To provide 3D Audio in SOF2, the game uses OpenAL. What OpenAL? Open Audio Library. You can read more here. Why OpenAL? Performance - As from 3D SoundSurge OpenAL games will automatically take advantage of any card supporting DS3D just like any DS3D supporting game would. The major difference compared to a normal DS3D game is that the soundcard can also directly support OpenAL. The advantage of directly supporting OpenAL is improved performance. According to a source at Creative in developer relations the improved performance is basically VXD performance on a WDM driver. That is when the Audigy support OpenAL directly it will have the same performance for those games in Windows XP as it currently have for DS3D games in Win9x. As you may know the Audigy has no CPU usage for 3d sounds in Win9x.

Currently only the Live & Audigy have a hardware OpenAL driver available (& that's from Compaq for the Audigy though). As such anyone who has these Soundcards *should* download this for the aforementioned reasons. The Compaq package is intended for Windows XP though should work just fine in 2000 also. A cut down package can be downloaded here. This includes the full driver.
The full package is 330MB & can be downloaded here from Compaq, this includes essentially the full contents you'd find on a CD - Driver, Play Center, Remote Center, Audio HQ, etc.
For the Live! download either the LiveDrvPack.exe or SBLiveDrvPack.zip at SoundBlaster for Windows XP/2000 & is significantly smaller than the Compaq release which you can therefore avoid.
Note - The latest Extigy driver now includes an OpenAL wrapper.

Now uninstall the card & it's software in Add/Remove Programs, e.g. Sound Blaster Audigy, or whatever it may be listed as. Uninstall it *completely*. Reboot.

If you chose to download the Compaq package execute the file & be sure to delete the file ctoem.cfg after running the initial setup to avoid a check to see you have a Compaq system (You'll need to search for it).

If you downloaded the cut-down package (recommended) extract the files to a directory of your choosing.
Using Windows Explorer go to the Drivers directory & run CTZAPXX.EXE & choose to Driver Installation option. Reboot once this is done.

For those with a Soundcard such as the Santa Cruz, Acoustic Edge, etc. Basically any Soundcard that supports DirectSound3D (plus EAX, though not necessarily) though doesn't provide OpenAL support in the drivers run the OpenAL Installer from CD1 in the Setup\Extras\OpenALInstall directory.
This provides a DirectSound3D wrapper for these Soundcards which will enable 3D Audio though on non-Creative cards EAX will not be used. This will lower performance as it is done in software however, though if you can afford the performance drop you'll be able to enjoy 3D Audio in the game - your choice.

OH WOW!!!!
I downloaded the "Compaq" drivers, and they WORKED!
And to think I EVER doubted u!  : )

Any other neat little tidbits of information you're willing to volunteer??

Seriously though...WHY DOES CREATIVE NOT FREELY DISTRIBUTE THIS!?!?!?

Well, I just got done playing a little SOFII with HARDWARE supported EAX...there was NO slowdown related to sound processing...unbelievable...

I wuv u...

Strangely enough, though not a concern...since installing these new drivers, EAX HD is not an available option anymore...oh well.

Ok, been told someone I know will be uploading that cut-down package I referred to later on this week, possibly today even. I'll update this post further then anyway.

Thanks TS....good one.
                   Zig

Oh for crying out loud!
This just doesn't go easy.
So I downloaded both of those files the 13Mb and 330Mb and did the following. Ran the setup.exe of that compaq package. It installed the audio HQ and surround mixer. Deleted the file you suggested and restarted. When windows started up, it found a new device SB Live but couldn't find the drivers for it, neither could I.

So next I cleaned up everything and started over. Installed the driver from the smaller package (13Mb) and restarted. Next Installed Audio HQ and surround mixer from that compaq (330Mb) package. When restarted I got the sound and SOF2 worked with eax. The problem is that there is no option for real surround spekers. I mean 5 spekers and subwoofer. Thats the set I have and previous surround mixer did supported 5 spekers.

So I still need help.
Can surround mixer that supports 5 speakers and works with this new openAL eax whatever -driver be found?

Can I use those drives too with my Windows 98?

Bloody ####!

Well Im buying a new comp anyways. So do you lads suggest getting xp or 2000?

Just interested to know that when you try to update sound drivers with that cutdown -package, there is three different options (only one available): VXD Drivers, WDM Drivers and NT Drivers. Whats the difference and how it decides what to install?
For me it installed the WDM Driver. I'm running win 2000.

ps. After having tried to install the drivers many times and in several different ways without success, it now f*ucked up my eax completely. Now I can't use eax in any game, that previously worked fine!

I tried to delete all references to creative on my machine and then install the old (working) drivers, but still in device control it reads
"Creative SB Live! Value (WDM)" when it worked, it used to be "Creative SB Live! Value".

With the risk of being ungrateful:
Thanks a lot!