No 5.1 sound in Half-Life on Realtek ALC885

[Przemek]

On my current computer, I do not have my SB Audigy 2 card and I was even planning to get rid of it and use the integrated sound, since music sound better on my cheap 5.1 speakers (yes, Audigy 2 sounds worse, really - on good speakers it's most likely a lot better).

My problem is with Half-Life 2. I have set 5.1 speakers in the Windows control panel, its set in the Realtek control panel, the 5.1 test is OK, movies with surround sound are OK, but Half-Life 2 refuses to work properly.

I've set 5.1 speakers in sound configuration menu of the game, it doesn't revert back to stereo. Unfortunately, the rear speakers are playing exactly the same sounds as the front speakers. If I throw a grenade and turn aroun, I still hear it in front of me... and in the rear at the same time. Seems like some sort of pseudo-surround effect like Creative's CMSS3D, or something like that.

I see no such option in Realtek's control panel and 5.1 audio sources (music, movies) play fine...

Is there a workaround for this, or is it just that HL2 can't do 5.1 sound without full EAX hardware support? I'm shocked...

Thanks in advance for any suggestions.


edit - I am running Windows XP with Service Pack 3. I could understand issues with surround sound on Vista...

 

[AtomicSpark]

Because Vista breaks everything?

 

[Przemek]

But I'm on XP!

 

[AciD]

Check diz now!

 

[Przemek]

Thank you very much! Typing 'snd_digital_surround 1' in the console solved the problem

 

[AciD]

No problemo moi amigo!