Surround sound problem, 5.1 does not work properly Options

[Mnemonic]

I recently upgraded my soundsystem to a 5.1 speaker-set (Logitech G51).
But I noticed that I don't have a real 5.1 sound at ArmA (using the latest patch 1.15b). The game uses all speakers, but the rear speakers play the same sounds as the front speakers, no matter if the source of the sound is in front of me or behind me.
I'm using the on-board soundchip of my mainboard (ASUS M2N32sli deluxe with an AMD Athlon 64 X2), which might not be the best solution, but it does support 5.1, works w/o problems at older games (e.g. BF2) and newer games likewise (e.g. Left4Dead) with "real" 3D sound.

I already updated all drivers, updated my openAL, checked the system settings etc.
When I use the "command line extension"
-dsound
for the shortcut, I do have "real" surround sound (shots/explosions fired behind me only come from the rear speakers), but it causes a lot of fragments/stuttering/radio command gibberish and thus is no good solution.
Using
-openal
does not help either; sounds come from all speakers again.
I already tried deactivating EAX / hardware acceleration from the ArmA sound options, but of course it didn't help either.

Could anyone help me please? I think, working 3D sound is rather important at a game like ArmA.

(I'm using Windows XP btw)

edit:// Or did anyone have a similar problem and was able to solve it (by one of the points I mentioned above or by another way)?

This post has been edited by Mnemonic: Mar 17 2009, 12:46

[Cold0ne]

Such a shame no one knows about this issue and no one replied, because I have the same issue in ALL games which forces you to use OpenAL. Not many games force u to use it, but a lot of devs are lately just being lazy and instead of coding a proper EAX using sound system, they just turn to OpenAL which handles it all for them. I have the exact same issue as you do in Call of Duty 5 as well, where you hear the gunshots and such in the rear speakers which feels like it should be happening in the front speakers (also your footsteps)... or at least it would make more sense if the gunshots/footsteps occurred in both the rear AND front speakers , since these sounds are basically coming from exactly where your position is relatively to the speakers, so you would either hear them from all around you or only the front speakers. it makes no sense to have them coming only from the back so it certainly is an error.

Another "error" of OpenAL is it uses its entirely own volume setting, meaning you cant change any windows volume (primary mix, or even Wave audio) to change the volume of the game. you HAVE to adjust it on your speakers physically, but for me, since I have my PC hooked up to a HDTV and my sound it hooked up to the home theater 5.1 system, i have to reach for the remote and adjust the whole system's sound, offsetting the volume im used to on my PC which works good for allo ther apps and games where i can just adjust the windows volume. Alternately you can change the volume settings inside the game itself. Anyway very annoying issues with OpenAL, a truly terrible cheap alternative to real EAX sound in games, and I wish less games used it. But it seems the trend is more and more games are using it!

I wonder if anyone knows how to fix this issue (about the rear speakers playing the front speakers sounds), its a very specific issue and googling it turns up really no results, because of the vague terms involved. I hate google sometimes, its utterly useless if you dont have very specific key words to search for in the case of this issue there are no definite terms so I dont find anything. the only thing i found relating to this exact issue is this very forum post here! So PLEASE someone read this and i HOPE to GOD someone might know how to fix this issue!! i have really been hating any OpenAL games because of it! games which could be otherwise very enjoyable but im a Obsessive Compulsive so these issues bother me beyond the point allowing me to enjoy a game because of it :/