Command and Conquer 3 Kane's Wrath sound Problem

OK, I now have a solution for Windows 8 (and I'm guessing this will also work for Windows 7).

C&C 3, C&C 3 Kane's Wrath, C&C Red Alert 3 and C&C Red Alert 3 Uprising all have the same problem, and that is that they do not use the correct method of addressing the sound interface in that they only address the "Default Device" instead of the generic Windows sound interface.

If you are like me and have an Asus Xonar DS 7.1 card, then you will no doubt know that, in order to get surround sound working through the optical out, then in Playback Devices, you have to set Speakers (Asus Xonar DS Audio Device) to the "Detault Device" and S/PDiff Pass-though Device (Asus Xonar DS Audio Device) to the "Detault Communication Device". At which point, you will get surround sound through the S/PDiff Pass-through. If on the other hand you select Speakers as both the "Default Device" and the "Default Communication Device" then you will only get stereo sound through the S/PDiff Pass-through.

In the case of C&C 3, C&C 3 Kane's Wrath, C&C Red Alert 3 and C&C Red Alert 3 Uprising, if you have your sound card set up so that the "Default Communication Device" is set to S/PDiff Pass-through, then you will not get any sound at all, that is because the interface that these games use completely by-pass this sound interface and will only communicate with the "Default Device" regardless of the device to which "Default Communication Device" is assigned.

Therefore, if you want to get any sound at all through these games and you are using S/PDiff Pass-through (or which ever interface is your preferred output)  as only the "Detault Communication Device" you will have to set that output to be the "Detault Device".

Note: This means if you have an Asus Xonar DS like I do, then you will only get stereo sound in the game (not sure if the game supports surround sound anyway, and even if it does, it probably isn't much use so losing surround sound for these games probably isn't a big problem).

So, to play one of these games with sound:

1) Right click on the speaker icon in the tray at the bottom right of the screen and select "Playback Devices".

2) Take a note of your current "Default Device" (the one with the green tick against it) so that you can restore it after you have finished playing the game.

3) Right click on your preferred output (i.e. if you have an Asus Xonar DS 7.1, and you are connected to it via S/PDiff, then select S/PDiff Pass-through) and select "Set as Default Device"

4) Select OK

Play the game.

Once you have finished playing the game, then you should restore your default device to the original setting.

1) Right click on the speaker icon in the tray at the bottom right of the screen and select "Playback Devices".

2) Right click on the device that was the "Default Device" in step 2) of the previous instructions and select "Set as Default Device"

I hope this helps anyone else having the "No sound" problem with any of the above games. 🙂