loss of sound on mass effect andromeda
After a period playing mass effect andromeda in multiplayer, the audio completely cuts out leaving just voice comms playing in the background. It makes multiplayer absolutely dreadful. It is like suddenly losing one of your 5 senses. So this leaves you unable to hear anything thats going on, and you are completely reliant on what you can see on screen in the hope you won't seem like you are playing really bad as part of your team.
Here is the problem demonstrated in a youtube video that i uploaded:
When first discovered: Patch 1.05 first week of April 2017.
Current Patch: 1.10 (released 31/07/2017)
Number of attempts to fix or provide means of workaround since discovery: 0
Number of full calendar months unfixed: 3
Its really quite random when it happens, and so far the only work around that works is restarting the entire game. I don't think this is an acceptable fix but its the only one that works.
I have many games and none of them are giving audio issues like this, so please fix this as i was really starting to like Mass Effect Andromeda.
Please fix the audio for multi-player! It's bad enough having a dumbed down experience compared to mass effect 2 & 3 music wise, but to lose sound altogether is something else entirely. It is especially frustrating when you get into a good team that works well together and then have to dump the team at the end of the game you are in because of a technical issue with no sound for the entire game.
I have listed as many of the things i've tried below. None have been successful Whilst you can play quite happily for a while with sound, the issue happens all of a sudden and without warning, and with no clear indicator or pre-cursor to it happening, there is no way to prevent or predict it happening.
Actions:
driver update of both soundblaster audigy and nvidia gpu drivers. - no effect same problem occurs
disable hdmi outputs so that only the sound card one remains - no effect. same problem occurs
disabling shadowplay - no efffect same problem occurs
muting all players prior to match - no effect same problem occurs
disabling VoIP - no effect same problem occurs
running game in a window - no effect same problem occurs
tested both on speakers AND usb headset - no effect. same problem occurs.
disable microsoft game bar - no effect same problem occurs
change audio settings to nighttime etc. - no effect same problem occurs
play game in stereo rather than surround sound - no effect. same problem occurs
checked event logs for possible clues - none found. system reporting no issues.
Tested by hosting game and also joining games - same problem occurs regardless.
Checked for possible workarounds for previous frostbite engine games - found suggestions but variable not supported in ME:A - no effect.
Tested with Breakaway audio enhancer - no effect. same problem occurs
Tested switching audio playback device to another device then back again to reset audio - no effect, same problem occurs.
Tested with 16-Bit DVD Audio quality and 16-Bit CD Audio quality - no effect same problem occurs.
Tested with Origin overlay not loaded into game - no effect. same problem occurs
Tested with 'Run as administrator for Origin & game - no effect. same problem occurs
Tested disable/enable audio device to get sound back - no effect. restart of game only way to get sound back
Tested Stop/Start of audiosrv and AudionEndpointBuilder services to get sound back - no effect. restart of game only way to get sound back
Tested 'Do nothing' on communications tab for sound in windows - no effect. problem still occured.
Patch notes and summary of any changes to sound related issues:
Patch 1.04 - Release date, March 20th/21st 2017 Patch notes for 1.04 and early access
- Fixed an issue causing players to stop hearing their characters audio and start hearing another players instead
Patch 1.05 - Release date, April 4th 2017 Patch notes for 1.05
- No fixes or changes to audio in this patch.
Patch 1.06 - Release date, May 9th, 2017 Patch notes for 1.06
- No fixes or changes to audio in this patch.
Hotfix 1.07 - Release date May 18th, 2017
- No fixes or changes to audio in this hotfix.
Patch 1.08 - Release date, June 8th, 2017 Patch notes for 1.08
- Fixed issue where ammo pick-up audio incorrectly played
- Improved visual and audio cues for player ready status in Multiplayer lobbies
Patch 1.09 - Release date, July 6th, 2017 Patch notes for 1.09
- No fix, attempt to fix, workaround or anything with regards this loss of sound issue.
Patch 1.10 - Release date, July 31st, 2017 Patch notes for 1.10
- No fix, attempt to fix, workaround or anything with regards this loss of sound issue.
Last patch to have included any change to audio in multiplayer: 1.08 (June 8th 2017)
Many players suspect patch 1.05 broke the audio in multiplayer somehow, but as I opened this post originally 3 days after patch 1.05 i am inclined to agree. I beat single player on 30th april, and it is highly likely i was playing multiplayer from the first day of May, so i would have experienced this problem sooner than the date of this post i'm sure AND posted about it sooner. June's 1.08 patch did not bring forth any improvements towards this issue.