With the update to kernel 7.0, the well documented audio dropout issue is now a problem, it’s happening for me under Death Stranding 2 after about 10 mins of playing and wasn’t a problem before upgrading to kernel 7.0. Is there some way to mitigate this problem considering KDE Neon probably wont see the update to 7.0.1 for quite some time? It’s become quite annoying. I’ve applied PULSE_LATENCY_MSEC=120 to Steam launch options, which reduced the problem somewhat, but it’s still there in complex fight scenes.
System specs below:
7.0.0-28-generic
no issues playing mechwarrior on my plasma 5 machine running kubuntu 24.04
wondering if you got he pipewire updates that came just prior to the kernel update.
I imagine it is hardware-specific then? I have had zero issues with sound on neon with the 7.0.0, including Death Stranding 2, which I just finished. I did have one instance under the previous kernel where the vocals stopped, but all other sounds worked until I restarted the game. I am using external speakers on my AMD motherboard’s built in audio, as well as my USB headset.
I have been using the 7.0.0 (which is the same kernel as *buntu 26.04) since June via the linux-image-generic-hwe-24.04-edge meta-package, which provides the next upcoming HWE kernel a month or more before it is formally released. This seemed to solve a recurring but random hard system crash when playing the game in the previous kernel.
Have you tried different proton versions or installed other builds, such as Glorious Eggroll’s or Cachy’s via proton-up or other similar utility?
I imagine we will need to see what other Ubuntu players have done when experiencing this.
Perhaps it’s not the kernel, I think I’ve got my kernel’s mixed up as 7.0 was released a few months ago under KDE Neon. I’ve been playing DS2 for 40 hours so far without issue, before that I finished DS1 from start to finish without so much as a hiccup. Two nights ago DS2 was running perfectly, no audio issues at all. Before I went to bed I checked to see if any KDE Neon updates were available and they were, I always inspect updates to see what’s being downloaded, and while I can’t remember specifics, there was a kernel update. Last night I fired up DS2 to continue my game and audio was dropping out/stuttering really bad, like nothing I’ve ever experienced in my years gaming under Linux - It has to have something to do with that update, but I can’t remember the specifics of just what was updated.
As stated, adding PULSE_LATENCY_MSEC=120 did make the problem less severe, but in scenes with a number of characters, or scenes of action it’s still there - I could just keep increasing the size of the audio buffer, but it’s a BandAid on a sore knee approach and I’d like to know just what’s causing the issue here, as it certainly wasn’t a problem before that update.
I’ve been running the latest Proton-CachyOS for quite some time now without issue. I tried Proton-GE, the game won’t launch under Proton-GE (there are issues with the DS2 launcher and certain Proton variants). I then tried Proton Hotfix (as that has the launcher fix), and it did nothing to resolve the audio issue, it may have actually made it a little worse (and I couldn’t run the game as Wayland native).
Any ideas on how to go about diagnosing this issue would be appreciated. Is there anyone else out there experiencing the same issue? It doesn’t happen under all games, so far I’ve only noticed it under DS2.
Per core CPU utilization remains under ~60% for any one thread and overall CPU utilization is ~30%. GPU utilization (RTX4070S) is maxed out at 99%.
We didn’t get 7.0 until a day or so ago, same as *buntu 24.04. Unless one manually installed it as I did.
Looking at my apt logs, the day before the kernel bump I saw some steam-libs updates, and on the 15th, we got Plasma 6.7.3.
It might be worth booting to a previous kernel and seeing if there is something different there.
I have no ideas how to troubleshoot audio in Steam games, or where to start.
Have you looked for anything on ProtonDB for any similar problems?
As this is the same kernel used in *buntu 26.04, it might be worth poking around Ubuntu related places as well.
I had 116 hours in DS2, and I still didn’t hit all the sites and achievements.
OK, so I’m not going crazy, I thought that was the case! Cheers @claydoh !
However, I think I’ve resolved the issue. I removed the PULSE_LATENCY_MSEC=120 command from Steam launch options and changed pulse.min.quantum under /usr/share/pipewire/pipewire-pulse.conf and the issue seems to be resolved 100% with no ill effects that I’ve noticed so far…
…Fingers crossed. Death Stranding is such a good game, how did you like DS1 and DS2 @claydoh ?
Nice find.
I liked both quite a bit. I am not generally one to replay this type of game, though it seems like DS2 would be replayable using different strategies for transport etc. And in both, I usually avoided most of the normal combat since I seem to have trouble with that sort of coordination lol 
This sort of game I would usually find overly tedious with the travleing/walking, etc., as I usually do not like that sort of thing, but this did bother me in either game.
Having tall snowy mountains in the middle-ish of Australia was a bit weird.
I have not played DS 1 in a year and a half, though.
Are you also from Australia? As an Australian I also found the tall, snowy mountains a little odd. The game is literally an outstanding walking simulator, but there’s just something I find satisfying about walking long distances…
Defiantly a game you want to take your time playing, just relax and enjoy.
I have been here for a little over two years now, I married an Australian 
The snow I can understand, in context of the game’s setting, but the geography is…a little off. But then so was the setting of DS1. It does not detract from the games at all.
did you reboot after the heavy update?
i normally dont reboot for app or library updates, but when i see mesa, or kernel (or if i get a red dot) then i always reboot immediately after the update so a) i know im using the latest, b) it if breaks something i will know right away.
