Connect an Oculus Rift CV1 VR headset to your computer
Open any game in Roblox that is supposed to have audio
2.5 note that you can hear in-game audio through the VR headset you’re playing with as expected
Open the in-game menu using your Oculus Touch controller and navigate to the settings/options tab
Set “VR” to “off”
Close the game
Open the game again
6.5. You should see that you are no longer playing in VR mode and can control the game with your keyboard and mouse and see the gameplay on your desktop’s display (as expected) but the game’s audio is still coming from the speakers on the Oculus Rift (not expected).
Verify that you have your regular speakers/desktop headphones/mic combo selected in Windows’ sound settings as your default audio device and default communication device.
Restart Roblox again.
8.5. Note that you’re still only hearing audio through the VR headset.
If you have an Oculus CV1 VR headset connected to your computer Roblox will output audio to that headset no matter what you do. Having VR mode disabled in Roblox’s settings and ensuring that my normal headset is the default audio device and default communication device in Window makes no difference. Audio will only go to the headset as long as it is connected. I have to unplug both the USB and HDMI cables in order to be able to hear sound from Roblox in my normal headset. All other applications I use including audio coming from Chrome or other web browsers and Spotify obey my audio device settings in Windows and play through my normal headset just as I want them to. This is just an issue with the Roblox player and Roblox Studio.
My specs:
RTX 3080ti FE
AMD Ryzen 7 2700x (yes I know it’s silly for the graphics card I have.)
16 GB ram
Windows 10 20H2 (this has been happening the entire time I’ve owned a VR headset which has been years.Here you can see a comment I made about it back in 2019.
Oculus Rift CV1 with Oculus Touch controllers.
Expected Behavior
When Roblox opens and the “VR” option is set to “off”, I expect to hear Roblox’s audio through whatever audio device I have set up in my Windows settings like it normally does for every user who does not have a VR headset, and like it does when I unplug my VR headset. With the “VR” setting off, Roblox is not being played in VR mode (as expected). If I put the headset on I do not see what is happening in-game. Instead, I see Roblox and its gameplay on my desktop’s monitor (still as expected). I expect that my audio would do the same and I would not hear what is happening in-game through my VR headset when I cannot see what is happening. I should be able to hear what is happening through my regular USB headphones and mic combo headset that I use when I’m using my keyboard and mouse like normal.
Actual Behavior
When an Oculus VR headset is connected to my PC, and the “VR” setting in Roblox’s in-game settings menu is set to “off” I still hear audio through the VR headset and not through my headphones and mic combo headset(Windows default audio device) like I would expect. I see the gameplay on my desktop monitor and am controlling the game with my keyboard and mouse but cannot hear what is happening because the audio is being passed through to my VR headset which I cannot wear and see my monitor at the same time.
Workaround
Unplugging the VR headset and then restarting Roblox appears to be the only workaround. Roblox will aggressively use my VR headset as the device to send audio to no matter what so long as it is connected. The only way for this behaviour to stop is to unplug the headset entirely (both the USB and HDMI cables. Unplugging only one or the other will still result in audio not being able to be heard through your desired audio device.)
This is a major inconvenience to me because lately, the two games I’ve been switching between are Eclipsis on Roblox and a game off-platform called Asetto Corsa which I play in VR which means I have to unplug my VR headset every time I switch from Asetto to Eclipsis and I have to plug it back in every time I switch back.
Edit: As @GreyJan said in his reply to this post you can disable the Oculus virtual audio device in the Windows sound settings to get audio back in your default audio device and you just have to enable it again to hear audio in VR. This is still a workaround but it beats having to unplug the headset and plug it back in every time I switch from VR to Roblox or back.
Issue Area: Engine Issue Type: Other Impact: Moderate Frequency: Constantly Date First Experienced: 2017-12-24 12:12:00 (-07:00) Date Last Experienced: 2021-08-30 23:08:00 (-06:00)
It’s probably because the headphones, if you plugged in normal headphones you would expect the audio to only come out of those so I guess vr works the same way.
I’m struggling to understand what you mean. What do you mean by “normal headphones”? My headphones and mic combo headset is a fairly common setup.
If you are suggesting this is intended behaviour I assure you it can’t possibly be. What is the purpose of the “VR” option if setting it to “off” still results in Roblox not being able to be played properly with your mouse and keyboard?
If they expect VR users to just unplug their headset anytime they want to play Roblox normally and not in VR then they should not bother adding a non-functional “VR” option. If they expect users to set this “VR” option to “off” when they don’t want to play in VR so they can leave their headset plugged in, then the audio should revert to its regular behaviour just as the graphics do. It is strange and inconsistent behaviour to have the graphics switch over from your VR headset to your desktop’s monitor when the “VR” option is turned off but have the audio continue to play in the VR headset and not switch over like the graphics do.
So I’m assuming that when you plug in a normal vr to a computer, it would work the same way, the problem is probably your computer saying “Hey, that thing is plugged in. Lets use it!” Roblox will turn on the vr screen and controllers when you turn on vr mode but the headphones are within the responsibility of your computer and roblox just says what noise to play, not how to play it.
This is all an assumption! Do not think I’m a professional!
Thank you for the detailed explanation.
As I said in my original post, this is just a Roblox problem. Windows lets you configure your audio output device so I actually have several connected to my PC right now but I have my regular headset configured as the audio device applications should use by default. That being said, individual applications can override this and that is exactly what Roblox is doing. Roblox is the only program that is experiencing this. I can play audio in Discord, Apex Legends, Google Chrome watching YouTube or browsing Reddit, and any other game on my system and the audio will play through my regular headset but when I open Roblox it plays through my VR headset.
To my knowledge Roblox is only playable in VR on Windows so this setting needs to be designed to work on Windows. If this is a problem with Windows and not with Roblox then they either should probably remove this sorta useless setting and just have users unplug their headset instead of giving them false hope or they need to contact Microsoft and work with them to fix the issue since Roblox is a very large corporation and I’m sure Microsoft would be happy to work with them in fixing this issue though as I said I don’t think this is an issue with Windows. This is a problem with Roblox.
I can plug in random other audio devices and do but just set everything up to not use them. I have speakers connected to my PC but Roblox doesn’t insist on using it as my audio output device. It uses the one I configured in the settings… as long as I don’t have a VR headset connected.
You could try to disable the Oculus Virtual Audio Device in your sound settings (I think it’s under manage sound devices) and see if Windows defaults to using your default audio output device rather than the Oculus Audio Output.
This would mean toggling it from on to disabled and vice versa every time you switch, but it’s less hassle than unplugging it every time.
I have now tested this and can confirm it works! This is much less of a hassle than having to dig around in the dungeon to plug that sucker back in. Thank you for your comment you have moderately improved my life.
Edit: though unfortunately, it is still a workaround and doesn’t solve the problem. I don’t remember marking your post as the solution but I reverted that because this is still a bug that needs fixing.
