With the recent release of Red Dead Redemption 1 on PC after a total of 14 years from its original console-exclusive release, the game’s reception on the platform has been pretty average for a classic title. As of now, it currently boasts a concurrent player count of just over 3000, which, for an indie game, is quite good, but for a classic game like RDR, feels lacking. Well, it might be due to the fact that RDR is a 14-year-old game with outdated graphics, but real fans would still play it, considering its fantastic story. Anyway, since you are reading this, it is obvious that you have tried playing the game on the Steam Deck, and have been successfully enjoying it experience, but with a hiccup. Audio issues are one of the most notorious problems faced by players, especially when it comes to games on Steam Deck. Well, if the in-game audio of Red Dead Redemption starts crackling, stuttering, or stops working on the Steam Deck, consider reading this guide for workarounds to fix it for good. Here’s everything you need to know.
The Steam Deck is one of the most popular, if not the most popular, handhelds currently available. Despite the fact that it runs a custom Linux-based Steam OS that doesn’t run all PC games, especially those that come with a cheat engine, the handheld is far more popular than the Asus Rog Ally, Legion Go, and such handhelds that run on Windows OS. So, it is obvious that a new PC release will compel Steam Deck owners to try the game out on the handheld. Coming back to the topic, the Deck is perfectly capable of handling RDR, but the issues regarding in-game audio are something that seems to be a problem, for the time being. So, try the given workarounds to check if they are helpful in fixing it.
Also read: Red Dead Redemption 1 Steam Deck, Lenovo Legion Go & Asus Rog Ally Support Details
Red Dead Redemption 1 Audio Issue on Steam Deck: Is there any fix yet
Well, for starters, Red Dead Redemption 1, unlike its successor, is not rated as Playable or Verified for the Deck. This means that proper testing of the game on Steam Deck hasn’t yet been done by Valve. Anyway, since the game hasn’t been developed keeping the Steam Deck in mind, issues such as these should be expected. Now, all there’s left to do is try a few workarounds and see which works best in fixing the same.
1) Restart
To begin the troubleshooting process, start by simply restarting the game once you encounter audio-related issues, and then check if the same persists after the restart. If it does, consider restarting the Steam Deck itself.
2) Graphics settings
Players who faced the same issue have brought to our notice that setting the in-game Graphics Settings to Low/Medium fixed the issue for them. So, if you have applied the High or Ultra Graphics Quality preset, consider lowering it down to Low or Medium to check if the issue persists.
3) Proton version
You can use a different Proton version to run the game on the Deck. To do so, first, go to Steam, access Library, and then select RDR. Now, select the Options button, tap on Properties, and select the Compatibility tab. Here, checkmark the Force Proton Use option and then select any of the available Proton versions. We recommend using Proton GE or Proton Experimental. Once done, launch the game to check if the issue persists.
4) Reinstall
If the previous workarounds didn’t help fix the issue, the last resort is to try a clean reinstallation of the game. A fresh installation might fix the issue for good.
That said, these are the workarounds worth trying to fix the audio issues while playing Red Dead Redemption 1 on Steam Deck. We hope that you find this guide informative. If you did, consider visiting Android Gram for more such content on all things gaming.
