FFXIV not using active sound device

[Izeyash]

If someone knows how to fix it, I'd appreciate that, now to the problem

I'm a person who likes to swith between headphones and speakers occasionally and made my headphones the main device in the control panel. Now when i plug my phones out, the speakers are automatically used so theres no problem with my system.

Anyways, when I start the game (and I mean the game and not the launcher) the game uses the device i used when starting. IF i switch my devices in the way I stated above, the game just continues to use my speakers while everything else (youtube, media player n ♥♥♥♥) works fine.

Does anyone know how to fix this? If yes, gimme a go here

[Asphe]

You're using those 'USB headphones', i.e. the ones that actually have a sound card built-in?

No fix besides relogging. The game enumerates stuff when it starts, not on the fly. The other apps you mentioned rely on Windows which does handle things like this on the fly.

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Alternatively, you can use non-USB headphones. You can use the auto-mute function so that when you plug in your headphones, audio-out comes through your headphones but not the speakers. (what actually happens is audio is sent out via BOTH speakers and headphones but you can configure it so speakers get muted.)

If you still want a mic, you can get those USB 'mic' only (or just cut the headphones out). Configure that for your audio-in, and use the non-USB headphones for audio-out.

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Some folks are still living in the 90s ^-^ and haven't coded their games to handle 'USB sound cards / headphones'. Then again, when was the last time you saw a tweak guide for audio? Most players use the equivalent of those white iApple headphones and think that's good.

[Izeyash]

Im using old fashioned 3,5 mm jack plug headphones. The speakers are installed on the back, in the motherboard, and the headset on the front, with 2 connectors for mic and phones integrated in the case itself. I didn't have any problem with other applications/games regarding this, only Final Fantasy doesn't respect it. Thanks for the help anyways.

[Izeyash]

So, uh, no solution yet?

[Asphe]

I might need more information or even screenshots of your sound device.

Still, I'm guessing this is a Realtek device, with a front/back analog panel.

Start –> Control Panel –> Hardware and Sound –> Realtek HD Audio Manager

... and here you set your output device to 'Speaker', with 'Mute the rear output device when front headphone is plugged in'. This is what I think you've done.

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This is the problem. When you start FFXIV, it detects the output device/Speaker and configures itself to use this.

This isn't a problem if you are using a sound card like Creative's Sound Blaster. When you plug in both speakers and headphones into a Sound Blaster, the card takes the output sound and just splits it between the two. The 'Mute the rear output device when front headphone is plugged in' option just mutes the speakers.

For your Realtek, it virtually switches the audio device. Which FFXIV ignores and so you lose sound. If FFXIV was written to just use 'Windows Sound' ... then you probably won't get this problem.

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To fix this, you can restart the FFXIV client (this is also the 'solution' for those using USB headphones/mics or anything where the 'default audio device' is changed). Or use something like Razer's Surround from http://www.razerzone.com/surround

Razer Surround just manages your sound devices, kinda virtualizes them so even though you're doing stuff like muting/changing devices, FFXIV continues to see 'Razer Audio Device' and doesn't have a problem. It does other things too but the main thing is being able to switch between speakers and headphones without FFXIV cutting out sound.

[Izeyash]

AS I SAID, I DO NOT HAVE USB PHONES OR SPEAKERS. Neither do I have any 3rd party software installed on the pc regarding soundmanagement.

These are my sound devices when my headphones are NOT plugged in:

http://www.directupload.net/file/d/3657/89cn3uf2_png.htm

This is when my headphones are plugged in (as I said: both have 3,5 mm jack plugs, the speakers are put in from behind into the motherboard and for the headphones i use ports which came with my case):

http://www.directupload.net/file/d/3657/ibfsdtud_png.htm


I use the windows default sound drivers and came along pretty well with it. My headphones are my default output device, so when i plug it in, windows uses it automatically. So does every other app (e.g. League of Legends, Flash Player, VLC ect.).

[Izeyash]

Bump.

[Sergeant Spectrum]

This is an old thread, but it was in the top search results on google. This has been an issue since the 1.0 beta, and looks like it won't be fixed. A workaround is to use Razer Surround. It's free.