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Directx error: Unable to initialise the sound
Posted: Sun Apr 26, 2015 12:59 am
by yashin79
There are three possible solutions which appear to fix the DirectX error in Eastside Hockey Manager 1:
1. The most common solution is:
Lumpjaw wrote: Wed Dec 02, 2015 2:14 am
For you guys with the DirectX problem. I had it myself for weeks. Finally managed to solve it. What I did was as following.
1. Change the screen resolution of your desktop top 1024*768. After you've changed the resolution, don't close the window where you can change the resolution.
2. Start the game.
3. Go to preferences and untick "Play sound"
4. Tab out of the game
5. Change your screen resolution to 1920*1080 or whatever you want
6. Tab in to the game
7. Go to preferences. Select Window mode
8. Select a resultion that is lower than your screen resolution. For me, it was 1400*900 as I wanted to play in a windowed mode, and be able to scroll the interwebz without tabing out of the game.
9. That should work and you can now play EHM: EA in windowed mode.
NOTE: You can also select to play in full screen mode in your resolution if that is what you wan't to do.
2. Disable display scaling on high DPI settings: Go to your EHM installation folder (usually
C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\Eastside Hockey Manager\). Right-click on your
ehm.exe file and click on Properties -> Compatibility -> tick the box entitled '
Disable display scaling on high DPI settings'.
3. Delete your game.cfg file so that EHM regenerates a new file. Go to your EHM settings folder (usually
C:\Users\[usename]\AppData\Local\Sports Interactive\EHM\Temporary) and delete your '
game.cfg' file.
=============== ORIGINAL POST: ===============
Hey guys,
Hoping one of you might be able to help me out with an issue I'm having launching EHM:EA.
I bought/installed the game through Steam obviously. When I go to launch it, I get the following: "Unable to initialise the sound - please ensure that DirectX has been installed correctly"
I ran dxdiag, no discernible issues there. Checked all drivers, yet again don't see anything amiss. Google was for once beyond useless as far as that error goes and since DX11 is part and parcel with Windows 7 there's not exactly much I can do to try and fix it if there is indeed an issue there. My guess is the error is actually related to something else but I don't have much to go on to try and figure it out.
Also already tried a fresh install, etc. Any ideas?
Re: Directx error: Unable to initialise the sound
Posted: Thu Apr 30, 2015 7:12 pm
by yashin79
bump
I see the title of the thread got changed but unfortunately no replies. I've seen this issue on another forum but it got no replies there either. Really hoping somebody could at least give me something to try, as I used to love playing EHM 07 and would like to get back into the series with the new game.
Thank you.
Re: Directx error: Unable to initialise the sound
Posted: Thu Apr 30, 2015 7:18 pm
by steviewhy
I found the answer to this on a steam thread. You have to go into properties and change the resolution to 640by480 I think? I'm at work it's not in front of me but it's a check box. The game will automatically revert to the correct resolution when it opens but this is the fix for that.
Re: Directx error: Unable to initialise the sound
Posted: Thu Apr 30, 2015 8:29 pm
by nino33
I searched the word "sound" here on TBL, and immediately found the same solution
http://www.ehmtheblueline.com/forums/vi ... nd#p187466
Re: Directx error: Unable to initialise the sound
Posted: Fri May 01, 2015 8:15 pm
by archibalduk
Popolilo wrote:For those who got the "Unable to initialise the sound - please ensure that DirectX has been installed correctly" issue, I've got the solution and haven't faced any bugs with it.
Go to the Eastside hockey manager folder which is in the steamapps folder. Right Click on EHM.exe and go to proprieties. Open the Compatibility tab and check the "Execute with a screen resolution of 640x480" or whatever it says in English (Cause mine is in French). It worked for me just fine and if you get the 0 finance bug, just go to preferences and click on reset.
Re: Directx error: Unable to initialise the sound
Posted: Fri May 01, 2015 9:01 pm
by yashin79
Worked like a charm, thanks a million guys. Like I said I tried searching for an answer before posting here but I must have just not looked in exactly the right way, so sorry for the forum clutter.
But again thanks for helping.
Unable to initialise the sound
Posted: Wed Dec 02, 2015 12:55 am
by Fleetsy_831
I just got the most recent update ( the one that brings in online) and i was extremely exited to play. After updating the app i opened it. When launching a notification came up saying "Unable to initialise the sound - please ensure that DirectX has been installed correctly". I have tried pretty much everything i know and have researched to try and fix the problem (including the run in 640x480 solution) and none have fixed the problem, the message still pops up. If anyone has a solution that works it would be greatly appreciated. Thanks
Re: Unable to initialise the sound
Posted: Wed Dec 02, 2015 1:22 am
by Lumpjaw
Fleetsy_831 wrote:I just got the most recent update ( the one that brings in online) and i was extremely exited to play. After updating the app i opened it. When launching a notification came up saying "Unable to initialise the sound - please ensure that DirectX has been installed correctly". I have tried pretty much everything i know and have researched to try and fix the problem (including the run in 640x480 solution) and none have fixed the problem, the message still pops up. If anyone has a solution that works it would be greatly appreciated. Thanks
I have the same problem. Have tried re installing the game, Steam, my graphics card and the drivers. Still no luck. Also tried re install the audio drivers, no luck.
Re: Unable to initialise the sound
Posted: Wed Dec 02, 2015 1:25 am
by martinmiller1986
try un ticking the play sound option in the prefrences
Re: Unable to initialise the sound
Posted: Wed Dec 02, 2015 1:36 am
by Lumpjaw
martinmiller1986 wrote:try un ticking the play sound option in the prefrences
In game? Kinda hard to do when the game wont start.
Re: Directx error: Unable to initialise the sound
Posted: Wed Dec 02, 2015 1:38 am
by romeopapa
setting the resolution did not fix the "unable to initialize sound"-bug for me
any other ideas?
Re: Unable to initialise the sound
Posted: Wed Dec 02, 2015 1:42 am
by martinmiller1986
"Have you tried deleting all the preference files from the temporary folder in:
C:\Users\[usename]\AppData\Local\Sports Interactive\EHM\Temporary"
Do this first then it should let u back in game. Worked for me
Re: Unable to initialise the sound
Posted: Wed Dec 02, 2015 1:45 am
by Lumpjaw
martinmiller1986 wrote:"Have you tried deleting all the preference files from the temporary folder in:
C:\Users\[usename]\AppData\Local\Sports Interactive\EHM\Temporary"
Do this first then it should let u back in game. Worked for me
Have tried that. Does not work. Only got one file in that folder and its keyboard.cfg.
Re: Directx error: Unable to initialise the sound
Posted: Wed Dec 02, 2015 2:14 am
by Lumpjaw
For you guys with the DirectX problem. I had it myself for weeks. Finally managed to solve it. What I did was as following.
1. Change the screen resolution of your desktop top 1024*768. After you've changed the resolution, don't close the window where you can change the resolution.
2. Start the game.
3. Go to preferences and untick "Play sound"
4. Tab out of the game
5. Change your screen resolution to 1920*1080 or whatever you want
6. Tab in to the game
7. Go to preferences. Select Window mode
8. Select a resultion that is lower than your screen resolution. For me, it was 1400*900 as I wanted to play in a windowed mode, and be able to scroll the interwebz without tabing out of the game.
9. That should work and you can now play EHM: EA in windowed mode.
NOTE: You can also select to play in full screen mode in your resolution if that is what you wan't to do.
Re: Directx error: Unable to initialise the sound
Posted: Wed Dec 02, 2015 2:27 am
by romeopapa
even with the resolution set to 1024 i cannot start the game, as i always get that error message
Re: Directx error: Unable to initialise the sound
Posted: Wed Dec 02, 2015 2:43 am
by Lumpjaw
romeopapa wrote:even with the resolution set to 1024 i cannot start the game, as i always get that error message
Make sure you don't have the "Use 640*480" thing ticked. Other than that, I'm out of ideas.
Re: Directx error: Unable to initialise the sound
Posted: Wed Dec 02, 2015 2:56 am
by romeopapa
i made sure it is not ticked, still no luck

Re: Directx error: Unable to initialise the sound
Posted: Wed Dec 02, 2015 3:19 am
by Tasku
I've merged this with the thread from the General EHM Chat, also concerning the Direct X sound issue.

Re: Directx error: Unable to initialise the sound
Posted: Wed Dec 02, 2015 4:48 am
by CheekyMan
Hi Guys,
Even using all your advices my EHM is not working...before that I was enjoying this game almost 8 years and now I am really unhapy whict it.
I purchased game did everything what should be done but no succes.Early Access was running without problems DirextX problem occur only yesterday.
Can somebody give me advice how to fix this bloody DirectX issue please?
Re: Directx error: Unable to initialise the sound
Posted: Wed Dec 02, 2015 5:07 am
by tparun
Hi,
I bought the game couple of days ago, and it worked just fine. Suddenly yesterday it didn't work anymore because on that same "DirectX error: Unable to initialise the sound".
It seems that many people had the same problem occurred yesterday, so I think this is a major problem. Let's hope that they fix that soon!
Re: Directx error: Unable to initialise the sound
Posted: Wed Dec 02, 2015 12:02 pm
by motitohtori
I was able to get the game to start after updating it to the latest patch, after I turned it off I haven't been able to get it to open never since. I get the "unable to initialise the sound error" which a lot of others seem to also have gotten. I've tried all the tips and tricks told in here and other threads and those haven't helped. Hopefully it gets fixed soon so me and the others can enjoy the full game

Re: Directx error: Unable to initialise the sound
Posted: Wed Dec 02, 2015 5:41 pm
by Fubbage
SI released a patch today for running EHM at full screen resolution. But I'm still getting the "unable to initialise the sound" error, and have cleared out my AppData preferences. Anyone else still having this problem?
Re: Directx error: Unable to initialise the sound
Posted: Wed Dec 02, 2015 6:35 pm
by CheekyMan
Hi Fubbage and all,
I do not have problem with sound but when I start version 1.0.1 screen starts shaking and game will not start.
If I change screen resolution on my laptop tp smaller game even does not start.....
Can somebody please help?
Re: Directx error: Unable to initialise the sound
Posted: Fri Dec 04, 2015 12:15 am
by Fubbage
I randomly found a hotfix for the direct x "unable to initialise the sound" issue. Clicking "disable display scaling on high DPI scaling" enabled me to finally open the game.
It's in c://program files (x86) > steam > steamapps > common > ehm> right click the blue exe. icon > compatibility tab.
Re: Directx error: Unable to initialise the sound
Posted: Sat Dec 05, 2015 6:16 am
by bearcat7
Fubbage wrote:I randomly found a hotfix for the direct x "unable to initialise the sound" issue. Clicking "disable display scaling on high DPI scaling" enabled me to finally open the game.
It's in c://program files (x86) > steam > steamapps > common > ehm> right click the blue exe. icon > compatibility tab.
Worked for me. Thank ya.
Edit: Doesn't appear to work anymore, darn.