[BUG] Unable to adjust the volume of Dota 2

[Jeremy2131]

Version

6.0.4

Windows Version

22H2 22621.2361 Windows 11

Actual Behaviour

Not changing or muting sound

Expected Behaviour

Changing or muting sound

Reproduction Steps

Launch program
Try

Log

No response

[Jeremy2131]

It only happens for dota, I tried setting my primary output device in dota and made sure VolumeControl using the same device
Like when I open Windows volume mixer and changing other sounds I see them changing there in real time, Dota doesn't

[radj307]

That's strange. I wonder if Dota uses the Core Audio APIs directly and is interfering with volume control?

Does this also happen when adjusting the volume of Dota in the Windows Volume Mixer, or just when you adjust it through Volume Control?

[Jeremy2131]

That's strange. I wonder if Dota uses the Core Audio APIs directly and is interfering with volume control?

Does this also happen when adjusting the volume of Dota in the Windows Volume Mixer, or just when you adjust it through Volume Control?

I can adjust dota volume in Windows mixer with my mouse easily and I don't know if Dota using Core Audio or no, sorry

[radj307]

So it seems like Dota is in fact hijacking volume levels while the window is active. I found a few posts on reddit talking about this:

• https://www.reddit.com/r/DotA2/comments/xjcf7i/dota_2_audio_changes_windows_volume/
• https://www.reddit.com/r/DotA2/comments/m3avob/audio_bug_dota_changes_my_windows_volume_to_50/

My hypothesis is that Dota is overriding the application volume when active and resetting it when inactive. This would explain why you were able to adjust its volume in the Windows Volume Mixer but not via Volume Control's hotkeys. If I'm correct, you should be able to (temporarily) adjust Dota's application volume in the following cases:

• Session volume up/down hotkeys while Dota 2 is in the background
• Volume Control's mixer tab
• Windows Volume Mixer

Of course, these changes wouldn't persist when you tab back into the game. If that is the case, Dota is abusing using the Windows volume system in an unusual way, and it isn't possible for other applications to adjust its volume while it is focused.

If you have 2 monitors you can test this by putting the volume mixer (either Volume Control or the Windows Volume Mixer) on your second monitor, change Dota's volume, then tab back into Dota. You should see its volume level change without your input. If that doesn't happen, then my hypothesis is probably wrong and we can go from there.
(If you only have 1 monitor you can try putting Dota into windowed mode to achieve the same effect)

However, if I'm correct all you can do is report this to the developers of Dota and hope that they fix it.

[Jeremy2131]

I cannot confirm your words because I tried to launch VolumeControl with admin permissions or without it and I still in-game or alt tabbed cannot control game's volume through the VolumeControl but Windows Mixer allows me to change Dota's volume and when I back in game Dota doesn't override assigned volume through the Windows Mixer and when I set for example 57 in Windows Mixer for dota it stays the same when I alt tab back to the game
In alt tab with admin permissions or without I cannot control Dota's volume through VolumeControl it doesn't do anything because I see in Windows Mixer that Dota's voume isn't changing when it does so with other apps

[radj307]

I'll do some testing and try to figure out what's going on when I get the chance.
This may take a while, though.

[nospaulatu]

I had similar issue with the game Little Nightmares. Adjusting the volume or toggling mute in VolumeControl had no effect on the game audio.

I tested your suggestion of having the VolumeControl window and Windows Volume Mixer on a second monitor and adjusting the volume manually. Changing in VolumeControl this way still had no effect. But changing the volume in Windows Volume Mixer for the game worked fine, and did not change back when the game had focus again.

One unusual thing I noticed was Windows Volume Mixer showed the application name Little Nightmares (with a space between the words) while the game was minimized, but changed to D3DProxyWindow when the game was focused. While VolumeControl always showed LittleNightmares (with no space). Not sure if this has any relevance.

Little Nightmares 2 did not have the same issues, it worked fine with VolumeControl.

[radj307]

Was unable to reproduce this with Dota 2 on my Windows 10 Enterprise LTSC 21H2 machine, am currently testing with COD Warzone on W11 VM; see #128

[radj307]

Closing as this is being continued in #128