There’s no lack of bugs to squash through the releases so far in 2023, and Starfield is certainly no exception. If you’ve played Skyrim or Fallout 4, you may be familiar with a bug that causes audio to cut out that’s persisted through the years. That very same bug is present in Starfield because it runs on the Creation Engine just as the aforementioned Bethesda titles do. Here’s how to fix the audio cutting out bug in Starfield.
How to Fix If Your Audio Cuts Out in Starfield
This issue impacts both the PC and Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S. You have to take a different approach to fix the issue on PC than you do on console, as the audio cutting fix on Xbox is temporary, while sorting it on PC aims to be a more permanent solution.
How to Fix Starfield Audio Cutting Out on Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S
If your audio has clipped and won’t start back up and you’re playing on either Xbox platform, you’ll need to save, close the game, and relaunch it. Simply pausing the process will not fix the audio bug, you’ll need to restart the game completely to get sound back.
It’s unlikely there will be a permanent fix for this bug on console, because it’s rooted in the very engine the game runs on. You hopefully will not run into it too often, but just save and restart the game any time you lose audio in Starfield.
How to Fix Starfield Audio Cutting Out on PC
Some can simply relaunch the game to get the audio back on PC, but there are permanent options you’ll want to go through to fix this bug for good. Below, we list some potential solutions for the audio cutting out issue in order of intensity.
- Disable Vsync in-game. Vsync has been causing some weird issues for some players, audio cutting out being one of them.
- Run Starfield as administrator. Why this would work is anyone’s guess, but some players have reported that running the game as administrator sorts out their sound issues.
- Update your graphics card drivers. Both AMD and Nvidia users should make sure their drivers are up to date.
- Play Starfield offline. This is easier on Steam since you just launch Steam in Offline Mode. Using the Xbox App, you’ll need to navigate to the General tab of your Profile settings and enable Offline Permissions.
- Install the game on an SSD. In particular, an internal SSD is needed due to higher transfer speeds than external USB-based ones. If you’ve got it installed on an HDD, it’s time to upgrade.
That’s how to fix the audio cutting out bug in Starfield. As mentioned, it’s unlikely this bug will ever be totally squashed because it’s rooted in the Creation Engine, and it’s still present in Bethesda’s earlier RPGs despite their age. One can hope, though! We’ve got tons of other Starfield guides on GameSkinny, such as how to get Tungsten and how to get every house.
