Can't hear distant NPCs important scenes

MythicSnake · August 2018

This wasn't an issue before they released Summerset, but as soon as Summerset dropped I immediately started having this issue, so I'm assuming they fiddled with the scaling of the audio... Sometimes when you are rounding a corner or are approaching a scene, the NPCs will begin to start their dialog scene (sometimes when you are in the adjacent room or upstairs) and it is obvious that you are supposed to hear what they are saying because it is important to the story. Sometimes, you are standing across a ravine (Veya in the Cathedral of Webs) or on the other side of a big room (the Council Audience Chamber in Sadrith Mora) and they are actually shouting at you across the gap. HOWEVER, ever since the Summerset update, the audio is scaled so exponentially that any NPC more than 7 or 8 paces away is basically inaudible. They sound like they are miles away, and you can't hear what they are saying. At least I can't, I don't know if it's just happening to me or not.

YES, I have gone into my settings and turned my dialog all the way to max! I have turned my system audio all the up for ESO on the sound mixer. I don't have trouble hearing dialog in any other part of the game, it's only when the NPCs are far away, but it's obvious I'm supposed to hear what they're saying. Is there a fix for this? Is anybody else experiencing this? Like I said, this only started happening within the last few months.

ZOS_Bill · August 2018

@MythicSnake

There are a few troubleshooting steps you can take to make sure this is not an issue with the game audio files or with your sound settings.

Use the Repair option to download the missing files:

Start The Elder Scrolls Online launcher.
Click on Game Option on top of the News section, and click on the option for Repair.
Allow the launcher to examine all the files for the game. This will take some time.
If any files are found to have problems, the launcher will re-download those files.

Refresh the PC's Audio:

Exit the game.
Right click on the Speaker icon in the bottom right corner of the system tray. (Please note that the Speaker Icon may get hidden in the Notification Area. To find it, simply click on the Up-arrow Icon in the bottom right corner of the system tray.)
Choose Play Back Devices from the drop down menu, and then right click in the window and select Show Disabled Devices.
Right click on the actual device, and select Disable.
Click Apply, and then right click the device again and select Enable.
Press Apply

Refresh Audio Drivers:

Click the Start Globe and then right click on Computer and select Manage.
Select Device Manager from the System Tools section.
Open the Sound, Video and Game Controllers section and choose your sound device from the list.
Double click to open the Properties Menu" and then select the Drivers tab
From here you can roll back your drivers to a previous version to see if this will help.

To update your audio drivers, please visit your hardware manufacturer's website and check for available updates.

If the steps above do not resolve the issue, please contact Customer Support.