5.1 Surround Sound issue with Skyrim - specifically, subwoofer not working at all

[Robo]

Hey guys, I'm wondering if there's anything I can do about the fact that no sound is playing through my Subwoofer channel at all when I use 5.1 surround sound in Skyrim. All 5 satellite speakers work absolutely fine, and it sounds great, but there's just nothing coming out of the SW.

I use an X-Wave HT-S20 speaker system and my sound card registers as "AMD High Definition Audio Device". Any idea?

Thanks.

[Avatar1971]

Right click on where it says AMD HD Audio Device, choose the "Supported Formats" tab and make sure where it says "Encoded Formats" it lists Dolby Digital.

If it doesn't list that there then you need to update your audio driver, here is link to their driver page:
http://support.amd.com/en-us

[Robo]

Thanks for the reply.

In the program I was using, I can't even right click at all, so I tried using Device Manager, and there was no "supported formats" option/tab, and nothing related to "encoded formats".

I used the device manager to check if my drivers need to be updated (apparently it's a 2012 version) and it said that my drivers are up to date.

I went to check for audio drivers on that site, but it's just a site for graphics drivers (that's where I get my GPU drivers, and even searching yields no results for audio drivers).

Any ideas?

[Avatar1971]

I think I used this tool to get the correct driver:
http://support.amd.com/en-us/download/auto-detect-tool

Here is a list of all the Windows versions and the latest audio drivers for each version so you know what it should be for your PC.
http://www.pcpitstop.com/libraries/driver/detail.asp?driver=AMD~High~Definition~Audio~Device.html

I'm using a 64 bit windows 7 PC and my driver is the latest one that they show, 6/20/2014 - 7.12.0.7719

[Robo]

Thanks a lot for the links and the help, but I spent hours googling for a download link to that driver, and I can't find it, ugh (no download link on that site), and the AMD link is for graphical drivers only.

[Factualious]

The AMD audio driver is included with the CCC download.

In the program I was using, I can't even right click at all, so I tried using Device Manager, and there was no "supported formats" option/tab, and nothing related to "encoded formats".

The program you were using should have been the Windows Control Center - selecct Hardware and Sound, then Sound, then RMB on the driver entry and select Properties. Also check your speakers by selecting Configure Speakers from the same context menu. Run through the speaker config wizard and make sure 5.1 surround is selected, all your speakers are selected, and that no speakers are selected as being "Full-range".

That last bit will force the driver into sending all lower frequencies (100Hz or 125Hz and lower, iirc) out to the subwoofer, which is what you probably want because a subwoofer generally does a better job of reproducing low frequencies than full-range speakers. If you have speakers flagged as being full-range then only the LFE (Low Frewuwncy Effects, less than 80Hz, iirc) will be sent to the subwoofer.

I don't know what the frewuency range of sound put out by Skyrim is; and I don't use the AMD driver because it kept failing to recognize that I have a 5.1 set up (HDMI to an A/V reciever, the Realtek HDMI driver works for me) so I can't help with any AMD speccific fiddling.