Please Fix Surround sound, Arkane

[MysticalPotato]

So those of us with 5.1+ systems all know this game has very poor surround sound - from non-existent surround, to stereo doubling and volume levels being all over the place (especially speech), as well as poor positional audio...all of this exposes some deep flaw in the sound engine of Prey

What happened Arkane? Dishonored 1 + 2 have perfect 5.1. Every other game I've played in the last 10 yrs has 5.1.

I love this game but when I talk to people, I don't want their booming voices deafening me from all 4 sides (which is what I and many others experience), I want speech coming from the centre speaker. Unless the person is behind me in which case I want the sound coming from behind of course. Other people report very quiet voices.

There's nothing wrong with the sound quality itself, nor the sound design so to speak, but the implementation is terrible.

Before anyone blasts me; this is indeed a well known issue and a quick google search will prove that. And I'm not whining either. It's a legitimate issue - also if you use headphones/stereo you may not notice. But when you have a high end system like I have and enjoy sound immensely in games, it truly is a shame to have that lacking in a game such as this. For me it breaks immersion and really lessens my experience.

So Arkane devs, if you read this could you please fix it? I'm sure it's not a simple issue or you'd have done so already but surely with your experience in other titles and those titles having flawless surround sound, there's something you can do?

Thanks in advance

[funkynutz]

If you're using a surround system with speakers, look for an option in the systems settings with regards to enhancing dialogue.

If you're using a headset, which headset is it?

[Mapwales]

I'm using the X rocker pro 2.1 gaming chair and it's plugged into my headphones socket on my pc and the surround sound is fine.

[MysticalPotato]

Originally posted by Funkynutz:

If you're using a surround system with speakers, look for an option in the systems settings with regards to enhancing dialogue.

If you're using a headset, which headset is it?

I'm using a high end surround system with true 5.1 (top of the line Pioneer amp, Aaron ATS speakers) and am an experienced musician and audiophile. I know how to set up my sound. It's only in Prey, every other game has surround with no issues. Also, there are no system settings in the game for surround :)

[MysticalPotato]

Originally posted by mapwales:

I'm using the X rocker pro 2.1 gaming chair and it's plugged into my headphones socket on my pc and the surround sound is fine.

2.1 is not surround.

The surround is NOT fine by any means. Just google it. I use DDL and DTSi. Digital bitstream output to a receiver. Even with analog 5.1 people have issues. You won't notice it with 2.1 which btw, is left/right/bass. I have 6x120w RMS with individual amps for each channel.

[Zoopy]

Originally posted by mapwales:

I'm using the X rocker pro 2.1 gaming chair and it's plugged into my headphones socket on my pc and the surround sound is fine.

Ignoring for a second the fact that 2.1 is not surround sound, how is your post supposed to help OP? When someone is having a heart attack, do you also take the time to tell that person that YOUR heart is working fine?

It boggles the mind why when someone asks about an issue, you'll always have at least one person chirping "mine works fine".

[MysticalPotato]

Originally posted by Zoopy:

Originally posted by mapwales:

I'm using the X rocker pro 2.1 gaming chair and it's plugged into my headphones socket on my pc and the surround sound is fine.

Ignoring for a second the fact that 2.1 is not surround sound, how is your post supposed to help OP? When someone is having a heart attack, do you also take the time to tell that person that YOUR heart is working fine?

It boggles the mind why when someone asks about an issue, you'll always have at least one person chirping "mine works fine".

There's quite a lot of threads on this around the net and people have opened tickets with support, including myself. Their reponse: the usual automated reply "there are no patches planned at this time" no mention of the actual issue at hand.

Thx for the backup, I have to agree...I mean sometimes it is a PLBKAC thing, but this issue with sound exists on all platforms, so it's not even PC specific (where various configs can mean a vast array of issues).

[baudmiksen]

I have Creative Sound Blaster Zx card with Logitech x-530 5.1 surround.

The positional audio works...barely. Tested multiple times with constant sounds like fire from pipes, speakers that can be turned on in game, etc...

But what does happen is sounds will occasionally disappear. Some sounds are a lot louder than others like there isn't any normalization and depending on when and where, dialouge from speaking characters doesn't always go through the center channel or be positional. Its as if he's hearing the voices in his head..(intentional?)

My biggest gripe is the unbalanced levels, sounds disappearing and cutting out (which requires a restart) and inconsistent positioning.

The levels are so unalanced some are deafining while others are whisper quiet, My sound card has some options to attempt to fix this but the levels vary so much in game its somethign beyond what my card was designed for.

[Oorslavich]

Agreed. I had similar issues in Dishonored 2, though I've not found it to be too bad in Prey. I'm using a Corsair Void 7.1 headset (pretty sure it's virtual surround, dunno if that makes any difference with regards to the sound occlusion)

[MysticalPotato]

Originally posted by Oorslavich:

Agreed. I had similar issues in Dishonored 2, though I've not found it to be too bad in Prey. I'm using a Corsair Void 7.1 headset (pretty sure it's virtual surround, dunno if that makes any difference with regards to the sound occlusion)

Dishonored 1 has perfect surround sound, as does pretty much every single title released in the past 10 years. Your sound card isn't really relevant to how surround works unless you are using virtual surround. Even on board sound cards are fine thesedays. You will have less CPU overhead and better quality of course if using a more expensive sound card.

If you're using analog 5.1 it's only dependant on the game and of course having your windows settings correct. If you're using DDL or DTSi then again, it's down to the game as nothing is affected in any game I have played using these, connected to my A/V receiver.

I've just started to ignore it now I'm deep into my first playthrough, but at times it's very difficult to tell where enemies are, which, in a game like this, can be quite a bad thing. I also absolutely hate having booming voices coming out of all speakers except where they should be; the centre speaker. It's horrible.

It doesn't seem at this point they will do anything to address it. I lodged a ticket and got back an automated response " we are not planning on any patches at this time" i.e. we don't care.

[MysticalPotato]

Originally posted by baudmiksen:

I have Creative Sound Blaster Zx card with Logitech x-530 5.1 surround.

The positional audio works...barely. Tested multiple times with constant sounds like fire from pipes, speakers that can be turned on in game, etc...

But what does happen is sounds will occasionally disappear. Some sounds are a lot louder than others like there isn't any normalization and depending on when and where, dialouge from speaking characters doesn't always go through the center channel or be positional. Its as if he's hearing the voices in his head..(intentional?)

My biggest gripe is the unbalanced levels, sounds disappearing and cutting out (which requires a restart) and inconsistent positioning.

The levels are so unalanced some are deafining while others are whisper quiet, My sound card has some options to attempt to fix this but the levels vary so much in game its somethign beyond what my card was designed for.

Pretty much all this. I do not think it's intentional at all. It's like the voices are using stereo doubling, they come from all 4 corners of my room, whereas being used to every other game and of course movies, using the centre channel, detracts from the overall experience

My issue is that the game is so good, yet the sound just ruins what could make it even more immersive.

[XiL]

Originally posted by MysticalPotato:

Originally posted by Oorslavich:

Agreed. I had similar issues in Dishonored 2, though I've not found it to be too bad in Prey. I'm using a Corsair Void 7.1 headset (pretty sure it's virtual surround, dunno if that makes any difference with regards to the sound occlusion)

Dishonored 1 has perfect surround sound, as does pretty much every single title released in the past 10 years. Your sound card isn't really relevant to how surround works unless you are using virtual surround. Even on board sound cards are fine thesedays. You will have less CPU overhead and better quality of course if using a more expensive sound card.

If you're using analog 5.1 it's only dependant on the game and of course having your windows settings correct. If you're using DDL or DTSi then again, it's down to the game as nothing is affected in any game I have played using these, connected to my A/V receiver.

I've just started to ignore it now I'm deep into my first playthrough, but at times it's very difficult to tell where enemies are, which, in a game like this, can be quite a bad thing. I also absolutely hate having booming voices coming out of all speakers except where they should be; the centre speaker. It's horrible.

It doesn't seem at this point they will do anything to address it. I lodged a ticket and got back an automated response " we are not planning on any patches at this time" i.e. we don't care.

Hey, just a question. (btw, I'm using the pretty common SB Zx card & Z906 combo, and don't use any of the software effects or DDL/DTSconnect).
DDL & DTSi re-encodes 6 channels so you can use toslink & s/pdif, right? I'm assuming this is what you're using.
On my analog setup, I've not heard voices from all 4 sides as you described. It's centre speaker or otherwise correctly mapped. It's not a great 5.1 track by any means, but it aint too bad.
My experience with those encoders is they sometimes mess up (and are worse quality in general), compared to straight up no re-encoding + analog, along with a 6 channel source.
I'm guessing, based on past experience, that in this case DTSi/DDL has messed up the Prey soundtrack for you. Could you try swapping to analog?

[MysticalPotato]

DDL/DTSi is not worse quality and I initially thought the same as you described. However it's not the case. The dynamic range is much better than analog in my opinion.

It's not a pseudo surround (except when using stereo sources like youtube etc), i've tested it extensively and when a game is outputting 6 channels, the DDL/DTSi simply sends that via spdif encoded, but it is otherwise unchanged from analog as far as the channels, directional sound and positioning goes. I can switch between the two and I notice the difference in quality fairly significantly though. The bass is especially more dynamic using SPDif.

Partly it's for convenience also. I don't have to switch signal (sure it's just a press of a button on my remote but I'm lazy) when I decide to watch a movie with DTS etc...

Unfortunately with Prey, analog is giving me the same thing. It's quite a widely reported issue if you google it. I think other threads on it got buried in here, because most ppl were complaining at release, whereas I just bought it. Some people seem to get very quiet voices, others extremely loud in what sounds like stereo doubling (my case).

As I said, no other game has this issue for me, whether via digital or analog so I've basically just accepted it's going to be like this

There is some directional sound at times, but again the volume levels are all over the place. If I turn around when someone is talking, It does come from behind somewhat but nowhere near the precision I'm used to in other games. I know I sound picky but hey, I'm a musician and audiophile and good sound is something I enjoy immensely. And you know, what's the point in having a nice setup if you're not getting good sound? :)


You perhaps experience a slightly different experience due to your sound card/setup etc. You know what it's like with PCs :) I have however been using this same setup for many years and this is the only game I can say I've had this issue with, so that alone says it's not on my end right?

Anyway I appreciate the response.

[XiL]

Agreed, the audio in Prey is unbalanced, so it's definitely not your system. Almost has an oldschool feel to it, the way it suddenly gets loud all over the place. I'm no audiophile, but I'm sure the quality of your amp/reciever has a lot to do with why you prefer optical. For me, I can't really tell the difference in dynamic range, but positional sound is way better for the z906 over analog. I know it's not psuedo btw & I don't think you're being picky. Sound is just as important to me as graphics. Hope they get a fix out, but I doubt it. GL.

[baudmiksen]

Originally posted by ΞxiLΞ:

Originally posted by MysticalPotato:

Dishonored 1 has perfect surround sound, as does pretty much every single title released in the past 10 years. Your sound card isn't really relevant to how surround works unless you are using virtual surround. Even on board sound cards are fine thesedays. You will have less CPU overhead and better quality of course if using a more expensive sound card.

If you're using analog 5.1 it's only dependant on the game and of course having your windows settings correct. If you're using DDL or DTSi then again, it's down to the game as nothing is affected in any game I have played using these, connected to my A/V receiver.

I've just started to ignore it now I'm deep into my first playthrough, but at times it's very difficult to tell where enemies are, which, in a game like this, can be quite a bad thing. I also absolutely hate having booming voices coming out of all speakers except where they should be; the centre speaker. It's horrible.

It doesn't seem at this point they will do anything to address it. I lodged a ticket and got back an automated response " we are not planning on any patches at this time" i.e. we don't care.

Hey, just a question. (btw, I'm using the pretty common SB Zx card & Z906 combo, and don't use any of the software effects or DDL/DTSconnect).
DDL & DTSi re-encodes 6 channels so you can use toslink & s/pdif, right? I'm assuming this is what you're using.
On my analog setup, I've not heard voices from all 4 sides as you described. It's centre speaker or otherwise correctly mapped. It's not a great 5.1 track by any means, but it aint too bad.
My experience with those encoders is they sometimes mess up (and are worse quality in general), compared to straight up no re-encoding + analog, along with a 6 channel source.
I'm guessing, based on past experience, that in this case DTSi/DDL has messed up the Prey soundtrack for you. Could you try swapping to analog?

Really it depends on when the positional works. Playing voice logs comes through the center channel correctly. But I'm at the part with the cook and all his voice sound is definitely coming through all the speakers. A pretty easy test is to just stand in front of him and spin in place. It probably has something to do with being a scripted instance. In the parts right before that, with the people who are being mind controlled, they say stuff occasionally and they have perfect positional audio...So it makes me wonder why one character has voice coming through all speakers and the ones who are zombies have positional.

[Doc Hollywood]

Has to do with sound mixing. I have a 5.1.4 atmos system in home theater and this does not sound very well in 5.1.
I play at my desk and monitor side with headphones and sounds very well. Obvious they mixed it for positional stereo sound and not multichannel surround sound.
Have you tried four channel surround in windows and letting your receiver handle bass management? That has worked for me a lot but havent tried it with Prey yet.