So I wanted to check if wine would allow 5.1 to work as well.
I'm using an alsa setup, pulseaudio is not installed.
I've done some tests using either an empty .asoundrc file, or one that expose the soundcard as 6 channels capable to the apps.
My .asoundrc file:
Code: Select all
pcm.!default { type plug slave.pcm "duplexIO"}
########## duplex ##############
pcm.duplexIO {
type asym
playback.pcm "dmixer"
capture.pcm "D2capture"
}
########### mixer ##############
pcm.dmixer {
type dmix
ipc_key 1337
ipc_key_add_uid true
slave {
pcm "XonarD2"
channels 6
period_size 1024 # fixes cracks for me, might depend on sound chip
}
}
########### capture ############
pcm.D2capture {
type dsnoop
ipc_key 31416
ipc_key_add_uid true
slave.pcm "XonarD2"
}
####### Xonar D2 Analog #######
pcm.XonarD2 {
type hw
card D2
device 0
}
Let's use speaker-test app, included in alsa-utils, to conduct a first test.
speaker-test -c 6 -t wave # -c 6 to use 6 channels, and -t wave to have a nice voice telling speaker name instead of a noise
- empty asoundrc: only FL and FR speakers
- with asoundrc: all speakers are working
This test leads me to believe my .asoundrc is doing its job properly.
Now, let's try with Wine.
I'm on Gentoo, so wine is compiled from sources with alsa-lib, faudio, gstreamer, mpg123, openal audio-related flags (https://wiki.winehq.org/Building_Wine) No pulseaudio flag, it's not installed on my system.
For each game tested, settings in winecfg Audio tab:
- Output device set on "Out: default"
- Speaker configuration: device "Out: default" to "5.1 Surround"
Using these settings, let's push the winecfg Test Sound button
- no asoundrc: stereo output only
- with asoundrc: all speakers produce sound
Now let's try in games:
Witcher 3:
- no asoundrc: stereo output only
- with asoundrc: stereo output only, no sound from rears/center
Crysis 2:
- no asoundrc: stereo output only
- with asoundrc: stereo output only, no sound from rears/center
Secret World Legends: (game is not in the list, but it has an option to use 5.1 surround speakers)
- no asoundrc: stereo output only
- with asoundrc: stereo output only, no sound from rears/center
Unfortunately, none of the tested games gave me the expected 5.1 sound like it would on Windows, despite the Test Sound in winecfg working.
So I'm wondering: am I doing something wrong ?
Am i missing some dlls that I should install with winetricks ? I know xact can sometimes solve issues, but neither Witcher 3 or Crysis 2 are using xAudio API.
Is pulseaudio the only audio backend that allows 5.1 surround to work properly ?
Is the 5.1 surround only supported for directsound in Wine ?
Now, if more people owning a 5.1 surround set want to test, please do and post the results (but remember to disable stereo to 5.1 upmix in your driver - or in pulseaudio if you're using it).
Thanks for reading