Symptom · devices
No sound, no microphone, no controller, or the wrong screen
Peripheral faults have a common shape: the operating system and the game disagree about which device exists. Once you know that, most of them are five-minute fixes, and the order below finds the cause without changing things at random.
Set the device you want as the default in the operating system before starting the game, not after. Most games read the device list once at launch and hold on to what they found, which is why a headset plugged in mid-session is ignored and why the sound comes out of the monitor speakers you forgot you had.
Sound goes to the wrong device, or nowhere
The common cause: a default that changed itself
Operating systems switch default audio devices when hardware appears or disappears. A monitor connected by HDMI or DisplayPort registers as an audio device even if it has no usable speakers, and it can become the default when it wakes from standby. A USB headset that briefly loses power does the same in reverse. The game, having read the list at startup, is faithfully sending audio to a device that no longer makes any noise.
The fix is to set the intended device as default in the system sound settings, then restart the game so it reads the list again. Where a system allows it, disabling audio outputs you never use — monitor outputs in particular — prevents the problem from recurring.
Games have their own device selection too
Many games carry an audio device setting separate from the system default, and it may be pinned to a device by name. If the system is correct and the game is still silent, look in the game’s audio menu for an output device entry and set it explicitly rather than leaving it on automatic.
Sound in menus but not in the match, or the reverse
This points at the game’s own volume mixer rather than at the device. Separate sliders for master, effects, music, voice and interface are standard, and a slider at zero from a previous session or reset by an update is more likely than a hardware fault. Check the operating system’s per-application volume control as well, which can be set independently and is easy to forget.
The microphone is not detected, or nobody can hear you
Voice chat involves more layers than output does, so test them in order from the bottom.
- Confirm the operating system hears it. Use the system’s own sound settings, where the input level meter should move when you speak. If it does not move there, no game setting will help.
- Check the permission. Both Windows and macOS require applications to be granted microphone access, and a refusal at first launch is remembered silently. This is a frequent cause of a microphone that works everywhere except in one application.
- Check for a hardware mute. Headsets have mute switches on the cable, on the earcup, or triggered by lifting the boom. They are easy to knock and give no on-screen indication.
- Set the input device in the game explicitly. As with output, automatic selection picks whatever the system reported at launch, which may be a webcam microphone or a monitor input rather than your headset.
- Check push-to-talk. If voice is set to push-to-talk and the bound key conflicts with a game action, or was never set, you will appear silent to everyone. Open voice activation is the easier setting for testing; switch back afterwards if you prefer.
- Test in a different application. A recorder or a voice call confirms whether the problem is the device or the game, and that single test saves a great deal of time.
If people say you are quiet, distorted or clipping
Input level is the usual answer. Set the microphone level in the operating system so that normal speech registers comfortably without hitting the top of the meter, and turn off any automatic gain control, which raises background noise between sentences and causes the pumping effect people describe as breathing. Position matters more than price: a modest microphone close to your mouth and off to one side outperforms an expensive one across the desk.
Controllers and gamepads
Support for gamepads on a desktop computer is uneven, and the failures follow a short list.
- The game does not support gamepads at all, or supports them only in certain modes. Check the vendor’s documentation before troubleshooting something that was never implemented.
- The controller is connected but idle. Wireless controllers pair and then sleep. Press a button to wake it before launching, because a controller asleep at launch is a controller the game never saw.
- Two input layers are fighting. A platform-level controller configuration and the game’s own support can both be active, producing doubled or cancelled inputs. Turn one of them off.
- A wireless dongle needs a direct port. Through an unpowered hub, or a port at the back of a case behind a metal panel, range and reliability drop noticeably. A front port or a short extension usually settles it.
- Drift makes the character move by itself. A worn analogue stick reports movement at rest. A deadzone setting in the game can compensate for mild drift, but it is a hardware fault and it gets worse.
Displays, multiple monitors and alt-tabbing
The game opens on the wrong monitor
Games generally use the operating system’s primary display. Either set the monitor you want as primary in display settings, or use a display selection option in the game if it offers one. Borderless windowed mode makes moving between screens considerably easier, at a small cost in performance compared with exclusive full screen.
Alt-tabbing takes forever, or breaks the display
Exclusive full screen hands the display over to the game, so switching away has to hand it back, and that transition is where the delay and the occasional black screen come from. Borderless windowed mode removes the transition entirely and is the right choice if you switch applications often. Frame rate is usually a little lower.
The refresh rate is not what you bought
High refresh rate monitors frequently default to 60 hertz until told otherwise, and the setting lives in the operating system’s display settings, not in the game. Check it there first, and confirm that the cable and port you are using support the rate you want at your resolution — older cables are a common and unsuspected limit.
The image is stretched, cropped, or has black bars
An aspect ratio mismatch between the game’s resolution setting and the monitor’s native resolution. Set the game to the monitor’s native resolution; if you need a lower resolution for performance, use a resolution scale setting instead, which keeps the aspect ratio correct and generally looks better than letting the monitor stretch a smaller image.
Accessibility settings worth finding early
Most current games include settings that are easy to miss and make a substantial difference: subtitle size and background opacity, colourblind modes, adjustable interface scale, toggle-instead-of-hold options for crouch and aim, sensitivity separated by input type, and screen shake or motion effects that can be reduced. They are worth ten minutes at the start rather than being discovered months later.
The eSafety Commissioner, Australia’s independent regulator for online safety, publishes guidance on online safety including in games, and takes reports under its schemes, at esafety.gov.au. Voice chat in particular is worth configuring deliberately — knowing how to mute, block and report another player before you need to is better than learning it mid-match.
What to watch out for
Peripheral problems attract downloadable “driver updater” and “audio repair” utilities. Device drivers should come from the hardware manufacturer or through the operating system’s own update mechanism, and a working headset does not need third-party software to be heard by a game. Scamwatch publishes guidance on fraudulent software and support offers at scamwatch.gov.au.
The game covered on this site
The product Vanguard Hub links to, Enlisted, is an online multiplayer first-person shooter set in the Second World War, with a desktop-only sign-up covering Windows, macOS and Linux. Which input devices and audio features it supports is documented by the vendor at enlisted.net; this page describes how desktop hardware behaves in general rather than what any one game implements.
Commercial link: Vanguard Hub is paid a commission for registrations completed through it. Nothing on this page was written to suit that arrangement.
Next: if the picture is the problem rather than the devices, see performance and frame rate. If other players sound fine but the game feels unresponsive, see connection, ping and matchmaking.