Creative offered help to Blizzard with sound engine
by Mike Schramm 
Sep 28th 2007 at 3:00PM
As you may have heard on this very website, Blizzard didn't just include voice chat in patch 2.2 (and how's that coming, by the way? anyone use it yet?). They put a whole new sound engine into the game. For some people, that's great news-- a reader sent us a note last night that he was surprised to hear his rear 5.1 speakers kick on in Karazhan. But for others, not so good. While there are a few little glitches and bugs floating around, it seems there's a big problem with Creative sound cards (definitely one of the most popular sound card brands out there). And Creative has posted on their message boards that officially, they're not very happy that Blizzard didn't consult them when upgrading their sound engine.Apparently Blizzard's new engine, called FMOD, by default uses a generic mixer with just a few simple effects. Creative has worked with FMOD to develop a way to run sound through their hardware and enable 3D mixing and other effects (they did this for the PC version of Bioshock, which also uses FMOD), but Blizzard apparently doesn't want any part of it.
So it seems Blizzard treats other hardware vendors the same way they treat their own players-- Creative says they got no advance notice that changes were being made, and apparently requests on why the changes were made have gone unanswered. Of course, Blizzard doesn't have to answer to Creative at all (and maybe they just don't think it's necessary-- I have a Creative Audigy 2 ZS, and my WoW sounds all right, if just a little different). But when we're talking about the biggest online PC game in the world and the biggest sound card manufacturer in the world, it would behoove them both to get along, and make the game sound better for everyone.
Thanks, Jack!
Filed under: Patches, Analysis / Opinion, Blizzard
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Ladorius Sep 28th 2007 3:19PM
Funny you mention Bioshock for PC. My vote for most buggy release goes to Bioshock and for almost an entire month we were ignored in their forums since they were on vacation. The sound problems in that game are out of this world in Vista. Stuttering, crackling,distortion. All because of that FMOD engine. Its disgusting. But when that game works..its phenomenal.
WoW sounds great under the new engine for me. I have an X-FI and I am loving it.
Verit Sep 28th 2007 3:19PM
fmod fyi is not a blizzard technology - its a toolkit > http://www.fmod.org/
Kaljin Sep 28th 2007 3:23PM
"So it seems Blizzard treats other hardware vendors the same way they treat their own players"
What? Are you saying they treat us like dirt? If that's so, then you are a fool for thinking so.
Kaljin Sep 28th 2007 3:25PM
Oh nevermind I see where. Yea, I agree with that a bit, but not fully.
Xonate Sep 28th 2007 3:40PM
Meh, WoW isn't picking up my Creative sound card at all since the new patch. Not very happy about that.
Arras Sep 28th 2007 3:47PM
Since the patch, whenever my toon speaks, he sounds like he's at the end of a tunnel. If my toon turns around and something make a noise behind him or to his left/right, there's no sound at all.
I have a creative x-fi platinum, i think..whichever one has the breakout box. Creative Labs is one of the most recognized sound card vendors out there, to not even throw them a head's up is unprofessional.
Blizzard obviously consulted with NVIDA for the graphics engine (look in your video options, towards the bottom left)
Hollywood Ron Sep 28th 2007 4:07PM
I have my sound turned off, so Blizzard doesn't interrupt my quest to rock out.
Olee Sep 28th 2007 4:12PM
Seriously: "So it seems Blizzard treats other hardware vendors the same way they treat their own players"?
I guess journalism without bias doesn't exist anywhere...can we leave the subjective crap out?
I've never been treated poorly by Blizzard, although I am aware of others whose experiences with Blizzard have been poor. That doesn't mean that we all are treated poorly. After playing other MMOs (Galaxies comes to mind) I'd say Blizz is doing a damn good job.
Michael Sep 28th 2007 4:12PM
I have a x-fi fatality and it works like crap in WoW now. I have almost zero sounds during fights. No more swish, clang and clunk at all. Other sounds are static or so low in volume you can't hear them. I think the problem is with 5.1 and higher sound setups. Supposedly 2.1 and lower sound setups work ok. There are a ton of folks on the forums complaining about this and Blizzard hasn't bothered to even admit a problem. One blue post even had the balls to say that sound problems are not considered major problems.
gxavier Sep 28th 2007 4:22PM
@9... I have an X-Fi Fatal1ty as well.... and 2.2 sounds no different than 2.1 or 2.0 or 1.0 after I setup the sound channels to max. Perhaps it's not blizz causing your problem, but the nut behind the wheel?
Kadaan Sep 28th 2007 4:29PM
@3: Agreed. I wish WoW Insider would have more actual news and less personal opinions. Starting to remind of the official forums.
Personally, I think Blizzard does an excellent job at taking care of their players. If they didn't, people wouldn't play.
drew Sep 28th 2007 4:38PM
Mike, I'm not sure why you keep referring to FMOD as the "new" sound engine. WoW has included fmod.dll since the alpha days.
Steve_S Sep 28th 2007 4:50PM
getting major sound clipping on spells and occasional pops and squeaks. the old engine was much better. Brand new top o the line PC too only a couple months old.
Diaz Sep 28th 2007 4:51PM
The comment about treating the customer base like dirt made me smile. I have had to call Blizzard for support issues before and the service was horrible and rude. I love their game, it's just their staff that needs work IMHO.
As for me, the in game sound since the patch has been very buggy with lots of distortion.
PeeWee Sep 28th 2007 4:53PM
...as if Creative drivers have ever worked anyway. I use a Logitech USB headset and it works like a charm. So does my on-board 7.1 sound.
Get real, people. Creative may be the largest manifacturer, but when was the last time they actually made a sound card that worked with their own drivers?
sloegin Sep 28th 2007 5:02PM
The issue isn't soley one with Creative, but affects other hardware as well (Realtek / SoundMax in my case). Mostly affects folks with older accelerated audio hardware / non Vista compatible audio. I understand they're using the same (software audio) API that is running on Vista.
Its understandable that they want to update the audio engine for new systems & Vista users, but it turns a bunch of player's gear into junk overnight. Not cool.
quaunaut Sep 28th 2007 11:35PM
Wow, what a tool. You honestly think Creative would've done anything at all? They've never made stable drivers throughout the existence of the company- I have to reset my X-Fi's settings every damn time I start the system because of their incompetence.
Mike Schramm Sep 28th 2007 5:08PM
Drew, it's actually a new version of FMOD that they've installed. They've always had FMOD, but 2.2 brought on a new version of it. That's why all the problems.
Tigraine Sep 28th 2007 5:14PM
rofl..
who ever said that there are problems with the Sound Engine Blizzard used?
It's all about bad drivers on Creative's end.
I can't remember even one driver that somehow worked the way I expected it to (huge CPU utilization, lagging sound etc..)
When I got myself Vista I just tossed my Nvidia out of the window and lived happily ever after.. no way I'll ever go back to those drivers.
orodreth Sep 28th 2007 5:28PM
I hate the new patch, my ping went through the roof, I haven't been able to play at all since patch day, and the one time my ping was low enough to PUG Mech. as soon as we started fighting sounds turned to crap and no effects lined up with anything, lucky I didn't have to deal long, as after our first wipe my ping returned to it's postpatch avg. of 800 or so and i logged for the night...
so the fact that they would make a massive sound engine update and not test it on any cards or alert card makers does piss me off.. but not as much as the fact that I can't play at all...
BLIZZ GET YOUR SHIT TOGETHER ON LIGHTNINGHOOF!