Realtek driver mod and Creative X-FI with realtek chip

NOTE: this is not my discovery/creation and the complete credit goes to the original author: Gamespirit who can be reached via his Spanish blog Gamespirit

Introduction:

This tutorial describes how to unlock the onboard Realtek ALC chip's locked features and to use Creative X-FI MB software without a creative soundcard, with onboard Realtek audio chip.
These features include Dolby Advanced Audio v2, SRS Premium, Sonic Focus, DTS, THX Pro Studio, etc. Additionally, fetures such as Crystalizer, EAX Effects, X-Fi CMSS 3D, SVM, etc can me made available via Creative's X-Fi MD 2 software.
Please note that these features will depend on which Realtek chip you have onboard (steps on how to check this is provided below). On my ALC 892, I got SRS Premium, Dolby Advanced v2, DTS for playback and Andrea microphone enhancement for recording.

System Requirements:

Supported OS: Windows 7 and 8 (both 32 and 64 bit versions are supported)

Supported Chips (as mentioned at the source): ALC880, ALC882, ALC883, ALC885, ALC887, ALC888, ALC889, ALC892, ALC861VC, ALC861VD, ALC660, ALC662, ALC663, ALC665, ALC680, ALC260, ALC262, ALC267, ALC268, ALC270, ALC272, ALC273, ALC670, ALC275, ALC233, ALC284, ALC286, ALC292, ALC383, ALC668, ALC900

NOTE: the features unlocked will purely depend on the chip you have.

How to check onboard chip version:

To check which Realtek chip you have onboard, follow these steps:

1. Go to Control Panel and open 'Realtek HD Audio Manager'.
2. In Realtek HD Audio Manager, click the 'i' button at the bottom-right corner.
3. In the windows that opens, check the text written with 'Audio Codec' (eg. ALC892, 896), this is your onboard Realtek chip version. Only ALC chips are supported by this mod.

Stuff to download:

> Modded realtek drivers.
> Creative X-FI MBII software

link: [strike]*skydrive.live.com/?cid=6d9572c7052312c2#cid=6D9572C7052312C2&id=6D9572C7052312C2!218[/strike]

updated link: [url]*www.dropbox.com/sh/x8xywuqqtzz2eok/AABxkPdkEM7VsLSPtU349ZIoa?dl=0
[/URL]
download the latest versions as per your OS.

Steps to install modded drivers:

Code:

[B]Windows 8 users need to disable "driver signature enforcement". Steps to do the same are below:[/B]

1. Open charms bar by pressing "Win + c".
2. Select Settings > Change PC Settings > General.
3. Click on "Restart now".
4. Select Troubleshooting > Advanced > Startup Settings > Restart.
5. Press 7 or F7 when prompted to disable Driver Signature Enforcement.

1. Extract the downloaded driver file.
2. Run Setup.exe from the extracted location.
3. The installer will ask to uninstall current audio drivers, allow it to do so. Reboot when prompted.
4. After reboot, the modded driver installation will continue. Allow it to do so.
5. If you get any warning about lack of digital signature by driver or something related to identity not verified, then select "Install anyways" to allow the installer to install modded drivers.
6. Reboot when prompted.
7. You are done.

NOTE: the features unlocked will purely depend on the chip you have.

Steps to use Creative X-FI MB II software:

1. Extract the downloaded creative software file.
2. Run "setup.exe" from the extracted location.
3. COmplete the installation. DO NOT RUN THE SOFTWARE NOW. Ignore any warnings about audio chip not supported.
4. Boot into Safe Mode.
5. Extract "Activator.7z" and run the activation file. this will allow to run Creative X-FI software on onboard Realtek chip.
6. reebo normally.
7. Enjoy.

Note: please make sure you use only 48 KHz as the default sound format, there may be playback problems above 48 KHz.

SRS Effect can be found in Realtek control panel. Other effects like SonicFocus, Dolby, DTS etc can be found under specific playback device settings. Steps to reach there are below:

1. Right click on volume icon in taskbar.
2. Click on "Playback Devices".
3. Double-click on the playback device you use, eg. speaker , headphones or digital audio.

here you fill find all the unlocked effects.

Any query, suggestion, comment is welcomed

Great tutorial .. thanks to you for sharing and Gamespirit for creating this masterpiece .. going to try it out today.

See if it works.. I got a Realtek ALC887.. will try tomorrow..
THANKS for the tutorial mate

Is there any risk involved ?

Thanks Harshil for sharing this with us.
I have successfully used them.Though had some issues because I also had Razer Sorround enabled so it made a mess.And I also had manufacturer's default "Dolby Home Theater" add-ons.
You have to run the .bat file in safe mode as an administrator in order to activate it.

It's working good.The THX Labs is not working for my audio chip , but most of other stuffs work fine.
The audio quality improves significantly if you do not have any 3rd party add-on feature like "beats-audio" or "Dolby home-theater."

ASUS provides lower end audio chipsets like the ALC887 on most of it's boards.. I hope it works on it

Rishi. said:
Thanks Harshil for sharing this with us.
I have successfully used them.Though had some issues because I also had Razer Sorround enabled so it made a mess.And I also had manufacturer's default "Dolby Home Theater" add-ons.
You have to run the .bat file in safe mode as an administrator in order to activate it.

It's working good.The THX Labs is not working for my audio chip , but most of other stuffs work fine.
The audio quality improves significantly if you do not have any 3rd party add-on feature like "beats-audio" or "Dolby home-theater."

Which chipset do you have ?

ALC271x.

Are these the same s/w's that was discussed in "Useful freewares" thread?

I enabled SRS and indeed it was different..
But I cant tell whether it was an improvement.. I cant tell guys, my ears suck

Note: please make sure you use only 48 KHz as the default sound format, there may be playback problems above 48 KHz.

Which one ? 24bit studio quality 48 KhZ or 16 Bit DVD quality 48 KHZ ?

Nerevarine said:
I enabled SRS and indeed it was different..
But I cant tell whether it was an improvement.. I cant tell guys, my ears suck

Which one ? 24bit studio quality 48 KhZ or 16 Bit DVD quality 48 KHZ ?

As long as its 48 KHz, it does not matter. BTW I got only 24 bit studio quality in ALC892.

Rishi. said:
Thanks Harshil for sharing this with us.
I have successfully used them.Though had some issues because I also had Razer Sorround enabled so it made a mess.And I also had manufacturer's default "Dolby Home Theater" add-ons.
You have to run the .bat file in safe mode as an administrator in order to activate it.

It's working good.The THX Labs is not working for my audio chip , but most of other stuffs work fine.
The audio quality improves significantly if you do not have any 3rd party add-on feature like "beats-audio" or "Dolby home-theater."

That should not be a problem. Even I have the modded driver as well as Razer Surround installed. razer Surround creates a separate virtual audio device and when it is activated, the Realtek devices automatically get disabled.

Nerevarine said:
See if it works.. I got a Realtek ALC887.. will try tomorrow..
THANKS for the tutorial mate

Is there any risk involved ?

It may not work. that's the only risk involved. If that happens, reinstall the original realtek audio drivers and you are back with the original.

Lastly, is there any goddamn way to improve download speed from skydrive -_-.. How do i download using IDM
Force downloading isnt working :/

Nevermind, Internet Explorer did what chrome could not

W

does this modded driver work on 32bit windows 7 as file name contains 64bit?

there's a different version for 32 bit.. download Win7_Win8_R271
btw i went back to the original realtek drivers.. These modded drivers sounded terrible on my headphones..
The so called SRS, dolby etc is clearly not meant for a weak chipset like ALC887

Nerevarine said:
there's a different version for 32 bit.. download Win7_Win8_R271
btw i went back to the original realtek drivers.. These modded drivers sounded terrible on my headphones..
The so called SRS, dolby etc is clearly not meant for a weak chipset like ALC887

Try disabling SRS.

I tried every possible combination.. it sounds nothing like the Virtual Surround Option in original Realtek Control Panel Drivers

does it work with ALC3202 on my laptop

I'm not sure. You can try it (just a 50 MB zip).

I'm not sure. You can try it (just a 50 MB zip).

I've downloaded the GamerSpirit Win7_Win8_R271b X64 - is not that's a moded driver ? I though it's the latest moded driver or it's just the stock driver release from Realtek and we mst use the 2.67 moded driver only ?

M

Nerevarine said:
I tried every possible combination.. it sounds nothing like the Virtual Surround Option in original Realtek Control Panel Drivers

Disable al other effects from realtek driver.

topgear said:
I've downloaded the GamerSpirit Win7_Win8_R271b X64 - is not that's a moded driver ? I though it's the latest moded driver or it's just the stock driver release from Realtek and we mst use the 2.67 moded driver only ?

I originally downloaded "64bit_Vista_Win7_Win8_R270_modded.zip" which worked perfectly. Now there's "GAMESPIRIT Win7_Win8_R271 X64 RTM 2013.rar" available which didn't work in my case. try with 'GAMESPIRIT 2.70 X64 WIN 7-8 RTM".

very nice discovery @harshil... i wonder if it will work on my HP G6 2303TX lappy.

harshilsharma63 said:
I originally downloaded "64bit_Vista_Win7_Win8_R270_modded.zip" which worked perfectly. Now there's "GAMESPIRIT Win7_Win8_R271 X64 RTM 2013.rar" available which didn't work in my case. try with 'GAMESPIRIT 2.70 X64 WIN 7-8 RTM".

thanks for the info and I'll try with 2.70 then.

hardware can only do what its designed to do.
if it does not have x-Fi technology then the driver is only making a fool out of you

X fi is not a technology, its just a lineup of creative's sound cards. Here, the driver is doing nothing related to x fi. Its just unlocking the features of onboard realtek chip which are by default locked by the manufacturer.

harshilsharma63 said:
X fi is not a technology, its just a lineup of creative's sound cards. Here, the driver is doing nothing related to x fi. Its just unlocking the features of onboard realtek chip which are by default locked by the manufacturer.

still useless IMO

S

Thanks buddy for share us this nice useful tips.

saumen said:
Thanks buddy for share us this nice useful tips.

You're welcome

harshilsharma63 said:
I originally downloaded "64bit_Vista_Win7_Win8_R270_modded.zip" which worked perfectly. Now there's "GAMESPIRIT Win7_Win8_R271 X64 RTM 2013.rar" available which didn't work in my case. try with 'GAMESPIRIT 2.70 X64 WIN 7-8 RTM".

am I missing something or there's no "64bit_Vista_Win7_Win8_R270_modded.zip" driver to download :

View attachment 11865

anyway, I'll try with GAMESPIRIT 2.70 X64 WIN 7-8 RTM.

Excellent share. I removed my xifi music soundcard few months back due to limited space and to give some breath for the graphics card. Always wondered I'd get back the quality of creative but now after using these modded drivers and some tweaking I guess I'm closer enough.

Btw, do the creative MB softwares work or we just left with choosing the options from device properties? Because I don't see Creative console launcher working and always getting terminated with an error " No compatible audio device found" or similar.

Installed GAMESPIRIT Win7_Win8_R271b X64.rar and Creative X-FI MB 2012 Ultimo -Gamespirit.rar as described in my HTPC rig, works like a charm. In my case, it enables SRS, Sonic Focus, Dolby & DTS in my Realtek chip (ALC889A). XFi effects are working too, though I didn't like them. Audio output over HDMI out of the graphics card is untouched. Not sure if that is because I haven't uninstalled anything.

Thanks OP for the heads up, will test in my main rig too.

Random bump!

G

Are there any new modded version of Realtek driver support and Creative X-FI MBIII software updates?

P.S

How is the quality of the modded Realtek driver and creative X-FI sound compared to the original X-FI card itself? Hope someone can compare and verify the sound quality.

Please up date the download links.. i wanna try it out.

A

Goldenboy said:
Are there any new modded version of Realtek driver support and Creative X-FI MBIII software updates?

P.S

How is the quality of the modded Realtek driver and creative X-FI sound compared to the original X-FI card itself? Hope someone can compare and verify the sound quality.

Found here ...
Realtek HDA 7312 + SBX Package

Guide is Indonesian text :-?

J

Please anybody update this thread as the links specified below/above are not working any longer.

johnjoyjoe1979 said:
Please anybody update this thread as the links specified below/above are not working any longer.

I'll re-upload the files on Thursday. BTW a copy of the file exists on Mega IIRC.

J

harshilsharma63 said:
I'll re-upload the files on Thursday. BTW a copy of the file exists on Mega IIRC.

Hi and thanks for sharing the guide and the drivers. Always fun to find stuff like this. I'm surprised more people aren't testing this and hope I'm not too late.

I was able to dl and use the modded drivers, but the x-fi software was blocked by AVAST saying there was Win32 malware in it. Can anyone tell me if it's a false positive or another place to get the sw.

I'm trying to get 5.1 out of my ASUS Gryphon z87 mobos' optical (AC892). It does stereo better than my decade old Philips PSC 805 optical/SPDIF which I couldn't currently get to work right on win7/8. The AC892 onboard seems to be a bit cleaner so far and it would be fun to hear my old speakers play loud again (JBL S-series) sans the sub RIP. Which brings me to I'm thinking of buying a new 12" sub, but if it won't do 5.1, I'll probably just set up my room for 2.1 and a smaller/cheaper sub/amp/speakers.

M

it is a false positive.

- - - Updated - - -

Does this work on WIN 8.1.If yes please post link here.

any one have a copy of the drivers? both links dead

fpresiado said:
any one have a copy of the drivers? both links dead

giving you 3 links :

The Ultimate Realtek HD Audio Driver Mod for Windows 10

SOUND BLASTER X-FI MB5 + MODDED REALTEK DRIVERS V.6.0.1.7738 [WIN8 & WIN10]

OneDrive

Hope these helps