Followup to audio stutter bug report

I noticed that other players had received in-game messages asking for followup bug reports, so despite the game being largely unplayable for me, I checked and sure enough, there it was.

All of the suggestions offered in the Support Desk message are accounted for in my initial report, which I've pasted down below. A few of them help slightly, but none of them eliminate the issue.

However, I have also tried the "speaking with other players" step, and I've found that several of them in the now-70-page-long Technical Support thread have tested the issue much more thoroughly than I have the patience to. They blame the issue on the new audio system's support for Immerse Spatial Audio, which is somehow affecting users such as myself who don't even have Immerse installed, and one has even offered several suggestions on how to improve the system as it currently exists: https://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/...=1#post5778799

As a stop-gap measure until such fixes can be implemented, I would once again request that an option to roll back to the audio system used in 5.55 or the Endwalker benchmark be added. The benchmark was made available before Immerse support was ever announced, and I was led to believe that I would be able to play the game without these technical issues.

I also strongly feel that an official statement regarding this issue needs to be made via the Lodestone as soon as possible. The issue has persisted for nearly a month now with no communication from the team, with the sole mention of audio issues being followed with the launch of 6.01 making the issue worse. Many in the Technical Support thread, myself included, feel ignored at best, or betrayed for the sake of a last-minute business deal with Embody at worst. Considering how much goodwill FFXIV has generated through the dev team's transparency, the continued silence is especially upsetting.


My original bug report is here: https://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/...stutter-report

========================================================

In 6.0, players using combat skills near me seemed to occasionally cause a brief audio stutter. This would be compounded in combat as many players used multiple abilities over a long period of time. This occurred at various points throughout the Endwalker MSQ - not everywhere, but often enough that it significantly impacted my enjoyment of the expansion.

Now, in 6.01, the stutter is significantly worse and now noticeably occurs when nearby players are crafting or extracting materia from their gear. Crafting stutter does not seem to happen all the time but when it does I am forced to mute the audio. Combat stutter is also much more frequent now, and is significantly more intense to the point of being nauseating.

Music also stutters in zone transitions, where it is bad enough that I have found myself instinctively removing my headphones. This is also now significantly more frequent after 6.01.

I've been playing since July 2020 on the same machine and I have never had this issue before - or any issue, for that matter. I think I've crashed twice in all that time. My system specs exceed the minimum requirements for the game and I passed the Endwalker benchmark with a score of 9835.

Others have suggested that a legacy 5.55 audio driver option be implemented into the game if it is at all technically possible, and I would personally be very happy if this could be made available in a hotfix some time before the release of 6.05. Of course I understand this may not be feasible. However, the game has been in a less-than-ideal state for weeks and is now even worse. At minimum, more communication on the issue from Square Enix, ideally in a highly visible place such as the Lodestone (EDIT: preferably WITHOUT any language that blames users' hardware and recommends a bunch of useless nonfixes that everyone in the 50 page Technical Support thread has already tried weeks ago), would be much appreciated.


Date of issue: From Endwalker Early Access on December 3 2021 to present
Time of issue: All times
Frequency: Frequent before 6.01, very frequent after
World name: Midgardsormr
Character name: Naamah Qhemnu
Retainer name: N/A
NPC name: N/A
Monster name: Any
Class/Level: All, including DoH/DoL
Party or solo: Both
In-game time: All times
Area and coordinates: Anywhere, but particularly in areas with a high player density such as dungeons, trials, raids and crowded cities. Some are worse than others. The second floor of the first EW dungeon as well as the first phase of the third Trial stand out to me as having been particularly bad. The problem is NOT exclusive to Endwalker areas.
Housing: I can't get a house in this game, are you kidding?
Steps:
1. Closed all background applications except Steam. Problem persists.
2. Set the in-game Wireless Controller volume to 0, mute, and Speaker Sounds to none. Problem persists.
3. Set the in-game Equalizer setting to Standard, or any other setting. Problem persists.
4. Reduce character and object quantity to minimum. Problem persists.
5. Reduce Windows audio quality to 16 bit, 44100 Hz. Problem persists in both 1 channel and 2 channel modes.
6. Ensure all gamepads are disconnected. Problem persists.
7. Set Listening Position to 100. Stutter becomes slightly less frequent but is still very much present - I also find this setting disorienting.
8. Disabled and re-enabled NVIDIA HD Audio device. Problem persists in either setting.
9. Disabled DX11 in the launcher. Problem is alleviated slightly but is still present. The game also looks much worse and suffers from frequent lag and framedrops.
10. Ensure FFXIV is using Windows' Default audio device. Problem persists.
11. Ensure FPS is capped to 60. Problem persists.


Questions from Zhexos' post in the Technical Support thread:
1. What are your Character and Object Quantity current set to?
-Usually Maximum, but lowering to Minimum makes no difference in combat.
2. What other applications do you have running in the background while playing FFXIV?
-Usually Steam, Notepad++, Discord and Firefox. Closing everything except Steam makes no difference.
3. Is your audio device set as the Default Device?
-Yes.
4. Would the issue persist when playing the game in DirectX 9?
-Yes, although it is alleviated slightly. However, the game looks worse and suffers from frequent lag and framedrops in this mode and is generally not playable for me.
5. If you use a gamepad, does the issue persist when you unplug the gamepad?
-N/A
6. Does the issue persist when you have the in-game Equalizer Mode set to Standard?
-Yes.
7. Does the issue persist when the Listening Position is set closer to the Character?
-Yes, albeit slightly less frequently.

-=-=-=-=- System Information -=-=-=-=-

SYSTEM_OS Windows 10 Home 64-bit (6.2, Build 9200) (19041.vb_release.191206-1406)
SYSTEM_CPU AMD FX(tm)-8350 Eight-Core Processor (8 CPUs), ~4.3GHz
SYSTEM_CORE_NUM SYSTEM_CORE_LOGIC 8 SYSTEM_CORE_PHYSICS 4
SYSTEM_BIOS BIOS Date: 01/11/13 16:18:14 Ver: 04.06.05
SYSTEM_LANGUAGE English (Regional Setting: English)
SYSTEM_MEMORY 16282.941MB
SYSTEM_VIRTUAL_MEMORY 134217727.875MB
SYSTEM_PAGE_FILE 32666.941MB
SYSTEM_STORAGE C:\ SYSTEM_HARDDISK_DRIVE SYSTEM_TOTALDISC_SPACE 222.563GB SYSTEM_FREEDISC_SPACE 50.942GB
SYSTEM_STORAGE D:\ SYSTEM_HARDDISK_DRIVE SYSTEM_TOTALDISC_SPACE 1862.891GB SYSTEM_FREEDISC_SPACE 294.785GB
SYSTEM_STORAGE E:\ SYSTEM_HARDDISK_DRIVE SYSTEM_TOTALDISC_SPACE 1862.891GB SYSTEM_FREEDISC_SPACE 39.390GB
SYSTEM_STORAGE F:\ SYSTEM_HARDDISK_DRIVE SYSTEM_TOTALDISC_SPACE 465.635GB SYSTEM_FREEDISC_SPACE 113.396GB
SYSTEM_STORAGE G:\ SYSTEM_HARDDISK_DRIVE SYSTEM_TOTALDISC_SPACE 3725.896GB SYSTEM_FREEDISC_SPACE 59.301GB
SYSTEM_STORAGE H:\ SYSTEM_HARDDISK_DRIVE SYSTEM_TOTALDISC_SPACE 931.496GB SYSTEM_FREEDISC_SPACE 51.336GB
SYSTEM_DIRECTX_VERSION DirectX 12
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 6GB
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_DEVICE \\.\DISPLAY1
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_CHIP NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 6GB
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_MAKER NVIDIA
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_VRAM 6052.000 MB
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_SHARED_VRAM 8141.471 MB
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_DAC Integrated RAMDAC
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_DISPLAY_MODE 1920 x 1080 (32 bit) (60Hz)
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_DRIVER C:\WINDOWS\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\nv_dispi.inf_amd64_642e50d7b66aa2a4\nvldumdx.dll,C:\WINDOWS\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\nv_dispi.inf_amd64_642e50d7b66aa2a4\nvldumdx.dll,C:\WINDOWS\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\nv_dispi.inf_amd64_642e50d7b66aa2a4\nvldumdx.dll,C:\WINDOWS\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\nv_dispi.inf_amd64_642e50d7b66aa2a4\nvldumdx.dll
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_DRIVER_VERSION 30.00.0014.9709
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_DRIVER_DATE 11/25/2021 19:00:00
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_DRIVER_LANGUAGE English
3.0
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_PIXEL_SHADER 3.0
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_VERTEX_TEXTURE SYSTEM_SUPPORT
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 6GB
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_DEVICE \\.\DISPLAY2
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_CHIP NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 6GB
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_MAKER NVIDIA
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_VRAM 6052.000 MB
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_SHARED_VRAM 8141.471 MB
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_DAC Integrated RAMDAC
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_DISPLAY_MODE 1920 x 1080 (32 bit) (60Hz)
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_DRIVER C:\WINDOWS\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\nv_dispi.inf_amd64_642e50d7b66aa2a4\nvldumdx.dll,C:\WINDOWS\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\nv_dispi.inf_amd64_642e50d7b66aa2a4\nvldumdx.dll,C:\WINDOWS\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\nv_dispi.inf_amd64_642e50d7b66aa2a4\nvldumdx.dll,C:\WINDOWS\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\nv_dispi.inf_amd64_642e50d7b66aa2a4\nvldumdx.dll
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_DRIVER_VERSION 30.00.0014.9709
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_DRIVER_DATE 11/25/2021 19:00:00
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_DRIVER_LANGUAGE English
3.0
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_PIXEL_SHADER 3.0
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_VERTEX_TEXTURE SYSTEM_SUPPORT
SYSTEM_SOUND Focusrite USB (Focusrite USB Audio)
SYSTEM_SOUND_DEVICE_ID {E747BEC7-E764-402A-94EC-DEBDC4595522}
SYSTEM_SOUND_DEVICE_NAME FocusriteUSBAudio.sys
SYSTEM_SOUND_DRIVER_VERSION 4.36.5.612
SYSTEM_SOUND_DRIVER_LANGUAGE English
SYSTEM_SOUND_DRIVER_DATE 1/8/2018 19:00:00
SYSTEM_SOUND Speakers (High Definition Audio Device)
SYSTEM_SOUND_DEVICE_ID {7BAB90F0-D4C7-49F8-9A4F-754598F82343}
SYSTEM_SOUND_DEVICE_NAME HdAudio.sys
SYSTEM_SOUND_DRIVER_VERSION 10.0.19041.264
SYSTEM_SOUND_DRIVER_LANGUAGE English
SYSTEM_SOUND_DRIVER_DATE 5/8/2020 19:00:00
SYSTEM_SOUND VS248 (NVIDIA High Definition Audio)
SYSTEM_SOUND_DEVICE_ID {E8B92F10-75EB-42C3-8ADE-340D48CE61E9}
SYSTEM_SOUND_DEVICE_NAME nvhda64v.sys
SYSTEM_SOUND_DRIVER_VERSION 1.3.38.35
SYSTEM_SOUND_DRIVER_LANGUAGE English
SYSTEM_SOUND_DRIVER_DATE 9/29/2020 19:00:00
SYSTEM_INPUT {6F1D2B60-D5A0-11CF-BFC7444553540000}
SYSTEM_INPUT_NAME Mouse
SYSTEM_INPUT_REMARKS SYSTEM_GAMEPAD_AXIS 3 SYSTEM_GAMEPAD_BUTTON 8 SYSTEM_GAMEPAD_FOV 0
SYSTEM_INPUT {6F1D2B61-D5A0-11CF-BFC7444553540000}
SYSTEM_INPUT_NAME Keyboard
SYSTEM_INPUT_REMARKS SYSTEM_GAMEPAD_AXIS 0 SYSTEM_GAMEPAD_BUTTON 128 SYSTEM_GAMEPAD_FOV 0
SYSTEM_INPUT {9A6B2520-CE9A-11EA-8001444553540000}
SYSTEM_INPUT_NAME Razer Basilisk V2
SYSTEM_INPUT_REMARKS SYSTEM_GAMEPAD_AXIS 0 SYSTEM_GAMEPAD_BUTTON 573 SYSTEM_GAMEPAD_FOV 0
SYSTEM_INPUT {A6E3D320-D616-11E3-8003444553540000}
SYSTEM_INPUT_NAME Programmable Hotkeys
SYSTEM_INPUT_REMARKS SYSTEM_GAMEPAD_AXIS 0 SYSTEM_GAMEPAD_BUTTON 669 SYSTEM_GAMEPAD_FOV 0
SYSTEM_INPUT {9A6BC160-CE9A-11EA-8002444553540000}
SYSTEM_INPUT_NAME Razer Basilisk V2
SYSTEM_INPUT_REMARKS SYSTEM_GAMEPAD_AXIS 0 SYSTEM_GAMEPAD_BUTTON 3 SYSTEM_GAMEPAD_FOV 0
SYSTEM_INPUT {336CFE00-BBAF-11E5-8001444553540000}
SYSTEM_INPUT_NAME Razer BlackWidow Ultimate
SYSTEM_INPUT_REMARKS SYSTEM_GAMEPAD_AXIS 0 SYSTEM_GAMEPAD_BUTTON 573 SYSTEM_GAMEPAD_FOV 0
SYSTEM_INPUT {9A6BE870-CE9A-11EA-8003444553540000}
SYSTEM_INPUT_NAME Razer Basilisk V2
SYSTEM_INPUT_REMARKS SYSTEM_GAMEPAD_AXIS 0 SYSTEM_GAMEPAD_BUTTON 1 SYSTEM_GAMEPAD_FOV 0
SYSTEM_INPUT {336CFE00-BBAF-11E5-8002444553540000}
SYSTEM_INPUT_NAME Razer BlackWidow Ultimate
SYSTEM_INPUT_REMARKS SYSTEM_GAMEPAD_AXIS 0 SYSTEM_GAMEPAD_BUTTON 3 SYSTEM_GAMEPAD_FOV 0
SYSTEM_INPUT {9A6C0F80-CE9A-11EA-8004444553540000}
SYSTEM_INPUT_NAME Razer Basilisk V2
SYSTEM_INPUT_REMARKS SYSTEM_GAMEPAD_AXIS 0 SYSTEM_GAMEPAD_BUTTON 1 SYSTEM_GAMEPAD_FOV 0
SYSTEM_INPUT {296B7CD0-4AD0-11E3-8007444553540000}
SYSTEM_INPUT_NAME American Power Conversion USB UPS
SYSTEM_INPUT_REMARKS SYSTEM_GAMEPAD_AXIS 0 SYSTEM_GAMEPAD_BUTTON 0 SYSTEM_GAMEPAD_FOV 0
SYSTEM_INPUT {336CFE00-BBAF-11E5-8003444553540000}
SYSTEM_INPUT_NAME Razer BlackWidow Ultimate
SYSTEM_INPUT_REMARKS SYSTEM_GAMEPAD_AXIS 0 SYSTEM_GAMEPAD_BUTTON 1 SYSTEM_GAMEPAD_FOV 0
SYSTEM_INPUT {3371B8F0-BBAF-11E5-8004444553540000}
SYSTEM_INPUT_NAME Razer BlackWidow Ultimate
SYSTEM_INPUT_REMARKS SYSTEM_GAMEPAD_AXIS 0 SYSTEM_GAMEPAD_BUTTON 1 SYSTEM_GAMEPAD_FOV 0
SYSTEM_INPUT {F420FEF0-CE9A-11EA-8005444553540000}
SYSTEM_INPUT_NAME HID-compliant consumer control device
SYSTEM_INPUT_REMARKS SYSTEM_GAMEPAD_AXIS 0 SYSTEM_GAMEPAD_BUTTON 1024 SYSTEM_GAMEPAD_FOV 0
SYSTEM_INPUT {D2B1D3B0-5F07-11E9-8001444553540000}
SYSTEM_INPUT_NAME Programmable Hotkeys
SYSTEM_INPUT_REMARKS SYSTEM_GAMEPAD_AXIS 0 SYSTEM_GAMEPAD_BUTTON 669 SYSTEM_GAMEPAD_FOV 0
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Thank you for making this !

No problem! But if you're having this bug, please, please consider writing up your own bug report, including whatever testing you've done or fixes you may have tried to apply. Even if it doesn't give the dev team any new information to work with, it adds to the pile of bug reports, which will hopefully force someone somewhere to publicly acknowledge that this is a problem. I wouldn't normally use a bug report to soapbox as hard as I did here, but I genuinely feel that at this point, Squeenix's refusal to say anything is worse than the stutter itself.

I have the very same issue here. It seems like some battle sound effect is causing it. It is seriously irritating; to the point I have disabled some sounds at all.