IndirectSound emulates audio hardware acceleration on modern Windows operating systems. This enables older games to have 3D positional audio (i.e. surround sound played out of rear and side speakers) like they were intended to when they were originally released.
Download the latest IndirectSound: Version 0.20, released 2019-09-21. All currently-known issues are listed here and previous versions are available to download here.
You should consider using IndirectSound if the following apply:
If you meet the above criteria then IndirectSound can restore 3D positional surround sound that is otherwise missing in some games when played on modern versions of Windows.
game.exe
,
and will usually be in the main directory of the game
dsound.dll
that you extracted from the IndirectSound zip file
to the same directory that the game's executable is in
The readme.txt
file found in the IndirectSound zip file has additional troubleshooting tips.
If you still can't get IndirectSound to work after trying those suggestions
email me and provide as much information as you can
(make sure to include the dsound.log
file that IndirectSound generates as an attachment to your email).
IndirectSound is a "wrapper".
In order to use Microsoft's DirectSound a game must load a "library" named dsound.dll
.
When a game asks Windows to load "dsound.dll
" it expects to use
the official DirectX library created by Microsoft,
but before Windows loads the official version it first looks in the same directory as the running application
to see if a library named dsound.dll
exists there
(although you may need to change the registry in some cases for Windows to do this).
If Windows finds dsound.dll
in the application's directory then it will load that version instead of the official one.
IndirectSound, then, is pretending to be the real DirectSound library,
and the game doesn't know the difference.
When the game asks if audio hardware acceleration is available IndirectSound claims that it is (even though it really isn't) and then emulates the behavior of audio hardware. This allows you to experience 3D positional audio in older games the way that it was intended to be heard.
I do my best to make IndirectSound reliable and safe, and I use it myself on my main gaming machine. With that being said, it is released "as is": There is no warranty and I am not liable for any damage it may cause, unintentional or otherwise. Please see the license here.
The method that IndirectSound uses to pretend to be an official library
is also used by programs that allow people to cheat in games
as well as by malicious software that monitors user activity on compromised computers.
If you were to play a game with internet connectivity
it is not impossible that the fake dsound.dll
could be detected
and the assumption made that you were using it to cheat or pose a risk to other players.
I believe that this hypothetical situation will never happen:
Creative ALchemy uses the same technique that IndirectSound does
(placing a fake dsound.dll
in the game's directory; see the "Location" section in
this document)
and it is a well-known product that is widely used.
I use IndirectSound with my personal Steam account
and have not experienced any problems.
Again, though, I emphasize that IndirectSound is offered as is,
and that by using it you accept any and all associated risks.
IndirectSound uses the Mhook API hooking library to ensure that its own COM interfaces are used instead of what the Windows registry specifies. The license to use it can be found here.
IndirectSound uses the Lua scripting language to easily configure settings. The license to use it can be found here.
Custom-built speakers by Salk Sound.