Re: Audio crackling or popping on usb razer headset.

I am playing on PC and since patch 1.03 have run into a few issues, performance is worse in some areas, the framerate will drop by at least 50%, but it usually doesn't last long. But the main issue is I just started chapter 8 and went back to Engineering to work on one of the side quests that requires Level 3 Security Clearance. I walked into the control room, the main one on the Engineering Deck with the Store and Save Station. I was attacked by a slasher and two pregnant's, after killing the second one my sound cut out, just in the game though everything else still had sound. I went to exit the game and it froze and forced me to reboot.  

I've been having this issue with audio popping and crackling in quality. I've reinstalled the game and tried other solutions I've read online with no luck. It's incredibly irritating between the stutters and pop in. There's a thread on reddit about this same exact problem so I know it's common for some people. Does anybody know of a way to fix this? Or is anyone having the same issue? This needs to be patched man ☹️  

Agree, after the last patch, nothing has changed, the sound  crackling/popping in the menu, stutters before cutscenes and when moving to a new location, as if the location freezes. Also, an attempt to load a save  during the game leads to a black screen

Hey Everyone, 

I wanted to drop in real quick and check if anyone is still hearing audio stuttering/crackling while playing?

If so could you share the following info:

Platform:

Audio Device:

Connection Method (wired, Bluetooth):

Are you using an internal or external drive?

Are you using an HDD or SSD?

If possible, share a Clip...

If on PC, please share a DxDiag

Cheers!

I can't share a clip as the game will freeze my entire system (an ongoing issue that still has not been addressed). I do still get the audio issues when the game first loads to the main menu, and when starting the game... Before the lockup that is...

I don't know if you'll see the RAM usage there, but it is ignorable. I'm running a game server currently. When attempting to play the game, I close all other applications. DS is installed on my main M.2 NVMe drive.

My headset is a SteelSeries Arcits 7 set to 2 channel, 16 bit, 48000 Hz.SteelSeries GG engine was not running at any point.

Platform: PC

Audio Device: Astro A40

Connection Method (wired, Bluetooth): Wired

Are you using an internal or external drive? Internal SSD

Are you using an HDD or SSD? SSD

If possible, share a Clip... I've tried to clip the audio popping but it doesn't seem to appear in the recording. I've tried two different pairs of headphones as well, same issue. 

If on PC, please share a DxDiag

This trick is old but who knows.

While in game Press Ctrl + Shift + Esc to start Task Manager.

Go to the Details tab, find DS exe right click on it and choose set priority high.

i havent tried it again since the patch, i stopped playing until stuttering and everything is fixed, will try it again later and post a video if its still doing it

The fact that the actual game is fine, and this only happens when the menu is involved, leads me to think that only a patch will fix this crackling/stuttering sound issue. 
I have tried the majority of all fixes provided, to no avail. 

Having the exact same issues, i believe you are talking about the elevator door, in the medical bay, opposite of the shop, opening that door tanks my frame rate, i haven't progressed after that. Does it get better? 

I too have a black screen, when loading a custom save. 

Idk why none of this stuff is acknowledged yet. 

I am also having audio crackle issues. Seems to stop happening after loading in from death where the game will compile shaders, but will start happening again.

Specs:
CPU: Ryzen 5 5500
GPU: RTX 3060
RAM: 32GB DDR4
OS: Windows 11 Pro

Running the game off an m.2 nvme drive as well.

Edit: Playing the steam version if that helps at all.

Hi,

Still getting the audio crackling/popping issues, sluggish menus etc.

These seem to coincide with the graining graphics effect that sporadically appears. I've attached a link to a video showing this. 

Audio Device:

Realtek on board sound, pc speakers

Connection Method (wired, Bluetooth):

Wireless to router/internet

Are you using an internal or external drive?

Internal

Are you using an HDD or SSD?

SSD

If possible, share a Clip...

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1muI_NpK5ttINas7--Sdru4US-l0iIVCK?usp=sharing

If on PC, please share a DxDiag

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1muI_NpK5ttINas7--Sdru4US-l0iIVCK?usp=sharing

Thanks!

This seems to confirm that it is not a hardware issue. You are experiencing this using a Nvidia GPU while I have the same issue using a Radeon GPU (RX 6600). I'm using a SATA SSD while you are using an NMVE. And you are using STEAM while I am using EA's proprietary launcher, EA Play. These differences change nothing as we are all experiencing this crackling/popping audio in the menu and in the game as well (also some people are running the game on Windows 10 and I have Windows 11). Hence, this is definitely an issue software related (with the game itself). I would be curious to know the PC Hardware of the people that are actually able to run the game and not experiencing this issue.  

@spd1975Your video displays the exact same issue I am experiencing. Thank you for posting it. 

@High_Technic it does not appear to be specific to hardware whatsoever. Something in the Frostbite engine is not cooperating well with systems, and there is no clear indication (at least to plebian users such as myself) as to what the problem is specific to. The issues range from minor studdering and audio issues all the way to full system lock up and have affected everything from a GTX 970 and intel i5-3xxx to RTX 4090 and i9-13xxxKF (lowest AMD I've seen thus far: RX 580, Ryzen 5 3600, highest: RX 7900 XT, Ryzen 7 7700X). Basically, the entire sweep of the steam compatibility survey. 

I don't know if there has been any success with people who have wiped their systems clean and tried again, which may indicate an issue with drivers. When I was getting DirectX errors and the game simply crashed, I was getting crash dump logs that contained messages about the Frostbite engine sending invalid DirectX commands to the GPU, and the GPU driver was crashing as a response. After following all the recommended actions by EA community managers, my GPU just quits. Full stop. Complete system lock. So locked up, holding the power button doesn't even turn it off. 

So yes, this is not a hardware issue. EA devs really need to get working on this 'Invalid command was sent to the GPU' issue.

I don't even think a clean wipe would change anything considering the fact that I just upgraded to Windows 11 with my computer having very few applications (let alone ones that would create a conflict with the Game with the most up-to-date GPU drivers). And frankly, no one should ever have to format their PC to simply get a game to work (especially one so recent). It's pretty baffling that some Triple-A games are so badly optimized when they definitely are a big draw in PC Gaming (while I understand that EA might have prioritized the Dead Space Remake Console Versions).    

And how did your power button not turn off the computer?! How did you reboot it? By completely unplugging it?! 

Two weeks on, a long wait for a patch and then nothing fixed that has been documented in this thread. Audio still crackling, popping, menus and gameplay lagging and stuttering. No acknowledgement from CMs or devs. Not good at all. 

Yes it's all captured in the video and I've also attached the dxdiag output. It looks like another patch may be incoming soon but I am not holding my breath. I am wondering if this issue is now just being ignored. However, due to complete lack of comms we will never know.

https://steamdb.info/app/1693980/depots/

I uninstalled the game and requested a refund. I thought I would come back to this thread expecting the latest patch (released a week ago) would have fixed this crackling issue. Pretty bad that this is not the case.