Creative Game Port Windows 10
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- How to Get Creative Sound Blaster Aromatic Live Driver in Suitable Windows 10. Xbox 360 Wireless Receiver Driver Windows 10. Wavetable Adapter for Mpu-401 Midi Peevish Even Joystick Game Port. Welcome to Creative Worldwide Support. This download is a driver providing Microsoft® Windows. For certain DirectSound®3D games in Microsoft® Windows® 7.
- Download the latest driver for Creative Game Port, fix the missing driver with Creative Game Port. Creative Game Port is a windows driver.
Supports any model of the following Sound Blaster cards (based on Emu10kx DSP):
- Audigy
- Audigy 2
- Audigy 2 ZS
- Audigy 4
- Audigy 5/RX
For Audigy SE/LS/Value and Live! 24-bit cards, click here for a compatible version.
Operating systems supported:
- 32-bit and 64-bit editions of Windows 10 / 8.1 / 8 / 7 SP1 / Vista SP2 / XP SP3
Included in the pack:
- Audigy series driver 3.01.0046 (Windows Vista or later) (**)
- Audigy series driver 2.09.0016 (Windows XP)
- ALchemy 1.45.12
- Audio Console 1.41.02
- DDL License Activation 1.00.04 (*)
- Dolby Digital Live Pack 3.03.08 (*)
- EAX Console 3.00.61 (Windows Vista or later)
- EAX Console 3.00.59 (Windows XP only)
- Feature Mode Selection Utility 2.10.07
- Graphic Equalizer 2.10.02
- MediaSource DVD-Audio Player 2.00.78 (***)
- On Screen Display 2.20.03 (Windows XP only)
- Remote Control System 5.00.35
- SB Audigy Control Panel 1.00.17
- SoundFont Bank Manager 3.21.02
- Speaker Calibrator 1.60.14 (Windows XP only)
- Speaker Settings 2.10.05 (Windows Vista or later)
- Speaker Settings 2.10.04 (Windows XP only)
- Surround Mixer 4.00.76 (Windows XP only)
- THX Setup Console 2.20.08 (Windows XP only)
(*) Purchase and activation required, more info at http://buy.soundblaster.com.
(**) - For Audigy 5/RX (SB1550) and Audigy 4 Series II (SB0612) this driver also supports Windows XP.
(***) - Requires Audigy 2, Audigy 2 ZS ou Audigy 4
Fixes and improvements:
- 6.2: Updated driver to latest version.
- 6.2: Updated shared components.
- 6.1: Unless Creative releases a driver update, this is the final version. I'll release an updated Installation Disc, before you ask.
- 6.1: Fixed EAX Console crash on Windows 8 or later. Speaker Settings and Graphic Equalizer still crash on exit and couldn't fix them, unfortunately.
- 6.1: Fixed CMSS2 not available in Audio Console / Audigy Control Panel with Audigy 5/RX.
- 6.1: Fixed RCLDMWND: DLLML.exe application error.
- 6.1: Updated shared components.
- 6.0: Based on official Audigy 5/RX Windows 10 driver
- 6.0: Fixed Graphic Equalizer sometimes does not load.
- 6.0: Added support for EEPROM corrupted Audigy '1' cards. Feedback is appreciated.
- 6.0: Updated KillDrvX to support changes in Windows 10, now warns if Audigy driver service is still running.
- Fixed Audigy 5/RX support.
- Readded 'EndPoint Utility' to enable the use of other digital devices to output Dolby Digital Live encoded audio.
- Fixed driver installation issues on Windows 10.
- Fixed Audigy '1' or Audigy 2 mute issue.
- Audigy RX is now fully supported.
- EAX Console now works on Windows Vista or later.
- Karaoke effects now work properly on Windows Vista or later, just use EAX Console to enable them. Effects will only be applied to the Microphone input.
- Sound Blaster Audigy Control Panel now available for all cards, but it lacks many settings available on Audio Console, so use the later.
- Added instructions on how to install the Gameport.
- Fixed missing speaker settings strings on Windows XP when DDL is enabled.
- Improved driver installation, less confirmation prompts.
- Improved setup procedure and scripts.
- Removed Encode switcher for now, only DDL is available.
- Installation now customizable, select what you want to install.
- New integrated Post Driver Install Helper tweaks the driver without tampering certificate.
- CMSS2 is now available.
- OpenAL 64-bit support.
- Dolby Digital Live now works on Windows 8.1 (update 1). Creative Audio Service was not being installed on that OS.
- Special FX, Advanced EQ, Studio and Custom presets now available on Windows Vista or later.
- Audio Console does not crash anymore on non-English localized installs. Localized resources for Online Karaoke tab were missing; added mostly localized Korean and Chinese (Traditional) resources.
- Online Karaoke page is available for all Audigy cards on Windows Vista or later; this is NOT a new feature, but an easier way to configure the Microphone.
- EAX Settings for Windows Vista or later includes EAX Studio, a fancy version of EAX Control Panel, no changes in functionality, except the Test button now works.
- Added fully localized Korean and Chinese (Traditional) resources for EAX Studio, which were missing.
Undocumentend fixes by Creative (not listed in the release notes):
- Headphone mode now sticks and does not revert automatically to Speakers mode on Windows Vista or later.
- Special FX, Advanced EQ and Studio presets were not working on Windows Vista or later.
IMPORTANT: Driver uninstall on Windows Vista or later
The included driver for Windows Vista or later has a bug that causes a stop (blue screen) error when unloaded by disabling the Audigy or uninstalling the driver.
To workaround this issue, run the KillDrv.exe utility included and restart when asked to do so. Proceed normally and uninstall all the software or only the driver.
If you have previously installed the Audigy 5/RX driver, you MUST run this utility.
As the KillDrvX verify the driver version installed, running it won't do any harm, even if the driver version is not affected.
HOW TO INSTALL THE GAMEPORT DRIVER
You can find a GameportReadMe.htm file in the folder where you unpacked the Support Pack.
Just follow the steps shown in the screenshots.
WINDOWS 8 OR LATER DOES NOT SAVE SETTINGS
Gameport To Usb Windows 10
Configure all settings and shutdown, hibernate or put your computer to sleep so that your settings will be saved.
This does not work if you disable Fast startup permanently or temporarily (by holding the Shift key while shutting down) or if you disable Hybrid Sleep.
OpenAL 2D benchmark in RightMark 3DSound crashes your system
The included driver for Windows Vista or later has a bug that crashes your system if you run the OpenAL 2D benchmark using 63 buffers.
No problem With 62 or fewer buffers.
OpenAL 3D and OpenAL 3D + EAX benchmarks are not affected.
Details: DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL (0x000000D1) - ctoss2k.sys
There is no DirectSound hardware acceleration on Windows XP 64-bit (x64) with 4GB RAM or more
The Audigy driver does not support 64-bit addressing, disabling the DirectSound hardware acceleration and causing multichannel sound to be played only in the stereo channels (front left/right).
Workarounds:
- install the 32-bit (x86) version of Windows XP.
- limit to less than 4GB the amount of RAM available to Windows.
- enable the 'Memory Hole' setting in the BIOS Setup, if your motherboard supports it.
- install and use Creative ALchemy to convert the DirectSound API calls into OpenAL, which is not affected by this issue.
Karaoke effects make the audio play in mono
You can avoid this issue by using EAX Console to enable Karaoke effects. Audio Console is affected by the issue.
Optionally, follow the steps below.
Open EAX Settings, select a Karaoke effect, then click the Edit button.
Click on the Source (Wave) tab and change the Original sound to 100% and Pitch Shift to 0%. Click the Save environment button.
Repeat the steps for all Karaoke effects.
These changes will be valid only for the current speaker configuration. If desired, repeat the same process for each speaker configuration.
Using other devices to output the DDL encoded audio
Only for Windows Vista or later, you can use any 'SPDIF/HDMI Out' from HD Audio, PCI or USB device to output 5.1 encoded audio.
To expose all SPDIF/HDMI Out devices to Audio Console, run the EndPtUtl.exe in the Audio Console installation folder.
- 32-bit edition of Windows XP or later
- any Audigy 2, Audigy 2 ZS or Audigy 4 card
Built-in Decoder on Windows Vista or later
To use the built-in decoder, make sure it is enabled in Audio Console.
Select 'SPDIF Out (Creative SB Audigy (WDM))' as the output device of your player and then configure the AC3/DTS filter to send the stream through SPDIF.
When you restart your computer, the Tone settings (Bass and Treble) are not applied.
Just readjust one of the controls one time per boot.
Equalizer and EAX effects are not available when using OpenAL or ALchemy
Only Tone (Bass and Treble) and CMSS 3D (CMSS, CMSS2 and Stereo Surround) features are available.
There is no sound in games with OpenAL support
Disable Advanced EQ and Special FX by selecting 'No effect' before running the game or program.
Equalizer settings are not applied after using OpenAL or ALchemy
After you run a game with OpenAL support or using Creative ALchemy, the Equalizer settings are applied.
Just run Equalizer and the saved setting is loaded automatically.
Tone settings are lost when speaker configuration is changed
Bass and treble settings reset to their default values when speaker configuration is changed.
Download:
Filename: Audigy_SupportPack_6_2.exe
File size: 119 MB
CRC32 hash: BBFFE301
SHA-1 hash: 804AE233F8A10D9D14A9B090A2A5C15EC1A04A24
Mirrors: Google Drive
All files are property of Creative Technology Ltd, unless otherwise stated.
Type | Joystick input port | ||
---|---|---|---|
Production history | |||
Designer | IBM | ||
Superseded by | USB | ||
General specifications | |||
Hot pluggable | Yes | ||
External | Yes | ||
Pins | 15 | ||
Connector | DA-15 | ||
Pin out | |||
Pin 1 | +5V | +5 V DC | |
Pin 2 | B1 | Button 1 | |
Pin 3 | X1 | X-axis for joystick 1 (0–100 kΩ) | |
Pin 4 | GND | Ground for B1 | |
Pin 5 | GND | Ground for B2 | |
Pin 6 | Y1 | Y-axis for joystick 1 (0–100 kΩ) | |
Pin 7 | B2 | Button 2 | |
Pin 8 | +5V | +5 V DC | |
Pin 9 | +5V | +5 | |
Pin 10 | B3 | Button 3 (B1 for joystick 2) | |
Pin 11 | X2 | X-axis for joystick 2 (0–100 kΩ) | |
Pin 12 | GND | Ground for buttons 3 and 4 (or MIDI out) | |
Pin 13 | Y2 | Y-axis for joystick 2 (0–100 kΩ) | |
Pin 14 | B4 | Button 4 (B2 for joystick 2) | |
Pin 15 | +5V | +5 V DC (or MIDI in, sometimes unconnected) |
The game port, originally introduced on the Game Control Adapter, is a device port that was found on IBM PC compatible and other computer systems throughout the 1980s and 1990s. It was the traditional connector for joystick input, and occasionally MIDI devices, until phased out by USB in the late 1990s.
Originally located on a dedicated expansion card, the game port was later integrated with PC sound cards, and still later on the PC's motherboard. During the transition to USB, many input devices used the game port and a USB adaptor dongle was included for systems without a game port.
History[edit]
The game port first appeared during the initial launch of the original IBM PC in 1981, in the form of an optional US$55 expansion card known as the Game Control Adapter.[1][2] The design allowed for four analog axes and four buttons on one port, allowing two joysticks or four paddles to be connected via a special 'Y-splitter' cable.[3]
At the time there was no industry standard for controller ports, although the closest was the Atari joystick port. Omnisphere patch library update 2. 3. 0c. This was originally introduced in 1977 on the Atari 2600, and by 1981, was used on both Atari gear and the Commodore VIC-20. But it could not be considered truly widespread until around 1983, when it appeared on the Commodore 64 and several other platforms. In contrast with the IBM design, the Atari port was primarily designed for digital inputs; its only analog connections were intended for paddles.[4] The Apple II,[5]BBC Micro,[6]Tandy Color Computer,[7] and other popular 8-bit machines all used different, incompatible, joysticks and ports. In most respects, the IBM design was similar or more advanced than existing designs.
Creative Game Port Windows 10
Originally available only as add-on that took up an entire slot,[1] game ports remained relatively rare in the early days of the IBM PC, and most games used the keyboard as an input. IBM did not release a joystick of its own for the PC, which did not help. The most common device available was the Kraft joystick, originally developed for the Apple II but easily adapted to the IBM with the addition of another button on the back of the case. When IBM finally did release a joystick, for the IBM PCjr, it was a version of the Kraft stick. However, it connected to the computer using two incompatible 7-pin connectors, which were mechanically connected together as part of a larger multi-pin connector on the back of the machine.[8] This eliminated the need for the Y-adaptor.[9] Adaptors for Atari-style 'digital' sticks were also common during this era.[10]
The game port became somewhat more common in the mid-1980s, as improving electronic density began to produce expansion cards with ever-increasing functionality. By 1983, it was common to see cards combining memory, game ports, serial and parallel ports and a realtime clock on a single expansion card.[11] The era of combo expansion cards largely came to an end by the late 1980s, as many of the separate functions normally provided on plug-in boards became common features of the motherboard itself. Game ports were not always part of this supported set of ports.
However, the game port was given a major boost in usage in 1989, with the introduction of the first Sound Blaster. As sound cards were primarily used with computer games, Creative Labs took the opportunity to include a game port on the card, producing an all-in-one gaming solution. At the same time, they re-purposed two otherwise redundant pins on the port, 12 and 15, to produce a serial bus with enough performance to drive an external MIDI port adaptor. Previous MIDI systems like the MPU-401 used their own separate expansion cards and a complex external adaptor, whereas the Sound Blaster only required an inexpensive adaptor to produce the same result.[12] By the end of the year the Sound Blaster was the best selling expansion card on the PC, and the game port was receiving widespread software support.
With the exception of laptops—for which companies released joystick adapters for parallel or serial ports, which needed custom software drivers[13]—through the early 1990s, the game port was universally supported on sound cards,[9] and increasingly became built-in features as motherboards added sound support of their own. This remained true through the second half of the 1990s, by which time integrated sound support had displaced the third-party sound card to a large degree. By the early 2000s, such support was so widespread that newer sound cards began to dispense with the game port as it was certain the machine they would be used in already had such support, including MIDI. Every Sound Blaster card from the first model up to August 2001 included a game port. In 2001 the Sound Blaster Audigy moved the game port to a second expansion slot, which connected to a header on the card. [14]
The introduction of the first USB standard in 1996, was aimed squarely at the sort of roles provided by the game port, but initially had little market impact. The introduction of the iMac, which was based almost entirely on USB expansion, began a rapid expansion of USB in the market.[15] This led both to new gaming devices using USB, as well as the profusion of adaptors. For instance, the 1997 Microsoft Precision Pro joystick was re-introduced in a version that used a game port connector, but also included a USB adaptor in the box.[16] The rapid takeover of USB meant that this was superfluous when the Precision Pro 2 was released the next year in 1998. By 2000, game ports were purely for backward compatibility with now outdated devices.
Microsoft Windows discontinued support for the game port with Windows Vista,[17] though USB converters can serve as a workaround.
Hardware[edit]
The game port's DA-15 connector includes inputs for a total of four analog channels and four buttons. These were almost always implemented as two joysticks with two buttons each, but it is also possible to support four paddle controllers each with one button using the same inputs. The port includes redundant pins, including a total of four +5 V supplies, and separate grounds for most of the buttons. In most similar game ports, like those on the Atari, a single +5 V and ground is used for all the channels.[18]
The game port was originally mounted on a dedicated ISA card. Since the early 1990s, when the game port moved from dedicated expansion cards to PC I/O or sound cards, these connectors have usually doubled as connectors for MIDI instruments; two of the redundant +5 V and GND pins of the original standard were rededicated to MIDI input and output to make this possible. To use a game port with MIDI instruments a cable is required with a male and a female DA-15 and two male 5-pin DIN connectors. The drivers and hardware for the game port midi capabilities are based around the Roland MPU-401 MIDI interface (in UART mode only).[19]
The analog channels are read by sending voltage into the line, through a potentiometer in the controller, in this case 100,000 ohm, and then into a capacitor. The value is read by timing how long it took for the voltage in the capacitor to cross a certain threshold. The rate varied depending on the resistance, and thus physical position, of the potentiometer. In the Atari port, which had similar analog channels, there is a convenient timer available in the form of the video clock circuitry. In the PC there is no similar clock because video functionality is normally provided on an expansion card. Instead, these timers are provided by a separate chip that combined the voltage readers and timers. When the trigger voltage is reached, the resulting value is copied into a register where it could be read out at any time. The value was being constantly updated by the hardware, but it is up to the software application to poll the value often enough for smooth movement.[18]
Software[edit]
Initially there was no standardized software for running the joysticks; applications would poll the known ports associated with the sticks as part of their game loop. This did, however, leave the implementation of a lot of housekeeping tasks to every application that used them, such as looking for and enumerating the active devices, and calibrating them. This changed in Windows 95, which introduced standardized Windows registry entries to hold these values and make it easier for applications to find these devices. DirectX further expanded the options through DirectInput with the 'joystick mini-driver' with a number of new capabilities. Among these were support for up to six analog axes, a point-of-view hat, and up to 64 buttons. It also supported up to 16 such devices, which could be connected using any interface, not just the game port.[20]
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ^ abLemmons, Phil (October 1981). 'The IBM Personal Computer / First Impressions'. BYTE. p. 36. Retrieved 19 October 2013.
- ^Calvert, J. B. (18 August 2002). 'The Game Control Adapter'. A Review of Electronics.
- ^'ABM advertisement'. PC Mag: 273. July 1983.
- ^Atari Hardware Manual(PDF). Atari. 1982. pp. III.19–III.32.
- ^'Apple II Pinouts'. Usenet newsgroup Apple II FAQs. 21 August 1998.
- ^Connecting Joysticks To The BBC Micro(PDF) (Technical report). Acorn. 1992.
- ^Hodgson, Ian (May 1983). 'A joystick for the color computer'. Creative Computing. Vol. 9 no. 5. Retrieved 2019-12-16.
- ^PC jr. Technical Reference(PDF). 1983. p. 2.12.
- ^ ab'DOS Games Joysticks & Other Gaming Device Support'. Nerdy Pleasures. 10 February 2012.
- ^'Joystick PC Gameport Connector Pinout'. AllPinouts.
- ^'Super 12 Pak Multi-Function'. PC Mag: 342. 17 April 1984.
- ^Petzold, Charles (28 April 1992). 'Environments'. PC Mag: 403.
- ^'Laptops Take Flight'. Computer Gaming World. November 1993. pp. 11–12. Retrieved 28 March 2016.
- ^https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sound_Blaster_Audigy
- ^Edwards, Benj (15 August 2008). 'Eight ways the iMac changed computing'. Macworld.
- ^Grendel. '3DP-Vert, a USB adapter for the Microsoft SideWinder 3D Pro, Precision Pro and Force Feedback Pro'. Retrieved 2015-11-11.
- ^Rivera, Andre (11 September 2006). 'Hardware Compatibility and Drivers 5600'. Archived from the original on 2008-12-31.
Q: Are MIDI/game ports supported under Vista? A: We've removed support for these types of devices, in favor of USB connected devices.
- ^ ab'PC Gameport (Joystick) pinout'. pinouts.ru.
- ^'Official design for a game port-MIDI adapter'. MIDI Association.
- ^'Joystick Support'. Microsoft Hardware Dev Center.
External links[edit]
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