'Stereo' sound setting ruining positional audio

Warhammer 40,000: Darktide Bugs
1

Issue Type (Required):

Audio

Issue Description (Required):

For the longest time I thought the positional audio in this game was totally broken, but it turns out it’s just that if you set your audio to “stereo” instead of “stereo headphones” it completely breaks positional audio. It would be helpful to include a description on that option that says it really is genuinely only for speakers and can ruin your audio if you are using headphones.

Steps to Reproduce (Required):

Just use headphones and set your audio to “stereo” instead of “stereo headphones” and you’ll see what I mean.

[PC] Do You Use Mods? (Optional):

Yes, and I’ve tried disabling them

Reproduction Rate (Required):

Constant (100%)

Platform (Required):

PC - Steam

1 Like
2

This is a good point, IIRC internally (not my field, ha) it sets the “speaker” panning at 30 degrees instead of 90 degrees from each other:

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commit = function (value)
		local PANNING_RULE_SPEAKERS = 0
		local PANNING_RULE_HEADPHONES = 1
		local mastering_bus_name = "MIX_BUS"

		if value == 0 then
			Wwise.set_panning_rule(PANNING_RULE_SPEAKERS)
			Wwise.set_bus_config(mastering_bus_name, Wwise.AK_SPEAKER_SETUP_AUTO)
		elseif value == 1 then
			Wwise.set_panning_rule(PANNING_RULE_SPEAKERS)
			Wwise.set_bus_config(mastering_bus_name, Wwise.AK_SPEAKER_SETUP_5POINT1)
		elseif value == 2 then
			Wwise.set_panning_rule(PANNING_RULE_SPEAKERS)
			Wwise.set_bus_config(mastering_bus_name, Wwise.AK_SPEAKER_SETUP_STEREO)
		elseif value == 3 then
			Wwise.set_panning_rule(PANNING_RULE_HEADPHONES)
			Wwise.set_bus_config(mastering_bus_name, Wwise.AK_SPEAKER_SETUP_STEREO)
		elseif value == 4 then
			Wwise.set_panning_rule(PANNING_RULE_SPEAKERS)
			Wwise.set_bus_config(mastering_bus_name, Wwise.AK_SPEAKER_SETUP_MONO)
		end
	end,

P.S. I didn’t think it would be a thing, but now that you mention it I guess it’s quite possible that people select “speakers” instead of headphones. Note “auto”

1 Like
3

Iv noticed my vertical sound is borked and all sounds like its coming from a horizontal plane. Often I cant tell if something is in front of me or down the u-bend stairs behind me, so technically still in front.

I will have to play with my settings again.

4

It’s possible this was the cause. I’ve also noticed it affects distance and the size of the sound in the soundstage.

1 Like