kcat
commented
5 months ago On Windows, the ambi* channel output modes are unlikely to work. Since the system's audio APIs provide the labels that define what each channel is, OpenAL Soft won't output the ambisonic buffer itself since it won't match what the channels are. It also doesn't make any sense to use if it's not outputting to an ambisonic decoder, the ambisonic channels aren't intended to be played directly on speakers as they don't correlated to physical speaker locations. Instead, OpenAL Soft renders to an ambisonic buffer internally and decodes it to the configured channel output (the ambi* modes essentially just skip the decode step and outputs the internal buffer). You're right that ambi-format doesn't do anything when not outputting one of the ambi* modes.
If the requested output mode can't be used, another one is autoselected instead so the device will still work, which is typically based on what the system reports the device's default format is.
You can set the ALSOFT_LOGLEVEL environment variable to 3 to have OpenAL Soft print a log to stderr, which should provide information about the config settings it sees and what it tries to set and detect from the system. Setting the ALSOFT_LOGFILE environment variable to a path+filename will have it write the log to the named file instead.
alex-schroedsen
Channel configuration switching unpredictable.
I first want to thank you: kcat, threedeejay and everyone who has worked on this program for your work on such a revolutionary utility in presenting hundreds of games with massively improved audio functionality/versatility.
System Specs: OS Name Microsoft Windows Embedded 8.1 Industry Pro Version 6.3.9600 Build 9600 OS Manufacturer Microsoft Corporation System Manufacturer Dell Inc. System Model Precision Tower 5810 System Type x64-based PC System SKU 0617 Processor Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E5-1630 v4 @ 3.70GHz, 3701 Mhz, 4 Core(s), 8 Logical Processor(s) BIOS Version/Date Dell Inc. A34, 10/19/2020 Windows Directory C:\Windows System Directory C:\Windows\system32 Hardware Abstraction Layer Version = "6.3.9600.17031" Installed Physical Memory (RAM) 32.0 GB Total Physical Memory 31.9 GB Available Physical Memory 27.9 GB Total Virtual Memory 36.7 GB Available Virtual Memory 31.2 GB
I have ensured that OpenAL Soft 1.23.1 is the only version being used by the following method. Testing program is Amnesia The Dark Descent version 1.3.
Creative Labs OpenAL files have been renamed and replaced in the following locations created 1.23.1 32-bit at %WINDOWS%\sysWOW64\OpenAL32.DLL renamed/disabled %WINDOWS%\sysWOW64\wrap_oal.DLL to wrap_oal_disabled.DLL created 1.23.1 32-bit at %WINDOWS%\system32\OpenAL32.DLL renamed/disabled %WINDOWS%\system32\wrap_oal.DLL to wrap_oal_disabled.DLL created 1.23.1 32-bit at %steamapps%\Amnesia The Dark Descent\OpenAL32.DLL renamed/disabled %steamapps%\Amnesia The Dark Descent\wrap_oal.DLL to wrap_oal_disabled.DLL renamed/disabled %steamapps%\Amnesia The Dark Descent\soft_oal.DLL to soft_oal_disabled.DLL
I first disabled all these file locations in order to completely disable OpenAL on the system. Once I received an error on startup of Launcher.exe that OpenAL was not installed, I created a instance of 1.23.1 in three locations. The sysWOW64,system32 and Amnesia directories. Creative Alchemy is also disabled for Amnesia as well, no dsound.dll file is located in the Amnesia directory. I ensured that Amnesia is using the OpenAL Soft sound device on my primary windows output device.
I use the VB-Cable (https://vb-audio.com/Cable/index.htm) driver to loopback my system audio into Blue Cat's Patchwork 2.67 x64 (https://www.bluecataudio.com/Products/Product_PatchWork/). I use the WDM-KS driver to pull 8 channels from the loopback interface, I've been monitoring the output in Blue Cat's Patchwork. I have a 5.1.2 surround system that operates on a 8 channel LPCM stream with 7 and 8 being side height left and right. I have been trying to reproduce reliable switching between Stereo, 7.1 and ambi1 through edits to alsoft.ini in %appdata%. I have also ensured that the only instance of alsoft.ini resides in %appdata%. I have used both alsoft-config and manually editing the verbose file included with the compiled binaries.
The three configurations I've tried switching are:
START CONFIG ONE
[General]\ sample-type=float32\ channels=ambi1\ frequency=48000\ ambi-format=ambix\ stereo-mode=speakers
[decoder]\ hq-mode=true\
END CONFIG ONE
START CONFIG TWO
[General]\ sample-type=float32\ channels=stereo\ frequency=48000\ ambi-format=ambix\ stereo-mode=speakers
[decoder]\ hq-mode=true\
END CONFIG TWO
START CONFIG THREE
[General]\ sample-type=float32\ channels=surround71\ frequency=48000\ ambi-format=ambix\ stereo-mode=speakers
[decoder]\ hq-mode=true\
END CONFIG THREE
I figure that the ambi-format parameter only applies when an ambi* channel format is set. Unfortunately channel formats seem to stick even after editing the alsoft.ini file. Sometimes I'll copy alsoft.ini into the Amnesia folder and that sometimes gets the channel config to switch, but not consistently. I ensure that the Amnesia directory copy of alsoft.ini is deleted every time I change the config. The audio device that OpenAL Soft outputs to is consistently set to 7.1 in the windows manage audio devices control panel.
I'm looking for an answer to couple questions:
Does OpenAL Soft 1.23.1 32-bit always override the settings in %appdata%\alsoft.ini with the alsoft.ini file in the game directory?
Does OpenAL Soft 1.23.1 32-bit ever override the {channels} setting declared in alsoft.ini with a channel configuration that it sees from the Windows audio device?
Before I start troubleshooting how ambisonic content is output, I want to confirm that I can consistently know that the channel config for output is being set for ambi1. That is the purpose of this question/issue.