   XACT3 or XAUDIO2 ,which one should I use?
  I'm reading the audio samples of directx sdk march 2009.and get confused.my destination is making a game working on win xp and vista platform,playing mp3 as bgm,and playing wave files as sf.   
  I like directx but i imo have shot the sound api down. I would use FMOD but that just me also between the two you have listed xact3 because its  and easy to setup   ;Quote:Original post by enchantedI'm reading the audio samples of directx sdk march 2009.and get confused.my destination is making a game working on win xp and vista platform,playing mp3 as bgm,and playing wave files as sf.IMHO use XAudio2. It is quite better when mastered.   ;  Just before I check this post again I spent half day to learn and integrate the sound files to my game,it's really easy to use!However I haven't find a way to play mp3 yet.   ;Quote:Original post by feal87IMHO use XAudio2. It is quite better when mastered."When mastered"? Could you clarify?   ;Quote:Original post by PromitQuote:Original post by feal87IMHO use XAudio2. It is quite better when mastered."When mastered"? Could you clarify?Well, in the beginning you have to make your own riff parsers (for ADPCM and XWMA) and (eventually, i've not done cause i'm ok with XWma as format) mp3 parser to split the data cause XAudio2 does not have anything integrated to do this.This is not a trivial task for lots of people who does not know how the RIFF format works. After that its easy to use and does not have the xact file to add and manage (sound banks, etc..) (i don't really like this approach used for XAct).That is what i meant by "mastering". Creating the base classes to allow split and reproduction of the common formats.   ;  Question: Is your game going to be free or are you going to charge money for it?If your game will be free and you're interested in playing MP3s, I might not suggest either of those two options, as you'll be doing your fair share of work to get them to play. As another person mentioned, FMOD is a very good third party library that works quite well at what it's supposed to do, and it's even used by many commercial entities (Blizzard Entertainment for one)As long as you're using the software in a free product, you get a license to use FMOD for free. However they do have a wide variety of licensing options including a budget license for hobbiest developers expecting to sell but not expecting to make big bucks on their titles (it's like $100 IIRC)   ;  Thank you,Filmflam,and Thank you feal87,your suggestion is very valueble in the future.If I have spare time I will give a check at them,now my project works fine with sounds,I used XACT to compress my sounds folder from 13MB to 900kb ,so not very necessary to enable playing mp3 now.anyway,thank you for your help!   