5.1 in L4D2, Portal

darkstar_kinge · 07-08-2012, 03:08 AM

Morning all.

Finally getting back in to doing some desktop gaming after being a console gamer for years thanks to Steam for Mac. One of the things I've missed is the location cues from enemies that 5.1 gives so I thought I'd get it set up on my Mac. Opened Audio Midi Setup, changed the speakers on my Aureon Firewire to 5.1 and all tested OK with VLC but neither L4D2 or Portal offer me anything other than 2 speakers (L4D2 also has headphones). Do these games not support 5.1 on OSX? Is this something that Valve have on their list? Or have I missed some arcane setting in a config file somewhere?

Symmetric · 07-08-2012, 06:27 AM

Surround sound support in Source Mac is a bit iffy. Perform a search in this forum for more info.

darkstar_kinge · 07-08-2012, 06:45 AM

Thanks for that. I'd done a fair bit of general Googling that had led me here, but now I've registered I've searched here specifically and it appears to be down to Source on OSX not using OpenAL due to it being a bit dodge when Valve first started working on the platform. Apparently, some fixes from 10.6.5 onwards seem to rectify this so I'd like to know if it's something Valve are actually considering looking in to again, or are we poor OSX users stuck in Stereo?

rossip · 07-08-2012, 03:14 PM

I think this thread might help you:

http://forums.steampowered.com/forum...errerid=761304

darkstar_kinge · 07-10-2012, 12:04 AM

Yes, I'd found that thread but the most recent comment on there from Valve is over a year old. I was hoping there iChat have been an improvement since then.

07-08-2012, 03:08 AM	#1
darkstar_kinge Join Date: Jul 2012 Reputation: 0 Posts: 3	5.1 in L4D2, Portal Morning all. Finally getting back in to doing some desktop gaming after being a console gamer for years thanks to Steam for Mac. One of the things I've missed is the location cues from enemies that 5.1 gives so I thought I'd get it set up on my Mac. Opened Audio Midi Setup, changed the speakers on my Aureon Firewire to 5.1 and all tested OK with VLC but neither L4D2 or Portal offer me anything other than 2 speakers (L4D2 also has headphones). Do these games not support 5.1 on OSX? Is this something that Valve have on their list? Or have I missed some arcane setting in a config file somewhere?

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07-08-2012, 06:27 AM	#2
Symmetric Join Date: Feb 2010 Reputation: 578 Posts: 1,639	Surround sound support in Source Mac is a bit iffy. Perform a search in this forum for more info.

07-08-2012, 06:45 AM	#3
darkstar_kinge Join Date: Jul 2012 Reputation: 0 Posts: 3	Thanks for that. I'd done a fair bit of general Googling that had led me here, but now I've registered I've searched here specifically and it appears to be down to Source on OSX not using OpenAL due to it being a bit dodge when Valve first started working on the platform. Apparently, some fixes from 10.6.5 onwards seem to rectify this so I'd like to know if it's something Valve are actually considering looking in to again, or are we poor OSX users stuck in Stereo?

07-08-2012, 03:14 PM	#4
rossip Join Date: May 2010 Reputation: 0 Posts: 224	I think this thread might help you: http://forums.steampowered.com/forum...errerid=761304

07-10-2012, 12:04 AM	#5
darkstar_kinge Join Date: Jul 2012 Reputation: 0 Posts: 3	Yes, I'd found that thread but the most recent comment on there from Valve is over a year old. I was hoping there iChat have been an improvement since then.