tMBP 15 2016 - Bootcamp - Skyrim Sound Issues

[kashipan]

After following this thread for years, I finally found a solution that worked for me. Credit to Maroru for suggesting a viable solution with good performance.

I want to add to his suggestion by sharing complete instructions for what worked for me which involves moving the Skyrim - Sounds.bsa file to a virtual drive. This solution seems to fix the problem without any performance issues and without the need for external storage. Here's how to do it:

Create and setup the virtual disk:
1. Open the "Computer Management" window by searching from the start menu
2. In the left-hand column, under "Storage" right-click on "Disk Management" and select "Create VHD"
3. Store the VHD anywhere in your Bootcamp Volume (I chose the root directory) and name it.
4. Allocate 1500MB + additional storage for sounds mods you might have. For an easy size estimate just inspect the properties of your skyrim-sounds.bsa and size for the value listed there.
5. Check "VHDX" for "Virtual hard disk format" (not sure that this matters but VHDX seems newer and more flexible, someone please correct me if I'm wrong).
6. Check "Dynamically expanding" for "Virtual hard disk type" and click "OK"
7. You should now see your new disk in the list of partitions on the bottom half of the window. This disk needs to be initialized before we can use it.
8. Right click on the icon of your new disk (it should read something like "Disc 1, Unknown, 1500MB, Not Initialized") and choose "Initialize Disk"
9. Select MBR as your partition style and click "OK"
10. Right-click on the right half of your disk which reads "1500 MB Unallocated" and select "New Simple Volume"
11. Click Next through the steps to create a new volume with default settings (make sure you format as NTFS)
12. Click "Finish". The drive is now initialized and mountable.
Move Skyrim's sound file to the disk and create a system link:
13. Locate your new virtual drive in the file browser and double click on it to view its contents. Move your Skyrim - Sound.bsa file from your Skyrim data folder to the virtual drive.
14. Follow Krog's steps above for creating a symlink from your Skyrim data folder to your virtual drive. (in command prompt type: mklink "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Skyrim\Data\Skyrim - Sounds.bsa" "D:\Skyrim - Sounds.bsa" make sure to replace "D:\" with the letter given to your new volume. This command will create a new file in your Skyrim Data folder which references the bsa file in your new volume.
15. Boot up Skyrim and your sound issues should be fixed.
16. Every time you boot up your computer you'll need to remount your virtual disk before launching Skyrim. To do this just double click on the virtual disk.

I hope that's helpful to someone. If you have a recommendation for making the instructions clearer let me know and I'll update this post. Thanks to everyone who has contributed to fixing this issue.

 

[genericID]

Hey!

So that fix worked for me but lead to a new problem. I have no player sounds (shout voice, grunts, footsteps, etc). This also appears to make it so that I can only get the effects of one word of a shout at a time but the cooldown seems to be for all three. Other fixes all say to run skyrim on an internal drive but I am (I guess except sound which is on a virtual drive from this fix.)

Any ideas how to fix this? I've been so excited to play on PC for the first time and the sounds bug made me give up on the game for well over a year and now this is super disheartening too....

 

[taikuh]

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...

mklink /D "C:\your skyrim mod path\folder" "D:\folder"

You just need to add the /D switch to the mklink command.

 

[Rocha13]

After following this thread for years, I finally found a solution that worked for me. Credit to Maroru for suggesting a viable solution with good performance.

I want to add to his suggestion by sharing complete instructions for what worked for me which involves moving the Skyrim - Sounds.bsa file to a virtual drive. This solution seems to fix the problem without any performance issues and without the need for external storage. Here's how to do it:

Create and setup the virtual disk:
1. Open the "Computer Management" window by searching from the start menu
2. In the left-hand column, under "Storage" right-click on "Disk Management" and select "Create VHD"
3. Store the VHD anywhere in your Bootcamp Volume (I chose the root directory) and name it.
4. Allocate 1500MB + additional storage for sounds mods you might have. For an easy size estimate just inspect the properties of your skyrim-sounds.bsa and size for the value listed there.
5. Check "VHDX" for "Virtual hard disk format" (not sure that this matters but VHDX seems newer and more flexible, someone please correct me if I'm wrong).
6. Check "Dynamically expanding" for "Virtual hard disk type" and click "OK"
7. You should now see your new disk in the list of partitions on the bottom half of the window. This disk needs to be initialized before we can use it.
8. Right click on the icon of your new disk (it should read something like "Disc 1, Unknown, 1500MB, Not Initialized") and choose "Initialize Disk"
9. Select MBR as your partition style and click "OK"
10. Right-click on the right half of your disk which reads "1500 MB Unallocated" and select "New Simple Volume"
11. Click Next through the steps to create a new volume with default settings (make sure you format as NTFS)
12. Click "Finish". The drive is now initialized and mountable.
Move Skyrim's sound file to the disk and create a system link:
13. Locate your new virtual drive in the file browser and double click on it to view its contents. Move your Skyrim - Sound.bsa file from your Skyrim data folder to the virtual drive.
14. Follow Krog's steps above for creating a symlink from your Skyrim data folder to your virtual drive. (in command prompt type: mklink "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Skyrim\Data\Skyrim - Sounds.bsa" "D:\Skyrim - Sounds.bsa" make sure to replace "D:\" with the letter given to your new volume. This command will create a new file in your Skyrim Data folder which references the bsa file in your new volume.
15. Boot up Skyrim and your sound issues should be fixed.
16. Every time you boot up your computer you'll need to remount your virtual disk before launching Skyrim. To do this just double click on the virtual disk.

I hope that's helpful to someone. If you have a recommendation for making the instructions clearer let me know and I'll update this post. Thanks to everyone who has contributed to fixing this issue.

Hey, I keep returning "Cannot create a file when that file already exists" any luck would be greatly appreciated! I am currently doing the VHD and Sounds.bsa mklink. Thanks!

 

[Rocha13]

Hey!

So that fix worked for me but lead to a new problem. I have no player sounds (shout voice, grunts, footsteps, etc). This also appears to make it so that I can only get the effects of one word of a shout at a time but the cooldown seems to be for all three. Other fixes all say to run skyrim on an internal drive but I am (I guess except sound which is on a virtual drive from this fix.)

Any ideas how to fix this? I've been so excited to play on PC for the first time and the sounds bug made me give up on the game for well over a year and now this is super disheartening too....

Hey man, I keep getting "Cannot create a file when that file already exists." Any idea on what I am doing wrong? Syntax appears to be identical and directions have been followed to the T.

Thanks!

 

[kashipan]

Hey man, I keep getting "Cannot create a file when that file already exists." Any idea on what I am doing wrong? Syntax appears to be identical and directions have been followed to the T.

Thanks!

Is there still a `Skyrim - Sound.bsa` file in your Skyrim data folder? If so try deleting that and try again. Step 13 could probably be clearer, but you need to move that file out of the Skyrim folder and into the virtual driver (as opposed to copying it).

Let me know how that goes.

 

[AllegoricSiren]

Is there still a `Skyrim - Sound.bsa` file in your Skyrim data folder? If so try deleting that and try again. Step 13 could probably be clearer, but you need to move that file out of the Skyrim folder and into the virtual driver (as opposed to copying it).

Let me know how that goes.

Ok Please respond, I tried all of the stuff from the previous comments and it still won't work. Do you think I'm missing sound files or something? I opened my Sounds BSA and it kinda seems like something is missing? Idk. I have all the sounds except for any weapon, spells, footsteps, quest noises, probably shouts too, and character grunts. Would seriously appreciate it. When you say /D switch do you mean change the letter to the one you use later in the command or actually /D

 

[maflynn]

Ok Please respond,

That member was last active in July 2019, I don't think he'll be responding.

 

[n3IVI0]

Here's the really weird thing for me. I am running bootcamp on a 2019 16" MacBook Pro. I cannot get the sounds to work AT ALL unless I copy the ENTIRE game to a VHD and run it. The process is identical, but if I copy only the Skyrim - Sounds.bsa to the VHD and create the symlink, I get nothing. You can run this game in a VHD, but there is a performance hit. Does anybody have any idea why the game won't work unless the whole game is copied?

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/

 

[Nice_ice999]

Here's the really weird thing for me. I am running bootcamp on a 2019 16" MacBook Pro. I cannot get the sounds to work AT ALL unless I copy the ENTIRE game to a VHD and run it. The process is identical, but if I copy only the Skyrim - Sounds.bsa to the VHD and create the symlink, I get nothing. You can run this game in a VHD, but there is a performance hit. Does anybody have any idea why the game won't work unless the whole game is copied?

Hi! Exactly the same problem... Have you found the solution?

 

[Nice_ice999]

Macbook pro 16 inches 2019 here. Found a solution.
Just create a virtual disk (I personally made it 90 GB for mods) and install the game via steam right there. Everything works perfectly.

 

[sheisler51]

I've encountered an issue and am hoping for some help. Running Bootcamp/windows 10 on a 2017 iMac and had the sound issue and successfully created the VHD, created a symlink for the sound file and all worked! However when reboot the VHD disappeared. The VHD (drive D is my case) is simply not listed as a device in Disk Management nor is it showing in File Explorer within This PC. How do I get the VHD back? Any help would be much appreciated, thanks.

 

[skyvex1]

After following this thread for years, I finally found a solution that worked for me. Credit to Maroru for suggesting a viable solution with good performance.

I want to add to his suggestion by sharing complete instructions for what worked for me which involves moving the Skyrim - Sounds.bsa file to a virtual drive. This solution seems to fix the problem without any performance issues and without the need for external storage. Here's how to do it:

Create and setup the virtual disk:
1. Open the "Computer Management" window by searching from the start menu
2. In the left-hand column, under "Storage" right-click on "Disk Management" and select "Create VHD"
3. Store the VHD anywhere in your Bootcamp Volume (I chose the root directory) and name it.
4. Allocate 1500MB + additional storage for sounds mods you might have. For an easy size estimate just inspect the properties of your skyrim-sounds.bsa and size for the value listed there.
5. Check "VHDX" for "Virtual hard disk format" (not sure that this matters but VHDX seems newer and more flexible, someone please correct me if I'm wrong).
6. Check "Dynamically expanding" for "Virtual hard disk type" and click "OK"
7. You should now see your new disk in the list of partitions on the bottom half of the window. This disk needs to be initialized before we can use it.
8. Right click on the icon of your new disk (it should read something like "Disc 1, Unknown, 1500MB, Not Initialized") and choose "Initialize Disk"
9. Select MBR as your partition style and click "OK"
10. Right-click on the right half of your disk which reads "1500 MB Unallocated" and select "New Simple Volume"
11. Click Next through the steps to create a new volume with default settings (make sure you format as NTFS)
12. Click "Finish". The drive is now initialized and mountable.
Move Skyrim's sound file to the disk and create a system link:
13. Locate your new virtual drive in the file browser and double click on it to view its contents. Move your Skyrim - Sound.bsa file from your Skyrim data folder to the virtual drive.
14. Follow Krog's steps above for creating a symlink from your Skyrim data folder to your virtual drive. (in command prompt type: mklink "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Skyrim\Data\Skyrim - Sounds.bsa" "D:\Skyrim - Sounds.bsa" make sure to replace "D:\" with the letter given to your new volume. This command will create a new file in your Skyrim Data folder which references the bsa file in your new volume.
15. Boot up Skyrim and your sound issues should be fixed.
16. Every time you boot up your computer you'll need to remount your virtual disk before launching Skyrim. To do this just double click on the virtual disk.

I hope that's helpful to someone. If you have a recommendation for making the instructions clearer let me know and I'll update this post. Thanks to everyone who has contributed to fixing this issue.

I was so confused with the initial creating VHD location from the initial post but this helped me so much, especially when I'm not familiar with formatting hard drives.