How to make AA3 work under Windows 10

Report · Sep 23, 2018

This is not a question rather a helpful "answer", if you like. I would like to share my experience with AA3 and Win10, a thing that all of us that use/want to use the AA3 under Win10 know is quite difficult. It all seems, for most times, be a special issue with RealTek sound cards. Don't kow if other vendors are affected too cause there's really hard to find a mainboard these days that do not have RealTek built in. I do not use the sound card but rather use top end external equipment for my work, mainly SoundDevices, so the quality of the sound card is of no concern to me.

I have not tried this to the end, not tried all aspects or variant either, but perhaps this help someone that, like me, either do not want/can/can afford an account based newer version or simply want to use those aspects of AA3 that might not be found in the latest release, elsevere or something like that.

For me it all started with Win7 and an upgrade to win10. No problems at all, or at least, small ones. AA3 continue to run more or less as expected. It seems that Windows 10 keeps some parts from Windows 7 (or earlier) when upgradning (that is not the case from a fresh install!). If it is something in Windows or the driver of the sound card, I cannot tell.

Then, bought a new platform, Ryzen 7, X350 and later X470 mainboard and some toppings. Fresh Win10 pro and..., AA3 won't find a driver and won't start at all. Heard that one before? 🙂

Well, after several month of struggling with this I had another software that does not run under Win10 so I tried Oracle VM VirtualBox to run an Win7 so that I can jump between different software both in Win7 as in Win10. A dual boot is not an option, I need to be able to access all software at once, not after reboots.

First of all VM VB use a VB "Intel" sound card, not RealTek, but it still is RealTek it maps to. The other thing is that AA3 did work under Win7, for me, at least.

So, I do not know if it is a RealTek issue or a Windows issue or both, but running Win7 under VirtualBox under Win10 make it all work again, and I can use all software I need under Win10 and those that do not work there, I use under Win7, seeminglessly. Most shortcuts do work, too. (With the lack of full graphics card support, but I do not use any software that needs that power from the GPU. At least it supports my screens resolution in full screen mode.)

So, if this is an issue for anyone out there, perhaps my approch is workable for you? It'll work with other OSes as well. (I do not know if a VirtualBox Windows 10 under Windows 10 would work too, perhaps someone like to try that one?)

Mikael

Report · Sep 24, 2018

It shouldn't be necessary to go through all that effort to get AA3 working on Windows 10 PCs. I have AA3 working perfectly OK on two PCs with Win 10, one a desktop and one a laptop. Although the desktop uses an external USB audio interface the laptop is sometimes used quite happily with it's built in soundcard.

Report · Sep 24, 2018

I do agree with you 100%! It should not be necessary...

I have a desktop that now runs an Ryzen 1600 with W10, upgraded from W7, no problems. AA3 is working happily, RealTek and all.

I have a laptop, upgraded W7 to W10. Same story, Works perfectly.

I had my desktop running the above Ryzen 1600 upgraded W7 to W10. Running like the train, if that's working these days(?). The all new Ryzen 2700 work perfectly, too, as long as I run the upgrade.

Bought a fresh W10 Pro, and it doesn't make a difference what I do. I have truley tried every single tweak in this forum, reinstalled AA3, W10, drivers, even several fresh installs of W10... Nope. Can't find the sound card, period!

Have tried a fresh W10 home too, no difference.

So, as an update, I do believe the basic problem is in W10. Feels like there is something M$ does not remove in an upgrade, perhaps for legacy support? But that is not needed in a fresh install, so...

Have not been able to try another vendor of sound cards. Might be something with RealTek only, but if there are others out there with more info, please, tell...

(Oh! By the way. Now tried to upgrade the W7 to W10 only to see what happens, still running under VirtualBox(!), and, be and behold, AA3 still works... Need to figure this one out... )