Thief: Deadly Shadows

Thief: Deadly Shadows

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EAX Advanced HD Audio for Thief: Deadly Shadows
By hexaae
Enables EAX Advanced HD Audio
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What's this for?
This patch will enable old EAX 4.0 spatial and enhanced audio for Thief Deady Shadows.
Tested on my Realtek ALC295 chipset.

Yes, will work fine with game unofficial patches (Sneaky Mod etc...).

But what is EAX Audio? See YouTube videos like this (reverb is a bit exaggerated in this video IMHO but gives you an idea):
How to...
  • you should have OpenAL[www.openal.org] already installed...
  • download latest DSOAL (read below)
  • copy dsoal-aldrv.dll, dsound.dll, alsoft.ini (you can edit settings*[raw.githubusercontent.com]) to "Thief Deadly Shadows\System\" directory where the T3Main.exe is located
  • add these keys to the Registry (save the text as a file 'ThiefDSOAL.reg' and double click it to merge it with Registry):
    Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00 [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Classes\CLSID\{47D4D946-62E8-11CF-93BC-444553540000}] [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Classes\CLSID\{47D4D946-62E8-11CF-93BC-444553540000}\InprocServer32] @="dsound.dll" [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Classes\CLSID\{3901CC3F-84B5-4FA4-BA35-AA8172B8A09B}] [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Classes\CLSID\{3901CC3F-84B5-4FA4-BA35-AA8172B8A09B}\InprocServer32] @="dsound.dll" [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Classes\WOW6432Node\CLSID\{47D4D946-62E8-11CF-93BC-444553540000}] [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Classes\WOW6432Node\CLSID\{47D4D946-62E8-11CF-93BC-444553540000}\InprocServer32] @="dsound.dll" [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Classes\WOW6432Node\CLSID\{3901CC3F-84B5-4FA4-BA35-AA8172B8A09B}] [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Classes\WOW6432Node\CLSID\{3901CC3F-84B5-4FA4-BA35-AA8172B8A09B}\InprocServer32] @="dsound.dll"
  • reboot
  • enable in-game Options > Audio Hardware Mixing. This will finally unlock EAX Advanced HD and EAX Multiple Environments
  • if needed, go into your Windows speaker's properties and untick "Allow applications to take exclusive control of this device"


    That's it. Enjoy! 🎉


    🔥 LATEST VERSIONS OF DSOAL BUILD 🔥

    http://vaporeon.io/hosted/dsoal-builds/
    e.g.:
    dsoal-r418a.7z 2021-Feb-23 06:26:09 643.1K application/x-7z-compressed
    Much improved stereo panning, reverb and env-echo!

    NOTE: if latest version crashes launching the game, or after it exits to destkop (!), try a different version under the /old directory online
* DSOAL recommended settings
These are the settings I'm using in my alsoft.ini with Realtek ALC295:
[reverb] boost=-10

boost=<n> controls reverb amplification. You can try 0 (default), +6 (double), -6 (half)... depending on your audio chipset.

Some settings explanations here: https://github.com/kcat/openal-soft/blob/master/alsoftrc.sample
If everything fails... 🛟
👉🏻 Try first to clean up your system: UNINSTALL OpenAL and any other EAX hack like "Creative ALchemy Universal" (outdated), if previously installed.

After the uninstall of OpenAL and "Creative ALchemy Universal" be sure you don't have OpenAL32.dll in C:\Windows\System32 and SysWOW64 dirs anymore.

Remove from "Thief Deadly Shadows\System\" these files, if any:
⠀dsoal-aldrv.dll
⠀dsound.dll
⠀alsoft.ini
⠀eax.dll
⠀OpenAL32.dll

... Finally, retry this guide from the beginning. This should fix the problem for most users.

After a correct OpenAL (currently 1.1) installation you should have:
‪C:\Windows\System32\OpenAL32.dll (6.14.357.24) (~120KB, this is for x64 games and exes)
‪C:\Windows\SysWOW64\OpenAL32.dll (6.14.357.24) (~106KB, for x32 games and exes)

⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⚠️IMPORTANT⚠️
NEVER run games as admin or in XP compatibility mode etc. This can also interfere with the .dll loading... In our case here, check T3.exe and T3main.exe.

Not recommended but, a few users who reported missing sound, solved their issue using old DSOAL files from https://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/65094?tab=files
So give it a try if the most recent files in this guide won't work for you and you already experienced problems in other OpenAL games with your audio chipset (you can use HWiNFO to identify your HW).
83 Comments
RevanKnight56 27 Sep @ 9:42am 
If you are using the GOG version, it turns out that GOG automatically applies the Windows XP compatibility mode to the T3.exe by default. To change it, you need to right-click the T3.exe, go to properties, then go to the Compatibility tab, and then click "Change settings for all users" at the bottom. Then you can disable compatibility mode for T3.exe.
hexaae  [author] 27 Sep @ 6:16am 
Updated the guide with some recommendations in the "If everything fails" section.
Cleaned up comments There's a discussion open in the general section for users with messed up OpenAL/EAX installation, because they tried in the past other hacks like the old Creative ALchemy Universal patch... or still launched the game in XP Compatibility mode etc.
hexaae  [author] 10 Jul @ 1:45pm 
You're welcome. Indeed it's working fine (Win 11 23H2). I still use it to enable old EAX also with the following games:

Crysis
Crysis Warhead
Two Worlds II
Prince Of Persia (2008)
Max Payne
Max Payne 2
Baldur's Gate II - SoA (original not the Enhanced)
Dragon's Lair 3D
Sacred Gold (original DVD retail)
Quake 4 (just rename dsoal-aldrv.dll as OpenAL.dll in the same dir of Quake4.exe)
SPYDOR 10 Jul @ 12:27pm 
Hey, just wanted to express my belated gratitude for writing this excellent guide. I used it in Oct2022 to play Thief 3 and it worked great. You may want to update the 'LASTEST VERSIONS OF THE DSOAL BUILD' section to show "dsoal-r444.7z 2023-Apr-17 06:14:07 786.1K ..." as the text is a few years out of date, showing r418a from Feb2021.

In an effort to help those who have issues getting it running, the config and settings I used were as follows:
- OS: Windows 10 Pro (64-bit), release 22H2
- Sound card: Creative SoundBlaster Z
- Sound card driver: v6.0.102.75 (01/12/2020, UK format)
- Thief 3 Sneaky Upgrade v1.1.10
- DSOAL r430 from May2022 (r444 is currently available)
- alsoft.ini > [Reverb] > Boost = 0 (this was the sweet spot for my sound card)

I will also note that I recall trying Creative ALchemy at the time, as it is listed as being supported with my sound card; however, I could not get surround sound working with that method, while OpenAL worked great.
House25 17 Jun @ 12:15pm 
What a shame. I tried your guide and also this one https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3009318009&searchtext=eax
but with no success. Even with WINDEDLLOVERRIDE it wont make the option available ingame
hexaae  [author] 17 Jun @ 9:56am 
Unfortunately I don't think so: would require DSOAL for Linux...
This guide at present is only for DSOAL/Win (with specific registry tweak). Not sure if you can get it working on Steam Deck...
House25 17 Jun @ 9:49am 
Any chance to get this running on a Steam Deck? I have TDS installed with the Sneaky Upgrade - this EAX fix is the last thing that I can not get to run
Mandisis 1 May @ 2:21am 
Excellent guide. For me, it's working on W10 22H2 with the Realtek ALC1200 Audio Chipset, by copying this precompiled DSOAL Build where the main executable is https://github.com/ThreeDeeJay/dsoal/releases/download/0.9.5/DSOAL_0.9.5+OpenALSoft_1.23.1-Win32.zip

Then you need to follow those steps instead of manually add the modified register keys : https://github.com/kcat/dsoal/issues/34#issuecomment-1139239755
koshkamail 20 Mar @ 11:38pm 
DogKiller, Windows 8,10,11 ?
Not 7th ?

You need ALchemy exe and this > indirectsound . com/registryIssues.html
in addition to this awesome guide:steamthis:
DogKiller 20 Feb @ 12:54pm 
Can't make it work, what a bummer, had no problems with EAX emulation in Thief 1/2. I really dislike that castrated TDS audio without it. Tried everything from this guide and depending discussion, everything from the nexus one too, all the DSOAL versions and files, yet no EAX can be heard at all (tried the boost amplifying too, oc). :/ :(