Pops and crackles when using EAX in F.E.A.R.

Question

Here is my system:
Windows 7 64-bit
intel i7 930
ASUS P6T:SE Mobo
2x Nvidia GTX 470 SLI
12GB DDR2 RAM
1TB 7200 RPM HDD
Creative X-Fi Titanium and the latest non-beta drivers
-I also have the Windows PID patch and the SLI patch
I recently discovered Alchemy and how it would enable EAX effects (though I'm still not exactly sure if EAX is responsible for the 3D positioning or if it's just some fancy processing to make sound effects sound cooler).
That said, I noticed that after enabling Alchemy and EAX effects, F.E.A.R. started to make popping and crackling noises. But, these noises wouldn't start immediately. It would take a couple minutes before I started hearing them, and it would get progressively worse and worse. Eventually, the game itself would start stuttering and it became impossible to play because of the choppiness.
I have never really experienced this with another game, and only noticed this behavior after enabling EAX effects. I have played F.E.A.R. before with no problems, granted, this was without EAX effects enabled.
Furthermore, I have no idea what needs to be enabled. In the F.E.A.R. sound menu, I have these options:
Hardware Mixing
EAX 2.0
Advanced EAX HD
I can turn any combination of those on or off, and I'm not really sure which ones I should have on and off. Turning on Hardware Mixing and Advanced EAX HD seems to have the best results, but then the sound starts jacking up after playing for a few minutes and eventually, the actual gameplay itself will start becoming choppy, making it impossible to continue playing. It even becomes hard to navigate the menus because the cursor is affected by the choppiness as well.
And the popping and crackling even continues after I exit the game, even in Windows, but to a lesser extent. And it seems to quit completely after a few minutes. Very strange.
Also, I tried disabling SLI and it did not seem to make a difference.
What is going on here? I just want to play this game with 5.1 surround sound and, preferably, EAX, because I do like the way it sounds. It's just that I can't play with EAX because it starts jacking up after awhile.
Edit: It seems that turning on "Hardware Mixing" enables discrete 5.1 channels. Without Hardware Mixing on, I only get stereo output from F.E.A.R. Is this correct behavior? I'm testing further to see if the popping and crackling occurs when Hardware Mixing is enabled (but not any of the EAX settings). I'll report back when I know.
Edit #2: After several minutes of playing with only Hardware Mixing enabled (and no EAX), no popping or crackling occurred. I will continue to test different combinations.
Edit #3: After more testing, it seems that I can use Hardware Mixing (which enables discrete 5.1 channels) and Advanced EAX HD together, which sounds absolutely fantastic. I believe that the problem is caused when I enable EAX 2.0 -- even if I immediately disable it, it seems like it actually starts causing a problem. So what I did was completely restart the game (and my computer) and ONLY enable Hardware Mixing and Advanced EAX HD making sure not to touch EAX 2.0 at all, leaving it disabled.
I've been playing for about an hour with no pops or crackles at all, let's hope it stays that way!
tl;dr - Turning on EAX 2.0 and Advanced EAX HD at the same time can cause undesirable results even if you turn off EAX 2.0. Restart the game (and perhaps your computer) to make sure that when you start the game, EAX 2.0 is completely disabled and ONLY enable HW Mixing and Advanced EAX HD.
Edit #4: Sadly, I am still noticing some intermittent popping, but after playing for awhile it never gets extremely bad. It is much less severe than earlier. Not sure where to go from here.

Answer 1

Originally Posted by Thalyn
Well, I found my copy of FEAR and loaded it up. Patched it to 1.08 (which meant re-downloading the patch, since the one I got before was the US version - mine game is apparently the UK one, which actually has a patch half the size) and fired it up.
Just for curiosity I didn't install ALchemy straight away. As I suspected, none of the advanced sound mode options were enabled, which means they've just got an overly complicated menu. It could have just as easily been one option called "Audio Processing" with "Hardware", "EAX 2.0" and "EAX Advanced HD" as the available options - no need for a "Software" setting since it would be disabled without any of those, and the others could be en-/dis-abled based on your hardware capabilities. Oh well - chalk that one up to poor menu design.
When I did install ALchemy, however, I just used the default settings - 4 buffers at 25 duration - and turned on all three options in-game. I played through until the first checkpoint in the 3rd "level" (after the third loading screen w/briefing) and didn't notice anything unwanted with the sound. It appears that I'm using ALchemy 1.43.21, going by the installation files properties, but in all honesty I'm just using what came with the latest Recon3D drivers.
The nearest equivalent I can find for the X-Fi Titanium is a beta 1.43.06, but I might be able to find a way to upload the Recon3D one somewhere if you want to see if it works and fixes the problem. Alternatively, they can be extracted from the driver suite for the Recon3D easy enough. I use 7-Zip to do it, but other archive programs can probably do it as well. Look in the Audio\extras\Audio\ALchemy directory.
It's a shame the protagonist in FEAR keeps wigging out. It's actually a pretty darned good shooter when it's not trying to warp your brain - but at least there's no baby crying like when Max Payne goes nuts.
I just noticed that I get popping, crackling, and eventually game-freezing in Left 4 Dead 2, as well.
I used Alchemy to enable EAX for Left 4 Dead to (I read in the FAQ on Creative's Alchemy page that you could enable it for source engine games), and while playing, I starting hearing pops and stuff just like as in F.E.A.R. Eventually, the game started lagging as well (like in F.E.A.R.), and I had to quit out. It even persisted in windows for a bit as I would notice it when changing the volume and hearing the little "ding" with a pop or crackle in it. I restarted my computer.
I wonder if perhaps the problem isn't Alchemy, but if my sound card is overheating? But that seems a bit far-fetched. I do have two gpus which produce a lot of heat, but both of them stay within safe temperatures (though they do get close at times). In fact, one of them is even water-cooled, and it stays very cool.
It just seems especially strange that, although diminished, the pops and crackles continue even when I quit to my desktop. I don't hear them unless a sound is playing, though. And even then, it is quite diminished from they way it was during the game.
Also, how do I check my version of Alchemy? Could I not use the software update to get the latest version?
Edit: I just tried the software update. It said that my version of Alchemy is 1.41.02, and that I have the latest version installed.
Do different versions of Alchemy exist for different Creative cards? For example, perhaps 1.41.02 IS the most recent version for my x-fi titanium, but not for your recon3D.. Or can I use any version of Alchemy? Maybe getting the most recent version would fix my problems.
Edit #2: I found version 1.43.06 of Alchemy. I went to the x-fi titanium's page on Creative's site and clicked on "beta application", and it was there. Downloading/installing now and testing.
Edit #3: Version 1.43.06 of Alchemy does not seem to work. I do not get any EAX effects in F.E.A.R. at all, no matter which combination of options are enabled.
Also, as a side note, does "EAX Effects" need to be enabled in the audio control panel? I've tried it both ways, but it doesn't seem to make a difference.