SB Audigy Value CMSS Successfully Enabled in Vista, if you call it CMSS

Question

I've been trying to enable CMSS (at least hear sound from all of the 4 speakers) for a long time and finally successed but in a very strange way.
Steps written below are spesific to my system (SB Audigy Value, Onboard Realtek ALC 850) but can? work similar way on others i guess. For SB Audigy Value 6 Feb. Vista drivers are installed. U can use old XP drivers as explained in the forum too.
I've been using my onboard audio device (realtek ac97) since I can't enable cmss on SB Audigy Value, so Realtek AC97 audio drivers were installed on my system. You can download Realtek AC97 audio drivers? from [url=ftp://202.65.94.22/pc/audio/623_Vista_APO.zip">ftp://202.65.94.22/pc/audio/623_Vista_APO.zip[/url]
Download and install it (first enable the device from bios if you haven't)
After installing the drivers,
-) Open "Playback Devices/Speakers(Realtek A'97 Audio)/Properties" window and open "Enhancements" tab.
2-)There's a "Speaker Fill" effect there. U can take sound from all speakers if u enable it on Realtek AC97 device. And let's import this to our SB Audigy Value device. I say "Import" because i noticed that?"Enhancements" tab is actually a set of registry entries which points to some features from Realtek device. So,
3-) Open registry editor. Go to
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Curr entVersion\MMDevices\Audio\Render\
Under the Render key the playback devices are listed as some numbers and letters like,
{50a7cf0-aad0-444c-a56b-ce655444d}
4-) U have to find your own device (realtek speakers) , for instance my device is represented by {50a7cf0-aad0-444c-a56b-ce655444d}.
(This is for Realtek ALC 850 model, may be different for other models?I guess)
5-) Under {50a7cf0-aad0-444c-a56b-ce655444d} key you can see "FxProperties" Key. Rightclick on it and export to a file. Save it as RealtekCMSS.reg for instance.
6-) Then find your SB Audigy Value Speakers device. (ES/LS whatever...)
Mine is {5ecbbccc-eca-446-aa2-a7390cf094f6}.
7-) Rightclick on it and select "Permissions"
Go to Advanced/Owner, and change the owner to administrators.
(Don't forget to select "Replace owner on subcontainers and objects)
8-) On "Permissions for {5ecbbccc-eca-446-aa2-a7390cf094f6}" window select "Administrators"
and select "Full Control" to allow. Then click OK.
9-)Close registry editor and open RealtekCMSS.reg in notepad.
0-) Replace {50a7cf0-aad0-444c-a56b-ce655444d}
????to {5ecbbccc-eca-446-aa2-a7390cf094f6} using replace function.
-)Save the file as SBAudigyCMSS.reg and execute it.
2-)Now go to
"Playback Devices/Speakers(SB Audigy)/Properties" and you'll see "Enhancements" tab.
3-)In "Enhancements" tab enable "Speaker Fill"
Open an mp3 and test your speakers. Other effects work too.
From now on you can disable your AC97 device from bios. But don't uninstall Realtek software.
Message Edited by atabrk on 04-26-200708:09 PM

Answer 1

The previous post is inaccurate:? CMSS includes many modes, which will work depending on the speaker configuration. This means that CMSS set?to ON on 5. speakers is not the same as CMSS on Headphones. The selection is done automatically, depending on your selected speaker configuration. For example CMSS on headphones uses HRTFs to produce the effect, while on multi-speaker systems it simply maps and pans the sound. From my experience, CMSS works?good on headphones, not only for games, but for music as well. It expands the soundfield, where on simple stereo and headphones you normally hear the sound inside your head. My opinion is, that CMSS sounds much better on headphones than on speaker systems.