Voiicemeeter Macros not working when playing some games

The Virtual Audio Mixer discussions and support...
Post Reply
weeemrcb
Posts: 18
Joined: Sat Feb 10, 2018 6:01 pm

Voiicemeeter Macros not working when playing some games

Post by weeemrcb »

Hi
I had an issue recently following a rebuild of my gaming PC with a new motherboard and CPU followed by a fresh install of Win10 (1909).

About 1 in 10 games I play, which used to work with the macro keys, no longer accepted the macro keys during the game.
(e.g. PUBG Lite)

I tried various things like restarting the macro buttons, setting macros to be exclusive and starting the applications in a different sequence, but to no avail.

But ... I think I got it sussed.
Running VMP (or VMB) as administrator resolved the issue and now the macros work properly again.
(The same goes for Cantabile which caused crackly audio until I stopped/started it a few times. Now no more crackly audio from the start)

The long term solution is to go to the VM shortcut and do:
  • Right Click
  • Properties
  • Compatibility
  • Check the "Run This Program as Administrator" box
  • OK
In case someone else is having the same issue, then this is worth a go as it fixed it for me.
I think Microsoft hardened the security in Win 10 v1909 and this was accidentally caught up in the OS lockdown.
xcasxcursex
Posts: 173
Joined: Tue Feb 18, 2020 12:04 am

Re: Voiicemeeter Macros not working when playing some games

Post by xcasxcursex »

weeemrcb wrote: Resolved the issue.... The long term solution.... fixed it for me.
This is not a resolution, solution or fix, but a workaround. You still have the problem, you are just hiding it. Knowing that it works when running as administrator is a good step in troubleshooting, but it is not the end of troubleshooting (where everything works as expected - and running as administrator is not expected) and should not really be considered and certainly not recommended as a solution, because it isn't one.

weeemrcb wrote:I think Microsoft hardened the security in Win 10 v1909 and this was accidentally caught up in the OS lockdown.
Using 1909 here, shortcut keys for macros working just fine without admin rights.


I guess something else changed during your rebuild, that broke this (and cantabile, and who knows what else) :( What you have done has avoided a symptom of some other problem, but the problem still exists, so it might be worth your time to figure out what else changed, in case that problem comes back to be annoying to you in the future.

Since the issues you are seeing seem to be related exclusively to VM, perhaps there was something wrong during the installation, so I'd try reinstalling it first. There are instructions over here: viewtopic.php?f=6&t=442

It is possible, that your application is taking exclusive access to the keyboard (as you are aware, you were in the thread where this was discussed: viewtopic.php?f=6&t=863&p=2805&hilit=ad ... 02c0#p2803) but that would not explain crackling audio, and it is unlikely that all of your games suddenly changed to have this same behaviour, at the same moment that you rebuilt your PC.
Anyway, in that case, the true "resolution"/"fix"/"solution" is not to run VM as administrator, but for the developer of the application to fix the application so that the system works as expected.

Since you've had other unusual problems with VM (viewtopic.php?f=6&t=826&p=2656&sid=c214 ... 02c0#p2656) and now that's gone and there is a whole new one, perhaps there is something wrong with the build process of your PC. Perhaps you install some software or do some kind of "tweak" which is messing with VM somehow?

As Vincent mentioned in that thread, your first step is to describe a method for others to reproduce the problem. In this thread, your method to reproduce the problem, was to start VM as normal and play games, and since that doesn't reproduce the problem for others, it means there's something missing from that method. Before you can fix a problem, you need to know what you are trying to fix :)
weeemrcb
Posts: 18
Joined: Sat Feb 10, 2018 6:01 pm

Re: Voiicemeeter Macros not working when playing some games

Post by weeemrcb »

Apologies for the delay in replying, I only get notifications when I log back into the forum.
xcasxcursex wrote:This is not a resolution, solution or fix, but a workaround....
Yes, you're quite right. It shouldn't happen in the first place, so any action to achieve "normal" behaviour is a workaround rather than a resolution.
xcasxcursex wrote:Since the issues you are seeing seem to be related exclusively to VM
....
Perhaps there was something wrong during the installation, so I'd try reinstalling it first
It was a fresh install with reboots at every step. I know VM is sensitive in the install process and so I take the time to ensure it's done 100%.
There are some other programs that don't behave 100% as expected, and the way to get them working as expected was to use the same .... workaround ;)
xcasxcursex wrote:Since you've had other unusual problems with VM (viewtopic.php?f=6&t=826&p=2656&sid=c214 ... 02c0#p2656) and now that's gone and there is a whole new one, perhaps there is something wrong with the build process of your PC
All of the other VM issues I've experienced following multiple upgrades and moving from Banana to Potato all went away with the fresh OS and VM install. The only anomaly observed was this new one with the hotkey/keyboard. Everything else with VM is working 100% now.
xcasxcursex wrote:...Before you can fix a problem, you need to know what you are trying to fix :)
I agree.
I see this as an issue with Windows rather than VoiceMeeter, however I use VM a lot every day and so it was the first and most apparent when it presented itself. As I mentioned above, some other programs have behaved oddly with hotkeys (e.g. OBS and Discord), but these have all been elevated to run with admin rites too.
I posted the info here in case someone was presented with the same scenario and it's a step they could follow in an attempt to diagnose or workaround an issue they have. If so then I hope this finds them quickly
Post Reply