Sound Issues

[SalvaLeone]

Hello all!

I just started playing the game just like many others around the world and so far it is amazing! There is an occational bug or glitch just like any game but there is one issue that is problematic. When in-game (no including menu screens like the pause menu or inventory) there is a slight but noticeable white noise in the background. It becomes very apparent when there are lots of different sounds playing at once. It becomes very distracting when trying to listen to other characters, the world, and wonderful music. I made sure my drivers were updated and it was through DirectX 12. I even tried different headphones but to no avail. I played different sounds through the headphones from YouTube and other applications with no issue. If anyone else is having this issue let me know.

same for this

 

[notidle]

Hey guys just check the reply I quoted. It worked for me.

Now I can listen to the read, the news on the elevators, random peeps on the streets and more!

 

[frivolousam]

This guy right here!!! Not only did you fix this issue for my game but apparently a more rampant system issue with my system and my G935's. This solved all of it! Much love bud!

Edit: I have never posted here but to thank this person!

Thank the guy or gal from that link instead.

I finished the game with that fix but sad to say that it only made the game playable, sound from radio/tv was still not clear nor loud enough even after lowering other sounds in game settings and upping system sound. So I couldn't enjoy the music tracks on the radio nor could really hear anything from news etc. but at least it wasn't as unbearably distracting as it was pre-that fix.

Hoping for a real fix before my next playthrough.

Oh there is also a complete fix/workaround that works for me but its also very unconvenient(for me): Using the sound port back of my case instead of front one, but my headphone's cable isn't long enough

 

[EtmusKodichi]

Anyone with ASUS Xonar cards having the issue of not being able to hear random NPC chatter? I use UNi Xonar drivers for my Xonar DGX and have this issue. This massive bug makes the game not worth playing! I also use NVidia HD Audio via HDMI on my TV, but that also has the same issue.

I think this game heavily depends on Spatial Audio (Windows Sonic for Headphones and other audio enhancements) and I have it removed via NTLite, but the game supports Windows 7, which does not include Spatial Audio from Windows 10. Therefore, there's got to be a fix for this problem for Windows 10. I have 0 problems with audio in 37 other games I have.

CDPR should take a look at audio system in Rainbow Six: Siege. It produces very accurate sound cues, even in Stereo mode and 2-speaker system.

 

[thealanmolina]

Got the same issue. I actually disable car music and play Spotify in the background. What a proper let down the music in this game. Hopping to had some awesome OST or anything here but nothing. cant hear NPC or TV or Music at all but hey the looting sound and footsteps are super loud

got to love that looting of items sounds so much !!! That is all I can hear
honestly can't keep playing this

It will ruin the rest of the game!!

I use Asus Suprem FX 5.1 ROG and it works great for all my games all. this is this game problem not my set up

 

[TitanBreek]

I'm still here, 7 days later with no working game music audio/gunshots during fights, or npc dialogs anywhere... I really hoped anyone from CDP would've at least replied to this thread or at least notice us that they're working on it. Tried to to some fixes that I got from the people here but didn't work. Like I said, 7 days after buying a game I've waited for so long to play still having to actually enjoy it...

 

[tcarlisle]

While my own experience has been that there are occasional audio issues, like dialog volume gets set way too low, overall I am not finding it to be a terribly huge issue -- because it is not often and it always fixes itself in a short while.

People that are having more frequent and/or more serious issues might find it can be improved by looking at audio drivers, and especially any audio middleware that may be present on your system. Things like proprietary headset drivers that do additional processing, etc. These are the layers where audio issues tend to be introduced into a game.

If anyone is able to identify steps to reproduce, then by all means please file bug reports. The best way to get a studio to pay attention to issues like this is to feed them outstanding bug reports -- which save time and make it clear the problem is not tied to a certain headset, etc.

 

[BibTuna4]

TLDR: Had audio issues. Removed the Nahimic audio software app. All solved.

I had the low audio on radio and TV issues. Music in clubs would be too low too. None of the posted solutions had worked so far.

On an MSI Z390 motherboard running Realtek drivers and, the culprit, Nahimic audio software.

First I tried removing the loudness equalizer and surround sound setting in the Nahimic app. There was a small improvement, but still, the music sound was too low.

Then I removed the Nahimic app altogether and sound levels were restored to normal.

My Realtek software did not have that option, but I have also heard that disabling the loudness equalization in the sound effects tab in the Realtek control panel fixes the issue too for some people.

 

[bradgroux]

On my Xbox Series X, the sound works well for the most part, but after I play for an extended period of time (4+) hours the NPC voices cut out. To fix it, I have to quit to the main menu, and reload from save. It isn't a huge deal, as it usually takes several hours to happen but it is a pain nonetheless.

 

[hachiko_its_me]

i have same problem

 

[Steped]

Ah

 

[feld3d]

I was also having sound issues on the PC. I was not hearing most enemy gun fire and I could not hear grenades. Some Npcs that would talk would also not have audio.. I was having this issue with the soundblaster kratos system. I switched over to my astro a40s which use a optical audio input and everything was fine. So I tried switching the audio frequency nothing. What did end up fixing it for me was going into the soundblaster connect software and changing the acoustic engine preset. Not sure why it was messed up there but those fixed it for me.

Post automatically merged: Dec 17, 2020

I take it back... its the smart volume section of the sound blaster connect thats breaking the sound of grenades for what ever reason. Also realtek drivers

 

[the-monkInsane]

Happy to report this method works, the game is finally working properly. All people with sound issues try this fix.

For me, setting Audio sample rate to 48000hz (16 or 24bit) or lower sorted it out. Seems any sample rate above 48 Khz causes radio / TV etc audio be very soft.

This was on a Realtek Chipset.

On my ASUS Strix SOAR soundcard it's all good up to 96Kz Rafio etc all loud as they should be, above that I get the crackling / static bug.

 

[Zressiam]

I'm on Xbox Series X. I have no radio. No radio in hotel room or in cars at all. Can not hear any music. I can't understand how I preordered this game months ago and it's so unbelievably broken. I've tried turning settings on and off but to mo avail. I cruise around with no music

 

[Fackmos]

Had the same issue, no sound at all when starting game. Windows 10. Realtek, all updates installed, newest drivers.

Fixed this by unchecking "Disable all sound effects" in
Setting > sound > Sound control panel (on the right side) > Playback > Speakers (or whatever device you are using) > properties > Enhancements tab > Uncheck "Disable all sound effects"

Did this while the game was running, and later I could toggle the setting again and music still worked?

Well done, this issue also fixed my brothers problem of no sound in cutscene/menus/dialogue.

 

[NewtypeXIV]

There are two different sound issues. One is half the sound effects and the music are missing, the other is crackling audio.

For crackling audio, right-click the speaker icon in your system tray and click on "Sounds". In the "Playback" tab, double-click the device you're using and in the "Advanced" tab, select a sample rate of 44100Hz. The bit depth is not important, but choose either 16 or 24. 44100Hz is what is used in sound production. All the music you listen to is recorded like that. 48000Hz is what is used for sound in movies. Although there's nothing wrong with that, It's not normal to be forced to set your sample rate to 44100Hz. Normally, 48000Hz works with anything. There's definitely something wrong with the game.

Now the other issue. That one I can't find a solution.

Things I've tried:
- Made sure my Windows audio was correctly configured to be Stereo.
- Changing the sample rate to 44100Hz instead of 48000Hz.
- Uninstalling Realtek drivers and installing newer ones.
- Changing to different audio presets within the game's options.
- Disabling every other audio device in Windows.
Note: Not everyone has an "Enhancements" tab in their Windows sound options. I don't.

Temporary solutions that work:
- Using my headphones (connected to a DAC) instead of my speakers.
- Using Voicemeeter Banana (virtual mixing console) and making sure that everything is set to a 44100Hz sample rate.

I feel like figuring out why it works with Voicemeeter Banana is the key to figuring out what the issue is. However, I don't know how Voicemeeter Banana handles audio differently; I don't have that knowledge. It might have something to do with the audio driver that it uses. I tried WDM and MME and they both worked.

I'm really hoping that CDPR is checking this thread and that they will work on fixing this.

 

[IgorEisberg]

There are two different sound issues. One is half the sound effects and the music are missing, the other is crackling audio.

For crackling audio, right-click the speaker icon in your system tray and click on "Sounds". In the "Playback" tab, double-click the device you're using and in the "Advanced" tab, select a sample rate of 44100Hz. The bit depth is not important, but choose either 16 or 24. 44100Hz is what is used in sound production. All the music you listen to is recorded like that. 48000Hz is what is used for sound in movies. Although there's nothing wrong with that, It's not normal to be forced to set your sample rate to 44100Hz. Normally, 48000Hz works with anything. There's definitely something wrong with the game.

Now the other issue. That one I can't find a solution.

Things I've tried:
- Made sure my Windows audio was correctly configured to be Stereo.
- Changing the sample rate to 44100Hz instead of 48000Hz.
- Uninstalling Realtek drivers and installing newer ones.
- Changing to different audio presets within the game's options.
- Disabling every other audio device in Windows.
Note: Not everyone has an "Enhancements" tab in their Windows sound options. I don't.

Temporary solutions that work:
- Using my headphones (connected to a DAC) instead of my speakers.
- Using Voicemeeter Banana (virtual mixing console) and making sure that everything is set to a 44100Hz sample rate.

I feel like figuring out why it works with Voicemeeter Banana is the key to figuring out what the issue is. However, I don't know how Voicemeeter Banana handles audio differently; I don't have that knowledge. It might have something to do with the audio driver that it uses. I tried WDM and MME and they both worked.

I'm really hoping that CDPR is checking this thread and that they will work on fixing this.

I don't have "Enhancements" tab in my Windows sound options either, which is probably true for all Realtek UAD, also known as "Realtek(R) Audio", that needs "Realtek Audio Console" installed separately from Microsoft Store.
It was the legacy "Realtek High Definition Audio" driver, which had a control panel software included, that had that "Enhancements" tab in Windows's Sound options, if I remember correctly.
As for the UAD drivers, I have it in Realtek Audio Console, I unchecked that box and restarted the audio driver via "Device Manager" (or just restarted the PC, same result) to work around this issue:

Still, it's bizarre, those effects should have nothing to do with the game's audio.

P.S. If I remember correctly, I also managed to get the missing sounds to work properly with Windows' generic "High Definition Audio Device" driver by uninstalling the Realtek drivers and restarting (that way Windows switches to the generic driver) and then I had the "Enhancements" tab in Windows sound options, where I had to make sure that "Disable all enhancements" is unchecked, and if it is checked, then uncheck it and restart the audio driver or restart the PC (important step to make it work).

 

[vanmatre]

Guys, those with the Realtek Audio drivers installed using the analogue "Speakers" output, I found a workaround for this that doesn't involve any third-party virtual driver nonsense. This might also give some direction if you're using the Digital Output or a non-Realtek audio solution. Follow carefully, both steps are important.

Note: "Spatial sound" is "Off" in my case, don't know if it's important but keep it off just in case.

1) Open "Realtek Audio Console" > "Speakers", uncheck "Disable All Sound Effects" (basically, enable sound effects)
2) Go to "Device Manager" > "Sound, video and game controllers" > "Realtek(R) Audio", right-click and then "Disable device", and once it's disabled, right-click again and "Enable device". (basically, restart the audio driver)

* You can disable sound effects again, if you want, just don't restart the driver (or the PC), else it'll just be broken again. Or just keep them enabled for a "permanent solution".

That's it, run the game an enjoy, and let me know if it helped your case.

You the man.

 

[NewtypeXIV]

I don't have "Enhancements" tab in my Windows sound options either, which is probably true for all Realtek UAD, also known as "Realtek(R) Audio", that needs "Realtek Audio Console" installed separately from Microsoft Store.
It was the legacy "Realtek High Definition Audio" driver, which had a control panel software included, that had that "Enhancements" tab in Windows's Sound options, if I remember correctly.
As for the UAD drivers, I have it in Realtek Audio Console, I unchecked that box and restarted the audio driver via "Device Manager" (or just restarted the PC, same result) to work around this issue:
View attachment 11094836
Still, it's bizarre, those effects should have nothing to do with the game's audio.

P.S. If I remember correctly, I also managed to get the missing sounds to work properly with Windows' generic "High Definition Audio Device" driver by uninstalling the Realtek drivers and restarting (that way Windows switches to the generic driver) and then I had the "Enhancements" tab in Windows sound options, where I had to make sure that "Disable all enhancements" is unchecked, and if it is checked, then uncheck it and restart the audio driver or restart the PC (important step to make it work).

You've definitely solved this problem. I couldn't do it with the UAD driver though. I have an ASRock motherboard and the Realtek Audio Control that you get from the Microsoft Store doesn't have the "Disable All Sound Effects" option. I see that you have the ASUS version of it. It probably has more stuff.

Instead, I uninstalled the UAD driver and tried to find the latest HDA driver for me. I first followed the instructions here: https://www.tenforums.com/sound-audio/125936-determine-hda-realtek-driver-needed-your-audio.html

I figured out that the Realtek driver that I need is just the generic one (FF00), nothing special. This thread here posts the lastest one regularly: https://www.tenforums.com/sound-audio/135259-latest-realtek-hd-audio-driver-version-2-a.html

I installed it, went to the "Enhancements" tab in the WIndows Sound options, unchecked "Disable All Sound Effects", restarted the PC, launched the game and everything worked perfectly. I don't have to set the sample rate to 44100Hz either. 48000Hz works flawlessly.

Thank you very much for finding this and telling us. I must have spent ten hours trying to find a solution.

 

[Briffault]

Lovin' the magic windows that make no sound when you break them!