Reply to Bug Report - Audio stuttering

Thank you for the quick reply to my bug report! I'm glad that this is actively being looked in to as a lot of people are concerned that it is not. I will be reposting some of the same information as my original bug report because nothing has changed or improved.

I will re-state as well that I did not have this issue at all before the Endwalker expansion. I have been playing since the 2.0 release and my sound and graphic quality for the settings I was using before the expansion were working perfectly for me.

Date & Time: 01/06/2022
Frequency: Often, stuttering is caused by certain areas and locations of music/sound effects
World name: Gilgamesh
Character name: Jennen Cori
Retainer name: N/A
NPC name: N/A
Monster name: N/A
Class/Level: N/A
Party or solo: Both, including cutscenes
In-game time: N/A - Occurs from launch of game and doesn't get better or worse the longer I am playing
Area and coordinates: Most areas. Happens more in higher level areas because players have access to more skills that cause the audio stutter to happen.
Housing: Most areas. Stuttering is happening in my small house but only in certain areas of the house.
Steps: No steps required to start the audio stutter, it is dependent on camera direction and location of music/audio sources in-game.

Recommended steps taken from reply~

- Lower Graphic settings and reduce Character/Object quantity
I have tested all of the pre-set graphic settings as well as lowering other settings manually. No changes made the audio problems go away. I did end up finetuning my settings which increased my framerate a bit and I only have FPS issues in highly populated areas like Limsa Lominsa, which I did have before the expansion. This only improved visual framerate and did not fix audio problems.

- Lower Audio Default Format to lower setting
I did lower my Audio Default Format to 16bit/41000hz but did not find any improvement in sound. Audio stutter does persist.

- Graphic, Sound and DX9 settings
I am playing on a modified "High (Desktop)" setting which is giving me an average 35-40fps as expected.
I have tried DX9 mode and still had audio stutter in the same places as DX11.

I do use a PS4 controller wirelessly but the sound issues still persist when I have it disconnected. However, the controller is being used through Steam so it is detected as an XBOX 360 controller and it isn't being detected as a audio device.

I have all volume settings turned up to 100. Listening position is also at 100, which is the only thing that has cleared some of the audio stutter BUT I still have to turn my camera around to awkward angles to fix any audio stutter caused by other sound effects. My original and preferred listening position is 10.
Wireless controller audio is off and volume down
Equalizer is set to standard

I am not using the Immerse Spatial Audio package and will never use it unless it is given to me for free for life. I have my own 5.1 surround sound system that has been working on my PC for years.
IMO, this should be a setting that you have to enable from the Launcher instead of in-game. Maybe doing this might fix the audio for the rest of us? It might cause the launcher to select the old sound drivers instead of the new ones?

I do use Loudness Equalization in my Windows sound settings. Turning the setting off as well as disabling all windows audio enhancements does not fix the stutter.

I would like to confirm that this is not an issue with the strength of my PC. This issue is only happening in the FFXIV client.

While the audio stutter is happening, I am not seeing any spike in processing power on my CPU or GPU. The rest of my computer runs well even while FFXIV is running in the background (borderless window). I do NOT have "Limit Framerate when client is inactive" enabled.

Music and sounds from videos I play are unaffected while FFXIV is running and experiencing the audio stutter problem. The audio stutter is only originating from the FFXIV client and not effecting the rest of the applications on my PC.

Thank you for continuing to look in on this! I really do hope it is fixed in the next hotfix patch.

However, if it is going to take some more time to fix, I'm sure the community would like a more public update on this issue since there are a lot of us with this problem.


■ PC Specs

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

SYSTEM_OS Windows 10 Home 64-bit (6.2, Build 9200) (19041.vb_release.191206-1406)
SYSTEM_CPU AMD FX(tm)-8320 Eight-Core Processor (8 CPUs), ~3.5GHz
SYSTEM_CORE_NUM SYSTEM_CORE_LOGIC 8 SYSTEM_CORE_PHYSICS 4
SYSTEM_BIOS 2301
SYSTEM_LANGUAGE English (Regional Setting: English)
SYSTEM_MEMORY 16283.496MB
SYSTEM_VIRTUAL_MEMORY 134217727.875MB
SYSTEM_PAGE_FILE 18715.496MB
SYSTEM_STORAGE C:\ SYSTEM_HARDDISK_DRIVE SYSTEM_TOTALDISC_SPACE 118.630GB SYSTEM_FREEDISC_SPACE 29.201GB
SYSTEM_STORAGE D:\ SYSTEM_HARDDISK_DRIVE SYSTEM_TOTALDISC_SPACE 447.114GB SYSTEM_FREEDISC_SPACE 132.486GB
SYSTEM_STORAGE F:\ SYSTEM_HARDDISK_DRIVE SYSTEM_TOTALDISC_SPACE 931.387GB SYSTEM_FREEDISC_SPACE 775.456GB
SYSTEM_DIRECTX_VERSION DirectX 12
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS Radeon RX 570 Series
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_DEVICE \\.\DISPLAY1
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_CHIP AMD Radeon Graphics Processor (0x67DF)
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_MAKER Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_VRAM 8171.363 MB
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_SHARED_VRAM 8141.748 MB
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_DAC Internal DAC(400MHz)
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_DISPLAY_MODE 2560 x 1440 (32 bit) (59Hz)
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_DRIVER C:\Windows\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\u0374383.inf_amd64_12cfd68385ecddd5\B374323\aticfx64.dll,C:\Windows\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\u0374383.inf_amd64_12cfd68385ecddd5\B374323\aticfx64.dll,C:\Windows\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\u0374383.inf_amd64_12cfd68385ecddd5\B374323\aticfx64.dll,C:\Windows\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\u0374383.inf_amd64_12cfd68385ecddd5\B374323\amdxc64.dll
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_DRIVER_VERSION 30.00.14011.3017
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_DRIVER_DATE 11/30/2021 19:00:00
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_DRIVER_LANGUAGE English
3.0
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_PIXEL_SHADER 3.0
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_VERTEX_TEXTURE SYSTEM_SUPPORT
SYSTEM_SOUND Speakers (Plantronics Savi 7xx)
SYSTEM_SOUND_DEVICE_ID {7AAA40B3-94C2-4C37-ADEE-0E85E26E8000}
SYSTEM_SOUND_DEVICE_NAME USBAUDIO.sys
SYSTEM_SOUND_DRIVER_VERSION 10.0.19041.1202
SYSTEM_SOUND_DRIVER_LANGUAGE English
SYSTEM_SOUND_DRIVER_DATE 8/25/2021 19:00:00
SYSTEM_SOUND Speakers (Realtek High Definition Audio)
SYSTEM_SOUND_DEVICE_ID {97941AB7-FCFA-464B-ABE5-9D4D5777129E}
SYSTEM_SOUND_DEVICE_NAME RTKVHD64.sys
SYSTEM_SOUND_DRIVER_VERSION 6.0.1.7848
SYSTEM_SOUND_DRIVER_LANGUAGE English
SYSTEM_SOUND_DRIVER_DATE 6/13/2016 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 {52416C20-1D93-11EC-8001444553540000}
SYSTEM_INPUT_NAME Gaming Mouse G302
SYSTEM_INPUT_REMARKS SYSTEM_GAMEPAD_AXIS 0 SYSTEM_GAMEPAD_BUTTON 0 SYSTEM_GAMEPAD_FOV 0
SYSTEM_INPUT {52416C20-1D93-11EC-8002444553540000}
SYSTEM_INPUT_NAME Plantronics Savi 7xx
SYSTEM_INPUT_REMARKS SYSTEM_GAMEPAD_AXIS 0 SYSTEM_GAMEPAD_BUTTON 0 SYSTEM_GAMEPAD_FOV 0
SYSTEM_INPUT {52416C20-1D93-11EC-8003444553540000}
SYSTEM_INPUT_NAME Gaming Mouse G302
SYSTEM_INPUT_REMARKS SYSTEM_GAMEPAD_AXIS 0 SYSTEM_GAMEPAD_BUTTON 0 SYSTEM_GAMEPAD_FOV 0
SYSTEM_INPUT {52416C20-1D93-11EC-8004444553540000}
SYSTEM_INPUT_NAME Plantronics Savi 7xx
SYSTEM_INPUT_REMARKS SYSTEM_GAMEPAD_AXIS 0 SYSTEM_GAMEPAD_BUTTON 0 SYSTEM_GAMEPAD_FOV 0
SYSTEM_INPUT {52416C20-1D93-11EC-8006444553540000}
SYSTEM_INPUT_NAME Plantronics Savi 7xx
SYSTEM_INPUT_REMARKS SYSTEM_GAMEPAD_AXIS 0 SYSTEM_GAMEPAD_BUTTON 0 SYSTEM_GAMEPAD_FOV 0
SYSTEM_INPUT {52416C20-1D93-11EC-8005444553540000}
SYSTEM_INPUT_NAME Gaming Keyboard G410
SYSTEM_INPUT_REMARKS SYSTEM_GAMEPAD_AXIS 0 SYSTEM_GAMEPAD_BUTTON 7 SYSTEM_GAMEPAD_FOV 0
SYSTEM_INPUT {5243B610-1D93-11EC-8009444553540000}
SYSTEM_INPUT_NAME Gaming Keyboard G410
SYSTEM_INPUT_REMARKS SYSTEM_GAMEPAD_AXIS 0 SYSTEM_GAMEPAD_BUTTON 0 SYSTEM_GAMEPAD_FOV 0
SYSTEM_INPUT {5243B610-1D93-11EC-800A444553540000}
SYSTEM_INPUT_NAME Gaming Mouse G302
SYSTEM_INPUT_REMARKS SYSTEM_GAMEPAD_AXIS 0 SYSTEM_GAMEPAD_BUTTON 652 SYSTEM_GAMEPAD_FOV 0
SYSTEM_INPUT {5243B610-1D93-11EC-800B444553540000}
SYSTEM_INPUT_NAME Gaming Keyboard G410
SYSTEM_INPUT_REMARKS SYSTEM_GAMEPAD_AXIS 0 SYSTEM_GAMEPAD_BUTTON 0 SYSTEM_GAMEPAD_FOV 0
SYSTEM_INPUT {5243B610-1D93-11EC-800C444553540000}
SYSTEM_INPUT_NAME Gaming Mouse G302
SYSTEM_INPUT_REMARKS SYSTEM_GAMEPAD_AXIS 0 SYSTEM_GAMEPAD_BUTTON 3 SYSTEM_GAMEPAD_FOV 0
SYSTEM_INPUT {5243B610-1D93-11EC-800D444553540000}
SYSTEM_INPUT_NAME Plantronics Savi 7xx
SYSTEM_INPUT_REMARKS SYSTEM_GAMEPAD_AXIS 0 SYSTEM_GAMEPAD_BUTTON 2 SYSTEM_GAMEPAD_FOV 0
SYSTEM_INPUT {11FF28DE-28DE-0001-0000504944564944}
SYSTEM_INPUT_NAME Controller (XBOX 360 For Windows)
SYSTEM_INPUT_REMARKS SYSTEM_GAMEPAD_AXIS 5 SYSTEM_GAMEPAD_BUTTON 10 SYSTEM_GAMEPAD_FOV 1