A Suggestion For People Having Audio Crackling On Windows

For people running into audio crackling, I have a few suggestions that may work for you as I've had to deal with this issue with other games. This is unlikely to work for everyone, but it is a place to start.

First, I'd suggest setting 3D Audio to Off under Audio, in Settings, inside Veilguard. This 3D audio processing in-game can conflict with many other types of software and hardware that have other similar features and this can create the crackling that some people are seeing.

Now try Veilguard and see if the sound is fixed. If not, proceed with further steps below.

Under Sound Preset, if you are using headphones, set it to "Headphones". If you aren't using headphones try setting it to "Wide Dynamic" as limiting the dynamic range can sometimes cause clipping in audio that can sound like popping or crackling.

Now try Veilguard and see if the sound is fixed. If not, proceed with further steps below.

If this doesn't work you can try turning off any software audio processing that you have running. Most of the time it will be something like SRS, Dolby, DTS Unbound, Boom, etc... these are all software solutions that are meant to make the audio on your system sound better, but they can sometimes conflict with the audio output for games, and when they conflict you can get a very distinct crackling noise in the games audio. If you have any software that is installed that has to do with your audio, open it up and see if it is enabled/turned on/active/etc... if it is, turn it off, and then see if that fixes the issue. There is a good chance you may never have actually opened this piece of software before, this software tends to come installed on systems and is something we never have to think about, so you may have to look around your system to find if you actually have anything like that running.

Now try Veilguard and see if the sound is fixed. If not, proceed with further steps below.

My last suggestion is a little complicated, but I find it tends to help if all else fails. Press the Windows key + R together, this should pop up a box that says "Run". In this box you want to type two words, control panel, then either click OK or press enter on your keyboard This will make the control panel for your Windows system pop up. You'll want to double click the icon that says Sound. Under this list should be something that says "Speakers" or "Headphones" with a green circle with a checkmark on the icon. This is your default audio output. Double click that icon that has the green checkmark. This should cause a box to pop up with 4 tabs on the top. You'll want to click the one that says Advanced. Here is where we are going to try a few things to see if changing them will fix your problem. Make sure to hit "OK" after every major change so it stays that way, if you click "Cancel" or click the X in the corner without clicking "OK" the changes you make will not stay.

Before you do anything, take a screenshot, or write down everything that you change, so you can change it back if it doesn't work or causes a problem! You always want to be able to undo a change you have made if it fails to work. In the first box that says Default Format at the top look if it says "24 bit, 48000 Hz" if not, click that box and change it so that it does. Next you want to click the button next to it that has a green triangle and the word Test. If that setting is acceptable for your system it should make a sound you can hear. If it doesn't, then that setting won't work for your system. If it doesn't work click that box and change it to "16 bit, 48000 Hz" and click the test button again. If it makes a sound we can go to the next step, if it doesn't, change it back to the original value it has before we changed anything.

Now try Veilguard and see if the sound is fixed. If not, proceed with further steps below.

Go down a little bit and there should be a box that says Exclusive Mode. Make sure that both entries in this box are checked.

Go down a little more and there should be a box that says Hardware Acceleration. Make sure the box is checked.

Go down a little more and there should be a box that says Signal Enhancements. Make sure that box is unchecked.

Next, click the next tab after Advanced which should be "Spatial Sound" make sure the box in that tab says "Off" if not, click it and change it to "Off".

Now click the OK button at the bottom of this window.

Click OK on the next window, and then click the X in the corner of the windows that is the Control Panel.

Now try Veilguard and see if the sound is fixed. If not, proceed with further steps below.

If none of this works, chances are it is something that is specific to your hardware that needs to be changed, or the game itself needs to be patched, so you will need to look into the issue further or get help on an individual basis.

Best of luck!