Headset Mic Works Everywhere Except In-Game

  • DesignDeity
    Marauder

    The headline pretty much sums up my problem.

    I'll elaborate: The headset and mic work perfectly when I am on a call with my crew in either Discord or Zoom. My headset (SteelSeries Arctis 1, wireless) works perfectly to hear game audio, however, the audio out from the mic does not work in-game. Other players can't hear me. The little talk bubble doesn't appear over my head when I am talking (confirmed by my crew). I have scoured the internet, the forums here, and still cannot find a solution to my conundrum.

    Sea of Thieves is the only game I play that requires a mic to communicate with other players. The mic worked in-game for about six months and just recently just stopped.

    I am at wits end and I don't know what to do. Can anyone help me?

    Mics save lives.
    —DesignDeity

  • Login To Reply
    12
    Posts
    10.7k
    Views
  • D3ADST1CK
    Vanguard
    Insider
    Founder

    @designdeity Are you on Steam or Microsoft Store? If you're using the MS version, you could check the App Settings for Sea of Thieves to make sure it has permission to use your microphone. You can find this by opening "Apps & Features" (hit windows key, type "Apps" - it should be the top item) and the scrolling down to Sea of Thieves, select it and click "Advanced Options".

  • DesignDeity
    Marauder

    Thanks for your reply @d3adst1ck. I am on Steam. I followed your instructions, however in the Apps & Features section I don't have an Advanced Options link.

  • GoldsMen
    Captain
    Insider

    I had that same issue for a while, i dont remember entirely how i fixed it, but i found somewhere out of the game on my system to set my headset as default mic, cause it kept trying to use my webcams mic, and some system was trying to set webcam as my computers default even tho everything else used my head set.

  • DesignDeity
    Marauder

    Thank you, @goldsmen. I will continue to investigate.

  • SudsierBoar5526
    Ship Mate
    Insider

    Even with all setting in the right place this happens a lot to me too on Xbox. Leaving the game and starting it again usually solves it so this may or may not be a different issue.

  • DesignDeity
    Marauder

    Hello, All. Thank you all for your help. The issue has been resolved. Turns out the audio was hijacked by a recently installed VR Set. Took me two weeks to find the root of the problem. Pain the arrrrgh!

    Cheers!

  • FishyJoeSalt
    Captain

    Common issue nowadays. I think Rare goofed by making it possible to communicate outside of SoT. Takes away the Multiplayer aspect

  • RealStyli
    Vanguard
    Insider

    Here's my copy-pasta about this issue, because it comes up time and time again...

    99% of the time, this is the solution to your mic not working with Sea of Thieves, specifically:

    Right-click the sound (speaker) icon on your system tray in Windows
    Go to Sounds
    Under the "Recording" tab find your microphone and right-click
    From the pop up menu select "Set as default device" and "Set as default communication device"
    While here, disable any input devices you are not using.
    If you get a big Windows update (typically one that changes the version number), double check these settings as it can often reset them.

    In-game be sure to enable the chat indicator and check the push to talk setting.

    Also be sure to check your Microphone permissions in Windows Privacy settings. When you first start the game, even after a reinstall, it will prompt you for permissions but it can be very easy to just click past this without paying attention.

  • Sargent Sully
    Captain
    Insider

    I've had this issue for a long time on my xbox, made trying to ally far more challenging as the best I can do is use the lantern flashing to draw attention to the alliance flag. Can't even hear other players in-game on Sea of Thieves, but works perfectly fine on all other games.

  • DesignDeity
    Marauder

    @realstyli , thank you. I have copy pasted your copy-pasta into a file of my own for future reference.

  • Tenriak
    Marauder
    Insider

    Just a note on this. Sea of Thieves doesn't care what mic you have set for the app. Your default mic must be the mic you want to use and Sea of Thieves must be set to use your default mic in sound settings. Any other configuration can result in a non working mic.

Login To Reply
12
Posts
10.7k
Views
1 out of 12