Launching Steam games mutes ALL audio from ALL sources.

[Pookgg7TTV]

This only happens with Steam games. I launched a different game through the Ubisoft launcher and had no audio issues. Whenever I launch ANY of my Steam games, audio from ALL sources completely cuts out. It is fixed immediately as soon as I close the game.

I've tried verifying the Steam install files, uninstalling and reinstalling Steam, updating drivers, deleting basically all extra sound software (I was using Voicemeeter Potato and Razer Synapse). I've tried going through these forums, I'm at a complete loss here.

[crunchyfrog]

It's likely some audio software you're using, whether something you've downloaded or something your system manufacturer included. Also, Windows 10 and 11 can be a bit weird about audio and displays as it tends to cause me issues from time to time.

Here's what I would would try looking at.

First off, go to Windows settings, and disable ALL audio devices except the single one you want to use (if there's more than one listed). I use a lot of synths and audio engineering stuff so this often trips me up.

If that doesn't fix it (or doesn't apply) then you can try looking at what audio software your system uses to run audio. Typically it should purely be something like Realtek audio or something. If there's other things listed then disable or uninstall them for the time being.

Outside of this, I'm unsure where else to start.

[Pookgg7TTV]

Thanks so much for the response. After going through my audio devices one by one, it seems like it's narrowed down to my external capture card (HD60 S+), which is really odd. I recently just set up a second PC for streaming, and it all worked fine for about 3 days until this happened.

Guess I'll try uninstalling/reinstalling it.

[Brujeira]

There's a specialist Hardware and OS forum here if you need their help - their technical knowledge is pretty damn extensive.

https://steamcommunity.com/discussions/forum/11/

[crunchyfrog]

Originally posted by Pookgg7TTV:

Thanks so much for the response. After going through my audio devices one by one, it seems like it's narrowed down to my external capture card (HD60 S+), which is really odd. I recently just set up a second PC for streaming, and it all worked fine for about 3 days until this happened.

Guess I'll try uninstalling/reinstalling it.

That sounds likely.

It was one of the first things I found when I switched to 10 years ago. It's weird how it tends to just go silly over certain devices if you have more than one.

There's likely no need to uninstall it unless disabling it doesn't work for you.

Goo dluck.