Ok is it my machine or the game. At a loss

[DREDIOCK]

During the first switch to Miles I had no problems. It was only after it was switched back the problems started.
Now Im not blaming the switch or HTC for whatever problems I am incurring. I dont know whats causing them.
thats what Im trying to figure out.
All I do know is I've developed a problem. and I think I have it near fixed. Then a switch is made to miles again and I developed a  problem Then upon the switch back the problem alternates between Vox and game sounds. More specifically, the external sounds. And whenever I seem to be closing in on solving one problem, the other flares up.

Whatever the problem is on my end the switches back and forth seem to bring them to noticability. (yea I know its not a word. but it works)

At some point I may just say the hell with it and completely reformat and start over from scratch, clean slate as it were. And see if there is a marked improvement.
In the meantime Im treating it like a puzzle and learning experience. so if I ever see something similar again I can say "AHA!"

[Chalenge]

Its a word you just dropped an 'e.' 

[Nwbie]

Don't know if this was ever brought up - or even relates to the discussion. I have always been advised to set sound acceleration in Direct X to 3/4
Have you tried this?

NwBie

[DREDIOCK]

Don't know if this was ever brought up - or even relates to the discussion. I have always been advised to set sound acceleration in Direct X to 3/4
Have you tried this?

NwBie

Yep.

update.

I'm back to using the on board sound again.
Vox is good, interior sounds are good..or I should say any sounds I hear comming from MY plane is good.

Exterior sounds are also good......UNTILL there is a high speed pass or Im in a knife fight. then the outside planes sound fine untill we pass by each other.
then it does a sine wave type sound that sounds more like the electronic effects opening to Rush 2112 Overture' then an airplane as soon as a little bit of distance is put between my plane and the other plane/s the sounds go back to normal.. The sounds on my plane remain normal throughout. its only the outside planes that are effected and then only when we pass by one another at our closest points..

Also explosions  delayed and are distorted. But actualy the distorted explosions sounds kinda cool. Kinda like the extended sound of a nuclear blast. Or rolling thunder
"BOOooooOOOOoooom"

[Chalenge]

The problem is like I said that this particular card does all of its processing on the CPU. Anyone can make a card that does the same thing but it seems like Creative just loves to pass off junk to consumers. Its an insult what they get away with but they have consumer loyalty like crazy.

I think sound devices are ranked thus (from worst to best):

cheapo PCI that passes all processing to CPU ($10-70)
onboard sound (by a very narrow margin)
USB headphone types
anything PCI by creative above the $100 mark
USB Audio Interface
any other PCI manufacturer $70 and up
Firewire Audio Interfaces $50-200 (from this point on audio is hit or miss with games)
M-Audio Cards (from this point on audio is mostly miss with games)
Firewire Audio Interfaces $200-Up

Firewire audio is certainly the lowest latency of any audio type. The problem is that environmental enhancements like 3D Surround EAX etc are just not available with FAI devices except in some of the lower end types. The higher quality devices just dont consider gaming a priority and so drivers are written that ignore gaming. They still work but without any frills.

Latencies are easily understood when you check on the throughput rates of USB versus PCI versus Firewire and then consider that FAI devices work with digital from the device to the system (no sampling conversions at the PC side of it).

[DREDIOCK]

That card is no longer in my system.
Im running the realtek onboard sound that came on the motherboard (Gigabyte GA-EP35-DS3L)

Tried the Live card again And still had problems.

Here's the kicker and to me seems a bit bizarre.

If I remove the drivers for either SB card my onboard sound actually gets worse.
But if I leave the drivers for either card installed but disabled. My onboard (Realtec) sound gets better To where its at now.

Still one of the most frustrating things is that I can run any of the sound devices and they all run fine on everything BUT Aces High.

I've even tried re-installing and even redownloading and reinstalling the game several times.

[Ack-Ack]

Realtec just released updated drivers today.


ack-ack

[DREDIOCK]

Just saw that myself.
I have it DLed but not installed yet. I feel like playing AH tonight (FSO) and would rather not spend the night messing with my drivers should something go wrong again
So I'll deal with the weird UFO sounds tonight and try the newer drivers tomorrow. LOL

[Chalenge]

That card is no longer in my system....

Yes my point was that onboard sound is not much better than that specific card. If you have not already cleaned the audio drivers completely (all audio drivers) with something like DriverCleaner... then you should before you install any other sound device.

There are cards out there that are based upon the X-Fi that are better than the SB brand (like Auzentech) but I avoid them. Obviously its your choice what you use.

[DREDIOCK]

Actually, While I know that it isnt the highest quality option, with the on board sound the game ran fine until these current problems. Its the only reason I was using it.

On the upside. I managed to figure out why any of the other two cards wouldnt work correctly. And I've managed to get the old "SB Live" card working. Vox now sounds great and sounds all now work as they should in game. (though I almost miss the weird rolling thunder like explosions effect I was getting LOL)

Anyway. The answer was one that makes me feel quite the idiot that I hadnt thought of it almost immediately.
While when trying  install either of the sound cards I had uninstalled the on board sound drivers, and I had disabled the on board sound in Device manager.
I hadnt thought to disable the on board sound in my BIOS.

DUHHHHH


Last night while flying, a buddy of mine was complaining that my vox suddenly sounded terrible. So, I I logged out of the game figuring I'd recalibrate my Mic.

Then I thought, because I realy dont like the way Realtek has the calibration  set up. I'd give the SB Live card one more shot. So I disabled the on board sound again in Device manager and uninstalled the drivers again using Easyclean (handy little free utility) when the thought popped into my head out of the blue to see if I could also disable the on board sound in my Bios.

Doing that I reboot up, Let windows install only the drivers for the Live card , Set up my mic, log back into the game and viola. Runs  perfect. Sounds are prefect. Vox is perfect...Ok maybe not perfect but damn close enough for an almost 10 year old card.

So Im back up and running normally again barring anything else happening.
What is still a mystery though is what caused the problems in the first place?
Was it the game? 
Was it my machine and the switching back and forth  from Miles to back again was just enough to bring my problem to the forefront in a straw that broke the camels back scenareo? And why I'd still be having problems with the on Board sound when there were no problems before?

I may revisit it in the near future, just to know.
In the meantime I'm just going to enjoy for a few days.