A question about sound

Tannakaobi · May 2014

I have a problem and I was wondering If I am the only one. I have my PC set up to my stereo so I can make use of the surround sound. (I don't own regular speakers)

The problem is that for some reason I need to face the NPC that is talking in order to hear them, as if I hear with my eyes. This is a problem during story quests where the NPC talking is behind you

Is there a way I can change this? I don't see why it would be because of my stereo. Does anyone else have this happen? Is there a solution?

It's a daft system in my opinion, I have played loads of games including things like Rocksmith and never had a problem with sound before.

Any help will be much appreciated.

Tannakaobi · May 2014

So no one has this problem then?

Glurin · May 2014

You might want to give people a little more than thirteen minutes to answer you. And no, I'm not experiencing the problem because all I've got is regular speakers that came with an old Dell about ten years ago.

AlexDougherty · May 2014

Tannakaobi wrote: »

So no one has this problem then?

I use a pair of skullcandy headphones, so no.

robynheraty_ESO · May 2014

I've never experienced this problem, and I was in the persistent beta so have been playing for quite a while. I'm using fairly inexpensive speakers that plug into my desktop. Does your speaker system work for surround sound during movies? If the problem isn't with your stereo system, then it might be the way you have your audio configured in the game.

Tannakaobi · May 2014

robynheraty_ESO wrote: »

If the problem isn't with your stereo system, then it might be the way you have your audio configured in the game.

Aye, that's what I was getting at. Since I made this thread I have tried with earphones straight into my PC and still have the same problem.

As far as I know I am still with the default audio settings. The only thing I have changed is the music volume. The sound is fine with everything. I can here ambient sounds fine, combat, voice sounds are even fine when in the chat mode zoom into face thing.

The only time I have this issue is when NPC's are talking either to me or each other and I am not facing them directly. It doesn't matter how close I am to them. If I am facing them it's fine. It's frustrating because I often miss the witty banter between Abnur Tharn and Lyris.

Sarenia · May 2014

I've experienced this issue in the past, but not on ESO. Surround sound in games is directional, if you face something you can hear it better than if you don't.

When I experienced your issue, it was due to the game registering my sound system as 2-speaker stereo or headphone.

Please verify your audio settings are configured to output surround sound. Please verify the in-game settings match.

If those check out, try turning on Loudness Equalization. It compresses the range of sounds to a more averaged output.

If that doesn't work, or doesn't satisfy you, you could try using Speaker Fill. It doesn't sound as good, but will increase output volume in all speakers.

As an alternative, you could tinker with Room Correction, if your speaker software supports it. In theory, with tweaking, you could use this to equalize the volume per-speaker to taste.