High CPU load while active speaking in voice Chat causes choppy voice

[-SBFG-wolD]

Hi Community,

for a while me and my buddies try to change from TS3 client to STEAM Voice chat.
In the first game, it was CIV 6 Multiplayer hosted by me, the in- and outgoing voice getting very worse.
At first in the Menus of the game all was clear and quite good, but since we had loaded into game seccesffully the voice Chat performance getting bad.
We tried that with several other games. Mostly the problem was the same. But not always!
So we do some evaluation. In the end we note that everytime when the cpu reaches nearly 100% load the voice chat getting choppy.

I know that in the past there where several problems like this. On the net i found different forums with same problems. But never find a working Solution that fixes this issue.
My opinion is, that the voice chat needs to much resources in terms of cpu. When iam active speaking its approx 20% and peaking higher. This snitches my CPU Headroom in games.

So I opened a Ticket in STEAM Support directly and its already closed with no results.

Please feel free to read the massages from me and the support team. There you will also see what approches i had tried already as well all my system specs and windows builds.

Thank you and stay safe.

Greetings from Germany!

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Ticket: HT-CR6V-HPG7-J4MQ

Ihre Nachricht vom 17. Jan. um 15:38 Uhr | vor 9 Tagen
Hi Guys,

after a long time our group changes from Team-Speak Voice chat to Steam voice chat. We have an own Steam group where iam administrator. I added some fix voice chat rooms to the group chat.

I have the problem that in some games the voice chat got choppy and cut. Sounds like a hard lag when e.g. you have a bad connection.
When iam in game and there is no one in voice chat i tried to go to properties and start microphone test. I have the exactly same choppy sound as i have when iam in a regular chat party. So i assume that is a local problem with my mashine. Some driver problems ?

I have a dual monitor set up connected via HDMI and DP. The Main Steam Window runs on HDMI display the chat client runs on my side monitor connected via DP.

Specially i recognize it in games like Planetside 2, Civilization 6 (all addons) and Counter Strike Global Offensive.
I tried a few more in my libary but these are the worst ones.

Please understand i cant test all my games because that are to much.

The most games start in bordless window mode, because of the multi monitor set up.

Here is an interesting fact that happes when iam playing Civ 6 and CS:GO. When i am in game, and have my choppy sound, and than switching by klicking on the second monitor into the window of the Steam group chat, the problem is not happening any more. But its starts again when i go back into the active game window. Same is in Planetside 2.
Its only when iam "active playing" a game. In all tested games the sound is even good in the menus after starting it. But as soon as i have loaded a game and iam playing the bad sound appears.

As a standard i have two active audio devices that i use regulary. Onboard Sound with external speaker system and a wireless Logitech G930 Headset.

The Headset i usaly use when we are in a gaming seassion with friends. This is then set up as my standard audio device in windows and its genarly set up as my standard communication device.

Till now I have tried several thinks. Deaktivate / activate / deinstall drivers that are not nessesary. Like my Nvidea sound drivers, Steam Streaming devices and integrated sound hub from my second monitor.
Tried with closed background programs like Nvide control Panel and Logitech gaming software.
Several combinations of windows sound properties and in game options.
Changed the exclusive modes options in windows sound properties for headset and microphone.
Force the games to start in Full Screen.
Because i thought there could be a problem with access rights on the sound drivers with different programs.

At the moment i dont know what i can do next.
All my driver are up to date. In Team Speak i dont have this problem. My opinion is that there is some driver or application that are in struggle with Steam voice chat or so.

I will attach some screeshot of my sound properties.

Very thanks for your help.

Greetings from germany!
Angehängte Dateien: Divice Manager.JPG Windows Sound Page 1.JPG Windows Sound Page 2.JPG Logitech G930 speaker advanced properties.JPG Logitech G930 Mic advanced properties.JPG Windows Sound.jpg Steam VC.JPG Steam VC 2.JPG support_system_report.vdf minidumps_and_logs.zip





Nachricht des Steam-Supports vom 18. Jan. um 0:08 Uhr | vor 9 Tagen
Hello,

I am sorry to hear that you are experiencing this issue with Steam Voice Chat.

You'll first want to visit following article and follow all of the troubleshooting and configuration steps:
https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=2598-RTZB-6114

If you are still experiencing it after following those steps, please create a report in the official Steam Chat Discussions with a brief description, the steps that can be taken to reproduce it, as well as any other information that seems relevant.

You may also need to work with a local PC specialist in your area to help troubleshoot and isolate the underlying issue.

Steam Support
Charles




Ihre Nachricht vom 20. Jan. um 14:57 Uhr | vor 6 Tagen
Hi,

thank you for the fast responsen.

But i have to say iam a little kind of, lats say, confused.
I have wrote you my problem as detailed as i could even with screenshots.
Also the solutions i have already tried to fix the problem.

Now i get a stand prefabricated answere with a FAQ linked in.
This FAQ contains all of the approches i already tried and its known thats dosnt work.
(I know its prefabricated couse i found this at several posts all regarding to voice chat problems)

So in this point i have to say that iam disappointed about this state.

Meanwhile i tried a little bit arround and got new informations.

Seems that there is a heavy CPU usage while using and speaking in the voice chat UI.
What we see here in PIC 1 and PIC 2 is, that with Steam open and dont joined in a voice channel, the idle load is 8%.
When i join a Channel and beginn to speak it raises up to minimum 30% usage sometimes it spikes a little higher.

Further i have tested the Voice Chat in CPU heavy games Like CIV6 and Planetside 2 where my CPU is approx 90% load.
The Voice Chat beginns to get choppy, every time when it hits the 100% mark of CPU usage.

In the next step, when iam in the game, i had windows task manager open. Do a right klick on the "Steam Client WebHelper" process with the heaviest
cpu usage and go on "Details". There are a few "steamwebhelber.exe" processes active. I do a further right click on the marked one.
In the menu i chose the "priority" and set from "normal" to "higher as normal" priority. (PIC 3)

Just in time the Voice Chat stopped beeing choppy and voice quality is quite good.

So my opinion is that here is something wrong with CPU usage management or so. Iam not a programmer.

Is here any way to get a fix for it? Because otherwise you have to do these steps every time you newstart Steam.

P.S All these steps i tried without CPU rendering in Steam options. I Also tried it with GPU rendering on. But the Problem beeing the same so no advantage of that.

Greeting from germany
Angehängte Dateien: Pic 1.JPG Pic 2.JPG pic 3.jpg





Nachricht des Steam-Supports vom 22. Jan. um 16:18 Uhr | vor 4 Tagen
Hello,

When Steam is using more resources than you would expect to see it use you can try launching the main Steam client in Big Picture mode to try and act as a soft reset.

Additionally Steam Client Webhelper processes govern most aspects of steam, including Chat, the store, the overlay, and even the Library. To minimize the number of these processes and their resource usage, you will want to close any other open chats, ensure that no video content is playing, and either close the Steam Client window or make sure that it's on your library rather than a Store page.

Further, you can limit some aspects of steam by going to Steam > Settings > Library and enabling the checkboxes for "low bandwidth mode" and "low performance mode".

If you have an unrelated issue please reply here and I'll be happy to help.

Best Regards,
Anthony




Ihre Nachricht vom 22. Jan. um 20:27 Uhr | vor 4 Tagen
Hi,

at first i want to thank you for your further help and beeing interrested in my problem.
I have read, apply and try you suggested help solutions.

At first i have done start Steam in Big Picture mode. I have started the Chat there, joined a channel and talk a bit. I monitor my system via task manager to see what the cpu load is doing.
Nothing realy changed. The cpu load increases more because of big picture i think. You can trace in Pic 1 - 3.

After that i have started Steam again in normal mode. There i made a further try in voice Chat with closed bibliothek and only chat window open. Nothing realy changes. But you see that the cpu load decreases a bit because of the closes steam main window. But its still over 16% and sometimes peaking higher. You can see in Pic 4.

After that i implemented you suggested settings for low bandwidth and cpu in biblothek propertys. See on Pic 5 - 7.

With that setting i tryed again the voice chat. And it doesent work. We Still have over 18% of load with the chat. You can relate on pic 8 - 9.

To give you a reference you can find the CPU overall IDLE with Steam closed on Pic 10.

Furthermore last evening i spoke with to friend of mine and pleased them to track their cpu laod while using steam voice chat. Seems to be that there is the same issue with high cpu load. They get arround 20 to 30 % cpu usage while active speaking in a voice chat channel.

But often its not recognized because of playing games that dont affect the cpu to much like CS:GO for example so there is enough headroom.

What makes me struggle is, that when the voice chat claims arround 20% cpu usage means, that when i have 3,5GHz per Core the chat need arround 700MHz to work properly. My opinion here is, that is to much for that compared to other applications like TeamSpeak.

I hope you can relate to this? Are there further thinks i can try? Are there some Steam Software improvements planed in this way?

Greetings !
Angehängte Dateien: Pic 1 Steam BP IDLE.JPG Pic 2 Steam BP open Chat.JPG Pic 3 Steam BP open Chat joined voice chat and speaking.JPG Pic 4 Steam open Chat joined voice chat and speaking after soft reset via BP and Steam Main window bibiothek closed.JPG Pic 5 Steam properties in game Overlay disabled.JPG Pic 6 Steam properties Overlay.JPG Pic 7 Steam properties Bibiothek low bandwidth and low hardware confi.JPG Pic 8 Steam Idle with suggested settings without talking in chat.JPG Pic 9 Steam with suggested settings talking in chat.JPG Pic 10 System IDLE without Steam on as reference.JPG





Nachricht des Steam-Supports vom 25. Jan. um 0:24 Uhr | vor 2 Tagen
Thanks for following up with that information.

Unfortunately, we don't have any additional steps or information we can provide around this particular issue.

As suggested prior, you may want to consider reaching out to a local repair technician as they may be able to better diagnose and assist with this issue.

I'm sorry that we can't be of more assistance with this issue.

Steam Support
Jake




Ihre Nachricht vom 27. Jan. um 12:57 Uhr | vor 1 Stunde und 59 Minuten
Hi,

that makes makes me sad to hear.

Just get back on point. That isn´t a particular problem. When you read the different diskussion forum there a many of users with this problem. Even we checked it with a group of freinds.

I thinks there is work to do to increase performance of the Steam UI in the future to get it run in a good performance. Otherwise the people will use different clients further more and this will bring a bad taste of using Steam client in future :(.

Good Day

[Tharon]

It's caused by the sound level animation displayed for every user talking in the chat.
Unfortunately any animation in the new Steam UI is known to cause terrible performance drop and should be avoid at all cost. Yes, animated frame too.
Steam support can't do anything about it, it's by design.

The only workaround available is to close the chat window. The voice will continue to work, but without the performance drop.

[-SBFG-wolD]

Hi Tharone,

thank for your fast reply. Meanwhile i have tried that procedure what you suggested.
Its what i didn´t actualy tried till now.

So the result is exactly what you are saying. With open chat and active talking there is approx 20% cpu load for that process (steamwebhelper). When i close the chat window (with x, not only minimize), it decreases immidiatly to approx 4% (what is still too much for a voice Chat in comparson).

Thank your for the advice!

Now than i will appeal on Valve in this way to get performance issues like this fixed in the future! My oppinion here is, that voice chat is an essential part of online gameing, specialy when i offer a chat client in a distribution platform.
I like the group chat with all his funktions. But i would like to have it open the whole time so i can trace whats going on in the Chat and who´s actually talking. ( like i have it on plattforms e.g TeamSpeak 3)

I'll leave that as nice feedback!