Severe audio issues

[baphomette]

UPDATE 1/27/25: EA Forums thread with 200+ posts about this ongoing bug was locked today, don't hold out hope EA/Bioware ever addresses or fixes it: https://forums.ea.com/discussions/dragon-age-the-veilguard-tech-issues-en/crackling-sound-making-it-unplayable/5003583?topicRepliesSort=postTimeDesc

From the very first cutscene, my game has severe audio issues. Intense crackling, echo-y reverb like each audio file is layered over itself at a lag, and general audio lagging so it never matches up with the actual cinematic or gameplay (lines of dialogue being spoke up to 5 seconds after mouth animations, dialogue being cut off because the scene ends before it can play.)

The crackling persists out of the first cutscene and as soon as Minrathous loads- the rainfall audio makes it near-painful.

I have tried everything to fix this that I have seen recommend- turning off system audio, turning Vsync to half, reducing all my settings to high and then to medium, turning off Individual Hair Strands. Nothing has affected it at all. As it is, the game is completely unplayable as soon as I am out of initial CC.

This was present before patch dropped and before I updated to latest GeForce drivers, and is still present, completely unchanged, after updating both game patch and GeForce driver.

My computer specs:
Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060
Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-9400F CPU @ 2.90GHz 2.90 GHz
32GB RAM
1.22TB of space on my SSD

[baphomette]

I recorded a little over 6 minutes worth of footage of the beginning of the game, to highlight how the issue deteriorates from CC to the first real cinematic, through walking around Minrathous, and into the second major cinematic.

Skip to around 1:25 if you want to just see the audio bug and lag in action.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=chyRtm5KnG8

[Bob Packwood]

I've had the same issue since launch and I still haven't been able to fix it.

I'd be tempted to say it's a performance issue but the game will run on my Steamdeck with no audio issues and my PC is more powerful than my Steamdeck.

I have an intel i5-8600 and 32gb ram as well as ssd and Geforce gtx 1070.

Your video card is quite a bit newer than mine but our processors rate out similarly. Maybe it's a cpu bottlenecking issue? But again...runs fine on my Steamdeck audio-wise. And the SD definitely does not have a superior cpu to either of us. So I dunno.

[baphomette]

Originally posted by Bob Packwood:

I've had the same issue since launch and I still haven't been able to fix it.

I'd be tempted to say it's a performance issue but the game will run on my Steamdeck with no audio issues and my PC is more powerful than my Steamdeck.

I have an intel i5-8600 and 32gb ram as well as ssd and Geforce gtx 1070.

Your video card is quite a bit newer than mine but our processors rate out similarly. Maybe it's a cpu bottlenecking issue? But again...runs fine on my Steamdeck audio-wise. And the SD definitely does not have a superior cpu to either of us. So I dunno.

Yes, I thought it may have been a CPU issue too, and maybe it is? I have other games that hit the CPU hard that, even at their least optimized at launch, never gave me issues, though. (Final Fantasy XVI, which came out in September for PC, for example- hit my CPU kinda hard at first but never had audio issues. Baldur's Gate 3 is a little older, but it also caused CPU bottlenecking at launch, and even when it was crashing and lagging it never gave me audio issues like this. I'm not a computer person though so I have no clue how this really works.)

[Bob Packwood]

Originally posted by baphomette:

Originally posted by Bob Packwood:

I've had the same issue since launch and I still haven't been able to fix it.

I'd be tempted to say it's a performance issue but the game will run on my Steamdeck with no audio issues and my PC is more powerful than my Steamdeck.

I have an intel i5-8600 and 32gb ram as well as ssd and Geforce gtx 1070.

Your video card is quite a bit newer than mine but our processors rate out similarly. Maybe it's a cpu bottlenecking issue? But again...runs fine on my Steamdeck audio-wise. And the SD definitely does not have a superior cpu to either of us. So I dunno.

Yes, I thought it may have been a CPU issue too, and maybe it is? I have other games that hit the CPU hard that, even at their least optimized at launch, never gave me issues, though. (Final Fantasy XVI, which came out in September for PC, for example- hit my CPU kinda hard at first but never had audio issues. Baldur's Gate 3 is a little older, but it also caused CPU bottlenecking at launch, and even when it was crashing and lagging it never gave me audio issues like this. I'm not a computer person though so I have no clue how this really works.)

Yes I can confirm I've also had no audio issues with BG3 even at launch and always got a playable fps there.

I have tested this further and my audio issues do improve and even practically disappear in certain areas. Those tends to be areas that are less graphically demanding. So maybe there is some sort of performance issue that's causing this.

But even in Minrathous or other areas where there's lots of graphical demand I still get a way better fps and performance than my Steamdeck. It's just that the Deck gets no audio issues whatsoever and I/we do.

I've even tried running everything on the lowest possible settings and regardless of whether I'm running on low or high settings or anywhere in between the audio issues persist and are no worse on low settings than high.

[Zakanza]

Originally posted by Buliwyf:

Originally posted by baphomette:

I recorded a little over 6 minutes worth of footage of the beginning of the game, to highlight how the issue deteriorates from CC to the first real cinematic, through walking around Minrathous, and into the second major cinematic.

Skip to around 1:25 if you want to just see the audio bug and lag in action.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=chyRtm5KnG8

this would be really helpful IF BIOWARE GAVE A ♥♥♥♥

Wow this is even worse than the issue I have. In my game the dialog is fine but sound effects and ambient audio cuts in and out the whole time.

As a side note, I believe they do care, but maybe they are not communicating that effectively enough or you didn't see it.

[baphomette]

Heard from a friend who has an Intel i9 CPU, as well a similar graphics card and same RAM set-up as me, that she's also experiencing the audio + lag issues- though not as severely as I am.

Also hoping to bump this back up because I continue to see people make threads about this issue.

[Bob Packwood]

Originally posted by baphomette:

Heard from a friend who has an Intel i9 CPU, as well a similar graphics card and same RAM set-up as me, that she's also experiencing the audio + lag issues- though not as severely as I am.

Also hoping to bump this back up because I continue to see people make threads about this issue.

I'm still having it as well. Haven't really touched the game because of it. Also have an intel processor.

Hoping Bioware finds some way to make a compatibility patch for this because the game is unplayable as it stands.

I get perfectly fine fps on medium settings and no lag or anything...it's just the audio that crackles.

[baphomette]

Patch 2 dropped and I have yet to download it, but this issue apparently persists, and I have one friend who did NOT experience it before whose game audio is now broken, after patch 2.

[DoctorMax]

i am also having this issue. Bioware please listen.

[Danger Noodle]

Originally posted by baphomette:

Patch 2 dropped and I have yet to download it, but this issue apparently persists, and I have one friend who did NOT experience it before whose game audio is now broken, after patch 2.

I have had it since launch, still have it after patch 2 >.<

[Nesquik]

Following because I'm on the same boat. Myranthous and Treviso are unplayable right now

[syzara]

Also adding a "me too" to this one. I hope it will get the attention this bug deserves.

[King]

Same. BioWare are either aware of the problem and they don't care or they're unable to fix it. Not addressing it at all is deeply concerning.

[Sabrosano]

Throwing a me too in as well. I even had it on the character creation section when selecting a voice.
I only just bought the game and now I'm tempted to let it wait until this is fixed. Not too impressed that it's gone unmentioned by the devs to be honest.

[baphomette]

So, after digging for a way to make a bug report directly to Bioware, since there is no obvious mention of Bug Report/Feedback in the game or its website, I found they have a megathread for the Audio Issue on the official EA forums (which are really a pain to navigate/read):

https://forums.ea.com/discussions/dragon-age-the-veilguard-tech-issues-en/crackling-sound-making-it-unplayable/5003583?after=MjQuOXwyLjF8b3wxMHwxNDowLDM5OjF8MjA

I am considering making an EA account just to post links to this thread and the other audio issues thread, but I really wish I could just fill out a Bug Report form like larian has for BG3. But, if anyone else has an EA account or is up for making one, it seems worth adding to the 91 comments on that EA Forum thread.

EDIT:

Also, here is what an EA Community Manager posted in the above thread as both a potential fix + the information they are seeking from users experiencing the glitch (I don't think there's any way to just email them, you have to post on their forums...) (the fix did NOT work for me, by the way.):

"EA_Illium
Icon for Community Manager rankCommunity Manager
13 days ago

Hey Everyone,

If you are running into an issue with sound crackling or cutting out. Try disabling any extra sound features on your device (Like Dolby/DTS or Windows Sonic), and disable the 3D audio setting in-game.

After, restart Veilgaurd and let us know if this continues

If this continues after today's 1.0.0 patch, please let us know the following:

EA ID (PSN ID/Gamertag):
Which platform are you on?
What type of audio device are you using?
If possible, share a Screenshot or Clip...
If on PC, share a Save file for our team to look at.
If on PC, please share a DxDiag file and an EA app Error ID Number
"