shooty shooty silence

[solarbird]

So I've been getting game controllers working on PC. Yes, I need to. I can't use mice. Deal with it, I have to.

And I had everything working, wired, including audio through the controller. It was brilliant! I even have a really long USB cable so I didn't mind all that much.

Then I tried going to bluetooth to verify that audio through the controller would not work. I expected it to fail (due to developer notes on the translation software I have to use to use a PS4-style controller on PC) and it did.

And then when I went back to wired, audio didn't want to work anymore. But after a lot of fucking around, I got audio working again! Yay!

...until you fire a weapon, at which point all audio cuts out. Even non-Overwatch audio. It just goes away. I admit, this is ... moderately hilarious. But it is tremendously inconvenient.

However, if I just use the PC's front panel audio - which I fixed, as per my last post - then it works fine, and I can use the controller wirelessly (via bluetooth) or wired (via USB). (Is there a performance advantage to USB vs. Bluetooth for games? I honestly don't know.)

Having to use the front panel would be moderately annoying except for the part where I have determined that the PC audio sounds better on the PC version for something having to do with how Windows is handling the USB audio interface inside the controller, and refusing to go above 32khz audio, vs. 48khz audio on the front panel.

So I think I will settle on this. My controller can be wireless, or not, and I can use front-panel audio, and it will do. I also managed to win a duel with the winning enemy Widowmaker in Petra Deathmatch FFA, controller vs. mouse, and get a highlight (tho' not POTG by any means) so while it is still very strange, I think it is... manageable.

But if anyone knows why firing a weapon in Overwatch would shut down audio to a USB audio device (without any errors, I should note, and it's system-wide, but comes back as soon as I change the volume, which, also, has not been reset to zero) please... tell me? Because honestly, that's just... mad. Also, if there is a known performance delta between Bluetooth and USB for games, let me know that as well, because I'm going to need all the help I can get!

Comments

[talkswithwind]

Literally the only theory I have regarding weapons-fire is that it's a short, sharp spike in the audio, which might lead to clipping. And who knows how the software is handling clip.

[solarbird]

I gave some thought to that, but it didn't do that before I tried bluetooth, and it doesn't change if I lower all the volumes.

I'm mystified, frankly.

Oh, I forgot!

The first time it happened, I'd just changed my screen resolution to be one step lower. Changing it back did not help and wow I can't see how that could be related, but who knows? It's Windows.

[alatefeline]

That is bizarre and vaguely entertaining! Does it happen no matter what volume you start out on?

[solarbird]

It does! And the system-read volume does not change.

[enotsola]

... I was looking into the wired/wireless thing, and apparently it's not how it used to be. https://www.resetera.com/threads/controllers-input-lag-comparison.58569/

[solarbird]

THIS IS WHAT THE INTERNET IS FOR.

Thank you! ♥