Bad Sound Quality when using Bluetooth Headphones

  • Game Version: Prerelease

  • Build Number: Prerelease

  • Platform: Steam

  • Operating System: Windows 11

Issue:

When playing AOMR when using a connected Bluetooth headset with a built-in microphone, the game automatically forces the headset to use the dual channel Bluetooth for 2-way comms, resulting in dramatically worse sound quality. It does this even if the microphone input in-game is set to a separate microphone and even if the headset microphone is disabled in Windows.

Trigger Event:

Launching the game with a Bluetooth headset active

Repro Steps:

  1. Have audio set-up on the computer with a Bluetooth headset with a built-in microphone
  2. Launch AOMR
  3. Notice the audio quality in the first couple seconds switches from great to terrible

I have been able to consistently reproduce this. Manipulating Windows settings have had no affect. This doesn’t occur in AOE3DE or AOE4.

4 Likes

Same issue for me

  • Game Version: 17.27392

  • Build Number: 486684R

  • Platform: Steam

  • Operating System: Windows 11

Issue:

When playing AOMR when using a connected Bluetooth headset with a built-in microphone, the game automatically forces the headset to use the dual channel Bluetooth for 2-way comms, resulting in dramatically worse sound quality. It does this even if the microphone input in-game is set to a separate microphone and even if the headset microphone is disabled in Windows.

Trigger Event:

Launching the game with a Bluetooth headset active

Repro Steps:

  1. Have audio set-up on the computer with a Bluetooth headset with a built-in microphone
  2. Launch AOMR
  3. Notice the audio quality in the first couple seconds switches from great to terrible

I have been able to consistently reproduce this. Manipulating Windows settings have had no affect. This doesn’t occur in AOE3DE or AOE4.

1 Like
  • Game Version: v100.17.27932.0

  • Build Number: 486684R

  • Platform: Steam

  • Operating System: Windows 11

Issue:

Still an issue:

When playing AOMR when using a connected Bluetooth headset with a built-in microphone, the game automatically forces the headset to use the dual channel Bluetooth for 2-way comms, resulting in dramatically worse sound quality. It does this even if the microphone input in-game is set to a separate microphone and even if the headset microphone is disabled in Windows.

Trigger Event:

Launching the game with a Bluetooth headset active

Repro Steps:

  1. Have audio set-up on the computer with a Bluetooth headset with a built-in microphone
  2. Launch AOMR
  3. Notice the audio quality in the first couple seconds switches from great to terrible

I have been able to consistently reproduce this. Manipulating Windows settings have had no affect. This doesn’t occur in AOE3DE or AOE4.

1 Like

I’ve also noticed this, I think, using Bose QC35 over Bluetooth with latest Windows 11.

1 Like

Hi @stephensundin, thank you for the report. This is a known issue and is tracked :slight_smile:

3 Likes

Any news on this issue? Unfortunately, the issue is still not fixed. Quite disappointing. Can we please get the option to select an output device? This should resolve the issue as well.

I found a temporary work around.

Step 1
launch the game with a wired headphone

Step 2
Start a game

Step 3
When the game has started, go into Volume Mixer where all the apps using sound are listed then switch to your Bluetooth headset, this way it keeps working with the good sound quality.

Step 4
Do not forget to undo the manipulation before quitting the game otherwise it will use the bluetooth set at start with the bad sound quality after a few second after the game as been launched.

Maybe it can help the support to find a solution too.

Update,

I found a fix for my bluetooth headset.

I did two things deactivate “Exclusive mode” and “Hands-free”:

To disable exclusive mode in Windows 11, follow these steps:

  1. Right-click the speaker icon on the Windows toolbar and select “Open Sound settings.”
  2. Under “Choose your output device,” click “Device properties,” then “Additional device properties.”
  3. In the Line Properties window, go to the “Advanced” tab and uncheck “Allow applications to take exclusive control of this device.”
  4. Click “Apply” and “OK” to save the changes. Repeat these steps for the input device as well.

second step

To deactivate Hands-Free for your bluetooth headset on Windows 11, follow these steps:

  1. Connect your Bluetooth audio device to your Windows 11 computer.
  2. Open Device manager.
  3. Navigate to Audio controllers video and games. (it’s a speaker icon)
  4. Right-click on your Bluetooth audio device Hands-Free and deactivate the device (DO NOT UNINSTALL IT IN CASE YOU NEED IT).

I recommend to restart the PC after you have done those steps and if it doesn’t work delete your Bluetooth device, restart the PC, then pair your Bluetooth device to the steps and restart again just to be sure. Normaly it should work.

World’s Edge needs to provide a real bug fix instead of an elaborate workaround.

It’s frankly unacceptable that this bug has been reported on since the beta and we’re just getting the “thanks for the report” response