It’s not just me either having this problem, you can search on reddit for it as well there are many people having the same problem… sooo it’s not just a “me” problem.
What I have done to try to fix it;
Uninstall all addons
Delete WTF
Delete Config
Delete Cache
Uninstall the game → Reinstall the game
Uninstalled → Reinstalled audio drivers
Changed audio settings 1000 different configurations.
New speakers.
New audio connection, using Optical instead of 3.5mm aux jack.
Built an entirely new PC and still have these problems.
I’ve done just about anything and everything I can think of, there just are no sound effects for other players.
More specifically - this is only happening when in instanced content.
In the open world, and on dummies in Valdrakken for example, I can hear sound effects. However, as soon as I enter anything in an instance, it’s dead silence.
– Updated dxdiag and msconfig
I have tested this on 2 different accounts, using 3 different computers, 1 of which is entirely newly built just a few weeks ago. Still have the same issues.
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Post a DXDIAG inside a preformatted text block using `` before and after the wall of text.
Won’t let me post it, it’s too long. Post limit is 90,000 characters, it’s like 110,000 something.
Here is pastebin with the dxdiag in it – https://pastebin.com/fhcFD6Un
Maybe try running the command /run Sound_GameSystem_RestartSoundSystem() and see if it fixes the problems.
There are numerous things that might be happening that could cause the sound to stop working correctly. It’s possible you’ve hit ctrl+s and disabled sound, it’s possible that “play sound in background” isn’t checked and that something in Windows is causing the client to lose focus, it’s possible that some other Windows sound settings are interfering with things, and so on. Lots of potential angles to create the problem.
There’s also the addon side of things since addons can flip things on and off as well that will persist through a local client reset. To fully erase any changes they might have made, you have to run the command /console cvar_default to make sure there aren’t any vestigial cvars on the server that the client is immediately pulling from after a fresh wipe.
I’ve reset cVar about 9 times already. I have not done /run Sound_GameSystem_RestartSoundSystem() I will try this and see what happens, however I am pretty much hopeless at this point.
Nope. No change.
Well then there’s probably something weird going on between the client<>Windows<>drivers that’s causing the system audio to “detatch” from the game or some other app is taking control of the output device. This isn’t a widespread bug or anything and I’ve heard very limited reports of it across the forums and places like reddit, so it seems like you guys all share something atypical or unique in common.
What about your Windows sound settings, can you press Start+R and then run mmsys.cpl sounds (it’s a shortcut to the settings). From there, go to the comms tab and set it to do nothing. In the playback tab, open your output device and go to the enhancements tab and disable all. In the spatial sound tab, disable it. In the advanced tab uncheck the “allow applications to take exclusive control of this device” option. Might want to reboot to make sure and then retest.
There is still sound. There is still audio.
There is just NOT audio from OTHER players. I can hear myself, I can hear the bosses sounds, I can hear the water running in the river, etc. But the moonkin casting Starfire? DEAD SILENT. The Warrior using Bladestorm? Not even a whisper. It’s so depressing.
Communications is currently set to “Do Nothing.”
All Enhancements are Disabled.
Spatial Sounds is off.
Exclusive is set.
No idea what’s going on, it’s really weird. This has been happening since the the Dragonflight Pre Patch.
Ahh I see what you mean now, I thought it was just all sound in general. Sounds like some kind of netcode or attenuation/culling issue then where it’s either not telling the client to play the sound or the sound is being attenuated far too soon to where you don’t hear it from an appropriate distance.
Maybe try disabling reverb and distance filtering in the sound settings. (Broken reverb can bug out where it feedback loops into infinity or zero, which is why I’m suggesting disabling it for testing purposes).
It’s also possible that if an asset fails to load or be processed within so many frames, in this case the sound assets, it discards them.
Sometimes there’s a keybind that mutes everything. I think it’s crtl s.
I have tried both of those options as well to no effect.
It only happens in instanced content, which is weird.
Just did the Elemental boss and I could hear everything as normal.
I’m part of the people who have this issue. Only in instanced content.
4 Likes
A lot of people I talk to in dungeons also have this problem, and say that they didn’t notice until I mentioned it.
Something really weird is going on here.
Are there specific dungeons or sections of dungeons that you can replicate this on every time?
Nope, anything that is inside an instance.
BGS.
Raids.
Dungeons.
Any and all. 100% chance replication, every single time, without fail.
No addons.
Reinstalled the game several times.
Updated drivers, rolled back drivers, uninstalled drivers, different audio settings, different speakers entirely.
It seems to be some sort of issue with rendering audio from other players. Not really sure how their netcode works or what/how it’s even possible, but it’s really driving me crazy and making the game very sad to play. It just… feels wrong…
1 Like
Here is an example of the sound I get in a raid setting : https://youtu.be/LSWm8RYvQ6U
And here is an example of the sound I get in an outdoor setting : https://youtu.be/azcznqdJGUY
2 Likes
What are your sound settings like? Like how many channels and what’s the buffer size? It’s almost acting like it’s preventing some overload of stacked noises. Like some kind of audio equivalent of the spell density graphical option where it’s reducing non-essential things by some percentage. It could also just be an addon blocking the sounds when you zone into specific areas and that then switches back to default when you go back to the regular world.
Nothing out of the ordinary. Right now I’m using 128 channels with a 128MB cache, but I’ve had this issue for months and I’ve tried every possible combination of sound settings possible. I’ve done the same things as the topic creator has done, including resetting server-side CVARs after having deleted all my local possible troublemakers.
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I’ve tried every combination of sound settings, audio drivers, out put devices, sound channels, this that and the other thing. No addons at all.
Is it possible that WoW had a sound setting in a previous expansion where you could lower other players’ sounds? I see similar topics to these elsewhere and some of them discuss that option.
It’s no longer available, but maybe it’s stored server side?
If it’s stored serverside, then a /console cvar_default should wipe it.