Fix for "Failed to initialize audio" error

[Valorin]

After a lot of searching on the net and a harrowing experience with Rockstar chat support, involving 3 different operators who made me do all the standard windows troubleshooting tricks and didn't know how their own chat and ticket system worked ("Sure, after reboot you can re-enter chat with that button." - spoiler: no, I can't.) I found a solution to the problem. 

 

Not exactly sure how, but I found it somewhere on the internet in a pretty hidden corner and thought it can't hurt to re-share and have it out here for people to find it easier. 

 

The Issue: 

You launch the  game and it immediately crashes giving you the error message: "ERR_AUD_MIXER_INIT -- Failed to initialize audio. Please reboot and restart game." 

 

The solution:

It's not reboot and restart game. 

 

1. Rightclick the sound-symbol on the taskbar. Choose "Open Sound Settings"

2. Scroll down to "Advanced Sound Settings" and click "App volume and device preferences"

3. Scroll down and hit the "Reset" button which will restore windows defaults for your audio devices. 

 

I didn't do anything with my sound devices. In fact, I only have two connected and one of those is a monitor. No clue what wasn't default in the first place, but after hitting that button, RDR2 was working again. 

 

Edited January 20, 2021 by Valorin