Sound Volume Issues Thread #2 : V - Skyrim

» Tue May 29, 2012 1:59 pm

@RPGWiZaRD

What can i say.. you, my friend are a gentleman and a scholar...

I tried out your settings (5.1 speaker config as well as 24 bit / 44100 Hz) with some trepidation and they totally worked for me..

I can now turn down my master volume settings inline with what i had set for my other functional applications.... Winamp and others remained tight with 5.1 sound... even on headphones...

So folks if you have similar issues, please try out RPGWiZaRD's solution... heck it should be stickied...

Thanks mate!

» Tue May 29, 2012 5:24 pm

I have low volume for voices.

» Tue May 29, 2012 11:00 pm

You need to check your WAVE and SW-SYNTH volumes. Both do not show-up on the volume controls in windows, until you turn it on. One is WINDOWS sound, the other is PROGRAMS sounds. Your WINDOWS sounds may be loud, but your PROGRAMS sounds may be low. (Most old programs play through windows sounds. Games with direct sound drivers, play through program sounds.) This game plays through the SW-SYNTH, and then the WAVE which is like your MASTER volume.

Thank windows for that confusion.

If that does not help... You can adjust the INI volume levels for the master-sound.

If that does not help... You may have your OUTPUT wrong. You may have DIGITAL-OUT or HEADPHONE connection, connected to the non-digital speakers or low-amplified speakers, which need LINE-OUT voltage levels. If you have un-amplified speakers, you NEED the LINE-OUT, which is powering the speakers with power from your motherboard.

» Wed May 30, 2012 1:13 am

You need to check your WAVE and SW-SYNTH volumes. ==> snip

You got a point ... but sadly enough it's only Syrim that has this issue. All my other prorams, games and so on are just working fine with their volumes. It's only Skyrim that is just way to low in volume.
But you said something about INI volume levels for the master-sound? Is that a Skyrim setting somewhere?
Also will try the 5.1 surround fix mentioned in another thread.

Edit: nope, no difference with 5.1 settings. Forgot to mention: on my keyboard I also have sound buttons to alter the volume or to mute. Works in every program except .... yep, Skyrim. Only way to alter volume in Skyrim are the sound options in Skyrim itself (which are set to maximal already) or setting the volume knob on my speakers itself.

» Wed May 30, 2012 1:40 am

Well, I had a low sound too and this is what I did.
Control Panel - Sound - Select your speakers (mine is Realtek HD Audio Device) - Properties - Enhancements - check the Loudness Equalization option - Apply!

I too have the sound buttons to alter the volume, and yeah they don't work in Skyrim.

» Tue May 29, 2012 10:20 pm

I have my computer's volume set to maximum. I have Master, Footsteps and Voice set to maximum. Effects, slightly below half. Music, about 1/4.

I cannot hear footsteps, at all, unless I jump. Only when I jump do I hear anything. Horse's hooves are slightly louder, but not nearly as loud as they were in Oblivion, or other games that have horses. But the most annoying thing is voices. I sometimes have to strain to hear voices. I have gone back to earlier saves and completely turned off Effects and Music in a desperate attempt to hear quest dialog. Then, after I've heard the quest dialog, I go back into audio and Effects and Music back to where I want them.

The game has some loud sounds. They aren't all soft on my machine. When those two drum beats sounds while the Bethesda logo is on the screen it almost destroys my headphones, it's so loud. Something is definitely wrong with sound in this game.

» Wed May 30, 2012 12:20 am

I recevied this mail from Gstaff concerning this sound issue:

Sorry you're having issues with the audio settings on Skyrim. Could you send me your audio hardware & settings, details on speakers and/or headphones, as well as DxDiag info

Thanks

I think we should all list (in spoilers) what he said... here in this thread.

» Wed May 30, 2012 1:30 am

Anyone know how I can make my headphones louder while playing Skyrim?? I have both the Game and the Computer at max volume but it's still so low!

» Wed May 30, 2012 12:27 am

Anyone know how I can make my headphones louder while playing Skyrim?? I have both the Game and the Computer at max volume but it's still so low!

In your SkyrimPrefs.ini file there is a setting called fAudioMasterVolume

You can try changing this from

fAudioMasterVolume=1.0000

to

fAudioMasterVolume=1.5000

or

fAudioMasterVolume=2.0000

fAudioMasterVolume=1.0000 - This variable in SkyrimPrefs.ini is equivalent to the Master volume slider in the in-game settings. However here it can be adjusted above the 1.0000 limit which is imposed on the in-game slider, allowing people who find the sound in Skyrim to be too low to raise it. For example, try a value of 1.5000 or 2.0000. You can subsequently adjust the other volume sliders in-game as required, however adjusting the Master volume slider in-game will reset this variable back to the default maximum of 1.0000.

From http://www.geforce.com/Optimize/Guides/the-elder-scrolls-v-skyrim-tweak-guide?sf2686171=1

I just have a generic "IDT High Definition Audio" codec and Beats Audio.

Beats Audio is pretty much useless... If you're in similar situation, Loudness Equalization is the only option.
I can't even take advantage of the "Independent headphones" due to windows flagging it as a communications device(rendering it useless).

Are you playing on an HP laptop? I have Beats Audio as well on my laptop and I'm using Beats Studio headphones. :cool:

In my case, adjusting the SkyrimPrefs or simply maxing the windows volume setting worked just fine. The only problem I noticed is that the drum beat when you first load the game is extremely loud. Also the Daedric Prince voices are too loud.

» Tue May 29, 2012 6:47 pm

I'm on a Pavilion dv7. I just turn on Loudness Equalization and set the volume to 30. It's ether that or just set it to 60. :confused:

Some music also requires loudness equalization, so It's the best solution.

» Tue May 29, 2012 7:20 pm

I'm on a Pavilion dv7. I just turn on Loudness Equalization and set the volume to 30. It's ether that or just set it to 60. :confused:

Some music also requires loudness equalization, so It's the best solution.

Is the Equalization setting in the Beats Audio control panel?

» Tue May 29, 2012 9:10 pm

Is the Equalization setting in the Beats Audio control panel?

No, it's in the control panel. http://oi42.tinypic.com/34zipau.jpg

» Tue May 29, 2012 5:46 pm

why do people think changing fAudioMasterVolume to a value higher than 1 works

it doesn't do a [censored] thing

stop telling me it works, it doesn't

» Tue May 29, 2012 11:36 pm

No, it's in the control panel. http://oi42.tinypic.com/34zipau.jpg

Many thanks for this!

The Daedric prince voices are now quite tolerable. Wish I had known about the loudness equalization years ago.

why do people think changing fAudioMasterVolume to a value higher than 1 works

it doesn't do a [censored] thing

stop telling me it works, it doesn't

The difference between 1.0000 and 1.5000 was rather noticeable for me. Before using that tweak I had to increase my windows volume to 80-90% before playing Skyrim. After the tweak, I was comfortably playing with the volume at about 50%, although the Daedric Prince voices were still quite loud.

After adjusting the loudness equalization, now I'm playing at about 30-40% on the volume slider.

» Tue May 29, 2012 9:47 pm

I fixed my volume by maxing out my sound card's http://dl.dropbox.com/u/28629176/images/sound_equalization.PNG an extra 12dB. Since I use a USB headset seperate from my sound card (it's pretty crappy), I used http://software.muzychenko.net/eng/vac.htm to playback sound card audio into my USB audio device.

I don't have an option loudness equalization under windows XP, so this was my only option. If you're on XP like me and don't have loudness equalization look around for a sound equalizer in your sound card's settings, and if you don't even have that, good luck getting Bethesda to fix the problem.

» Tue May 29, 2012 11:24 pm

Has anyone come up with a fix for the low volume?, I don't mean work arounds, I have to use earphone inserts because I'm partially deaf, but if I have windows player turned all the way up that would be too loud, yet this game at maximum volume is barely audible.

» Wed May 30, 2012 3:11 am

Has anyone come up with a fix for the low volume?, I don't mean work arounds, I have to use earphone inserts because I'm partially deaf, but if I have windows player turned all the way up that would be too loud, yet this game at maximum volume is barely audible.

Activating the Windows Loudness Equalization feature as redwes suggested above worked really well for me. None of the sounds are too loud or too quiet anymore.

» Tue May 29, 2012 10:13 pm

Activating the Windows Loudness Equalization feature as redwes suggested above worked really well for me. None of the sounds are too loud or too quiet anymore.

My bad, it was FFDAudio that was at fault on my system, so I pushed volume boost to 150% and almost deafened myself further when I started the game, I'm still laughing.

» Tue May 29, 2012 8:34 pm

It seems that enabling 5.1 even when you only have stereo speakers is a very successful fix for the problem. I've confirmed this using Paralells virtualization drivers when running in Mac OSX; the sound is great. However, similar to Archi80 all the options to enable 5.1 are disabled for me when I'm using Realtek's drivers in native mode... If I go into "configure" speakers, there is a checkbox for 5.1 there, but it's greyed out. I downloaded the newest Realtek driversto no avail.

If aynone knows how to enable 5.1 surround for onboard realtek drivers when the option is greyed out, please share :smile:

I can`t set my speakers to 5.1 here is the screenshot:

http://i.imgur.com/QCit0.png

Any idea?

» Tue May 29, 2012 6:43 pm

Hi,

I've been reading most of the posts, but I can't find the problem I have.
I'm under XP, with a XFi 5.1 system that usually work great.
I do have low dialog issue, but only when I face NPCs. When I do, the front speaker is very low and I can't hear the dialog. I have to look beside the character to hear what it says in the left front or right front speaker. In thet case ,volume is perfect and I can hear everything clearly
I have to maximize the volume of the front speaker only to hear mumbles. I do have a codec pack installed but the ffdshow icon doesn't appear when the game is on.
any idea what this could be ?

» Tue May 29, 2012 10:58 pm

Diamond USB External Soundcard Digital HD 7.1 (drivers are current)
Logitech G510 keyboard (drivers are current)
Windows 7 64 pro

In game sound is very very low, and while ingame Skyrim prevents both external sound box and keyboard sound controls to work windows master volume control. Therefore, must crank Windows master volume to much higher than normal volumes. Needless to say, any sound that doesn't come from Skyrim blows my ears out unless I reduce windows volume. Only game this happens in (other gaming programmers have figured out basic volume controls I guess). Please fix soon.

» Wed May 30, 2012 1:15 am

I have a Realtek audio in my laptop, but can't find "Loudness Equalization" in the option. Anyone know if all Realtek have this option?

It's not in the sound card settings. It's a default windows option that's always available.
http://oi42.tinypic.com/34zipau.jpg
The speaker name will be different (and you may lack the headphones and output), but the option should still be there.

» Tue May 29, 2012 11:29 pm

It's not in the sound card settings. It's a default windows option that's always available.
http://oi42.tinypic.com/34zipau.jpg
The speaker name will be different (and you may lack the headphones and output), but the option should still be there.

Well uhhh.. This is my only option.. take a look
http://img.techpowerup.org/120105/Untitled.png

» Tue May 29, 2012 4:11 pm

Well uhhh.. This is my only option.. take a look
http://img.techpowerup.org/120105/Untitled.png

Oh wow... You don't have any of the default options. :confused:

You can thank your laptop provider for that...sorry.

» Tue May 29, 2012 5:11 pm

Putting my sound settings to "Live" and use 5.1 stereo (even though I only have 2 speakers) helps a lot, but some sounds are still lower than others, like voice sounds. And spell sounds. Oh my god the spell sounds. They are so friggen loud.

The only thing that makes most things sound good is Loudness Equaliazation, but it can make the background music a little lower though.

Bethesda seriously got to fix this.