Date & Time: patch 2.0 to current (4.2)
Frequency: Any time sound card driver reenumeration occurs
World name: Any
Character name: Any
Retainer name: Any
NPC name: Any
Monster name: Any
Class/Level: Any
Party or solo: Any
In-game time: Any
Area and coordinates: Any
Housing: Any
Steps:
1. Start client DirectX9 or DirectX11.
2. Do any of the following:
  • Access computer through remote desktop (Removes all sound cards and loads a virtual sound card).
  • On sound cards that support it move analog 3.5mm jack to a different port.
  • Disable and Enable default Playback device through windows sound properties.
  • Disable and Enable Windows audio service.
  • Sound driver crash and reload
3. Notice sound is now missing in client.


Extra (Developer) Information:
Since FFXIV is utilizing XAudio 2.7 its clear IXAudio2EngineCallback::OnCriticalError method is not being utilized to reinitialize audio objects.

from https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/lib...(v=vs.85).aspx

OnCriticalError is raised if the underlying WASAPI rendering device becomes unavailable. This can occur when a headset or speaker is unplugged or when a USB audio device is removed, for example. Once a critical error has occurred, audio processing stops and all further calls to XAudio2 fail. The only way to recover in this situation is to release the XAudio2 instance and create a new one.
WM_DEVICECHANGE through he window procedure also needs to be captured to detect when a user switches the default audio device.


PC Information:

Any PC using Microsoft Windows Operating System.