Sound issues megathread

General Discussion
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This is an attempted Megathread for people to talk about sound issues, whether it is that you cannot hear footsteps, gunshots, allied ult lines, enemy ult lines, or other things related to audio. I will be editing it and adding more posts.

Edit: Info so far. Audio systems used to always play footsteps, But in August last year, people started noticing sound issues, pointing towards the August 13th update, where they added Sigma and role queue. After that, sound priority seems to put footsteps low on the list. However, more research, people were complaining in June and July as well.

The only sound change I have found around there is in March, where they changed damage boost sounds. Maybe this messed up sound there.

I feel like the bigger issue started when workshop came out in May, then they tried fixing it in August, but made it worse.

My experience, I’ve barely heard footsteps for about a year. At first, I thought it was my headset (have purchased a new headset), then I thought it was my controller (I’m getting a new controller just in case). I am on the standard Xbox One. I have uninstalled and reinstalled Overwatch, but that did not fix that. I’ve also had times where I am staring a guy in the face, he is walking side to side, but there are no footsteps, but I hear his reloads.

(P.S. I’m not posting this in technical support because that’s where you go to get help, and I’m trying to make a list of posts who are having issues with sounds. The links to posts in Technical support will have the possible solutions for some people)

Links to some posts about sound issues.

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My #1 issue:

No one (the heroes) says that minecraft is their favorite game :angry:

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I figured out a fix for the bugged footsteps (works for mccree only). You have to turn off your in-game sound effects to 0 then back to what you usually use.

Only works for one game until you have to do it again.

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I think the game prioritizes bullets over footsteps

That’s why (I feel) whenever someone’s shooting or using any ability, I won’t hear enemy footsteps, but if nobody shoots, ez sound

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It feels to me that it prioritizes weird sounds. I can hear the enemy ashes Clink clink clink of her reload, but then I don’t hear her walking.

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It absolutely does. In one of the videos they released demonstrating the game’s audio engine, they talked about how every sound is put into a certain bucket based on its “priority” (which they assign arbitrarily) and in their clips, one of the examples involves widow shooting near the player. During that moment, almost all sound is completely mixed down to inaudibility, including footsteps. From a technical standpoint it’s cool and all, but the implications aren’t.

I would imagine this is why in so many situations footsteps (and more) become completely inaudible. Because a certain ability, which may or may not have been directed at the player, happened to trigger at the right place, time and direction. I think one example everyone can relate to is an allied Mercy’s heels being the loudest sound in the game when she jumps around behind you.

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And sometimes it priorities some ults over others! Like the other day the enemy Orisa used her supercharger and it was SO loud I could barely hear myself think. Meanwhile the enemy Mccree walked up behind us without a sound and ultes. We all died because no one heard him… at all

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The problem is that it didn’t use to be this way. The audio used to be good. The only time I got snuck up on as widow while scoped in was if someone crouched and snuck up behind me.

People used to have to be sneaky.

I could hear a tracer on high ground flanking behind a point but now even with my $300 headphones I won’t hear a reaper teleport directly beside me.

They messed something up. Big time.

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There was an update last year that completely fouled up sounds. You used to be able to distinctly hear enemy footsteps over other sounds. Now they don’t play unless they are in your visual field.

And this isn’t a Windows issue, as has been repeatedly claimed. There is no Windows on the PS4.

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This is in DM, but most times footsteps sound like they’re close by, but I look around and no one is near me. Then I don’t hear any steps and suddenly there’s 1-3 enemies.

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Hammond got some soundbugs that are not acknowledged. Hammond’s (the Hamster, not the robot) squeeks are in the center of the soundscape, from all angles. This is for the players team, and for the enemy team. This makes his sounds very disorienting. It is not a gamebreaking bug, but very annoying.

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cant hear enemies specially roadhog, reaper and mcree. I hear my allies need healing behind me when they are like 10 meters in front of me. Reindharts ultimates sounds are inexistent. My mcree allies ultimate sometimes sounds and sometimes dont. enemy mcrees ult sometimes says " RAW" and sometimes dont. Sometimes i say " hello" 2 greetings" but the character dont say anything, but it does the gesture.

doomfist sounds all over the place at the same tone, even if he is near to me or far away. it sounds the same.

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Yep. I hear certain things super far away, but then hear other things close.
McCree and reaper are noticed a lot more, because they flank a lot. I’ve noticed it with Reinhardt, Mercy, ana, tracer, Genji, Moira, and D.va.

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