Sound Problems (FFVII PC)

[Skyblade]

Has anyone else had problems with the sound quitting in the PC version of FFVII? In the Kalm flashback, the sound is just cutting out during certain scenes (the scene in the back of the truck and the return to the Nibelheim Mako Reactor, specifically, though there might be more scenes further in the game). I have no clue what's causing it (unless it's a problem with FFVII and Vista), and was wondering if anyone else has experienced this problem, or, hopefully, has a solution.

[Skyblade]

Ok, forgive the double post but, the problem has been solved. It was caused by Microsoft's removal of DirectSound from Windows Vista, and this sound problem was not limited to just FFVII.

The solution for me was a download of Creative ALchemy, a program that allows DirectSound commands to be interpreted in Vista for Creative's sound cards. Hopefully other sound card manufacturers will offer similar fixes.

So this thread can be closed/deleted, or left up if anyone else can use this information.

[Rostum]

Are you sure it was "Microsoft's" removal of DirectSound? Because I have Vista and it is definitely there, and it is something that you very much need. I'm not exactly sure how it works within Windows, but it might have been something to do with how the midi data (note, the music in the PC version is not audio) is interpereted, perhaps a malfunctioning driver or perhaps the lack of DirectSound was the cause of it. Glad it was fixed.

[Skyblade]

It wasn't simply removed, but the direct link from Directsound to the audio drivers was pulled and replaced with an emulation mode, which causes the problems with games not built to handle it.

Here (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DirectSound) is the wikipedia on it, but just google Directsound and Vista and you'll find tons of pages on it.