loss of sound on mass effect andromeda [ Edited ]

[Skauron]

After a period playing mass effect andromeda in multiplayer, the audio completely cuts out leaving just voice comms playing in the background.   It makes multiplayer absolutely dreadful.   It is like suddenly losing one of your 5 senses.   So this leaves you unable to hear anything thats going on, and you are completely reliant on what you can see on screen in the hope you won't seem like you are playing really bad as part of your team.

Here is the problem demonstrated in a youtube video that i uploaded:

When first discovered:  Patch 1.05 first week of April 2017.  

Current Patch: 1.10 (released 31/07/2017)

Number of attempts to fix or provide means of workaround since discovery:  0

Number of full calendar months unfixed:  3

Its really quite random when it happens, and so far the only work around that works is restarting the entire game.   I don't think this is an acceptable fix but its the only one that works.

I have many games and none of them are giving audio issues like this, so please fix this as i was really starting to like Mass Effect Andromeda.

Please fix the audio for multi-player!  It's bad enough having a dumbed down experience compared to mass effect 2 & 3 music wise, but to lose sound altogether is something else entirely.  It is especially frustrating when you get into a good team that works well together and then have to dump the team at the end of the game you are in because of a technical issue with no sound for the entire game.

I have listed as many of the things i've tried below.  None have been successful  Whilst you can play quite happily for a while with sound, the issue happens all of a sudden and without warning, and with no clear indicator or pre-cursor to it happening, there is no way to prevent or predict it happening.

Actions:

driver update of both soundblaster audigy and nvidia gpu drivers. - no effect  same problem occurs

disable hdmi outputs so that only the sound card one remains - no effect.  same problem occurs

disabling shadowplay - no efffect  same problem occurs

muting all players prior to match - no effect  same problem occurs

disabling VoIP - no effect  same problem occurs

running game in a window - no effect  same problem occurs

tested both on speakers AND usb headset - no effect.  same problem occurs.

disable microsoft game bar - no effect  same problem occurs

change audio settings to nighttime etc.   - no effect  same problem occurs

play game in stereo rather than surround sound - no effect.  same problem occurs

checked event logs for possible clues - none found.  system reporting no issues.

Tested by hosting game and also joining games - same problem occurs regardless.

Checked for possible workarounds for previous frostbite engine games - found suggestions but variable not supported in ME:A - no effect.

Tested with Breakaway audio enhancer - no effect.  same problem occurs

Tested switching audio playback device to another device then back again to reset audio - no effect, same problem occurs.

Tested with 16-Bit DVD Audio quality and 16-Bit CD Audio quality - no effect same problem occurs.

Tested with Origin overlay not loaded into game   - no effect.  same problem occurs

Tested with 'Run as administrator for Origin & game   - no effect.  same problem occurs

Tested disable/enable audio device to get sound back  - no effect.  restart of game only way to get sound back
Tested Stop/Start of audiosrv and AudionEndpointBuilder services to get sound back  - no effect.  restart of game only way to get sound back

Tested 'Do nothing' on communications tab for sound in windows - no effect.  problem still occured. 

Patch notes and summary of any changes to sound related issues:

Patch 1.04 - Release date, March 20th/21st 2017  Patch notes for 1.04 and early access

• Fixed an issue causing players to stop hearing their characters audio and start hearing another players instead

Patch 1.05 - Release date, April 4th 2017 Patch notes for 1.05

• No fixes or changes to audio in this patch.

Patch 1.06 - Release date, May 9th, 2017 Patch notes for 1.06

• No fixes or changes to audio in this patch.

Hotfix 1.07 - Release date May 18th, 2017

• No fixes or changes to audio in this hotfix.

Patch 1.08 - Release date, June 8th, 2017 Patch notes for 1.08

• Fixed issue where ammo pick-up audio incorrectly played
• Improved visual and audio cues for player ready status in Multiplayer lobbies

Patch 1.09 - Release date, July 6th, 2017 Patch notes for 1.09

• No fix, attempt to fix, workaround or anything with regards this loss of sound issue.

Patch 1.10 - Release date, July 31st, 2017 Patch notes for 1.10

• No fix, attempt to fix, workaround or anything with regards this loss of sound issue.

Last patch to have included any change to audio in multiplayer:   1.08 (June 8th 2017)

Many players suspect patch 1.05 broke the audio in multiplayer somehow, but as I opened this post originally 3 days after patch 1.05 i am inclined to agree.  I beat single player on 30th april, and it is highly likely i was playing multiplayer from the first day of May, so i would have experienced this problem sooner than the date of this post i'm sure AND posted about it sooner.  June's 1.08 patch did not bring forth any improvements towards this issue.

[19Milanis67]

This is the second time that I lost sound, the first I actually had sound in the few matches before it went completely out, nothing I did would bring it back, the second time, (that I remember of course), I just turned on my PS4 Pro, put the game in, checked what character I wanted to play, played a bronze match, the match was glitchy, like so many times before, and I had no Kandros, no game data, now I still played the match, but sound is much more preferable.

[Jumpy-B-L]

Are you using afterburner with the overlay up?

[LandedPluto]

I had it serveral times.

The last time I noticed that it mute after a sound effect was played. Not sure if this is something to do with the audio control stuff in the game.

Of course, I have to restart the game to restore the sound.

[Tuklofeign]

I never experienced this until this recent patch. Now it seems to happen every 4 or so games.Not sure why. I haven't changed or added anything to my PC but off it goes midmatch every few matches.

[Z4nid]

Try installing Breakaway. Worked for me.

[Skauron]

Just had it happen again now.  Wave 2 of 7.. needless to say, that all i wanted to do at that point was stop playing.. get to level 7.. then i can close my game and restart.

Sorry but for a game that has been this long in the making and with the considerable cost this game is to buy, stuff like this needs to be sorted... even in a mini patch.

It is a known issue and an unfixed one in the most recent patch, so does anyone at EA have any idea when or if this will be fixed?  Any word from Bioware?

[Skauron]

The suggestion to use Breakaway as a cure, while i'm glad this has worked for you should not be the go-to fix for this issue that many people seem to be experiencing .. not just on PC either.. have seen some people with PS4 saying its happening to them too.

So as much as i'd normally give things a try, paying $30 for something else just to get the sound working on ONE game.. does not seem solid reasoning at all.

Thanks for the suggestion but I really do think it is up to Bioware to fix their game and make it so that gamebreaking faults such as loss of sound and crashes etc. are not plaguing the 'user experience' to this extent.   I really hoped it was going to get cured in 1.05, but now i'm questioning if its on the queue for 1.06?

It's a shame because aside from the dreaded unmappable console key and this loss of audio issue, multiplayer is actually a lot of fun!

[Skauron]

I don't know if it will help, but i grabbed my shadowplay recording just now of this audio loss problem happening as early as wave 1 in multiplayer.  You could argue that the music that seems to play some way through is sketchy at best, but it is the total lost of audio that is really ruining my multiplayer experience.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QXSM2uY1tRo

[scorp123_CH]

I just had this happen to me. Multiplayer match, everything is going fine ... aaaaaand wwwwooosh, there goes the sound. No more sound at all in "Mass Effect Andromeda". Sound everywhere else still works tip top. E.g. I can "Alt+Tab" to another window and I will still get sound just fine, it's only "ME:A" that has gone mute. So it's not a system-wide problem.

When I exit "ME:A" and then start it again, sound will work again.

Very annoying