Got me repeatedly the message 'DirectSound could not be initialized', no matter what device is set as default and which one I set in Audio tab (I have built-in Conexant chip in my laptop and the Focusrite USB external box).
Any suggestions how to amend this situation? Thank you.
Well, the problem is solved thanks to Elite-Games.ru portal - all it had to be done is to fix a string in Windows Registry.
My problem, I believe, have been that I'm a user of Russian version of Windows 7 (got it with my current laptop). A Russian name is assigned even to my built-in audio device, and these symbols apparently hadn't been recognized by the Launcher: in Registry they turned into a string of abracadabra symbols - 'Generic Software on Äèíàìèêè (Conexant CX20671 SmartAudio HD)'.
Leaving only 'Generic Software' get things working alright as long as you launch the game with wcsaga_sse2.exe. If you use Launcher it will again write bogus symbols into Registry.
I had yet to check out if it will work with my USB sound unit, but anyway, at least I had a chance to check out that brilliant voice acting and fly around a bit.
The registry string in question:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Software \ Volition \ WingCommanderSaga \ SoundDeviceOAL
Parameter is to be set to 'Generic Software'
Hopefully this would help to some people with other than English-languaged Windows.