Does anyone else have audio issues with Odyssey? I have popping/static sounds.

[Aaron T]

I am using a headset but have no other sound issues in any other game or program and listen to about 2 hours of music every night in very good quality.

I have played ED for years but took a little break and now just have such poor audio quality I can hardly stay in the game for more than 10 minutes at a time. Thank you.

I have checked my in-game audio settings and cannot see anything out of place.

It sounds basically what an old cheap blown speaker would sound like.

 

[oblivionmanman 2476]

no im using speakers sounds good to me,no issues,no idea whats causing youres.ive set mine with realtek audio manager set to livingroom effect live just thought id mention that.

 

[Aaron T]

Thank you. I am going to do a deep dive and see if I can fix it.

 

[Aaron T]

I got in and listened very closely and everything sounds good except while in my ships. The crackling I get from the engine sounds is horrible. Everything else I do sounds great.

 

[aRJay]

No sound issues I have noticed, I play using Sony Bluetooth earphones at the moment.

 

[KRISXR]

Yes I have noticed it since last november. It comes and goes. I tried a bunch of different settings all with the same results. It seems to go away after a few moments.

 

[londonx]

Check your PC case temp, I had this issue (revealed only in ED to my knowledge) due to too much heat on the Audio chip, perhaps from GPU exhaust or poor overall case air flow, removing the case cover is a good way to check this theory.

 

[Morbad]

Update audio drivers and/or making sure the have the right interrupt settings. Make sure your audio output format is 24-bit @ 48kHz, unless you have a very specific reason for it to be otherwise.

Adjusting Windows volume levels or using something like Equalizer APO to bypass the default APOs and apply a -4dB to -6dB preamp value can prevent clipping, which might be the cause of popping/crackling issues.

The game's AudioConfiguration.xml also contains some buffering parameters that might need to be adjusted. I personally use five buffers with a 512 sample size, which seems to do well without adding any perceptible delay

 

[rootsrat]

Make sure your audio output format is 24-bit @ 48kHz, unless you have a very specific reason for it to be otherwise.

This is the key to resolving this issue IIRC (also applicable to other apps and games).

Also, if a game/app allows you to change the audio format in its settings (Elite doesn't for the record), ensure your driver/audio chip and the game/app are set to the same frequency and quality.

 

[the100thmonkey]

I got in and listened very closely and everything sounds good except while in my ships. The crackling I get from the engine sounds is horrible. Everything else I do sounds great.

Is this in all ships? The Cobra Mk. V's engine sounds like this, especially after boosting. On that ship, I'd always assumed it to be a deliberate choice by the sound designer. I can't say I've noticed an issue elsewhere, but then I spend most of my game time right now in the Cobra or a Type 9.

IIRC, there's also an audio effect that sounds like static hiss and crackle when charging the FSD. Again, I think this is a deliberate choice.

Have you checked the volume mixer? Perhaps the game volume is set higher than other apps, leading to clipping when ship sounds play. Ideally, you want all your volume knobs (software and hardware) at significantly less than 100%. This gives the DSP and the amp headroom and also protects your hearing.

 

[Aaron T]

Is this in all ships? The Cobra Mk. V's engine sounds like this, especially after boosting. On that ship, I'd always assumed it to be a deliberate choice by the sound designer. I can't say I've noticed an issue elsewhere, but then I spend most of my game time right now in the Cobra or a Type 9.

IIRC, there's also an audio effect that sounds like static hiss and crackle when charging the FSD. Again, I think this is a deliberate choice.

Have you checked the volume mixer? Perhaps the game volume is set higher than other apps, leading to clipping when ship sounds play. Ideally, you want all your volume knobs (software and hardware) at significantly less than 100%. This gives the DSP and the amp headroom and also protects your hearing.

Thank you, I will check.

 

[KRISXR]

Update audio drivers and/or making sure the have the right interrupt settings. Make sure your audio output format is 24-bit @ 48kHz, unless you have a very specific reason for it to be otherwise.

Adjusting Windows volume levels or using something like Equalizer APO to bypass the default APOs and apply a -4dB to -6dB preamp value can prevent clipping, which might be the cause of popping/crackling issues.

The game's AudioConfiguration.xml also contains some buffering parameters that might need to be adjusted. I personally use five buffers with a 512 sample size, which seems to do well without adding any perceptible delay

Gees I thought I did check all of that, and the settings were at 24-bit @48kHz, other than the buffers, I didn't go into there. Ugh do i have to? I only notice it on fresh load ups inside a concourse, or recently when at the 15min mark. I don't notice it in space and only on concourses, but not in the FC concourse.

 

[the100thmonkey]

Gees I thought I did check all of that, and the settings were at 24-bit @48kHz, other than the buffers, I didn't go into there. Ugh do i have to? I only notice it on fresh load ups inside a concourse, or recently when at the 15min mark. I don't notice it in space and only on concourses, but not in the FC concourse.

I think you might be talking about a different (and significantly more widespread) issue that is covered in this thread.

 

[KRISXR]

I knew about the server issue. I have been noticing specifically the audio scratchy only in concourses. If you stand still it stops, if you move a tiny bit it crackles. Since the server stutter i have noticed it also cause the audio in concourses to crackle along with it. Thanks for the link and assistance. I don't think im confused... but ya never know!

 

[the100thmonkey]

I knew about the server issue. I have been noticing specifically the audio scratchy only in concourses. If you stand still it stops, if you move a tiny bit it crackles. Since the server stutter i have noticed it also cause the audio in concourses to crackle along with it. Thanks for the link and assistance. I don't think im confused... but ya never know!

Ah. Fair enough then. I'll have a listen when I log in presently, see if i can replicate. What are you using for sound? Onboard? If so, what's the motherboard?

 

[the100thmonkey]

Couldn't replicate. I'm interested in your hardware specs for comparison, especially if you're using onboard sound.

 

[KRISXR]

Couldn't replicate. I'm interested in your hardware specs for comparison, especially if you're using onboard sound.

OK...
CPU- MB Asus sabertooth 990 fx, windows 10 home, processor AMD FX 8350 4.0 GHz, 16384 mb RAM, Direct X 12. I would like to just post my Dx Diag but that may info that shouldn't be shared. let me know if you need more info about the MB.

GPU- AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT, there also is a ton of other info for the gpu, let me know if you need more specifics. I also have AMD Adrenaline software for the GPU.

So i do have an old machine I built a looong time ago, and have upgraded the ram and gpu a few times. I can still run this game on ultra and get 50-60 fps (capped at 60, figure i dont need any more than that) , 30-60% cpu, 20-30% gpu load, and no heat, stays around 40-60 celcius.

I have suspected just what your suspecting, the100thmonkey, old a newer hardware mixed together, newer type OS that isnt modern the with windows 11 gen.

I did have it last night, on fresh load up into a concourse, only when moving, and a cple on the 15 min mark, in both cases it goes away after a few moments.

Thanks for your help!

 

[the100thmonkey]

I actually suspect it's your CPU - it's already seriously bottlenecking that 7800XT. It's 12 years old, and Elite can be very demanding on CPU. This is not always evident when looking at summary CPU usage - the game seems to run mainly on 4 threads, from what I see from Afterburner logs. So 60% usage would seem to indicate that at least 4 of your cores are completely saturated.

I'm not surprised you're getting pops and crackle. You might want to tweak buffer sizes as Morbad suggested, but I'm not sure it will fix the issue completely, if at all.

Edit:

As well as that, the stuttering that we've both talked about seems to be CPU-related, so again you might expect crackle if your CPU is already pushed to its limits.

 

[KRISXR]

I actually suspect it's your CPU - it's already seriously bottlenecking that 7800XT. It's 12 years old, and Elite can be very demanding on CPU. This is not always evident when looking at summary CPU usage - the game seems to run mainly on 4 threads, from what I see from Afterburner logs. So 60% usage would seem to indicate that at least 4 of your cores are completely saturated.

I'm not surprised you're getting pops and crackle. You might want to tweak buffer sizes as Morbad suggested, but I'm not sure it will fix the issue completely, if at all.

Edit:

As well as that, the stuttering that we've both talked about seems to be CPU-related, so again you might expect crackle if your CPU is already pushed to its limits.

I get that, why would it go away though? lasts a moment and then fine. As far as bottle necking i don't think that's happening. The gpu's input is faster than the bus on the mb, my thinking is the the cpu isn't faster than the bus so the Mhz (or Ghz cant member for the bus) is flowing fine to the gpu, i'd think if there was bottle necking (which is a terrible term because with electricity that's not really whats happening to the electrons) wouldn't i get graphic, driver stalls, and flat out crashing? If it bugs me enough for the occasional scratchy, I will defintely look into the buffer size. Thanks again, and Morbad is a frigging pc genious.

I'd like to build another one, i haven't run into a problem with this one as far as gaming. I really only play a cple and they're older, like Elite. I think it was 2010 or 11, not bad for $800 at the time! lol It was retail pc prices and they're inferior hardware that drove me to make my own. I gaurantee the $2,000 dollar one at best buy would have been thrown out by 2015-17.

 

[the100thmonkey]

With CPU bottlenecking, it isn't about the flow of electrons; it's about how many instructions your CPU can send to the GPU for execution in a given time. A GPU bottleneck means that the GPU isn't fast enough to render the frames the CPU instructs it to.

Your 7800XT should be able to render Over 100fps at high/ultra settings at 1440p, provided the CPU is fast enough. Yours is not. It's being pushed to its limits to instruct the GPU to render the game at - I assume - 1080p/60fps.

Your GPU will happily wait until it receives an instruction, meaning that a bottleneck won't necessarily cause the driver to crash: You'll just get crap framerates. You can see this with Afterburner or other software that allows you to monitor GPU and CPU utilisation in games. Your GPU should be at maximum usage in-game. Of course, this doesn't always happen, but you want 98%+. If it is at, say, 50%, then this would arguably indicate that the CPU can't keep up.

If your CPU is entirely preoccupied with managing draw calls to the GPU, it will struggle with everything else, including sound.

As for why your sound issues go away after a little movement, I have no idea. I'm pretty sure you could use a 6 year old laptop CPU and see better performance though.