I agree at this point as well on the new drivers - I think it's an issue with the firmware update that's cause a lot of headaches. I think I'm going to dig up one of the first X-Fi driver updates that were ever released, and see if that firmware update included will work and clear this mess up.

According to these posters, it looks like it can be bad. http://forums.creative.com/creativel...read.id=124966

I just bought my card and will be installing from the CD today. UPS is scheduled to arrive this afternoon, so I don't know the driver versions yet. I am concerned about firmware upgrades from the Beta and in the prior release. However, if I have noise issues, and cannot fix them with Spread Spectrum in the Bios or other tricks, I am going to have to take a chance. I also have 4 gig of RAM which can be an issue with earlier releases but again it appears to be a mixed bag according to forum posts.

I am thinking of uninstalling my video card drivers and then installing the X-Fi first. Maybe this will allocate more PCI bandwidth to the soundcard. I am guessing here but I have seen in postings that folks who reinstall XP have good luck with noise abatement. Maybe that is due to the system allocating more PCI bandwidth to the soundcard. Who knows??

It's a good idea - especially with nVidia hardware; even using ATI I'd still recommend it. It has more to do with how WIN allocates IRQs than anything else, and for new hardware that hasn't had any driver installed yet, WIN seems to keep that device IRQ as temporary. If it's adjustable in your BIOS, I also recommend bumping up PCI Latency from it's default 32 to 64 - even if the X-Fi is the only card on the PCI BUS.

As to the 4GB issue - it only seems to be with WIN Vista; using XP 64 I haven't heard of any conflicts . . . yet.

And, for right now, I wouldn't worry about installing any update drivers - just use the drivers that come with the Installation CD. The way things have been looking and all, I'm starting to believe that the best driver release for any given card is the version to be found on the Installation CD . . . unless you start experiencing issues, then it might be worht trying the update.

 

[Bluesman]

apparently 'mystery firmware' f**ks things up - nuff said - thanks for the post bluesman. now i know all creative's driver programming team need to be lined up in front of a firing squad & shot.

Ahmen Brother! Are you aware that in one release the Creative prgramming team actually deleted VISTA system files!! Yes, they killed protected system files in the C:\Users directory. You can read about it here: http://forums.creative.com/creativelabs/board/message?board.id=Vista&thread.id=31494

I try to always keep my hardware drivers uptodate but with X-Fi I will not. Maybe once I find some that work well in XP, I will wait until my VISTA upgrade before I replace any. My ASUS laptop uses VISTA, and I have just now found ways to retain UAC while eliminating the annoying popups; and I have also discovered how to load certain startup programs, like ZoneAlarm, that were causing huge problems. HINT: I use VISTA Task Scheduler now for tons of stuff.

 

[FreedomEclipse]

well as you've probably heard me singing about Web Pack 4 update - still the best XFi drivers out there for XP as far as im concern'd

found Here

TBH the last 2 beta drivers did hold some benefits - ive noticed when playing around with the Bass management settings the sounds were a little more pronounced - a bit sharper???
but the bugs out weigh all things that are good about the drivers.

 

[Bluesman]

well as you've probably heard me singing about Web Pack 4 update - still the best XFi drivers out there for XP as far as im concern'd

You are a mind reader!! I have spent some time trying to figure out which drivers you were referring to in your posts. I thought 2.14.0004 because of your reference to Web Pact 4.

Anyway, I just got the right ones. Thanks for the url.

 

[Bluesman]

Old, Old Drivers on New XtremeGamer CD

UPS finally delivered a few minutes ago. Thought some of you might want to know that the new X-Fi XtremeGamer is shipping with XP drivers dated 5/23/2006. I guess Creative doesn't want to take a chance with 2007 or 2008 XP drivers!

I bet Creative's Sales Dept. wants to minimize RMAs. Maybe try to hit their sales target this quarter....

 

[imperialreign]

UPS finally delivered a few minutes ago. Thought some of you might want to know that the new X-Fi XtremeGamer is shipping with XP drivers dated 5/23/2006. I guess Creative doesn't want to take a chance with 2007 or 2008 XP drivers!

I bet Creative's Sales Dept. wants to minimize RMAs. Maybe try to hit their sales target this quarter....

wow - they updated their Installation CDs then!

Drivers on my CD were dated 05 - and I bought my card Jan of last year . . .

 

[btarunr]

When did all this happen.

Ok trying to catch up...

 

[MrHydes]

UPS finally delivered a few minutes ago. Thought some of you might want to know that the new X-Fi XtremeGamer is shipping with XP drivers dated 5/23/2006. I guess Creative doesn't want to take a chance with 2007 or 2008 XP drivers!

I bet Creative's Sales Dept. wants to minimize RMAs. Maybe try to hit their sales target this quarter....

The thing is creative doesn't want to enable Digital DTS or other features in X-FI

they want you to go and buy X-Fi2, that's what happens when the market doesn't

have competition...

 

[eidairaman1]

Cough, they been pulling the Driver Functionality Disable since 2001, also there are 5 Players out there that can actually beat CL if they wanted to, Dont forget CL is a Defacto not a Standard.

 

[btarunr]

Enter SB1090

And just how could we turn a blind eye to this one? Highlighting products that come in without a bang has become important. So say hello to the SB1090.

First off, it's a external device, succeeds the X-Mod. It provides upto 5.1 channel 24-bit @ 96 kHz output. This device connects to the system using USB.

Looks pretty compact. This device explicitly requires the bandwidth of USB 2.0 (HiSpeed, not FullSpeed). At FullSpeed (12 Mbps), it will not be able to perform both input/output simultaneously (usage scenario such as gaming with voice-chat features). Speaking of gaming, it supports EAX 4.0 HD. Looks like Creative is opening up EAX 4 to all its non-CA20K1 X-Fi products albeit Xtreme Audio PCI.

Of latencies, well, let's be optimistic. Remember ULi? They sold out to NVidia? And then NVidia rebadged their AM2 chipsets? The chipset lacked a HD Audio interface. The ASUS M2N-SLI, based on the NForce 560 SLI incorporates a C-Media onboard audio which in fact, communicates with the system using USB ! No AC'97 interface either. I had my try on a M2N-SLI and There's hardly any latency issues at least when gauged by the DS output of Winamp's status tab. So USB doesn't significantly affect latencies, maybe yes with the CPU overhead (and also that with EAX 4.0 thrown in, massive amounts of data are transported to the device during output so USB 2.0 is a must) and also to know that USB 2.0 (unlike FireWire-B doesn't have a constant bandwidth, it varies. USB 2.0 is pretty standard and so, no issues there.

 

[Nihil]

Hi everyone, I wonder if you guys can help me with a problem that's really driving me mad...
I recently bough an AV receiver (Denon AVR-1508), and I want to connect it to the analog exits of my X-Fi Extreme Gamer. I don't want to use the spdif exit because i use the card for videogames mainly, so i need the EAX decoding. I bought 3 Y cables (3.5mm jack to 2xRCA) and i connected the receiver like this:

audio card --> AV receiver

front --> front L + front R
rear --> rear L + rear R
center/sub --> center (black RCA) + subwoofer (red RCA)

and... everything works fine except the subwoofer, that doesn't receive any input. I'm sure it's a problem related to the X-Fi, because:

-listening to the radio with the receiver the sub works
-connecting my onboard audio card in the exact same way to the receiver the sub works
-i tried the X-fi card in another pc, with the exact same configuration as the first, and the sub doesn't work...

I'm running on XP sp3, and I tried both the latest stable drivers (2.15.006) and the beta ones (2.18.0000), but to no avail. Next thing I'll try is instaling Vista, but I doubt this will change anything.
So I wonder, is it possible for the rear exit of the X-Fi to be damaged so that only the center channel works, while the sub one is muted? Or am I doing something wrong with the connections?
Thx in advance for any help =)

Nihil

 

[imperialreign]

Hi everyone, I wonder if you guys can help me with a problem that's really driving me mad...
I recently bough an AV receiver (Denon AVR-1508), and I want to connect it to the analog exits of my X-Fi Extreme Gamer. I don't want to use the spdif exit because i use the card for videogames mainly, so i need the EAX decoding. I bought 3 Y cables (3.5mm jack to 2xRCA) and i connected the receiver like this:

audio card --> AV receiver

front --> front L + front R
rear --> rear L + rear R
center/sub --> center (black RCA) + subwoofer (red RCA)

and... everything works fine except the subwoofer, that doesn't receive any input. I'm sure it's a problem related to the X-Fi, because:

-listening to the radio with the receiver the sub works
-connecting my onboard audio card in the exact same way to the receiver the sub works
-i tried the X-fi card in another pc, with the exact same configuration as the first, and the sub doesn't work...

I'm running on XP sp3, and I tried both the latest stable drivers (2.15.006) and the beta ones (2.18.0000), but to no avail. Next thing I'll try is instaling Vista, but I doubt this will change anything.
So I wonder, is it possible for the rear exit of the X-Fi to be damaged so that only the center channel works, while the sub one is muted? Or am I doing something wrong with the connections?
Thx in advance for any help =)

Nihil

first, go to Start>Control Panel>sounds & audio devices - click the button labeled "advanced" under speaker settings, make sure this is set to 5.1 or whatever configuration your setup is, click ok; then click "speaker volume" and hit "restore defaults", then check your playback again

 

[Nihil]

eh... wish it was so simple . No offense, but I've been struggling with this problem for 3 days now. My conf is 5.1. The panel is set to 5.1. I also tried to set it to 4.1 (and if I do so the center channel stops working, like it should) and 7.1 (same as 5.1, center but no sub).

I didn't try the "restore default" bit, and I can't do it right now since I just finished installing Vista and I'm downloading the various drivers for my system, but I'll try it later, if Vista doesn't resolve the problem.

Thx for trying, anyway .

 

[Nihil]

Ok I finished installing Vista and I think I discovered something... Vista has got this nice panel that lets you click on a speaker to test it. I click on the sub and BOOM... it works. It's likely that the sub was working all along, but the applications were not using it. And they still aren't using it. I tried Winamp, VLC media player and no sign of signal on the sub channel . I've yet to try a game, but if it's like XP it won't use the sub either. Got any idea on why this is happening???

 

[imperialreign]

Ok I finished installing Vista and I think I discovered something... Vista has got this nice panel that lets you click on a speaker to test it. I click on the sub and BOOM... it works. It's likely that the sub was working all along, but the applications were not using it. And they still aren't using it. I tried Winamp, VLC media player and no sign of signal on the sub channel . I've yet to try a game, but if it's like XP it won't use the sub either. Got any idea on why this is happening???

huh . . . in both OSes, too . . . that just doesn't make sense - I'd fathom to say it's a driver issue, but you've already updated to the newest version . . .

perhaps try clean installing the drivers, and then install the driver version that came on the Installation CD.

I don't really see how it could be a dead channel on the card, if the Vista test panel produces any kind of playback - that says to me that the signal is being output by the card . . . but, there's still the possibility something might be partially dead.

did you have this issue at all before you purchased the reciever?

 

[Nihil]

I finally managed to get everything working... turns out I need this function called "Bass Redirection" (Thx God for giving us Google!!!), which, obviously, is not included in the Creative Audio Console. I had to download the "Creative Console Launcher" from the support site and then my sub started working. Without this function the LFE is sent to all the speakers and not to the sub :|.

I didn't have this issue before buying the receiver, I guess because my previous audio system (Klipsch ProMedia 5.1) had his amplifier directly in the sub, and to that i connected all 6 channels, so the sub/amplifier itself made the work of separating LFE from the rest.

On a side note, why does Creative include lots of utilities in their Installation CDs and then all of them are not working anymore if you download new drivers from their site?? That doesn't make sense... I could have resolved my problem instantly if I had this "Creative Console Launcher" from the start.

Well, Imperialreign, thx anyway for your support, and have a good day !

 

[imperialreign]

I finally managed to get everything working... turns out I need this function called "Bass Redirection" (Thx God for giving us Google!!!), which, obviously, is not included in the Creative Audio Console. I had to download the "Creative Console Launcher" from the support site and then my sub started working. Without this function the LFE is sent to all the speakers and not to the sub :|.

I didn't have this issue before buying the receiver, I guess because my previous audio system (Klipsch ProMedia 5.1) had his amplifier directly in the sub, and to that i connected all 6 channels, so the sub/amplifier itself made the work of separating LFE from the rest.

On a side note, why does Creative include lots of utilities in their Installation CDs and then all of them are not working anymore if you download new drivers from their site?? That doesn't make sense... I could have resolved my problem instantly if I had this "Creative Console Launcher" from the start.

Well, Imperialreign, thx anyway for your support, and have a good day !

good to hear you've got it all working!


The Creative Console Launcher is included with the driver and software package on the Installation CD, although I don't believe that it is included with the driver update packages. The Audio Console is, though.

Bass redirection is an included feature with the audio console, but the audio console must be set to 5.1 or larger speaker configurations for that option to appear under the "bass" tab, and for it to appear as well in the THX panel.

 

[Nihil]

I think you are confusing the two applications. There is no bass redirections feature in the audio console, no "bass tab" and no THX panel. Those are features of the "Creative Console Launcher" (They sure have a lot of fantasy in creating names for their utilities...), which is NOT included with the driver updates. That was the problem.

 

[imperialreign]

I think you are confusing the two applications. There is no bass redirections feature in the audio console, no "bass tab" and no THX panel. Those are features of the "Creative Console Launcher" (They sure have a lot of fantasy in creating names for their utilities...), which is NOT included with the driver updates. That was the problem.

sorry, I have a bad habit of calling the actual GUI pop-up window as the audio console, and I tend to refer to the actual "audio console" as the X-Fi control panel - yeah, Creative didn't really name the applications all that well, TBH. It's confusing at times, even for me.

I had thought, though, that the newer driver releases did come with the console launcher, but now, come to think of it, I don't remember being promted for the copy over last time I updated my driver set . . .

so, I just hit up Creative's site to see if it's available seperately, but no; although, there is a beta version available that looks like it addresses some issues. Don't know why I didn't notice it before, it's been available since the 30th of May.

So, I'll wrap a quick update into this post - anyone experiencing issues that this beta claims to address might want to check it out, here's the download details:

Release date: 30 May 08
This download contains the Creative Console Launcher Beta application for use with your Sound Blaster® X-Fi™ series of audio devices on Microsoft® Windows Vista® and Windows® XP. For more details, read the rest of this web release note.
Filename: CSL_PCAPPBETA_US_2_50_42.exe
This download contains the Creative Console Launcher Beta application for use with your Sound Blaster® X-Fi™ series of audio devices on Microsoft® Windows Vista® and Windows® XP. For more details, read the rest of this web release note.

Take note of the following:

THIS IS AN UNSUPPORTED BETA APPLICATION. There is no technical support for this application.
We recommend that only experienced users install this application. Do not install this application on a system used to perform critical tasks.
Users who are looking for stable applications should wait for the final release. When this happens, user should install the latest application version available.
This download supports the following devices only:

Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeGamer Fatal1ty® Professional Series
Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Platinum Fatal1ty Champion Series
Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeMusic
Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeGamer
Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Platinum
Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Fatal1ty
Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Elite Pro
Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi
Added Features:


Supports Unicode Standard.
Fixes:
For Windows Vista

Resolves issue with WMA recording not working in Audio Creation Mode.
Resolves issue with application crashes when audio output devices are disabled.
For Windows XP

Resolves issue with loss of sound in the rear output channels when adjusting the Volume Control knob on the application.
Resolves issue with not able to delete user-saved snapshots in Audio Creation Mode.
Resolves issue with application crashes when switching between Modes.
Improves performance of application.
Requirements:

Windows Vista 64-bit, Windows Vista 32-bit, Windows XP Professional x64 Edition, Windows XP Service Pack 2, Windows Media Center Edition (MCE) 2005.
Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi audio devices listed above
Notes:

Do not install the application for Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Audio.
Before installing the application, download and install the latest web driver for your audio device.
To install the applications
Download the file onto your local hard disk.
Double-click the downloaded file.
Follow the instructions on the screen.

beta application can be downloaded here: http://support.creative.com/downloads/welcome.aspx?nDriverType=13

 

[Deleted member 24505]

I'm running the beta one,and the beta driver with no probs.

 

[Bluesman]

Update on New X-Fi Xtreme Gamer Card

Here's an update on my new X-Fi card install. Well, as one might expect, it has not been easy and hassle free. First, I had a conflict/timing issue with startup programs - specifically ZoneAlarm Security Suite. ZoneAlarm takes a while to initialize and the number of Creative drivers/processes that load at startup were conflicting with that initialization. Fortunately, I have a freeware program called "StartUp Delayer" that gives me the option of delaying each startup program. After some screwing around, I was able to fix this issue.

Next, came an issue with Battlefield 2 "Complete Addition". This was on sale at WalMart so I decided to buy it to test out my system/soundcard; and have some fun too. I had read that some folks have had trouble with X-Fi and this game, mainly static and stuttering. I have also heard it was a fun game and was anxious to try it out. Each attempt at install failed, either with a BSOD (but no minidump surprisingly) or a failure notice. I have a freeware program, called "SmartClose", that shuts off non-essential Windows processes and other programs. It did not work either! Finally, out of desperation, I tried installing this game in Safe Mode. That worked!! I mention this story because I suspect it was creative drivers causing the conflict - I had never, ever experienced this situation before.

Now for the game test. The game initialized with EAX detected and selected. Once I started the first Map, I was astounded by the sound quality. Never have I heard such fidelity and bass. I have an Altec Lancing 2.1 system that has so-called surround speaker incorporated into the front speakers, plus a subwoofer. Wow, wow, WOW!! The tanks are so much fun to drive and shoot! I played this thing for 3 hours right off the bat.

OK, so I decided to see if the headphone detection worked. I hooked up my el-cheapo headphones and tried the above game. Well, the headphones were not up to the task, the soundcard was but they weren't. So, I placed a "rush order" with NewEgg for Creative Fraility headphones. They arrived yesterday, and I played another 3 hours with them on. The bass handling and comfort of these headphones is outstanding. Some folks have complained about the pad size but they fit my ears perfectly - a real custom fit.

In summary, my experience with the X-Fi was about as I expected. I am sticking with the CD drivers for now but may change to the November 2006 drivers if I continue to have game install problems. Fortunately, I have yet to hear the static that I had with my C-Media MOBO onboard USB audio - which is a relief since I have a nVidia chipset and a ULI PCI-E chipset. The Creative headphones were a great edition as well. I will be using these often so I don't disturb "she-who-must-be-obeyed" as I play BF2.

 

[imperialreign]

As of June 5th, the Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Professional series of sound cards is now available. Here is the press release posted on Creative's site:

CREATIVE PCI EXPRESS SOUND BLASTER X-FI TITANIUM FATAL1TY PROFESSIONAL SERIES SOUND CARD NOW AVAILABLE
PCI Express Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Professional Series Wins Coveted "ExtremeTech Approved" Award
MILPITAS, Calif. - June 5, 2008 - Creative Technology Ltd, a worldwide leader in digital entertainment solutions, today announced that the PCI Express Sound Blaster® X-Fi® Titanium Fatal1ty Professional Series sound card is now available at Amazon.com/pcguts, B&H Photo, Buy.com, Creative.com, Fry's Electronics, Frys.com, J&R.com and Newegg.com for US$149.99.

The official sound card of the Championship Gaming Series, the PCI Express Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Professional Series leverages the power of the Creative X-Fi processor, optimized for PCI Express to deliver accelerated audio for improved game performance. Hardware-powered 3D positional audio and EAX 5.0 effects provide stunning positional audio realism over headphones and speakers, and Dolby Digital encoding enables one-step single-cable connection to home theater systems.

The world's first native PCI Express hardware accelerated sound card to hit the market, the PCI Express Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Professional Series sound card also features:
Creative X-Fi processor specifically designed for high-speed PCI Express slots in modern PCs
X-Fi Crystalizer® technology, which utilizes audio algorithms to intelligently and selectively determine how to restore the highs and lows from sound effects, instruments and vocals and voices that were damaged or diminished during the MP3, AAC, game audio or other compression processes
X-Fi CMSS®-3D technology, to create virtual surround sound through speakers or headphones in games or music. In games, you hear your opponents in their exact location. With music, the sound expands so it completely surrounds you
Dolby Digital support for compelling 5.1 surround sound through a home theater system
Creative ALchemy™ to restore EAX® and surround sound in DirectSound game titles running under Vista
Certified UAA compliance for maximum Windows Vista compatibility
X-RAM dedicated audio memory to boost performance in select games
THX-Certified surround sound for cinematic movie audio playback
PowerDVD software with DTS-ES and Dolby Digital-EX decoding
24-bit audio quality and 109db SNR audio clarity
ASIO recording support with latency as low as one millisecond with minimal CPU load


For more information about the Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Professional Series sound card, visit soundblaster.com

The cards are retailing between for $149 at newegg.com, the models which include the I/O drive are retailing for $199 at other online retailers.


As soon as I run across more in-depth reviews of these cards, I'll be adding them to post #1 here. No new images of the cards themself, yet, though . . .

we should also see the price of the current X-Fi Xtreme Gamer Fatal1ty Professional series of cards come down in the near future as well . . .

 

[Deleted member 24505]

The standard vanilla one is £119 in the uk from the creative website.

 

[FreedomEclipse]

even if it was cheap id really think twice about buying another creative product. Ive tried to look on the bright side but creative are really leaving a bad taste in my mouth. & also for £119

a Asus Xonar D2 7.1 Ultra Fidelity 7.1 PCI Soundcard costs less + u get better support with it. however i do understand that the 'X-FI TITANIUM FATAL1TY PROFESSIONAL' is supposed to be on some next uber high level making the Xonar look a tad bit expensive but only reviews will tell. even so im leaning towards the asus

 

[Deleted member 24505]

I might get in touch with creative,and ask if the titanium serious has "proper" working drivers on vista,and if you still need to use alchemy.Plus if the control panel works properly.