Combat Sound Effects Distorted

[Ellvar]

Going to add my voice to this. Sound has been perfect for me since Friday, then this evening when I finally was able to continue MSQ(which I only started two days ago, because I was playing with a friend who couldn't manage to get through the server queues without dc'ing until two days ago), I have music and I have menu sounds but all sound effects and voices have gone. It's so disorientating that I can't stomach continuing MSQ even if I was able to accept the degraded experience, I notice it continuously and find it extremely jarring. I can't attempt to restart the game to see if that helps because my server has a 2k+ queue(and growing) and the odds of dc are very high meaning I likely wouldn't get back in anyway.

So of the 5 possible days I could potentially have played MSQ, I've only been able play it on two of them between queues, dc's and now sound issues.

This isn't the worst mmo expansion launch I've experienced, not by a long way, but it's gradually creeping it's way up there and after today it's probably nudged it's way into the top 5.

[Katalin]

I just had this happen in Castrum. All combat sounds gone. I did find this though, which is less than ideal considering que times. https://dotesports.com/mmo/news/how-...al-fantasy-xiv

[sanctimony]

definitely having the same kind of issue. playing in borderless windowed here, but does it with the other two options as well from what i can gather.

for me, everything like bgm and ui sounds are perfectly loud and clear, but any sound coming from characters (skills, footsteps, emotes, etc.) very 'far away' and muffled sounding, but not as though the 'distance from character' sound settings have been tinkered with. it's usually fine when i log in, but then it eventually does this when i enter a duty or do anything. not a huge thing that will impact my gameplay, but definitely a bit of an annoyance since i'm a very sound-oriented player.

[Darneltia]

Greetings fellow Eorzean,

We apologize for the inconvenience you have experienced with sound issues on Final Fantasy XIV. We have compiled a list of current issues with the game including sound related ones here (the issue may be related to the sound driver problem with the game):

https://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodes...d6d790145bcf41

We appreciate your patience and understanding regarding this matter and ask that you try again at a later time to see if the issue persists along with keeping an eye out on the Lodestone website when further updates will become available.

Thank you for visiting the Final Fantasy XIV Technical Support forums!

[Xerkrosis]

Open the Windows control panel, select your default audio device, and view properties. Then, under the Advanced tab, select a lower setting for the default format. (A lower bit rate and Hz range is less system intensive.)

That's just laughable, when it's already at 48kHz, 16 bit. And I'm still astonished how much SE wants to roll issues off at the user. Not only connectivity issues but now also sound issues.
Really hope todays patch fixes the muffled combat sounds (for me only combat sounds, not anything else!).

/edit

Can't really tell if it's back to normal or not now. It's been some time. Think it's gotten better but at the same time just slightly seems off.
Wonder how others think about it.

[Kenpai]

Came here to say that after 6.01, I'm still having the same sound issues. Heavy stuttering when attacking a dummy, both sound effects and music. I've also set my audio settings to the lowest they can possibly go, and I still can't do it. On DX9, it's bearable (but still pops every once in awhile).

[Narissa]

I am having the same issue Audio is heavily stuttering in combat, its gotten worse infact, its somehow gotten even louder.. Its extremely annoying and it puts me off even wanting to do anything..

Problem is now, if I turn on DX9, the game will blackscreen every now and then and literally load forever and then just crash.. which means helllooo queue.

This sucks, its clear its coming from the game, I've tried 4 different headsets and speakers, played other games (no issues) and tested the audio on my PC.. This only started happening when I dl'd endwalker.

Edit: Its also happening on occasion, outside of combat aswell, in cities and in housing zones

[Potchoko]

my problem does not only occur in battle, it occurs everywhere, even using the sprint alone on the interference map, I always played without problems, it was the day the 6.0 patch came out that the problem started

same problem, today's new patch didn't solve the problem, lowering the bitrate didn't solve the problem either.

if the patch came and it didn't solve it, God knows when, it's hard to renew the monthly fee like that


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edit

oh a detail, i know it has nothing to do with it but i have the same problem in final fantasy 7 on pc, it seems that square enix is ​​passing the same problem to new games
Amazing that these are similar problems with products from the same company, no other game has a problem on my pc, only these new ones from Square Enix

[Devellix]

Today's patch 6.01 did nothing tbh. It is extremely off putting, having hyped up for Endwalker only to not be able to enjoy the audio of it. Epic moments like fighting the final boss of 6.0 were only filled with absolute frustration. Had to listen to the song/watch the fight on YouTube after.

I have a friend that says he and some people weren't affected by it at all.

On the other hand, look at the mass of people who are having this issue, myself included.

I'm aware Square might have a lot on their hands right now with the servers and all, but to drop this new sound engine at the start of an expansion lots of us looked forward to, only to not be able to fully enjoy the amazing music Soken makes was a bit of a bad decision. They could've tested the sound engine pre-expansion with us like they stress tested the servers.

I've already tried plenty of the things suggested before, nothing really works. I keep far away from heavily populated regions cause I don't want to hear Jimmy over there spamming their emotes over and over, or the random bard performing, so I noticed this issue in combat mainly. More research and experimenting is in order, I suppose. Or am I to be expected to purchase new PC parts...

I love this game, I really do, but god damn this expansion launch felt like a massive flop.

[Xerkrosis]

[...] its gotten worse infact, its somehow gotten even louder.. [...]

They increased the volume of combat sfx.