tunaphish6
05-25-2010, 01:34 PM
I've noticed a few threads regarding enabling EAX in FEAR with ALchemy under the WIn7/Vista OS. While for some users, it's as easy as updating ALchemy to 1.41, people who don't have Creative brand X-fi or EAX capable cards might have trouble trying to update ALchemy. I will describe a work around to updating ALchemy to 1.41.
Updating ALchemy to 1.41
While ALchemy may be an optional install for Creative users and can readily be updated, for people who bought non-Creative cards, such as Auzentech, ALchemy is mandatory for Win7/Vista installations and installs whatever current version is packaged with the drivers. For whatever reason, it may be difficult for people to update ALchmey, the installation usually saying it's either already up-to-date or is not supported by the card. A simple work around requires dropping in the latest ALchemy into the driver package and doing a clean install of the drivers.
What you'll need:
-The latest installation package from the Creative website
-The latest or preferred drivers for your sound card
-Some sort file extraction/compression program, such as 7zip or Winrar
What you need to do:
1. Using the file extraction program, extract the files from both the drivers and the latest ALchemy installation package.
2. Within your new driver folder, there should be a folder called 'Alchemy'. Take note of where it's located and delete it.
3. Within the new ALchemy folder, there should be another 'Alchemy' folder, similar to the one you just deleted. Copy and paste it in the same directory of the 'Alchemy' folder you just deleted.
4. Uninstall you sound drivers, preferably with a driver cleaning program that deletes left over folder, files and registry entries.
5. Depending on what card and drivers you're using, there should be a 'Setup.exe' that should start the driver installation. For me, I actually had dig down a few folders (Audio>Setup) to find the right file.
6. Install your drivers like usual and should find that you now have the latest ALchemy 1.41.
Updating ALchemy to 1.41
While ALchemy may be an optional install for Creative users and can readily be updated, for people who bought non-Creative cards, such as Auzentech, ALchemy is mandatory for Win7/Vista installations and installs whatever current version is packaged with the drivers. For whatever reason, it may be difficult for people to update ALchmey, the installation usually saying it's either already up-to-date or is not supported by the card. A simple work around requires dropping in the latest ALchemy into the driver package and doing a clean install of the drivers.
What you'll need:
-The latest installation package from the Creative website
-The latest or preferred drivers for your sound card
-Some sort file extraction/compression program, such as 7zip or Winrar
What you need to do:
1. Using the file extraction program, extract the files from both the drivers and the latest ALchemy installation package.
2. Within your new driver folder, there should be a folder called 'Alchemy'. Take note of where it's located and delete it.
3. Within the new ALchemy folder, there should be another 'Alchemy' folder, similar to the one you just deleted. Copy and paste it in the same directory of the 'Alchemy' folder you just deleted.
4. Uninstall you sound drivers, preferably with a driver cleaning program that deletes left over folder, files and registry entries.
5. Depending on what card and drivers you're using, there should be a 'Setup.exe' that should start the driver installation. For me, I actually had dig down a few folders (Audio>Setup) to find the right file.
6. Install your drivers like usual and should find that you now have the latest ALchemy 1.41.