[Diablo II] Enabling 3D Sound & Environmental Effects (EAX)

[Manny]

This is an easy fix (I wouldn't call it a mod, since support is built into the game) that allows you to enable Diablo II's 3D Sound and Environmental Effects, courtesy of Creative Labs (anyone remember Sound Blaster?).

If you've never played the game with these settings enabled, you are in for a treat. I have personally tested and confirmed this fix works in patches 1.05b, 1.07, and 1.09b. However, to my knowledge, this was a day 1 feature, and should work with all versions of the game.

Here are the steps you will need to follow:

1. Download the following attachment (compressed with 7zip)

Diablo II Creative EAX.7z

(582.64 KiB) Downloaded 182 times

2. Extract the compressed folder into the directory of your choosing, and then move the two DLL's into your Diablo II folder.

3. Launch Diablo II, press ESC, click Options, choose Sound Options, and then click the options for 3D Sound and Environmental Effects. The files you added should allow you to toggle these settings to "ON" (as shown in my screenshots below).

3D sound
EAX

In case you'd like to read more, I have added the source below. Also, note this works with several other games as well, including Blizzard titles, such as Warcraft 3!:

Spoiler

https://forum.median-xl.com/viewtopic.php?t=59898

[fearedbliss]

Holy crap this is awesome. Thanks for posting this. I'll need to give this a shot. If it works well (and for all versions with no necessary modifications to the game ideally) I would be glad to possibly add this to Cactus (alongside cnc-ddraw), and start recommending it as well. If it only requires minor adjustments to get it to work for some versions, I could also look into adding it to Singling. But from looking at the files it seems this is kinda like 'ddraw.dll' in that it's outside of the game but if the game or operating system finds it, it will automatically use it with no additional changes. This would be the best case scenario .

EDIT: From looking at my backup files, I see that the 'dsound.dll' and 'eax.dll' don't exist at all so this should theoretically just slip right in (like cnc-ddraw).

Spoiler

[Manny]

You're welcome! Hope you enjoy. Headphones of course are recommended for the best experience with the 3D audio.

And that would be sweet if you could end up adding this to Cactus and/or Singling (assuming it doesn't mess with anything). Besides Singling & Alpaca (for 1.09b), this is the only other "change" I make to my Diablo II folder(s). I also like to keep things as clean/original as possible.

[hedgesparrow]

This looks awesome!

I can't get this to work in Linux though. I copied the two dlls into the game folder and the 3D options are greyed out. I tried adding dsound and eax to the dll overrides in winecfg but that didn't help.

[Manny]

This looks awesome!

I can't get this to work in Linux though. I copied the two dlls into the game folder and the 3D options are greyed out. I tried adding dsound and eax to the dll overrides in winecfg but that didn't help.

Ah, bummer. I've never been the biggest fan of WINE, and this is why.

Have you ever heard of PROXMOX? It's a type 1 hypervisor that allows you to run a full Windows install alongside your Linux. The only caveat is you'll need hardware that supports this, and a GPU to passthrough for the Windows environment. You'll want plenty of cores and RAM as well.

Good luck though, and let us know if you find a workaround!

[hedgesparrow]

I've not heard of Proxmox but I have used Xen when I needed to run both Linux and OpenBSD servers together. I did also run Windows on KVM with GPU passthrough when I was playing WoW. I've sold my NVIDIA cards since then as they don't support open source drivers.

It's partly why I'm playing Diablo II right now as it's been crazy hard getting hold of graphics cards during covid! I'm planning on building a new PC and passthrough makes a lot of sense so I'll try Proxmox then.

[fearedbliss]

@hedgesparrow

I haven't tested it on Linux yet but there has to be some way to get it to use that dll. I would have thought the override trick (Same as when you add 'ddraw.dll' to use the native one rather than the built in one) that it would have detected it. If I find something I'll let you know.

PS: This forum is hosted on FreeBSD, my personal laptop screenshotted above is on Linux Mint, and my gaming laptop is on Windows 10.

[fearedbliss]

@Manny

I've tested, added, and documented the fix to Cactus. It is included in the latest build. Thanks for letting me know about this, I've also given you and BURAOT credit in the Cactus Credits file.

I've made an announcement post here which also includes a short video comparison.

BTW: The doors sound great with this, it feels like if I slammed the door with a long hallway and I can hear the depth of the echo. I also noticed Nova, Charms dropping, and amulets a bit more. I'll need to play more to have a better sense of all the sounds and music, but this is very promising as I can already hear some of the differences. Without the 3D sound it sounds louder but flatter in a way.

[Manny]

I've not heard of Proxmox but I have used Xen when I needed to run both Linux and OpenBSD servers together. I did also run Windows on KVM with GPU passthrough when I was playing WoW. I've sold my NVIDIA cards since then as they don't support open source drivers.

It's partly why I'm playing Diablo II right now as it's been crazy hard getting hold of graphics cards during covid! I'm planning on building a new PC and passthrough makes a lot of sense so I'll try Proxmox then.

Our experiences with Linux & Gaming are very similar. I think you will love Proxmox when you get to it. I'm in the process of building a new system as well, and I definitely feel you on the sky high GPU prices. I recall selling a complete mid-tier gaming PC at the end of 2019 for about $600. Just wasn't using it. Less than six months later the RX 580 in that PC was worth as much as the system.

PS: This forum is hosted on FreeBSD, my personal laptop screenshotted above is on Linux Mint, and my gaming laptop is on Windows 10.

I noticed the Linux Mint! Great choice. But I'm a bigger fan of FreeBSD. It's probably my favorite OS, although I wish it were easier to use/set-up for everyday desktop usage. That's awesome that you are using it for hosting the forum. Actually there's a team developing a new OS based on FreeBSD called "Hello System" that looks promising for desktop use. I've been keeping tabs on the project.

@Manny

I've tested, added, and documented the fix to Cactus. It is included in the latest build. Thanks for letting me know about this, I've also given you and BURAOT credit in the Cactus Credits file.

I've made an announcement post here which also includes a short video comparison.

BTW: The doors sound great with this, it feels like if I slammed the door with a long hallway and I can hear the depth of the echo. I also noticed Nova, Charms dropping, and amulets a bit more. I'll need to play more to have a better sense of all the sounds and music, but this is very promising as I can already hear some of the differences. Without the 3D sound it sounds louder but flatter in a way.

Awesome man, i'm glad you are enjoying this, and that's great you were able to get it added to Cactus. And thanks for the shout-out! I'm with you on the subtle changes with opening doors, dropped charms, etc. Spells are cool too because depending on the direction you are aiming, you will get more feedback in that direction. You'll notice this more with a spell like Firebolt/ball vs Nova. I love popping chests and will always stop and turn around if I see one I've missed, partly because the sounds of gold and items hitting the ground is so substantial. Feels like hitting a slot machine every time, lol. Brevik and team really honed in on the "reward" factors in this game.

[fearedbliss]

@Manny

Yea I really like FreeBSD as well but unfortunately they don't care about desktop usage (which is something they have said) and are primarily focused on servers. So Linux on the desktop it is. Lol. Not for Linux gaming, I've tried it over the past 15 years and while it has been improved, it's nothing compared to just sitting down and just clicking the game. Let alone all of the games I play are made for Windows, and my reverse engineering work (i.e Diablo) requires Windows (Intel x86 asm - win32). But I also really like old Windows, prolly cause I grew up with it so there is definitely a nostalgia factor, at least for gaming. I even have legal and retail boxed copies of Windows XP Pro and Windows 7 Ultimate .

And yea I look at helloSystem every once in a while, it's the same guy who made the AppImage format on Linux.

Originally I ran Gentoo Linux for a very long time and became a developer for it. Specifically I was focused on ZFS and having your Linux root on ZFS. But eventually I left it and switched to FreeBSD once ZFS was merged into FreeBSD and I waited a bit until after OpenZFS was announced (and FreeBSD rebased their implementation on ZoL). The filesystem alone was the main attraction. Although I don't really like systemd (Even though I use it for Linux Mint cause you know.. it's the default there and I'm already tired of spending my time with these particular sort of things), and looking at all the other crazy OS deviations that are occuring in Linux, switching to FreeBSD at least on the server gave me some stability and mental saneness lol.