Update November 9, 2016: The last Skyrim patch might have fixed some of the game’s compressed audio, but it seems to have messed up a bunch of other things. Bethesda have released another quick patch to patch the patch. Yes.
As Bethesda put it, “The update provides fixes addressing noted concerns.”
That’ll save the community fixing things, but there are already a bunch of essential Skyrim mods – check them out at that link.
Here are the 1.2 patch notes:
- General stability and performance improvements
- Fixed issue related to using alt-tab while playing the game (PC)
- Fixed issue with water flow not rendering properly
- Fixed crash related to changing from werewolf back to human form
- Fixed crash related to reloading after changing Load Order of mods
- General bug fixing and improvements with browsing Mods
This patch is only available in the beta branch on Steam currently, so you’ll have to switch over to that to download it. If you’re having no issues, maybe wait until it’s live fully, though, in case the patch patch needs a patch.
Update November 7, 2016:Bethesda promised a fix for the Skyrim remaster’s inferior audio, and fix it they have. A new patch is now live on Steam.
In a small update that improves performance and fixes a couple of bugs, the game’s audio has been enhanced so the sound files aren’t compressed.
Here are the full PC patch notes:
- General performance and optimisation improvements.
- Fixed rare issue with NPCs not appearing in proper locations.
- Fixed issue with saves erroneously being marked as modded, even though no mods are active.
- Updated some sound files to not use compression.
Original Story October 31, 2016: If you have canine-like hearing, you may have noticed that the Skyrim remaster has inferior sound to the original game, thanks to some major audio compression. Luckily there’s some good news for all you audiophiles: there’s a fix coming.
The downgraded audio was noticed by a keen-eared redditor, who posted their findings to the community. Once you notice the difference, it’s pretty clear.
Here’s an example they uploaded to SoundCloud:
If the audio doesn’t play in your browser on the embed above, just click the title and it’ll take you to SoundCloud.
This difference is thanks to the original game’s sound files being stored inuncompressed .wav format, while the Special Edition sports sounds in “aggressively compressed” .xwm format.
We contacted Bethesda after seeing the posts late last week, but we haven’t had a response as of yet.
However, a Bethesda representative has taken to Reddit to reassure that a fix is coming. “We’re currently testing a fix and hope to have an update out next week,” Bethesda say.