Audio popping issue

Hi!

Anyone having a very annoying popping audio issue since Endwalker dropped? In the link below you can hear the problem yourself. (WARNING: CONTAINS 5 SECONDS OF FIRST DUNGEON SPOILERS)

https://youtu.be/VkiGv3nhXxM

If you don't wanna see the video, the quick rundown is: Randomly, anywhere or at any time, the audio will "pop" at a very loud volume and rate. As if you were turning your headset on and off 10 times a second, with a loud but fast static pop at the end.

I am 87% certain this a "game issue" since I played up untill yesterday's maintenance and 1.5k hours previous to that without ever meeting a problem like this. Also, this problem does not present itself in any other game.

The even weirder thing is that sometimes the voices in the cutscene will still be clear while the bg music pops, sometimes only the voice pops, or both of them pop at the same time.

Here's a few things I've tried to trouble shoot this:
- Deactivate DirectX 11
- Turn graphical settings all the way down
- Reinstall audio and GPU drivers
- Install the new 3d audio system third party software
- Reinstall the whole game (actually more like checking the game integrity option in the launcher that DID download the whole game again)

Any extra tips or ideas would be greatly appreciated. I do not believe this is a problem with my pc in itself, altough, due to exaustion of options, am starting to go down that route.

I'm having the exact same issue. It happens very, very frequently in combat of any kind, but it can, and has happened anywhere for me, even when waiting in the login queue.

I seemed to observe it more when I tasked out to look at my web browser, and earlier in the day I had several work-related things I was taking care of. I figured I was probably taxing my CPU too much (task manager read >90% for hours on end due to what all I was running at once).

Now that work is done, I shut down all foreground apps except the game (which has been restarted multiple times today), Edge, and discord (without being connected to a voice channel). I even shut down some background processes that I normally don't bother with unless they've decided to hog CPU and cause severe FPS drops just to make certain those weren't it.

None of that made any difference. Figuring it might just be that the latest client is a bit beyond my machine, I turned the graphics settings from the "Maximum" preset (which has been fine for me throughout all of shadowbringers) all the way to "Standard Laptop", to no avail. I took a look at task manager during this experiment, and CPU usage was just ~40% with no single core maxed out. Whatever is going on with the sound isn't caused by a lack of available CPU resources.

I'm attempting one more thing I can do from my end to work around the issue: Forcing windows to run FFXIV with an "above normal" priority just in case the issue is caused by screwy buffering/scheduling of resources. Hopefully I can get past the login queue this evening to test it out. It's a shame I couldn't test it earlier when I was regularly relogging to queues of just 40-100 players that would take 1-2 minutes tops to get through.

Do you guys or anyone might know the issue with as soon as I open the game on dx11, the sound starts cracking. But works just fine in dx9.

I've been looking at various posts and it seems different people have been experiencing different issues related to sound. For some, they get music, but no battle sound effects at all. In my case, I hear everything, and sometimes it plays just fine, but then it'll start crackling very badly, both music and sound effects. It happens much more noticeably whenever there's a lot going on in screen in my case, but I've had it happen in the login queue and in the inn room where there aren't other players/effects causing abnormal load on the game client.

In my case, when it does happen, my FPS also tends to drop severely, like down to 10-12 FPS when it normally runs a solid 59-60 (I have it limited to not exceed vsync). Normally an FPS drop occurs when maxing out the CPU or the GPU, though I've seen it happen with the CPU at only about 60%. I haven't checked the GPU load, but my GPU significantly outclasses my CPU and has never been taxed by FFXIV before. FFXIV, when bottlenecked, has always been because of CPU on my system. The CPU/GPU mismatch is due to 1, thinking I would have upgraded the CPU around no (thanks COVID), and 2, another game I play which requires an absurdly high amount of memory on the GFX card. That game tends to more evenly tax both CPU and GPU at the same time, but I have been wanting to update my CPU for more than year now.

Damn it. I've been trying to fix the issue as well for the past few hours... I was convinced that it was on my end. Well, it's my hardware that might be outdated but I had no issue with the game before EW patch. I have tried everything: checked hyperx headset dongle and jack, played with windows sound settings and drivers, updated my gpu drivers as well, game settings, gpu clocking. Anything really. Made me very much close to losing my mind, especially with addition of the gigantic queues. The only thing that seems to somewhat work is going back to directx 9. Let me know if anyone of you ends up finding a permanent solution to this issue.

Having similar issues myself. When I reached the first story dungeon, the audio began to just fail entirely. When it came back, I only had music and no sound effects.

Thanks for all your inputs! I am now convinced that with the release of the new third party 3d sound system, bugs were implemented that somehow affect some players specifically (either because we have older audio devices, or just an unlucky combination of pieces we share in common).
I believe we will, or rather hope to, see a hot fix of audio issues in the next days to come.

In the meanwhile, the ONLY thing I've managed to do to get SOME remedy is to close literally every single other application that could consume GPU/CPU cycles. Close everything, play only the game. This has solved MOST of the ambient stuttering and voice stuttering in the overworld and in cutscenes, but you even THINK about doing anything combat related and the popping will begin again.

So ive had the same issue but on top of that Framedrops and Freezes accompanying the audio crackle.
Ive tested several settings, from the maximum to the absolute minimum, and the only thing that alleviated the issue was restarting the game and switching to DX9.
I have to see if the issue reappears, but now that everything seems to work perfectly i am certain that the issue is gameside.
Especially since i played up until the patch without EVER experiencing anything similar in ~900 hours of gametime

same here, the combat sounds exactly like the one in your video.
Cutscenes and overworld sound works fine. Changing to DX9, reinstalling the Game or changing audio devices did nothing.
I guess i have to play Endwalker with combat sounds off....

Having the same issue, and it's really bumming me out. I switched to dx9 and it doesn't seem to be as crazy.
It mostly happens with combat when there's more than just myself and another person involved, but every so often I'll notice it stutter randomly if someone runs by. Also been noticing a few little graphical hiccups here or there and just recently had my game crash when trying to teleport.

My audio sounds just like the clip that was posted. I also have checked graphics drivers being up to date, audio drivers, checking with a set of speakers, windows update, reinstalling FFXIV, checking to see if windows was trying to "enhance" the audio in device settings, using a usb adaptor, and no success.

Seeing from other replies I might try to change to dx9 to see if that helps, but it also seems to not be fixing it completely according to those replies.

Hi all,

I had this same issue with a Logitech wireless headset. For me changing equalizer mode to "standard" from audio settings solved everything. Also running DX11 with a very old system.

I have sat 4 hours in a queue just to log in and experience the same issues even outside combat. Sound stutter in major city, with static noise on certain parts of the background music. Literally unplayable thanks to how annoying it is. Listening to it would give you a headache after a 30m or so. I've tried to experiment with different settings and stuff. I had launched the client again in a separate window, and logged in at the same time as my character was online - to avoid getting back to the queue. Sadly, didn't work. Back to 9k queue... Maybe in 6 HOURS I will be able to test if I can solve this ridiculous bug. Makes me not want to play the game. I'm still a newbie as my discord pals had made me get the game so I can have fun with them but I don't know if it's worth at this point. Plus, the sub time is running while I haven't been able to play it for 2 days now. :((
>inb4 just play without sound
Yeah... a story game without sound sounds BIS, indeed.

Type sound mixer options in your windows search bar with the game open in dx11 mode. make sure the game has an output device selected. mine was blank.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Yahmosa

Type sound mixer options in your windows search bar with the game open in dx11 mode. make sure the game has an output device selected. mine was blank.

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I did this with DX11, and then as a preemptive measure I went ahead and set my listening position to 100, and then halved the player effects volumes for both self, party, and other PCs.

So far it's been working fine with no stuttering.

Bump: having the same issues. There's no in game setting, windows audio sampling rate, audio output hardware that has worked for me yet. I've tried several ideas people have said fixed it for them, but nothing worked for me yet. I went the nuclear option last night, wiped the game, windows updates, updated realtek drivers, flashed bios, disabled malware/virus protect, no nvidia audio, set audio sampling Hz, reinstalled game, nothing worked. The stuttering intensifies over time for me and makes the game unplayable. I was ready for long queues and congested servers, but having to mess around with windows drivers and audio is very annoying to put it lightly.

This is the extreme showcase of the audio issue I'm facing. Recording it made it even worse, but the issue is also present outside of combat as you can see in the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xVDG5YSDA9o
I really don't know how I can fix it anymore. I'm out of ideas.

Bump having this issue, nothing recommended anywhere has fixed. DX9 seems to make it occur less frequently but the bug is still very much there.

Happening for me as well. The exact same as the videos posted here. What I have found strange is that certain areas seem worse than others. Like, I can do a FATE in Western/Central/Eastern Thanalan and it stutters like crazy. I do FATEs out in La Noscea and it doesn’t stutter at all. I did The Aery as part of my MSQ and it stuttered as well but not as bad as Thanalan. The cutscene after had some skips with the dialogue but it wasn’t as bad as gameplay.

It’s ruining my enjoyment of the game way more than the long ques because the ques I expected as part of an expansion launch. Not sound issues.

My gf has been having this same issue, most prevalent in combat or in congested areas. Neither switching the khz of the audio in windows or switching to dx9 have solved the issue, don't know what to do now but submit an official bug report and hope that it's seen? Despite how prevalent audio issues have been from what i've gleamed online, it's distressing that it's not listed in the known issues thread on the lodestone. Really hope this gets solved because nothing will pull you out of the immersion harder than sitting in queue forever just to get in and find out your game audio is trapped in purgatory or something.

Having the same issue, essentially since EW update. Seems to happen more in instanced areas during battle (not only EW areas, but also older ones), although it does occur on the outside during battle as well. Any changes to the sound settings will stop the stuttering for a few seconds, but nothing I found helps solve the sound issue entirely.

I've also been having this problem. Changing my in-game audio mixer setting and changing it back helped the problem for just a few minutes, but since that time it's been continually getting worse. It's taking more than three full seconds for the opening-a-menu sound effect to play, or the chat-cursor sound effect, because it's chopping itself into so many tiny pieces.

I've just changed to DX9, which has helped just enough that my city background music will now play correctly, but this is a temporary measure at best, and I still haven't tested it in combat, which is where the worst distortion occurs.

Bumping because I've been having the same issue since yesterday. I have tried everything mentioned in this forum (and on reddit) and so far nothing has helped. The audio stuttering happens about once a minute or so and lasts about 5-10 seconds long each time. Extremely unpleasant.. it even happens in cutscenes during voiceovers.

We've been having the same issue here. We tried switching to Normal for the equalizer option and sadly it didn't fix the problem entirely. Bumping in hopes we get a fix soon.

Adding my voice into the mix as it is happening to me as well. it is mostly prevalent during combat when i am in a group but it also happens for some action sfx when i am by myself.

I've commented on another thread with a related issue, but my audio pops and stutters/lags similar to this other player's video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xVDG5YSDA9o

This is most prevalent when I am in crowded areas, changing zones, or, oddly, in a story-specific, instanced location. This impacts all sounds: BGM, voices in cutscenes, sounds in combat, etc.

So far I've tried enabling the audio add-on, changing to 44.1khz CD quality in youtube, using a USB headset, closing realtek HD audio manager, disabling dx11, and while I have made some improvements, it has not fully resolved the issue. Additionally, a few other members of my Free Company are experiencing the exact same brand of audio issue, with some of the things I have tried that have improved things not improving things at all.

It'd be nice if we could at least get acknowledgement that this is on Square's list of things to fix up alongside congestion issues and things like the undyeable paladin AF armor.

Posting to bump this thread.
Experiencing audio issues as well, crackling, mainly when entering combat with other players around.

The fact so many seem to be having issues with audio (Not just seen from posts here but tweets and posts on Reddit as well) means this ain't coincidence.

However, I'm curious since it's effecting a lot of people, but not everyone... So what is the difference here...

bumping

i am also having the same issue, ever since the beginning of EW, reinstalled everything already, directx9 helps but still doesnt fix, and having the in-game equalizer set to anything other than "normal" makes it 10x worse. happens the most in heavy combat and cutscenes.

Same issue. It first started with the music popping. I changed the equalizer to normal and it solved that. But it still does it for the battle music and i think abilities as well. Never had this problem prior to 6.0

Also having audio stuttering. mostly in combat.

I've tried switching to DX9, Uninstalling virtual audio cable, setting the default device in the app sound setting, and disabling all other audio devices. Trying to change any audio settings on my headphones with XIV open hard crashes the game, so I've been waiting the last 7 hours to get back into the game.

Sometimes combat is fine? Depends on the area and how many people are around i think. Did a trial and nothing went wrong, but it immediately got bad after.

I might have a potential fix for the audio stuttering but I haven't fully tested yet.

Turn Spatial sound off in your PC sound settings. This will require you to restart FF14 but I tried running a dungeon afterwards and encountered no issues. Before the sound was popping every time I went into combat.

bumping this in hope it gets attention. I've troubleshooted what ppl suggested here and some has helped. For me, changing the listening position to 100 has helped the most. I just did a trial, and i noticed when i would be facing/looking at the boss, audio would start to stutter/crackle. When i'd look away, it'd clear up in an instant. Interesting to see if anyone else can try this and see if the same thing happens. To me it sounds like its this spatial audio upgrade stuff they added (i did not buy or am using that new addon) which if this is what's causing this is a shame. Don't think this is something they should have done straight out of the gate at launch

Same problem here. Music keeps playing but no SFX.

I, like so many of you have been having this exact same issue ever since Endwalker hit.
Pls make sure to fill in a bug report with as much information about your system as you can.

I have made a new discovery however that leaves me almost certain that Endwalker brought a change in how audio is handled. The Audio issues are ABSOLUTELY, demonstrably related to camera position. Sound is either heard from the position of the character, or the position of the camera. When there's an obstruction of any kind, be it through an object, a wall, an asset or even certain boss's particle effects - you get audio stuttering/clipping/popping. This is why you get less issues in wide, open spaces and more issues in cramped spaces and more audio sources in different places (combat). For the time being - setting listening position all the way to character helps a little.

I've uploaded a video that illustrates the obstruction theory in 4 different instances.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sLQW6ShIkJY

hello i am also having this issue. it only happens when i am in combat, when someone near me is in combat, or someone uses a skill that might be used during combat. seems like only the bgm is getting effected though; turning it off has fixed the issue. In the meantime i'm manually playing area music on loop through youtube but that's not what i might call ideal.

earlier i also had an issue where VO wasn't playing, either in or out of cutscenes. it fixed when i restarted the game later, but i just muddled through it at the time because of queue times haha

update: moving my listening position all the way to "character" like @Elliah-Seraheart suggested fixed it, for now at least. Thanks!!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by SleepyMoony

hello i am also having this issue. it only happens when i am in combat, when someone near me is in combat, or someone uses a skill that might be used during combat. seems like only the bgm is getting effected though; turning it off has fixed the issue. In the meantime i'm manually playing area music on loop through youtube but that's not what i might call ideal.

earlier i also had an issue where VO wasn't playing, either in or out of cutscenes. it fixed when i restarted the game later, but i just muddled through it at the time because of queue times haha

update: moving my listening position all the way to "character" like @Elliah-Seraheart suggested fixed it, for now at least. Thanks!!

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I've not yet heard of someone having these issue's exclusively with BGM. For me, and many others the issue happens with any sound. Be it BGM, Sound effects, Ambient or Voices. It's an absolute mess in dungeons - and makes cutscenes almost unwatchable.

That said, I am glad you resolved your issues somewhat. Pls still make sure to send in a bug report regardless. Mentioning the issue, your specs and the fix that worked for you might help them detect the underlying cause.

I was getting a lot of problems with the sound system.

When I ran the game through my headset on Direct X 11, it would crash on startup.
I fixed it by turning off Direct X 11 mode.

However, the game now crashes on graphical problems, so I had to swap back to Direct X 11. I updated all my drivers and I was able to play the game with sound through my speakers. But the sound would pop in and out and not play randomly.

If I swapped to my headset, it would again crash.

So I tolerated the speakers popping for a while and then I ended up purchasing the sound add on and ran the sound through my headset and I haven't had problems with the sound since.

The only issue now is I can't actually play the game without my headset. As much as I love the improved sound, some times I don't want to wear my headset and unfortunately, going back to speaker mode means the audio issues come back.

bump, having the same issues, tried all the suggestions and nothing works :(

Bump, also still having issues. I've tried everything. DX9 seemed to make it worse somehow. Listening position made no difference either.