Steam No Sound Depending On Audio Format

I have a FiiO K11 DAC, which has a maximum audio quality of 32-bit audio at 384000Hz. In this mode, TSW has no sound whatsoever. I could only get sound back by lowering the sound quality. Right now it's at 24-bit audio at 48000Hz which works fine, but I don't know for sure what the upper limit is. The only other game I've had an issue with the audio format on my PC is (extremely ironically) Kid A Mnesia Exhibition, which has garbled audio over 48000Hz. Train Simulator, hilariously, has no issues at all.

I have no idea if this is an Unreal issue or something DTG related. Either way, I don't expect it to be fixed. I'm only posting this so that someone who has the same issue can find this information from a web search.

 

Where do you lower the quality, in the DAC itself? I'm not a PC player, so don't know about what sound output settings there are in TSW. Usually, games are 24bit 48khz, 32bit is overkill anyway.

 

There is no sound output of any kind in TSW. The game's audio settings are normal. Lowering the sound quality in Windows and restarting the game fixed it, but obviously it's a hassle to go and turn down the quality going out to my DAC every time I want to play TSW.

It's in the Windows sound settings. I assume some DACs can change that setting themselves but the K11 can't. I know I don't need the output to be that high quality, but I might as well set it to the maximum just in case.

 

As you don't change anything on the games end, most likely it's Windows, the driver or the DAC itself causing the issue somehow.
Has the DAC itself some notification led when there is sound input or can you see this in the software for this DAC? When the DAC detects input, then there is something going wrong in the DAC itself with converting the sound to analogue. When there is no input detected on the DAC, Windows or the driver are most likely the cause of this.

The DAC can accept 32bit input, but there is no use for it, as music, movies and games are 16 - 24bit. 32 bit audio is used for professional recording and editing, but afterwards converted to 24-bit or 16-bit for distribution. So I will advice to put Windows on a 24bit output, so everything is working fine. Generally, you even cannot hear a difference between properly dithered 16-bit and 24-bit audio files during playback, so with 24bit on Windows and your DAC you're perfectly fine.

 

No, it's only an issue with TSW. No other game has an issue like this, other than Kid A Mnesia Exhibition, which is a known glitch with the game. It also runs on Unreal, which may or may not be relevant.

 

I'm not really convinced there is something wrong with the game itself, as using the 24bit output from Windows gives you sound. Most likely, the game output stays the same in both the 24bit and 32bit output on Windows. I don't expect the game is detecting a 32bit DAC and output a higher quality 32bit sound, as 32bit audio is not a thing for consumer software, audio and devices. It can be the sound output format for example, compressed/uncompressed which conflicts in Windows or the DAC when set to 32bit. Other games can have a different sound output format, and because of that not having a problem.

For consumer devices, 32bit is nothing more then marketing, there is no audible difference in quality between 24bit and 32bit for final listening; the benefits of 32-bit are strictly technical, related to processing (editing) safety rather than sound fidelity. Even 24bit already exceeds the limits of the human hearing range of approximately 120 dB, while 24bit has a dynamic range of 144 dB.

 

Again, TSW is the only game I play that has an issue.

 

It still can be Windows or the DAC, not handling the game sound output correctly when set to 32bit in Windows. You're now actually oversampling/resampling the sound from the game, so who knows Windows is messing this up, it's Windows in the end.

I will advice to set and try 24bit 192khz in Windows and if this works with TSW and Kid A Mnesia Exhibition, to leave it at this setting. Anything higher then 24bit 192khz has absolutely no use, there is no audio quality higher then this and oversampling/resampling only can make it worse.

 

Not sure how the driver works for your DAC. I'm using a RME ADI-2 PRO FS R with the RME MADIface driver and when i set it to anything higher than 24bit 44khz i can't get audio out of the Windows audio subsystem. Only software like Wavelab or Cusbase, or what else uses the ASIO Driver directly, is able to give audio out with these high settings. TSW uses UE4s standard audio engine what is using the Windows audio subsystem. Might be that the other games using audio middleware what is capable of doing that.

 

There is no sound of any kind from TSW.

I'm not going to permanently lower the sound output below the maximum for the sake of two games. It is not feasible that there is a Windows driver issue that affects only two games in particular.

 

Stupid question, but did you installed the available ASIO driver for your DAC or do you use it with windows standard plug and play drivers? If you don't have that installed, there will be no dithered output possible for inputs that not fit the output setting (or don't adapt their self like games using middleware like FMOD or WWise). Normally the devices driver does this.

But honestly. There is no need to set it to 32bit 384khz. There is no software (other than some music/video players (lossless playback) or media editing software) that can feed that. The 24bit 48khz is absolutely fine for most needs. I never use the higher settings on my RME for just doing every day things. I can't hear any difference when doing that. I use higher settings only for audio editing or with VSTs to lower the latency for live playing instruments from a midi keyboard ... roundtrip latency gets lower with higher audio resolutions).

EDIT: Just to add this. I tested TSW with all kind of settings with my RME and it only works with 44.1khz or 48khz 16bit or 24bit. All 32bit and higher resolutions giving no audio. I'm unsure if this is a engine limitation when using the engines own audio subsystem like TSW does. Can't find any substatial information right now how UE4.27 handles that. Most other games (i tested some too) using middleware and most of them work like a DAW and have all the capabilities of real time converting audio to the needed format the output requests.

 

Thanks for pointing me in that direction, I installed Asio4All so hopefully that will be useful going forward. I did check again and TSW still has no sound when set to 32-bit sound. I don't mind dropping it down if ever I want to play TSW, but it is a hassle.

 

Even the best quality music/audio is not higher then 24bit 192khz. So you're now using an higher output for the sake of nothing. If 24bit 192khz works with TSW, then this is the best possible sound you can get anyway.