Helldivers 2 Lowering Microphone Input Volume in Settings

[Blast]

I have done everything I could have to alleviate my issues. But I need to explain.

When playing Helldivers 2, recording and streaming, I began to notice that my voice volume was severely low. I kept checking to see what was happening, making changes to my recording software, but then I found it.

When I speak too loud, my input volume in Windows goes down when playing Helldivers 2. No other game does this, except Halo: MCC.

If I snap my fingers, my 100% volume goes to 87, then 72, then 50, then 32, then it stops.

I have disabled the "allow applications to take exclusive control over this device" in my control panel's Sound settings, and turned off the only audio-enhancing setting that my microphone had with Windows 11 (which was the Voice Focus Enhancement). In Steam's settings, I disabled the Automatic gain control. I have even uninstalled the drivers, reinstalled them, restarted the computer, updated my computer, and downloaded drivers.

I contacted Arrowhead support about this, and it's been so unhelpful. She said to download the G-Hub Logitech software, since my microphone is a Blue Snowball, but that software didn't even detect my microphone.

Again, no other games do this. CS2, TF2, Minecraft, Lethal Company, and all other games I play. Only Helldivers 2 and Halo: MCC.

I have tweaked setting after setting with my audio, and nothing has changed.


I recently did a fresh install of windows with an installation media (USB), AND IT STILL DIDN'T CHANGE ANYTHING. I DID A FRESH INSTALL OF WINDOWS, DOWNLOADED THE GAME IMMEDIATELY, AND IT STILL HAPPENED WITH NO ADDITIONAL SOFTWARE RUNNING.

I have tried another microphone, a Blue Yeti, however it still happened. I could try a different microphone than that, see if that has any result.


During my testing, I found something interesting. I plugged in an AUX microphone that my headset uses (I have a HyperX Cloud Alpha headset) and it appeared on my sound settings. I had my Blue Snowball default for audio, and Windows put the HyperX microphone default for communications.

What I found was shocking.

In that configuration, THE ISSUE DIDN'T HAPPEN.

So I did additional testing. I booted up Helldivers 2, specified in the volume mixer to use my Blue Snowball, and connected the stupid AUX microphone to the back of my computer (lol). I made sure that the Snowball was being used, and the issue didn't happen.

So, what I have deduced is that Helldivers doesn't seem to like the default communication device for inputs. Probably the same for Halo: MCC.

I wanted to make this to see if anyone else has experienced this issue too.

[Carie Tenace]

Same here, fixed it by setting an other microphone than the one I used by default on windows. There are some shady thing going on because no software should be able to do something that is explicitely forbidden within microphone properties.

[Tiger]

I had this same exact issue and setting a webcam as the default for "Communications" worked for me. I've been going crazy for 2 months over this whenever I play Helldivers, and it ONLY happens in Helldivers.

[Polarbark]

This is a very old issue with Windows itself. You need to go to the sound settings. Find the "Communications" tab and set it to the option "Do nothing" instead of "Lower by 20%, 80%" etc.

[Blast]

Originally posted by Polarbark:

This is a very old issue with Windows itself. You need to go to the sound settings. Find the "Communications" tab and set it to the option "Do nothing" instead of "Lower by 20%, 80%" etc.

Just tested it, it didn't work. For a moment I thought that I seriously missed something important. I tested it on Helldivers 2 and Halo: MCC and my microphone volume went down when i snapped my fingers into the microphone. :( thank you for helping, though.

[Sakamoto]

Originally posted by Polarbark:

This is a very old issue with Windows itself. You need to go to the sound settings. Find the "Communications" tab and set it to the option "Do nothing" instead of "Lower by 20%, 80%" etc.

That's for output sounds, not input. Still no actual fix for this issue though without workarounds (i.e. setting default communications device to a secondary device to trick the game into lowering the gain on that one) and it's only on HD2.

My guess is that they have automatic gain control built-in to their VOIP and there's no way to toggle that off. Doesn't help that Windows can't designate which apps to deny microphone access to unless they're downloaded directly from their store, so it's either ALL apps denied access or none.