Problems Using Voice Chat

[Zipwire]

Whenever I try to use voice chat in the game others in the group hear noise (it has been described as feedback, buzzing, humming). They can hear my voice too but it is low and barely audible over the noise.

I have a laptop with a built in microphone and have tried a headset but the problem still occurs using either one. It happens when using both push to talk and hands free.

I use the built in mic on Skype and have not had any problems or complaints. This makes me think it has a conflict with or something to do with the game.

Checked my drivers, they are up to date and it says they are working properly, ran dxdiag and no problems found there. I have fooled with the in game settings for voice and no luck there either. I am not real familiar with those settings and what exactly they each do but tried anyway.

64 bit Vista Premium SP2
NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GS
DirectX 11
Realtek High Definition Audio

So if anyone has any suggestions on what to do to fix this or maybe in game settings to try I would really appreciate it, thanks!

[varusso]

Whenever I try to use voice chat in the game others in the group hear noise (it has been described as feedback, buzzing, humming). They can hear my voice too but it is low and barely audible over the noise.

I have a laptop with a built in microphone and have tried a headset but the problem still occurs using either one. It happens when using both push to talk and hands free.

I use the built in mic on Skype and have not had any problems or complaints. This makes me think it has a conflict with or something to do with the game.

Checked my drivers, they are up to date and it says they are working properly, ran dxdiag and no problems found there. I have fooled with the in game settings for voice and no luck there either. I am not real familiar with those settings and what exactly they each do but tried anyway.

64 bit Vista Premium SP2
NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GS
DirectX 11
Realtek High Definition Audio

So if anyone has any suggestions on what to do to fix this or maybe in game settings to try I would really appreciate it, thanks!

Use an external mic for DDO. I have the same problem. On occasion, others will complain about the noise. Invariably, checking the settings shows that the settings have inexplicably and spontaneously reverted to the built-in mic (it shows up as a line-in on my settings). Setting it back to my external mic always solves the problem. For whatever reason, DDO does not like my onboard muc, but i use a headset/mic combo anyway, so it works out fine

I am also using realtek BTW, dunno if thats the actual source of the issue or not.

[Zipwire]

Thanks for your reply Varusso.
I have checked those settings but it still doesn't correct the problem.

[sebastianosmith]

Hey Zipwire,

I think the problem is not enough gain. I know; it sounds counter intuitive.

You may have been asked to run a sound check when you installed Skype. It's been a while since I ran Skype, but I think it still does that. Anyhoo, Skype has an auto gain feature in it that will attempt to clean up the audio even if you didn't run a sound check. DDO lacks that feature. The audio input sliders in-game do almost nothing.

First, make sure you are running the genuine Realtek drivers and not the awful version supplied by Microsoft. Those can be found here. When you get there, click on "HD Audio Codec Driver" in the Quick Links section, agree to the silly checkbox question and pick the ones for "64bits Vista, Windows7, Windows8 Driver only (Executable file)".

After installing and/or verifying those are installed, open the Realtek HD Audio Manager (little red speaker icon in the taskbar) and click on the microphone tab. Near the top you should see a slider entitled "Recording Volume". Go ahead and slide that puppy up to 100. Next, there's a little button to the right of that slider that looks like a potato wearing headphones. That's the mic boost button. Click on it and a dialog box will appear with graduated slider. Move that slider to the second tick mark. It should read "+10.00dB" when you do that. Close the boost dialog and hit the "OK" button at the bottom of the main panel.

See if that makes any difference in DDO. You may have to play around with those settings to find a sweet spot if the audio is too hot or not hot enough. Doing this does set system-wide mic levels so you may have to adjust other applications accordingly.

I hope this helps.

[Zipwire]

Great information and details Sebastion, thank you so much.
I will give it a try, hopefully it will work out.

[varusso]

Thanks for your reply Varusso.
I have checked those settings but it still doesn't correct the problem.

You missed the actual suggestion that solves the problem: use an external mic. The problem is with the built-in mic itself (when used with DDO).

I'm sure someone will respond now with "well i use an onboard mic and its fine with DDO" or "but my onboard mic works with blah blah game/application". But simply put, I had the same issue as you, and i solved it with an external mic -- which ALSO works with blah blah game/application

[Zipwire]

I didn't miss your suggestion, as I stated in the op I have the problem using the onboard mic and when using a headset/mic.
But thanks for clarifying your statement.