Halo: Reach PC Crackling Audio Issue (Improved as of 7/14/20)

Just a demonstration of the crackling/choppy audio problem present in Halo: Reach for PC at launch.
Improved as of the July 14th update that added Halo 3.

[@Petajoe]

UPDATE: This issue has been much improved for me with the latest patch released alongside Halo 3. I was able to play through "Long Night of Solace" without any major audio distortion which is a significant improvement as that mission suffered some of the worst crackling and popping audio issues in the campaign. There are still occasional pops in the audio so I cannot say the problem is completely resolved, but I can at least enjoy the campaign with the music turned on now. I have not tried multiplayer yet with this patch because I don't have it installed, but please share your experiences with the latest patch so we can all get a sense of whether all players are seeing an improvement with regards to Reach's audio issues.

[@R3TR0--93]

I have the same problem too. played the whole game and completed it with this audio distortion. It was a nice new experience

[@Angelfinn12]

Yeah, it was my first time playing the entire game. Wish this issue wasn't there.

[@darksoulsismycity]

Legendary difficulty with all Skulls < Shitted Audio Skull

[@R3TR0--93]

@@darksoulsismycity *lip smack*

[@UnitedHornet]

same lol the entire campaign with this issue

[@R3TR0--93]

@@UnitedHornet goes to show you that 343 sucks

[@iKADAJx]

I hate when this happens in a multiplayer match. Unplayable.

[@94Fabius]

The only maps where I experienced this kind of problem were all the maps based on Forge World (Pinnacle e.a.). Very frustrating, not to mention the some parts of the campaign

[@N7Ronin]

@@94Fabius True, I noticed the same thing, on normal maps it doesn't happen, only on forge ones

[@biglbigl9229]

only on the campaign for me

[@nthetiteGHOST]

Grifball becomes painful to play too because of this

[@karakansdz]

Especially on Forge World, where it is basically everywhere on the map :/

[@snowman429]

Even without sound cracking, audio is mixed horribly.

[@Petajoe]

I wish I had a solution for everybody, but I think this is something that will need to be patched. I just made this video to demonstrate the issue to my friends since I was the only one having this problem among my group. 343 is already aware of the problem, but I will try to post here if I find any sort of workaround. Some of the later cutscenes are completely unintelligible, even with the in-game music off, because of this distortion, so let's hope there's a fix soon.

[@NinDid19]

It's good to raise awareness with this issue since I along with others are experiencing the issue. So far the Audio mixing is the only problem I've had with the game since it runs well graphically on my system. The best thing to do is keep an eye on what 343 states as days go by and also finding other unofficial workarounds as 343 continues to work on this issue.

[@AsteoEz]

It works fine when I turn the game music off

[@darksoulsismycity]

@@AsteoEz Same here, but the audio is still kind of not working properly. Sometimes the ambience fades out and the gunshots come out too late.

[@tokala6244]

It gets really bad whenever engine sounds are going (like when you were in the Falcon at the beginning, it would have been horrible for me). Turning the music off does help, but even with the music off, I have this issue whenever Auntie Dot talks.

[@darksoulsismycity]

@@tokala6244 Apparently you can make it a little less fucked up if you go into some files and edit certain text on Notepad ++, but even then we still need the patch to make it more playable than this. This is unbearable.

[@DougsDiggers]

It's like it's slowed down, stretched out and stuttering. I have the same issue and it's worse for me. It's like audio lag. Poorly optimized audio if that's even a thing.

[@lumpythewookiee5359]

This mostly happens to me when I try to play the campaign. It completely takes me out of the experience and hurts my ears. I really hope they fix this soon.

[@9671548]

Have the same issue still. Why havent they fixed this yet?!?!?!?! Tried changing options.ini file audio fix but nope still have the same problem

[@Geckbags]

Guys, you can fix this by changing the sound quality in the sound control panel from whatever you have set as to CD quality. That worked for me.

[@AlmightyFilms]

That helped out MASSIVELY. Thank you. It's still there but it's mostly just the sounds and not cutscenes.

[@toaster7347]

I have this problem and I tried to play the game with it. There are times where this issue is super annoying, but also there are times when it doesn't happen at all. I tried unpluging my headphone jack whenever this happend but the only thing that I got was game crash whenever I try to plug the headphone jack back in. It is really becoming frustrating. Just can't get into the game with this.

[@ViciousVinnyD]

The problem has been improved but still happens sometimes, suggesting the cause of the issue hasn't truly been fixed yet. This is my first time encountering such a problem with sound of all things so I imagine there must be something wrong with the system they use in this game.

[@MashedJoetatoes]

I could understand maybe servers being overloaded the first day, or maybe some animations being a bit wonky due to the fact that this is a PC port. But this? How could something so blatantly disruptive escape notoriety from the developers? Ruining the campaign for me, when I've been so eager to revisit it after so many years.

[@Abyss3223]

Dont forget the fact the hunters dont have a backswing animation

[@samevans515]

I changed my audio output from stereo to surround 5.1 and the crackling was reduced significantly. The crackling is definitely present but only at some locations.

[@Basu117]

"It's ready when it's ready".

[@samueljohansson9526]

Guys, this problem can only be fixed if they patch the game, we will just have to wait sadly...

[@Maverick2736]

Two goddamn months in and nothing yet...

[@hunterrocksss]

@@Maverick2736 Make it 6

[@GholaTleilaxu]

WTF!

[@PremierRikLatyeskov]

I also have this problem, but it's not nearly as intense as this. It only happens maybe after 10-20 minutes of playing the game. My headset is a Logitech G430 which works perfectly fine with every other game that I have, I really hope they patch this immediately.

[@spaceangelmewtwo9074]

I'm STILL having this issue nearly two months after release. Unacceptable. 343, you dun fucked it up.

[@TenseGamesGameStudio]

Someone please tell me if the audio at 5:43 is as it's supposed to be. Is the assault rifle supposed to sound so weak?

[@joeyenochs9469]

Bot_Fragger No, it is not suppose to be so weak. The game has incredible audio bugs on my end as well. I had to check with my original copy of Halo Reach and there is a significant difference in sound quality (Most noticeably your weapon is louder and has much more of a punch). It’s sad to see these legendary games so badly ported, because newer players will just assume they aren’t having any audio problems. 343i has already stated they knew about these issues from the beta, but choose to release anyways and fix the game to a playable state. It is even worse that players are foregoing critical bugs and just giving this game 10 out of 10s, because it is Halo.

[@the_furry_inside_your_walls639]

@@joeyenochs9469 Yes, because surely 343i have control over when the games were to release, definitely not Microsoft at all, nope it was only 343i who were deciding on a launch date. God damn, people like you really need to stop pinning all the blame on the devs alone. Publishers are just as much at fault as are the devs. If it wasn't for Microsoft rushing 343i to release the games, we wouldn't be having nearly as much f these issues as we do now.

[@joeyenochs9469]

Snazzy Jovial Wyrm I agree, the developer and publisher are at fault for knowing there was a bug and still pushing for a release.

[@halochampion342]

You expect the consumer to make that distinction? That’s not their responsibility, all they can do is judge the product that was released and regardless of whether it was 343 or Microsoft the point remains that somebody who is responsible for releasing these games knew this issue was there and released the game regardless and as long as that person(s) is still there then we have reason to believe this will happen again. So in short whether it was Santa Claus or 343, we still have reason to be concerned

[@coollemon7607]

Heres what worked for me (Campaign Mode) I turned the volume of the voice chat all the way down and changed the Voice Chat Canal option to everything. For some reason when I did this the cracking sound stoped

[@AntonBode]

I tried the CD Quality audio fix and it didn't work unfortunately, but then your suggestion did work afterwards, so thank you! :D

[@baderbros7676]

Worked for me, thanks

[@fbuyukpoyraz]

it worked

[@KnoxCarbon]

Dude, I don't know why you decided to do that, or how the hell it even worked at all, but it works. Holy shit. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart.

[@KnoxCarbon]

@@AntonBode Only seems to work on vanilla maps. Mods are out of the question for now.

[@WELLSON360]

So that's actually a Halo: Bruh game I didn't expected I bough. I hope the other games will have no problems like this one and Reach will be fixed at last.

[@Midwinter_Snow]

If i use my headphones, the sound crackles worse than this to the point of actually dropping the fps.. If i use my monitors speakers, it does crackle but more like this video. It's still playable. It's infuriating.

[@stephenschwartz7402]

I’ve had problems w the whole MCC audio. I usually can’t make out what anyone is saying over the radio

[@ShadonicX7543]

this was my first time properly playing Reach and I had these audio issues the entire time.. spent more time restarting the game hoping it'd fix than playing. really sad. any news of a possible fix?

[@sludgeman2597]

I just found out it isn't just a Halo Reach problem. It's most likely a bug introduced in a Windows update or in a GPU driver update.

[@setheheart4911]

Having the exact same issue. Thanks for posting this. Hope they resolve soon. Multiplayer maps are not playable.

[@karakansdz]

Most mods are on Forge World, but most likely only playable spaces are coast of the forge island, the hangar and the top of it :/ Which is pretty bad because you cant chill flying a Pelican and destroying spawned vehicles with this stuttering sound

[@Darksshade08]

Ive noticed this sound issue very few people are tlaking about or experiencing. Most problems with sound I hear about is just guns being too quiet, which I dont have. Meanwhile me and my friends games all sound like this accept like 10x worse. I feel like this particulat issue wont really be fixed cus theyll be too focused on another audio issue that isnt as severe. 3 months now, still not even touched.

[@FatalFist]

I don’t have crackling but I do have unbalanced and muffling. To be honest though, Gears 5 gave me issues too so I wonder if it’s Microsoft’s end.

[@joshuazamora5055]

I have problem on this game the audio was working but I dont hear any voice any solutions guys?

[@christophercompian]

Played it for 15min last night, couldn't take the audio issues and ended up refunding it on Steam. How did this get launched like this?

[@spaceangelmewtwo9074]

Lucky. I tried to figure out how to fix it with the game alt-tabbed for about 5 hours and probably won't get my refund because Steam can't distinguish play time from un-fucking-it-up time.

[@Trompok13]

@@spaceangelmewtwo9074 got six hours and tried to get a refund but more was spent trying to find a fix for the damn thing then playing it...

[@deni6085]

This is weird. Lots of people have encountered this issue including some people I know. However I have yet to experience this. What could be causing this?

[@thecousindeci1103]

@@deni6085 It only happens on forge world maps and campaign for me, however I think it's hardware related for people who do or don't have it.

[@georgewoolley1044]

same exact problem any one got a fix?

[@roscoejustros7080]

its even worse in multiplayer. Sometimes it gets so bad i just mute the audio

[@Vegeta2050]

I found three fixes guys Okay first is the CD quality method, from sound control settings, set headphone or speakers to CD quality, (worked for me) Second would be voice chat from 100 to 0, I have channel enabled to "everyone" Third would be the game Editor folder where you can set AudioQuality from 0 to 2, 3 or 4 (didnt work for me but hope it works)

[@cannabidivarin]

wheres the game editor folder

[@Darksshade08]

Tried all three of these methods and none worked.

[@alejandroc.santana2793]

I have this problem too. Any solution?

[@Red-by7rk]

Man I hope CE wont have this, I was so hyped for playing the series on pc. I've Reached (heh heh) the 10th campaign mission with this kind of audio. Nothing I could find fixed it for me, so I guess I'll just have to suffer through it. Its really hard to enjoy the game like this :(

[@sean117xx]

Mine just doesn't have sound at all

[@dmitrykazhamiakin3702]

Yeah, same issue - sometimes restarting the mission fixes it but its annoying when happens during cutscenes

[@ToxicZombieThereal]

Mines twice as bad as this.....the characters voices will go robotic and will cut out completely, then it will just progress into an intelligible mess of sounds. Progress to another scene it usually fixes itself, the space mission I had to completely mute the game. It's really bad on forge world maps as well.

[@halochampion342]

Is it similar to this?: kzbin.info/www/bejne/e5vcY4ymjM6esNk

[@uzikun]

This is literally how mine is so im gonna wait for a patch i guess i hope

[@karandeepsingh608]

Help me my character voices are not coming

[@fatreddit1518]

I don’t even have sound on mine can’t find any fixes

[@fretshr3dder]

me too. this was an issue i had with a halo clone game i played once (forgot the name, its on steam and its an awesome blend of halo 3 + Portal) and the only fix i had was to move the game from my external to my main SSD. which is fine for a small game, but i installed the MCC on my main drive because i had a feeling if i installed the game to my external, that this would happen.... and then it happened anyway.

[@GronGrinder]

I don't have this problem but I hope its been patched by now, if not the audio compression removal might fix it.

[@randomhiphop5055]

Thanks for fixing it, to all those still confused, did u not watch the video?? Am i missing something lol u fixed it all i had to do was restore defaults

[@TecHniKaL_IRL]

It was working fine for me since release. Fresh installed Windows today and any game i go into now sounds like this.

[@aku47]

so its not just me. I thought my headset was bad.

[@markdove5930]

I get no voices at all I can hear guns cars everything but no voices

[@hangemhighhilton]

I had a cracked version of Reach before I bought it, just to try before I buy sort of thing. The cracked version is PERFECT. No crackling bullshit, no fuck all. The LEGAL version I've got from MS, is fucking unplayable because of this shit. They gotta fix it asap. Funny thing is it doesn't happen all the time, it's seemingly random although online, it seems like there's maps that do it more often. I find reducing the graphics quality decreases the frequency of this happening but doesn't fix it completely.

[@butmunch19121993]

I wouldnt mind so much if the subs worked and put subs on all text but it only subs like 5%

[@Xanarch]

Adding to the record that I have this exact issue and the game will remain unplayable till fixed.

[@fernandostanic2035]

anybody have problems with game would not save camaping progress?

[@AsteoEz]

It works fine when I turn the game music off

[@supersnow17]

Yeah but Halo.....without its soundtrack? I'd consider that unplayable too....

[@UselessPlayerOfficial]

at least u have audio, mi issue is NOT AUDIBLE GAME! NO SHOTS EFFECT, NO VOICES ETC, ONLY IN HALO REACH GAME, HALO CE ITS OK

[@redcat608]

I experienced this on multiplayer. It sucks...

[@BrotherShield]

Am having the exact same problem, i though it was my PC

[@Rjey45ForteFev]

Uninstalled it and wait for new patch.

[@Hirotoro4692]

You know you don't need to uninstall a game to be able to patch it

[@masspwnagedGames]

I have this problem as well.

[@RANDOMGUY-iy9hm]

I just decrease the bass of my woofer and played

[@Hirotoro4692]

This crackling has literally nothing to do with a subwoofer

[@dizzee2100]

same prob here