tMBP 15 2016 - Bootcamp - Skyrim Sound Issues

[steviebuzz]

You could try steam mover, and then redirect steam (not sure about the results, haven't tried that). I don't know if the problem is the skyrim location, or the location of steam, or both.

So, also on a MBP 2016 15" w/ Touchbar:

After fiddling with this some more, here's what I get: in a vanilla install, most of my sounds work, except for weapons sheathing and PC noises (weirdly enough magic sounds work fine, no clue about thums). I can actually hear occasional sheathing/PC sounds, but they seem to be coming in with a massive lag, and/or only at certain camera angles. So I wonder if it's actually several different problems, with both permissions and driver. Has anyone tested the game with a different sound driver (say, a bluetooth headset?)
For what it's worth, using a modded version of the game that replaces all vanilla sounds with a mod doesn't solve the problem.

I mostly play using a Bluetooth headset and the problem is the same: no in-game music and limited sounds.

 

[gollwyn]

Side note: I did the permissions for Steam and re-verify integrity and now sounds that used to work (picking up potions, for example) are not working, so there's a weird element of randomization to the effect...

What a strange error.

 

[proever]

I can confirm that this issue happens with my new tMBP. I tried installing Skyrim on C, on another partition on the internal drive (D), both to no avail. I can also confirmed that it was fixed by installing Skyrim on an external drive. The game boots up a bit slower, but load times once running don't seem too bad from what I can tell.

 

[keff]

Short update: I've been going through Bethesda support and trying a whole host of remedies, which unfortunately didn't work.

The latest is, from a 'Product Specialist' (the case has been escalated a few times) that, because it's a Mac (as identified in the original MSINFO output I think) apparently it's unsupported, even though Windows has been installed directly as it were.

Short of the external HDD solution, looks like this is a dead end.

 

[gollwyn]

So the issue may be a new iteration of the original sound problem in skyrim when it wasn't on the root c: drive - which is almost always the boot drive. Skyrim was always sensitive to this probably due to some core code in the engine looking to the MBR master boot record drive to find sounds; fast forward to 2016 macbook pro - you can't have an MBR type drive format - the SSD in it is a new type and only supports EFI

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EFI_system_partition

This has resulted in two things I've personally experienced and is around in a variety of other issues - basically older software engines don't handle the new way of dealing with low-level drive formatting right because they assumed MBR forever. Bootcamp drives formatted the old way can't be copied to the Macbook 2016 (I had to rebuild) and apparently skyrim just won't see the drive as a real boot drive probably because the core engine simply wasn't built with EFI in mind (and was hard wired to look for the boot drive).

Real technical people can probably correct the approximations and bastardizations of terminology in the above, but what I'm able to find makes sense of it. Getting onto another drive type probably will help - some external drive option.

~G

 

[gollwyn]

*Workaround confirmed* - I installed to a flash drive, (not using steam mover, but really moving everything) and that fixed all sound problems. The answer is that the engine has some kind of basic incompatibility with the new drive partition, it must look for MBR or some other low-level artifact. Sucks, but you can get around it - a USB-C drive is actually pretty fast, so performance won't be terrible.

 

[AvengerNX08]

Ok, so MBR is required for Skyrim, but not for Fallout 4, as they fixed it there? When more people use modern SSDs with GPT, the issue should spread, right? The question is, if Bethesda will do something about it?

Would it be possible to change that Bootcamp Partition to MBR?

 

[keff]

Well, all I can say is Bethesda 'support' don't want to help. The guy claimed that I just had to be running Windows through parallels as dual boot was apparently not possible, according to him.

I tweeted the MBR/GPT issue to them, but haven't heard anything back.

As was postured at the start of the thread, it's unlikely this will ever be fixed.

 

[AvengerNX08]

I wonder if they will respond if one has these issues on a non-Apple machine? If I bought a Windows PC and formatted my harddrive with GPT, then I would possibly get the same issues, right? I assume that all future Macbooks and possibly all future GPT formatted computers will suffer these issues?

Are there any new ideas out there on how to fix this?

 

[Krog]

Hi guys,

I figured out the least effort solution to this. Moving the game to a separate drive (e.g. using SteamMover) works, but can be much slower compared to the MacBook's blazing fast SSD. Looks like you only need to move the "Skyrim - Sounds.bsa" file in the Data folder to another drive (in my case D. Then, you create a symlink to it from the command prompt (run it as an administrator), e.g.

C:\Windows\system32>mklink "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Skyrim\Data\Skyrim - Sounds.bsa" "D:\Skyrim - Sounds.bsa"
It should output:
symbolic link created for C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Skyrim\Data\Skyrim - Sounds.bsa <<===>> D:\Skyrim - Sounds.bsa

This fixed weapon sounds for me and added back music. Good luck!

 

[AvengerNX08]

Hi guys,

I figured out the least effort solution to this. Moving the game to a separate drive (e.g. using SteamMover) works, but can be much slower compared to the MacBook's blazing fast SSD. Looks like you only need to move the "Skyrim - Sounds.bsa" file in the Data folder to another drive (in my case D. Then, you create a symlink to it from the command prompt (run it as an administrator), e.g.

C:\Windows\system32>mklink "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Skyrim\Data\Skyrim - Sounds.bsa" "D:\Skyrim - Sounds.bsa"
It should output:
symbolic link created for C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Skyrim\Data\Skyrim - Sounds.bsa <<===>> D:\Skyrim - Sounds.bsa

This fixed weapon sounds for me and added back music. Good luck!

Thank you, this sounds promising! What happens though, when you have a lot of mods installed that bring along countless loose files - or at least several more .bsa files? Can you add all of these to the symlink?

 

[Krog]

Thank you, this sounds promising! What happens though, when you have a lot of mods installed that bring along countless loose files - or at least several more .bsa files? Can you add all of these to the symlink?

You should be able to move and make symlinks for all of these files the exact same way (this is also exactly what SteamMover does, but en masse). But I believe you only need to do so for files containing sound data. The advantages of moving only a few files instead of all of them are:

• Leverage the Macbook's ridiculously fast SSD for more of the loading
• Require a smaller USB drive (Skyrim is over 9GB for me)
• Less work if you're not automating this effort with SteamMover

 

[AvengerNX08]

Is it possible to symlink the entire sounds folder? While it is doable to link all sound related .bsa files, it would be insane to link every single sound file...

 

[archi_130w1]

Hi guys,

I figured out the least effort solution to this. Moving the game to a separate drive (e.g. using SteamMover) works, but can be much slower compared to the MacBook's blazing fast SSD. Looks like you only need to move the "Skyrim - Sounds.bsa" file in the Data folder to another drive (in my case D. Then, you create a symlink to it from the command prompt (run it as an administrator), e.g.

C:\Windows\system32>mklink "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Skyrim\Data\Skyrim - Sounds.bsa" "D:\Skyrim - Sounds.bsa"
It should output:
symbolic link created for C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Skyrim\Data\Skyrim - Sounds.bsa <<===>> D:\Skyrim - Sounds.bsa

This fixed weapon sounds for me and added back music. Good luck!

Thank you oh so much for this.
I can confirm this works as I was having the same issue on my '16 12" MB.
This works exactly like a charm. I may go ahead and do this for all the sound related BSA's as player attack sounds (grunts, etc...) are still not present.
But this gives me some level of immersion back..... (12" screen lol)

 

[maroru]

Thank you oh so much for this.
I can confirm this works as I was having the same issue on my '16 12" MB.
This works exactly like a charm. I may go ahead and do this for all the sound related BSA's as player attack sounds (grunts, etc...) are still not present.
But this gives me some level of immersion back..... (12" screen lol)

Did you ever find out which files are the ones that need to be sym. linked to get player attack sounds (like drawing and firing and arrow) working?

 

[LontBarnes]

Did you ever find out which files are the ones that need to be sym. linked to get player attack sounds (like drawing and firing and arrow) working?

It took me a while to understand everything but here's the summary to get all sounds to work. Get a USB and plug it into your mac so you can put your symbolic links in the USB drive. My USB drive appeared as the D drive "D:". You want to create symbolic links between your USB and the skyrim data folder with the following bsa files that are in the skyrim data folder: Skyrim - Sounds, Skyrim - Voices, and "Skyrim - VoicesExtra. That should give you all your missing sounds back. The sound bsa will restore all combat, music, footsteps, etc. while voices will restore player sounds such as shouts and grunts during power attacks.

 

[Dovahkiin27]

I created this account simply to post that the suggestions contained in the post resolved the odd sound effect issue. I had been battling this issue for almost a month, spending more time troubleshooting this issue than playing the damn game. I recently picked up a tMBP 2017 15" and wanted to leverage its horsepower to replay Skyrim. I experienced the no sound issue for archery, grunting, shouts, etc. I installed Windows 10 Pro on Bootcamp. I followed Krog's suggestion to create a symlink to the Sounds.bsa on an external hard drive and it worked! I have since completely uninstalled Steam and Skyrim and reinstalled on a USB 3.0 external hard drive and every single sound is back! Thank you all!

 

[maroru]

For anyone else that finds this you can accomplish what Krog says without using a USB and instead use your MacBook's SSD. This is more complicated but useful if you don't want to keep a USB in your laptop every time you want to play Skyrim.

Begin by opening the Computer Management system tool (search for it using your Windows key) and click on Disk Management under Storage. Then, using the Action button on the toolbar click Create VHD (Virtual Hard Disk).

TEST ( E: ) drive is a VHD I've already created.

You can then name the VHD and put it wherever you'd like on your computer and give it enough space to use for the files you're going to be putting in there (My Skyrim - Sounds.bsa file is about 1.5 GB but you will need more space if you are going to use mods that have sounds). Then, follow Krog's instructions above except using the new VHD you just created. You should now have working sounds in Skyrim without having to use a USB or other external hard drive.


Note: I haven't tried this but it's theoretically possible to install your entire Skyrim game onto a VHD, or symbolically link your entire Skyrim game with a VHD but you would need to allocate more space for the entire game. You can follow VValentour steps here if you want to do that: https://forums.nexusmods.com/index....ve-skyrimsse-no-sound-on-windows-10-bootcamp/

 

[seamus333]

I created this account simply to post that the suggestions contained in the post resolved the odd sound effect issue. I had been battling this issue for almost a month, spending more time troubleshooting this issue than playing the damn game. I recently picked up a tMBP 2017 15" and wanted to leverage its horsepower to replay Skyrim. I experienced the no sound issue for archery, grunting, shouts, etc. I installed Windows 10 Pro on Bootcamp. I followed Krog's suggestion to create a symlink to the Sounds.bsa on an external hard drive and it worked! I have since completely uninstalled Steam and Skyrim and reinstalled on a USB 3.0 external hard drive and every single sound is back! Thank you all!

Hi All - I'm having the same problem here on my MacBook - I have created the symlink as Krog suggested - but instead now I have no sound on Skyrim... - its probably me creating the symlink incorrectly - I have attached photos so you can see how I've done it... - its saying the directory is invalid when I try and open the symlink file to see if the sounds.bsa file is in there?... - any help would be very much appreciated - ive spent ages looking for an answer and it seems such a shame to fall short now - Thanks for your time

 

[maroru]

Hey seamus it looks like you accidentally created a directory/folder instead of the symlink. When you ran what Krog said in cmdprompt you added a /d infront of mklink, likely the cause of your problem. Try again without the /d and see if it works.

Also just so you know you might have to also symbolically link the Voices file if you keep having problems (like not being able to hear your characters shouts).

 

[seamus333]

Hey seamus it looks like you accidentally created a directory/folder instead of the symlink. When you ran what Krog said in cmdprompt you added a /d infront of mklink, likely the cause of your problem. Try again without the /d and see if it works.

Also just so you know you might have to also symbolically link the Voices file if you keep having problems (like not being able to hear your characters shouts).

You good sir are an absolute genius - can't believe I missed that - all works perfect now - had to symlink the voices.bsa and voices extra files as well - works a charm - thanks so much again

 

[danny748]

I've been having this same issue for a while, except on Skyrim Special Edition. I managed to make the symbolic link to Skyrim - sounds.bsa on a USB flash drive, but the sound issue is still there. Does anybody know if this fix will even work with Skyrim Special Edition? Or is my issue that I need to use an external hard drive instead of a flash drive?

 

[Theroosel]

Hey so someone found out the fix! You have to create a vhd in boot camp and move Skyrim installation there, no external hard drive or USB needed
Here’s the link to the post elaborating
https://forums.nexusmods.com/index....ve-skyrimsse-no-sound-on-windows-10-bootcamp/

 

[maroru]

Hey so someone found out the fix! You have to create a vhd in boot camp and move Skyrim installation there, no external hard drive or USB needed
Here’s the link to the post elaborating
https://forums.nexusmods.com/index....ve-skyrimsse-no-sound-on-windows-10-bootcamp/

I already mentioned this fix if you look above but it's nice to see the whole game can be installed onto the VHD and it works.

 

[AvengerNX08]

Other game, similiar issue:

In case someone wants to play Assassins Creed Origina or Odyssey and has trouble with getting past the launcher – installing the game on VHD too solves that issue as well.

They both run on very high Detail settings (@1200p) on the Vega 20/i9 btw. while maintaining solid 40-60fps at the same time