Setting up your Sound Blaster X-Fi

Battlefield 2142™ is the latest edition in the incredible "Battlefield" series of multi-player combat games by DICE and EA. The Battlefield series has long been known for technical excellence and innovation, and the audio component has always been particularly strong. Battlefield 2142 will certainly not disappoint audio-enthusiasts. Creative has teamed up with DICE and EA to ensure that the audio experience is something special, particularly when the game is played on Creative's Sound Blaster X-Fi range of high-end gaming sound cards.

The following steps will guide you on how to configure your Sound Blaster X-Fi to maximize your Batllefield 2142 audio experience.

1. Mode Switcher - Make sure you select Game Mode, otherwise the EAX gaming engine will not be available.

2. Speakers setting - Select Headphones
We highly recommend you try the game with headphones. Using X-Fi's CMSS^®-3D, Battlefield 2142 will sound as good over headphones as it does on a 7.1 speaker system!

3. CMSS-3D Headphone - Select the checkbox for "Enable CMSS-3DHeadphone"

4. 24-bit Crystalizer - Select the checkbox for "Enable 24-bit Crystalizer"
Select the X-Fi Crystalizer level at about 60% and then adjust to taste. The X-Fi Crystalizer will enhance the dynamics of the Battlefield 2142 audio for a richer, punchier sound.

5. Launch Battlefield 2142

Configuring Battlefield 2142 for use with Sound Blaster X-Fi

To access the audio settings in Battlefield 2142, choose the Options menu and then select the Audio tab. The user is given the opportunity to select the appropriate audio renderer and the level of sound quality. For the optimum experience on a Sound Blaster X-Fi system, use the "Creative X-Fi" renderer and select "Ultra High" audio quality. Select "Yes" in the "Enable EAX" section for advanced environmental audio features.

Battlefield 2142's X-Fi audio renderer is only available when the user's system contains a Sound Blaster X-Fi sound card set to Game mode. If you have a Sound Blaster X-Fi installed but the X-Fi renderer setting is not available, there are a couple of things to check.

- Make sure you are using the latest Sound Blaster driver (visit www.soundblaster.com/support for the latest version).
- Make sure your Sound Blaster X-Fi card is in Game mode (Note: The Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Audio, which is intended for entertainment and media systems, does not feature the Game Mode).

The table below summarizes the difference between the sound quality settings in Battlefield 2142:

Recommended Audio Scenes

A good area for listening to the 3D audio effects and EAX^® Environmental Filtering is onboard the Titan mother ship in Titan mode. Try listening to a player firing from behind one of the glass windows for example, to hear some cool occlusion effects. Occlusion models the behavior of the sound waves when there is an obstruction between you and the sound source. In this case the glass window will cause the weapon's fire to sound muffled.

In a real life scenario, any architectural structure such as stacks of crates, doors or walls, will all affect how you as a listener perceive the sounds around you. Environmental Filtering recreates these audio effects in Battlefield 2142 making for an extremely lifelike gaming experience.