Thread: Creative X-fi sound + LOTRO(OpenAL.dll) = Blue Screen of Death

Turbine's driver OpenAL.dll seems to be defective. The version which Turbine is supplying is apparently causing users of Creative X-fi series sound cards to have frequent BSOD's. The BSOD error references driver ha20x2k.sys originating with Turbine's OpenAL.dll.

There was a fix for this error posted on the forums several months ago.
http://forums.lotro.com/showthread.php?t=48320

It involves downloading a different version of OpenAL.dll from the Creative website :

http://developer.creative.com/articl...&top=38&aid=46

Run the installer, copy OpenAL.dll from Windows/system32 to the LOTRO directory, thereby replacing the defective driver.

However, in the past few days, whenever I launch the game and the "updating" process begins, the old defective driver is now downloaded from Turbine, overwriting the functional version of the same file which I have manually installed in the LOTRO directory.

The problem with OpenAL.dll has not been adequately addressed after many months and I hope that a resolution will be forthcoming.

Until that time, users of the Creative X-fi soundcards are relegated to software stereo sound* while playing this game, unless thay are willing to accept frequent BSOD's.

*As a work-around you may be able to replace OpenAL.dll after the updater has run but before the game initializes. You will have to go through this cumbersome process everytime you start the game.

I sent in a bug report about this issue,

Response:

Greetings Daniel,
Thank you for contacting us, the openAL we are using is the one that creative made specifically for us - our technicians are aware of this issue however and are working with creative to resolve it. thank you for your feedback.
Thank you,
The Turbine Customer Service Team

You could create a simple .bat file to ease the swapping of OpenAL32.dll.

Here's what I have in the .bat file I created using Notepad:

copy c:\windows\system32\openal32.d ll g:\games\"the lord of the rings online"

then I named the file "swap-openal32.bat" and saved onto my desktop.

All I have to do is run the file after LOTR Online updater is finished.

Thats a great idea Kiralyra. I havent written a batch file in 20 years (MSDOS age) and didnt think of that. Using quotes around long filenames threw me off at first but I got this to work.

copy C:\WINDOWS\system32\OpenAL32.d ll "C:\Program Files\Turbine\The Lord of the Rings Online\OpenAL32.dll"

*Edit: for some reason the forum inserts a space between the letters d an l in the word OpenAL.dll. Ignore it.

I have the same problem. Frequent BSOD. it started doing this a couple of weeks ago, since then I taken a short break hoping something would be done. Read a new patch was up, I logged in and joined my kinship in Helegrod. After 10-15 min bam BSOD! Restart log back in and another BSOD after 3 mins. Oh well i'll wait on a update. Meanwhile I'll play EQ2. If there is not a fix in a month time i'll be canceling my subscription. Founder's rate or not no point in paying for a game I cant play.

I know that the team IS aware of this, no eta on the status or a fix though - you can also try just running in software mode and see if that prevents the bsod.

I am making the .bat file because the OpenAL file Creative supplied to you guys only gives us 2 Channel stereo mode. I will have my 5.1 back thank you. Why dont you just use the official OpenAL .dll file???? It works just fine. *sigh*

Can anyone explain to me how exactly you go about making a .bat file? I've never done that before and would love to be able to play this game for more than five minutes.

**Disregard, I figured it out, but now I'm having the granny2.dll crash... lame :/ **

Originally Posted by MJJ

I am making the .bat file because the OpenAL file Creative supplied to you guys only gives us 2 Channel stereo mode. I will have my 5.1 back thank you. Why dont you just use the official OpenAL .dll file???? It works just fine. *sigh*

Sure, it works fine for those of us with soundcards that natively support OpenAL, but not all do. Their .dll is a wrapper which allows all directsound cards to work... even older ones without OpenAL native support. The downside is all those of us who run Vista (and don't have DirectSound) are relagated to 2 channel stereo sound when that wrapper is in place... arg, I guess I'm off to make a .bat file.

Turbine, there needs to be some sort of option or check for the Vista OS... so those of us using it don't have to overwrite the OpenAL.dll every time we start the game. It was fine when the patcher left that file alone, but now it's a pain in the butt since it overwrites it every time I launch the game.

I just now discovered this, and haven't even installed it yet, so I don't know if it will be of any help to any of you. But it's dated November 19, 2007. Actually there are two editions available, an X-Fi edition and an Audigy edition.

Here is the link: http://connect.creativelabs.com/alchemy/default.aspx

Is this another ghost of Vijay L. haunting the halls of Turbine?

Still amazed that this issue hasn't been fixed yet. I just started playing LOTRO for the first time and I would get BSOD couple times each gaming session. Couldn't figure it out until I did a search and saw these posts dating back to Sep 2007! I'm surprise (and disappointed) that this issue hasn't been fixed considering the number of people with x-fi cards.

I did the swap OpenAL32.dll work-around and haven't had a BSOD in 6 hours which is good. It's an annoyance to have to run a batch file each time though.

Here's something a little more elegant for those who don't know how to create a batch file. Copy the following content into notepad and save it as swap-openal.bat.

@echo off
echo copy status:
copy C:\Windows\System32\OpenAL32.d ll "C:\Program Files\Turbine\The Lord of the Rings Online"
pause

Note: you may need to change the LOTRO folder location to suit your particular install.

EDIT: THIS WORK AROUND NO LONGER WORKS. Lotro client checks for OpenAL32.dll and errors out if it doesn't find it's own version.

Originally Posted by zuko3501

Still amazed that this issue hasn't been fixed yet. I just started playing LOTRO for the first time and I would get BSOD couple times each gaming session. Couldn't figure it out until I did a search and saw these posts dating back to Sep 2007! I'm surprise (and disappointed) that this issue hasn't been fixed considering the number of people with x-fi cards.

I did the swap OpenAL32.dll work-around and haven't had a BSOD in 6 hours which is good. It's an annoyance to have to run a batch file each time though.

Here's something a little more elegant for those who don't know how to create a batch file. Copy the following content into notepad and save it as swap-openal.bat.

@echo off
echo copy status:
copy C:\Windows\System32\OpenAL32.d ll "C:\Program Files\Turbine\The Lord of the Rings Online"
pause

Note: you may need to change the LOTRO folder location to suit your particular install.

There's you're issue right there - you've updated the openal32.dll in the Windows\system32 directory.
That *Always* overrides the in game directory, so likely you had an older OpenAL32.dll previously in the Windows\system32 directory before you grabbed the latest from Creative.

Bunsen, thanks for taking the time to respond. i have a fresh Vista install with the latest driver from Creative. i then install LOTRO. that's when i was experiencing the BSOD that's due to audio (as reported from vista's error recovery). i tried copying the OpenAL.dll from System32 to LOTRO folder but still had BSOD.

but you said the OpenAL32.dll in System32 overrides the one in LOTRO folder. i thought it was the other way around so now I will try it the other way... i will copy OpenAL32.dll from LOTRO to System32.

will post if this works. Thanks.

Originally Posted by zuko3501

Bunsen, thanks for taking the time to respond. i have a fresh Vista install with the latest driver from Creative. i then install LOTRO. that's when i was experiencing the BSOD that's due to audio (as reported from vista's error recovery). i tried copying the OpenAL.dll from System32 to LOTRO folder but still had BSOD.

but you said the OpenAL32.dll in System32 overrides the one in LOTRO folder. i thought it was the other way around so now I will try it the other way... i will copy OpenAL32.dll from LOTRO to System32.

will post if this works. Thanks.

If it were XP you'd be right - local should override. That's what I remembered as well. Vista does some other things, so you'd need to verify with alternate tools as to which version is actually be loaded.

Again, it's possible there was an update since from Creative that we don't have. If so, please let us know so we should update ours.

Bunsen,

I tried copying OpenAL32.dll from the LOTRO folder to System32 and SysWOW64 (I have Vista64) and still get BSOD. For kicks I tried reinstalling the latest XFI drivers and then I copied OpenAL32.dll from System32 to SysWOW64 and same result. (LOTRO won't let me replace it's OpenAL32.dll with X-Fi's latest. Client pops up and error and exits.)

So I'm not sure what's going on now. My brother happened to do a clean upgrade to Vista64 also and he's having same issue although he's using different hardware and older model of X-FI card (with different set of latest drivers from creative website).

BTW, the file size for LOTRO's OpenAL32.dll and Creative's OpenAL32.dll are different so they are probably different versions.

This BSOD is repeatable and here's how to do it.

1. Fresh Vista64 install with latest SP and updates. EDIT: And install latest drivers for X-Fi card from Creative.
2. Install LOTRO and *enable* audio hardware mode. Generic software mode is selected by default.
3. Play LOTRO 1-6 hours. I hear playing in Moria triggers the crash faster.

For reference, the problem comes up quite a bit when googling. Here's the same problem being discussed at Creative with their support people.

http://forums.creative.com/creativel...hread.id=35018

For now, I guess I'll just use software mode although there is a difference in sound quality. Kinda disappointed I can't use my sound card to it's full potential.

Any info on the topic from you would be appreciated. Thanks.

Originally Posted by zuko3501

Bunsen,

I tried copying OpenAL32.dll from the LOTRO folder to System32 and SysWOW64 (I have Vista64) and still get BSOD. For kicks I tried reinstalling the latest XFI drivers and then I copied OpenAL32.dll from System32 to SysWOW64 and same result. (LOTRO won't let me replace it's OpenAL32.dll with X-Fi's latest. Client pops up and error and exits.)

So I'm not sure what's going on now. My brother happened to do a clean upgrade to Vista64 also and he's having same issue although he's using different hardware and older model of X-FI card (with different set of latest drivers from creative website).

BTW, the file size for LOTRO's OpenAL32.dll and Creative's OpenAL32.dll are different so they are probably different versions.

This BSOD is repeatable and here's how to do it.

1. Fresh Vista64 install with latest SP and updates.
2. Install LOTRO and *enable* audio hardware mode. Generic software mode is selected by default.
3. Play LOTRO 1-6 hours. I hear playing in Moria triggers the crash faster.

For reference, the problem comes up quite a bit when googling. Here's the same problem being discussed at Creative with their support people.

http://forums.creative.com/creativel...hread.id=35018

For now, I guess I'll just use software mode although there is a difference in sound quality. Kinda disappointed I can't use my sound card to it's full potential.

Any info on the topic from you would be appreciated. Thanks.

Ok, passing along to our QA to try and repro.

An more extensive thread can be found here:

http://forums.lotro.com/showthread.php?t=172959

I can reproduce this by swift traveling over and over again. After about 4 or 5 swift travels, I BSOD.

Can one of you get me the minidump from the BSOD? It's an option that's in the Startup and Recovery options of Windows to create the dump.

If you get one, we can work with Creative to analyze that.

I'm glad this is being looked at. I can't log into game with my current X-FI driver. For some reason this started yesterday, however I've been having crashes for the last week due to this issue.

If I disable all my sound drivers I'm able to log into the game. This is unacceptable. I need my sound for the game and to use ventrillo.

I'm not much of a computer guy but I'm including the DXDIAG section of soundcard and System Information. If anyone can look at it and give me an idea how I can get back in game with my sound drivers intact.

DxDiag:

-------------
Sound Devices
-------------
Description: Speakers (High Definition Audio Device)
Default Sound Playback: Yes
Default Voice Playback: Yes
Hardware ID: HDAUDIO\FUNC_01&VEN_11D4&DEV_1 98B&SUBSYS_1043829B&REV_1004
Manufacturer ID: 1
Product ID: 100
Type: WDM
Driver Name: HdAudio.sys
Driver Version: 6.00.5840.16387 (English)
Driver Attributes: Final Retail
WHQL Logo'd: Yes
Date and Size: 11/2/2006 00:28:10, 273920 bytes
Other Files:
Driver Provider: Microsoft
HW Accel Level: Basic
Cap Flags: 0xF1F
Min/Max Sample Rate: 100, 200000
Static/Strm HW Mix Bufs: 1, 0
Static/Strm HW 3D Bufs: 0, 0
HW Memory: 0
Voice Management: No
EAX(tm) 2.0 Listen/Src: No, No
I3DL2(tm) Listen/Src: No, No
Sensaura(tm) ZoomFX(tm): No
Description: SPDIF Out (Creative SB X-Fi)
Default Sound Playback: No
Default Voice Playback: No
Hardware ID: PCI\VEN_1102&DEV_0005&SUBSYS_0 02C1102&REV_00
Manufacturer ID: 1
Product ID: 100
Type: WDM
Driver Name: ctaud2k.sys
Driver Version: 6.00.0001.1368 (English)
Driver Attributes: Final Retail
WHQL Logo'd: No
Date and Size: 10/8/2008 01:22:22, 684312 bytes
Other Files:
Driver Provider: Creative
HW Accel Level: Basic
Cap Flags: 0xF1F
Min/Max Sample Rate: 100, 200000
Static/Strm HW Mix Bufs: 1, 0
Static/Strm HW 3D Bufs: 0, 0
HW Memory: 0
Voice Management: No
EAX(tm) 2.0 Listen/Src: No, No
I3DL2(tm) Listen/Src: No, No
Sensaura(tm) ZoomFX(tm): No
Description: Digital Output Device (SPDIF) (High Definition Audio Device)
Default Sound Playback: No
Default Voice Playback: No
Hardware ID: HDAUDIO\FUNC_01&VEN_11D4&DEV_1 98B&SUBSYS_1043829B&REV_1004
Manufacturer ID: 1
Product ID: 100
Type: WDM
Driver Name: HdAudio.sys
Driver Version: 6.00.5840.16387 (English)
Driver Attributes: Final Retail
WHQL Logo'd: Yes
Date and Size: 11/2/2006 00:28:10, 273920 bytes
Other Files:
Driver Provider: Microsoft
HW Accel Level: Basic
Cap Flags: 0xF1F
Min/Max Sample Rate: 100, 200000
Static/Strm HW Mix Bufs: 1, 0
Static/Strm HW 3D Bufs: 0, 0
HW Memory: 0
Voice Management: No
EAX(tm) 2.0 Listen/Src: No, No
I3DL2(tm) Listen/Src: No, No
Sensaura(tm) ZoomFX(tm): No
Description: Digital Output Device (HDMI) (2- High Definition Audio Device)
Default Sound Playback: No
Default Voice Playback: No
Hardware ID: HDAUDIO\FUNC_01&VEN_1002&DEV_A A01&SUBSYS_00AA0100&REV_1000
Manufacturer ID: 1
Product ID: 100
Type: WDM
Driver Name: HdAudio.sys
Driver Version: 6.00.5840.16387 (English)
Driver Attributes: Final Retail
WHQL Logo'd: Yes
Date and Size: 11/2/2006 00:28:10, 273920 bytes
Other Files:
Driver Provider: Microsoft
HW Accel Level: Basic
Cap Flags: 0xF1F
Min/Max Sample Rate: 100, 200000
Static/Strm HW Mix Bufs: 1, 0
Static/Strm HW 3D Bufs: 0, 0
HW Memory: 0
Voice Management: No
EAX(tm) 2.0 Listen/Src: No, No
I3DL2(tm) Listen/Src: No, No
Sensaura(tm) ZoomFX(tm): No
Description: Speakers (Creative SB X-Fi)
Default Sound Playback: No
Default Voice Playback: No
Hardware ID: PCI\VEN_1102&DEV_0005&SUBSYS_0 02C1102&REV_00
Manufacturer ID: 1
Product ID: 100
Type: WDM
Driver Name: ctaud2k.sys
Driver Version: 6.00.0001.1368 (English)
Driver Attributes: Final Retail
WHQL Logo'd: No
Date and Size: 10/8/2008 01:22:22, 684312 bytes
Other Files:
Driver Provider: Creative
HW Accel Level: Basic
Cap Flags: 0xF1F
Min/Max Sample Rate: 100, 200000
Static/Strm HW Mix Bufs: 1, 0
Static/Strm HW 3D Bufs: 0, 0
HW Memory: 0
Voice Management: No
EAX(tm) 2.0 Listen/Src: No, No
I3DL2(tm) Listen/Src: No, No
Sensaura(tm) ZoomFX(tm): No
---------------------
Sound Capture Devices
---------------------
Description: Microphone (Creative SB X-Fi)
Default Sound Capture: Yes
Default Voice Capture: Yes
Driver Name: ctaud2k.sys
Driver Version: 6.00.0001.1368 (English)
Driver Attributes: Final Retail
Date and Size: 10/8/2008 01:22:22, 684312 bytes
Cap Flags: 0x1
Format Flags: 0xFFFFF
Description: Line In (High Definition Audio Device)
Default Sound Capture: No
Default Voice Capture: No
Driver Name: HdAudio.sys
Driver Version: 6.00.5840.16387 (English)
Driver Attributes: Final Retail
Date and Size: 11/2/2006 00:28:10, 273920 bytes
Cap Flags: 0x1
Format Flags: 0xFFFFF
Description: S/PDIF-In (Creative SB X-Fi)
Default Sound Capture: No
Default Voice Capture: No
Driver Name: ctaud2k.sys
Driver Version: 6.00.0001.1368 (English)
Driver Attributes: Final Retail
Date and Size: 10/8/2008 01:22:22, 684312 bytes
Cap Flags: 0x1
Format Flags: 0xFFFFF
Description: "What U Hear" (Creative SB X-Fi)
Default Sound Capture: No
Default Voice Capture: No
Driver Name: ctaud2k.sys
Driver Version: 6.00.0001.1368 (English)
Driver Attributes: Final Retail
Date and Size: 10/8/2008 01:22:22, 684312 bytes
Cap Flags: 0x1
Format Flags: 0xFFFFF
Description: Line-In 2/Mic 2 (Creative SB X-Fi)
Default Sound Capture: No
Default Voice Capture: No
Driver Name: ctaud2k.sys
Driver Version: 6.00.0001.1368 (English)
Driver Attributes: Final Retail
Date and Size: 10/8/2008 01:22:22, 684312 bytes
Cap Flags: 0x1
Format Flags: 0xFFFFF
Description: Microphone (High Definition Audio Device)
Default Sound Capture: No
Default Voice Capture: No
Driver Name: HdAudio.sys
Driver Version: 6.00.5840.16387 (English)
Driver Attributes: Final Retail
Date and Size: 11/2/2006 00:28:10, 273920 bytes
Cap Flags: 0x1
Format Flags: 0xFFFFF
Description: Line-In (Creative SB X-Fi)
Default Sound Capture: No
Default Voice Capture: No
Driver Name: ctaud2k.sys
Driver Version: 6.00.0001.1368 (English)
Driver Attributes: Final Retail
Date and Size: 10/8/2008 01:22:22, 684312 bytes
Cap Flags: 0x1
Format Flags: 0xFFFFF
Description: Digital-In (Creative SB X-Fi)
Default Sound Capture: No
Default Voice Capture: No
Driver Name: ctaud2k.sys
Driver Version: 6.00.0001.1368 (English)
Driver Attributes: Final Retail
Date and Size: 10/8/2008 01:22:22, 684312 bytes
Cap Flags: 0x1
Format Flags: 0xFFFFF
Description: Auxiliary (Creative SB X-Fi)
Default Sound Capture: No
Default Voice Capture: No
Driver Name: ctaud2k.sys
Driver Version: 6.00.0001.1368 (English)
Driver Attributes: Final Retail
Date and Size: 10/8/2008 01:22:22, 684312 bytes
Cap Flags: 0x1
Format Flags: 0xFFFFF
Description: Auxiliary 2 (Creative SB X-Fi)
Default Sound Capture: No
Default Voice Capture: No
Driver Name: ctaud2k.sys
Driver Version: 6.00.0001.1368 (English)
Driver Attributes: Final Retail
Date and Size: 10/8/2008 01:22:22, 684312 bytes
Cap Flags: 0x1
Format Flags: 0xFFFFF
Description: Microphone (High Definition Audio Device)
Default Sound Capture: No
Default Voice Capture: No
Driver Name: HdAudio.sys
Driver Version: 6.00.5840.16387 (English)
Driver Attributes: Final Retail
Date and Size: 11/2/2006 00:28:10, 273920 bytes
Cap Flags: 0x1
Format Flags: 0xFFFFF

Windows (Vista 64bit) System Information:

Name High Definition Audio Device
Manufacturer Microsoft
Status OK
PNP Device ID HDAUDIO\FUNC_01&VEN_1002&DEV_A A01&SUBSYS_00AA0100&REV_1000\5 &643FD9&0&0001
Driver c:\windows\system32\drivers\hd audio.sys (6.0.5840.16387, 267.50 KB (273,920 bytes), 11/2/2006 8:41 AM)

Name High Definition Audio Device
Manufacturer Microsoft
Status OK
PNP Device ID HDAUDIO\FUNC_01&VEN_11D4&DEV_1 98B&SUBSYS_1043829B&REV_1004\4 &B3DDC6A&0&0001
Driver c:\windows\system32\drivers\hd audio.sys (6.0.5840.16387, 267.50 KB (273,920 bytes), 11/2/2006 8:41 AM)

Name Creative X-Fi Audio Processor (WDM)
Manufacturer Creative Technology, Ltd.
Status OK
PNP Device ID PCI\VEN_1102&DEV_0005&SUBSYS_0 02C1102&REV_00\4&1542FBD&0&00F 0
I/O Port 0x0000EC00-0x0000EC1F
Memory Address 0xFEA00000-0xFEBFFFFF
Memory Address 0xF8000000-0xFEBFFFFF
IRQ Channel IRQ 16
Driver c:\windows\system32\drivers\ct aud2k.sys (6.0.1.1368, 668.27 KB (684,312 bytes), 10/8/2008 2:22 AM)

Originally Posted by Bunsen

Can one of you get me the minidump from the BSOD? It's an option that's in the Startup and Recovery options of Windows to create the dump.

If you get one, we can work with Creative to analyze that.

Bunsen,

I have the memory dump. How shall I send it to you?

Thanks.

Originally Posted by zuko3501

Bunsen,

I have the memory dump. How shall I send it to you?

Thanks.

You have a PM.

I have this problem and currently I solve it by switching audio to Generic Software when swift traveling and then change it back to X-Fi Audio when I reach my destination. So far this works, though I haven't been to Moria yet. I have X-Fi Titanium and Vista 64.

I had the problem when EAX is enabled. I can leave it on Hardware as long as EAX is disabled.

Originally Posted by Bunsen

If it were XP you'd be right - local should override. That's what I remembered as well. Vista does some other things, so you'd need to verify with alternate tools as to which version is actually be loaded.

Again, it's possible there was an update since from Creative that we don't have. If so, please let us know so we should update ours.

It would appear there has been an update from Creative. I recently did a fresh Windows XP (32 bit) install and after downloading the latest drivers from Creative, when I look at the local version (in the systme 32 folder) of the OpenAL.dll file, it says it is version 6.14.357.23. The version inside the LotRO folder says version 6.14.357.22. Ever since I did this fresh install, I've re-encountered this BSOD. I have yet to try the workaround. I took out my X-Fi card and have been using onboard Realtek HD audio. While I don't actually get a BSOD with this, my system does freeze once in a while on certain sound events.

Interestingly, I also run Windows 7 Beta. The local OpenAL.dll version there is also 6.14.357.23 and the LotRO version is 6.14.357.22. I have never experienced the BSOD with the X-Fi card nor the system freezes with Realtek onboard. So it seems the issue is specifically with XP.

Originally Posted by Battalion

It would appear there has been an update from Creative. I recently did a fresh Windows XP (32 bit) install and after downloading the latest drivers from Creative, when I look at the local version (in the systme 32 folder) of the OpenAL.dll file, it says it is version 6.14.357.23. The version inside the LotRO folder says version 6.14.357.22. Ever since I did this fresh install, I've re-encountered this BSOD. I have yet to try the workaround. I took out my X-Fi card and have been using onboard Realtek HD audio. While I don't actually get a BSOD with this, my system does freeze once in a while on certain sound events.

Interestingly, I also run Windows 7 Beta. The local OpenAL.dll version there is also 6.14.357.23 and the LotRO version is 6.14.357.22. I have never experienced the BSOD with the X-Fi card nor the system freezes with Realtek onboard. So it seems the issue is specifically with XP.

If you can reproduce the crash and send in the minidump, I can use that to work with Creative.

Originally Posted by krenlik

I had the problem when EAX is enabled. I can leave it on Hardware as long as EAX is disabled.

Are you using Vista 64 with hard audio selected (EAX is still an option if generic software mode is selected)? Problem is definitely there if using Vista64 with hardware audio. I tried enabling and disabling EAX and still get BSOD.

If you have this problem, please help Turbine fix it by checking out this post. It contains info on how to report the problem. Thanks Bunsen!

http://forums.lotro.com/showthread.php?t=247702

Originally Posted by zuko3501

Are you using Vista 64 with hard audio selected (EAX is still an option if generic software mode is selected)? Problem is definitely there if using Vista64 with hardware audio. I tried enabling and disabling EAX and still get BSOD.

I use Vista 64, and USED TO be able to use hard audio w/o EAX and it would work. This latest batch of drivers apparently has broken things for me. My recent crashes are apparently Xfi related. Going back to software only no crashes.

Creative X-FI BSOD Information Collection Thread

All those experiencing crashes w/ the Creative X-FI, Turbine wants you to dump your crash log in the thread linked above to help them gather information.

just curious if there is an update on this. I have made a post before about crashing in vista 32 bit and previously thought it was due to running very high texture details but in the last week when I randomly changed it back to very high from high, I havn't crashed more than once or twice.

However, I also have a creative x-fi gamer sound card and notice a very odd hissing sound in the background. It is very clearly heard when the game is loading, especially when first loading. It is then a constant hissing sound in the background. I do not hear it when using any other game or program that utilizes sound, therefore have determined it isn't the hardware or my speakers themselves. Since people are having these problems i'm wondering if it is some kind of compatibility issue between LOTRO client and the xfi card.

I'll check later today to see if I have been running hardware mode in audio options, but i'm pretty sure I have.

Well, I just thought i'd give the 10 day trial a go and after an almost 10gig client download, within the space of just 10 mins gameplay i've BSOD'ed twice.

Not good enough. I'm not going to turn off the single reason I have a Fatal1ty soundcard just to bypass what looks to be a 2 year old problem with the game?

Nice try Turbine but no cigar = no new account from me.

Well, it seems that this gets better.

After not only updating my drivers to the very latest, plus overwriting the OpenAL.dll, it appears that with EAX turned on or off, I still BSOD.

I've even disabled EAX via the ini file, without any success.

So the upshot is that I can't play this trial on my PC, irrespective of settings.

Are you sure it's the sound driver that is the BSOD cause? I assume so since you're posting here, but without specifics it's hard to verify for sure.

Originally Posted by Bunsen

Are you sure it's the sound driver that is the BSOD cause? I assume so since you're posting here, but without specifics it's hard to verify for sure.

Pretty sure, I get exactly the same problem as the original poster, with ha20x2k.sys being specified in the BSOD.

The last update reset my audio to use hardware mode for some reason. I wasn't aware it did that until I got a BSOD. Had to set it to use generic hardware again. If others had their audio reset like mine, there's gonna be alot of BSOD reports coming into Turbine.

Vista 64 + XFi + Lotro using audio hardware mode = BSOD

Originally Posted by zuko3501

The last update reset my audio to use hardware mode for some reason. I wasn't aware it did that until I got a BSOD. Had to set it to use generic hardware again. If others had their audio reset like mine, there's gonna be alot of BSOD reports coming into Turbine.

Vista 64 + XFi + Lotro using audio hardware mode = BSOD

Same... with very high texture settings.

Vista 64 + XFi + Lotro using audio hardware mode = BSOD
Vista 32 + XFi + Lotro using audio hardware mode = CTD (but for obvious different reasons)

The solution for this in the meantime is to switch to "Generic Software" in the audio options. Not much of a change in sound quality, but you lose 3d positional audio (all sounds will play from the front 2 speakers only.)

You can blame all this on Microsoft for stripping out hardware acceleration from DirectSound in Vista (and on Creative's craptastic drivers).