F.E.A.R. 2 black screen while using Soundblaster X-Fi

Question

This is my second attempt to get some support for a problem that is plaguing many trying to play F.E.A.R 2 with a Soundblaster X-Fi. We have been on the official forums for WBGames now for the past two weeks asking for help. Many were able to find solutions by updating their codecs however there are many of us that still cannot get into the game. WBGames official response it as follows...
Dear, xxx
Regarding your sound acceleration error and the sound cards you have used, we apologize for the inconvenience you have experienced.
At the moment, we have been noticed that certain Creative sound cards (X-Fi, Sound Blaster and Audigy) and Realtek are presenting incompatibility issues with the F.E.A.R. 2 application. Unfortunately, Creative Labs have not yet released a patch to solve this situation, as other companies like Nvidia have worked on.
F.E.A.R. 2 is designed to function with Windows XP/Vista compatible graphics and sound cards. Drivers for these devices are provided by Windows itself or the respecti've card manufacturers and may occasionally result in incompatibility problems beyond our control.
If there is anything else we can do to assist you, please do not hesitate to contact us by email at [url=mailto:[email protected]">[email protected] m[/url] or by phone [phone] (in Germany) during the hours of EST :00 pm - 0:00 pm, PST: 0am- 8pm MON-FRI.
Thank you for contacting Warner Brothers and have a great day.
Refund option
If you are not satisfied with the performance of this product on your PC, you may return it with the receipt of purchase to the store from which it was purchased within 90 days from the original purchase date for a refund.
If you purchased this product as an electronic download, please visit the following site for refund details:
[url="https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=4938-WTDF-9465">https://support.steampowered.com/kb_...4938-WTDF-9465[/url]
I thought that someone with creative labs would be interested in either responding or releasing some kind of a statement in regards to this.
The current problem for us is when we try to launch the game a small animated orb runs at the bottom right of the screen while the game loads. At the end of the animation we hear a small chime and the screen goes black as though it is about to load the intro videos. But we get nothing. The screen remains black. I have exhausted all of their solutions, I have updated drivers and tried the latest beta drivers from Creative. I have removed, replaced, and updated codecs. Video card drivers are updated, etc.
Basically we are faced with the following dilema. We can disable the sound card in Windows and the game plays however with no sound. We can run the game in safe mode which manually disables the sound card and the game plays but with no sound. Leave the sound card enabled and run the game in normal mode and we get a black screen.
PLEASE, can someone with Creative Labs respond to this? We are looking for answers and would very much like to play this game.Message Edited by djdouglas on 02-20-2009 09:39 [email protected]

Answer 1

Re: F.E.A.R. 2 black screen while using Soundblaster X-Fi?
solace wrote:
Pardon me but i'm looking your Quad SLI setup a potential culprit to your problems. Have you tried disabling SLI mode to see if the problem can be resolved?
That was my first thought when I encountered this problem. I took the steps troubleshooting video. Disabled SLI, Physically removed one video card. Updated drivers, etc. I am currently running the 82.06WHQL drivers which are suppose to be enhanced for F.E.A.R.2 and other games.
My next step was to try uninstalling codecs as their support team had suggested for people running into issues with the demo version (which btw worked perfectly for me). There were tons of reponses by the devs and community managers before the release of the game in response to people having issues (these same issues) on the demo. So they released a patch the day before the release of the game and when everyone installed the game the patch automatically installed. So for me and many others that enjoyed a smooth gameplay in the demo our rigs are now not working with the official release.
Since release we have yet to see a response or fix or suggestion from a dev. There have been many others in the community that have helped each other out by posting their solutions. For most updating their codecs using Klite or Ace Mega codec pack has fixed their problem but for a select few of us these solutions have not worked.
Basically I can launch the game successfully in safemode which disables sound. I can also disable the sound card and launch the game successfully although without sound. The codec that has seemed to be effecti've when replaced by others is the Microsoft IMA ADHCP codec. However for me I can disable that codec and get a hardware accelration error but still get a black screen. Re enable it and get black screen with no error. So I do not believe this to be the issue plaguing me. Ultimately it is coming down to a conflict with my sound board and the game.