VOIP Solution for those with Realtek HD Audio

[llamakill]

(If any of this is unclear, Please post why and I will do my best to help)


For those that are having problems with the VOIP, With the Realtek HD Audio Chipset, This was my problem/solution:

Whenever i tried to use VOIP in BF2/PR i was always told i was 'Barely audible', yet whenver i used my mic outside of BF2, it was fine. After playing around in control panel, i got to the Audio page, but the 'Advanced' tab where i have been told to boost my mic was grayed out (Very Frustrating).

Now, at this point it seems appropriate to mention that i'm running XP SP2 (Incase the following directions are elsewhere with other OS's)

In Control Panel > Sounds, Speech, and Audio Devices, Thier's a Control Panel Icon that's called ' Realtek HD Sound Effect Manager ' - Click it, then choose the Mixer tab.

Now, See the buttons on the top row, Playback? This is misleading because the section's labeled "Realtek HD Audio output", when you'd expect to find the microphone volume control in the input section - where again it's grayed out, or unmoveable. Keep clicking > until you see "Mic Volume" (Or Something similar). The first time you go there, the volume slider will probably be set at the bottom, and possibly Muted (As mine was). Drag that all the way up to the top, or whever you find appropriate after testing in BF2 (Sorry, Theres no perfect level that it should be set to, that'll be definded by your Mic). If applicable, you may want to do the same for "Front Pink In", or whatever the relevant name is (Such as Front Line), which should correspond with the front jack on your computer's case.

If you want to boost the mic further (Not reccomended until you have tried out with the volume slider up, as this caused a lot of static on mine - Although admittedly, It's a cheap Mic)

Click the .. button at the bottom of the Mic Volume slider, next to the Mute button. You'll see this is where the Microphone Boost option is - This is what i mentioned earlier should be in the Audio/Playback Control Panel page

Optional: If you hear a lot of hiss and white noise when recording, you may find it helpful to mute un-used inputs. In the bottom section, click the little speaker icons for "CD Volume", "Line Volume", and "Stereo Mix" so they are muted. Some of these may be labelled different, but as I can't see your screen, I cant say which ones they'll be! As i said above, un-boosting the Mic might also be a good idea until you've decided whether the increased volume alone is enough.



I hope this helps anyone, and as i said, If it's unclear, feel free to ask.

[Tarthkin]

This is the same problem that im running into only with vista, does anyone have a workaround or fix for the vista version? Thanks in advance

[kkjensen]

I found the crashing was a bit less when I uninstalled the Soundmax driver. The stereo mic options are still available and the surround sound works fine so there must be some part of the driver that stays. I'm on XP x64.

I've also just read that running 'dxdiag' (in start-->run) and then turning your hardware audio acceleration to 'basic' works too.

Set you audio to 'software' 'high' and 'eax' to get the best audio without having to add a new sound card.

I'll post back if I find this works.

[Upplandsvasby]

llamakill

I love you man. Had such a problem with my microphone and was extremely frustrated that what I thought was my mic input was greyed out. THANX ALOT for this!