Please PROPERLY address audio stuttering issue

[EldricBloodflower]

Has anyone tried a full reinstall of the game? I'm considering it as an option, but I'd rather not go through that if it's gonna be for naught.

I went one step further tonight and completely re-installed my windows haha. So complete fresh install the works, only thing re-installed is my grapics drivers - and sadly the sound issue still stutters and persists. Only game it seems to do this on.

[minopoki]

I went one step further tonight and completely re-installed my windows haha. So complete fresh install the works, only thing re-installed is my grapics drivers - and sadly the sound issue still stutters and persists. Only game it seems to do this on.

Argh this thing seems really unavoidable, it's so annoying.

I have btw tried to reinstall the game, uninstalling it from an HD and installing it to SSD, which made no difference at all.

[Maeklos]

The issue seems to lie with AMD FX-series cpu's. And possibly a few other AMD chips.

[eszett]

Experiencing this as well, no suggested fixes have worked and this makes content with audio cues and the like almost impossible to beat. AMD FX as well on my computer.

[Vyncet]

The issue seems to lie with AMD FX-series cpu's. And possibly a few other AMD chips.

It's not just AMD. There are people in the links with Intel and Nvidia components with this issue as well.

[Maeklos]

It's not just AMD. There are people in the links with Intel and Nvidia components with this issue as well.

Oof. Considering that the AMD FX series chips were on a broad range of PCs for a number of years, I'm surprised that they slipped through testing. But throw in Intel and Nvidia, too? Ouch. That's a whole bunch of balls dropped. Here's hoping that they offer an option to revert to the previous sound engine while they fix the bugs in this one. Because if they don't...

Sorry, Yoshi-P and everyone else. I'm sure Endwalker is brilliant, but you won't be getting my re-up money if the sound is literally headache-inducing audio garbage.

[Grimno]

It's funny, back when Halo: The Master Chief Collection came out and had only Halo: Reach available, folks were having audio issues there as well.
Very similar too, with crackling and popping and distorted effects. If you search for "Halo Reach Audio Issues" on YouTube, there's a ton of videos of it.
343 had to eventually patch it but they took so long to do so. If I remember correctly, it was because trying to convert audio from an older game to newer systems messed with the compatibility.

[EvilKiwi]

Bumping this up too. Never have I ever had this problem with any of the expansions. What helped me a little bit was changing the audio quality on my PC, along with going to dx9, putting listening position to character and lowerin the volume of sound effects. But it is still there. The audio is SHIT now, and I hate playing on dx9.

This isn't just ''lol it's your fault''. I have new games on my older game PC (Like Baldur's Gate 3, and that's graphically MORE challenging on my PC than FFXIV which plays at nice 50 ish FPS), and that NEVER happened there.

I may be fortuonate that I did not start at the launch of the expansion, but if this is still there, after almost 20 days and the fix did NOTHING then that's not us. I feel sorry for the players who have had this problem since the beggining of the expansion. This might seem drastic, but I canceled my subscription and if it is not fixed I won't be ressubing. I can just play other games with no problems that won't say that it is our PC's fault. Absolutely unacceptable.

[Austratus]

I feel like maybe it's been a little less for me since patch 6.01 launched, but I still have audio stutter issues when entering combat and the "fix" mentioned in the patch notes (to lower the audio quality to each device) really doesn't help.

I'm hoping this can be continued to be looked into, because it's a mark on an otherwise stellar expansion IMO.

[Teiren]

Adding my voice to this issue.

The only audio issues I had since 6.0 and before 6.0.1 were as follows:
- Something a little weird with the bass, I think, but not terrible.
- Absolutely no combo sound (not low volume, actually no sound).
- Other people's action volume low, although still audible.
- Combat voices of both PCs and NPCs much louder than they should be. Even the unvoiced sound effect volumes of some NPCs' auto-attack (such as Midgardsormr) or getting hit (such as The Griffin) are strangely high.
- Money sound when buying/selling items considerably loud.

I had no audio stuttering problem of any kind at any time before 6.0.1. Now, after 6.0.1, I'm having the same stuttering problem as countless others during combat with normal settings. I also always get it for a few seconds upon logging into an inn room, oddly enough. Changing bit rate and/or hz does nothing at all, nor muting & unmuting Master Volume or muting Ambient Sounds. I never get an FPS drop during it.

The only thing that seems to affect it is setting Listening Position to 100 (not even 95, but 100), and even then it's not a 100% fix; stuttering can still crop up sometimes but much less often then. However, such a setting is naturally uncomfortable and not a solution. Moving camera around so you don't see as many things also seems to affect it. With 6.0.1, I do hear the weaponskill combo sound again, but it's a little quieter than it should be, which implies the intrinsic root cause of the issue is not dealt with.

It seems what someone said in a Reddit thread is the key: It has to do with how many objects are between you and your target or the source. ALL signs point to the awful Spatial Audio as the cause, or more specifically, the engine being changed to support it. It all feels at least a tiny bit weird and just off, honestly, even when it is working.

Please, for the love of god, get rid of Spatial Audio so you can go back to 5.5 sound engine. The game is ruined at its BEST time. To say this is not good is the biggest understatement one could make about FFXIV. If nothing else, please undo whatever was done in 6.0.1 because that only made it worse, or in my case, actually added the stuttering when I had none anywhere before. I'm begging you.