[TF2] Surround Sound seems to be broken

[Smungus]

I've tried to swap between headphones, 2 speaker, 4, 5.1, 7.1 but nothing seems to change

I use 7.1 with dolby atmos for headphones, has worked great prior to update

[AwesomeCoder412412]

I think this is talking about tf2? You need to include the game you're talking about in your title. This bug tracker is for all source games.

[dudecars53]

this is for tf2, my game is stuck on 2 speaker no matter what i change snd_surround_speakers to

[mastercoms]

Does -1 work fine?

[Smungus]

I changed title now. Havent noticed any difference in doing -1

[Smungus]

How do I add a team fortress 2 label?

[InformalMoose]

same issue here i think but kinda reversed. my headphones should only play surround if they're receiving a surround sound signal from the program. if its stereo, my headphones will play it in stereo. I keep my TF2 sound output on the Headphones setting (for stereo) but now, it outputs a surround signal even in headphones and 2 speaker mode. i have to go to ghub to manually change it to stereo when I didn't have to do that before today

edit: my game also reverts to "2 speakers" every time it reopens, regardless of me changing it. this was worked around by adding snd_surround_speakers 0 to my autoexec but this doesn't solve the output problem. I still have to turn off my surround mode in ghub

[CoolJosh3k]

Same issue here :(

Options menu reverts back to 2 speaker every restart and changing it to 5.1 speakers does not change anything.

Please fix ASAP. Bonus points if we finally get surround sound for Linux when fixed.

[SnowshoeIceboot]

Can confirm on the Windows 64-bit version, the windows_speaker_config command is gone, snd_surround_speakers does nothing, and it seems to only output to the front channel with 7.1 enabled in TF2's audio options.

This used to work before the April 18, 2024 update and is likely a regression. This may be a good time to add HRTF audio from CSGO as well (it's cross platform with Linux AND Windows).

[Joshua-Ashton]

Hello, I think I may have a fix for this and will put it in the next update. I don't have a 7.1 setup, so please let me know if things improve/change for you following.

[NULLYUKI]

According to patch 220641 Fixed an issue selecting surround sound audio settings (Headphones, 4, 5.1, 7.1, etc.)

This issue requires retesting.

[Smungus]

I've tried it with Dolby Atmos for Headphones now. It still doesn't sound like much is changing. 4 and 5.1 sounds quieter, but 2 and 7.1 sounds pretty much the same. Nothing seems to change when I toggle off and on DAfH for any of the speaker configurations either, which would otherwise make a huge difference on hl2.exe.

however the headphones configuration seem to work slightly different from "2 speakers" now, so things are definitely changing despite surround not working

Im guessing the issue now is that the viritual surround cannot access the surround outputs from the game?

[Tiagoquix]

On Linux, when I set speaker configuration to "Headphones" via the game's menu, it resets to "2 Speakers" when I close the menu, even after the latest update.

[CoolJosh3k]

Hello, I think I may have a fix for this and will put it in the next update. I don't have a 7.1 setup, so please let me know if things improve/change for you following.

I loaded up on Windows and tested. After changing the setting to 5.1 it does indeed work now. I Used “create server” and tr_walkway to test. I go into an empty room and fire a grenade into 2 corners, then stand in the middle. I can now clearly discern if the grenade explosion was from front-right or rear-right.

Thanks a bunch!

1 thing to note it it was on 2-speaker from the previous bug, so it has to be changed to surround sound in the in-game options menu.

[InformalMoose]

this most recent update unfortunately did not solve my issue. idk if I should make my own thread for it now, but my headphones used to output stereo sound when I had my in-game sound set to "headphones," even with ghub set to enable surround sound. ever since the 64-bit update, it seems to be receiving a surround signal even on the headphones setting in tf2 because the sound is entirely different than before the update and sounds more like the games that I keep surround turned on. I changed nothing in-game or in ghub before this.

if this was intended, is there a command I can add to my autoexec to force a stereo output? I'd like to keep this game on stereo but don't want to keep having to open ghub to manually switch to stereo each time i wanna play tf2

[Smungus]

Replying to https://github.com/ValveSoftware/Source-1-Games/issues/5618#issuecomment-2071326189

did you test with viritual surround or a real speaker setup? I still can't get viritual to work for tf2. it works without issues when booting up L4D2

[CoolJosh3k]

Replying to https://github.com/ValveSoftware/Source-1-Games/issues/5618#issuecomment-2071823379

I use an external sound card (Creative Sound Blaster x3) that I have set to virtual 5.1 surround sound, that then goes into a pair of wired headphones via 3.5mm TRS (Apple Airpod Max).

I suspect Windows needs to detect and list it is 5.1, else TF2 will think it is just stereo?

[dudecars53]

can vouch for the above i only use a regular pair of headphones (Arctis Nova 7) and i usually play with 7.1 surround with the Windows sonic spatial sound turned on. can definetly say the update didn't really fix the issue since the sounds still sound weird, almost muffled than what i've been used to after so many years.

[CoolJosh3k]

So I checked what Windows says about my sound device and it shows as Jack: L R Rear Panel 3.5mm jack I maybe should also note that my onboard sound is disabled in BIOS, while my external soundcard connects via USB.

maybe this’ll give some hints as to why the fix worked for me.

[Smungus]

I have additional information on this issue. It seems to happen when I use my Focusrite 6i6 which is an external USB audio interface that I plug my headphones into, which is how I usually play.

The Viritual surround sound seems to enable if:

• If I plug directly into the minijack port on the PC
• If I use a USB wireless headset
• If I use my Focusrite on another game like L4D2

Its still sounds strange, like other commenters have stated. 7.1 sounds tinny and blurred, 5.1 sounds much better. So I would probably stick with 5.1.

Edit: I found out the issue seems to be 24 bit audio. I switched my Focusrite to 16 bit and it works now.

Edit 2: I have become more confused as nothing works now again. Neither my wireless headset or my Focusrite on 16bit. but it works again when I use the minijack on the PC??? minijack works on 24bit too...