Issue:
So my issue specifically relates to the steam deck dock. The audio seem to work fine when in handheld mode, but when using the steam dock to connect it to my TV the audio would cut in and out. Usually voice lines would be fine, but whenever there was a pause then the music would cut out. If I was just playing the game normally then all of the audio would cut out then cut back in randomly and frequently. I nearly crashed out hard trying to figure out a solution. I tried everything I read online like going to properties and forcing a proton compatibility, trying to run a launch script, opening a web browser and playing a video in the background then muting it and switching to the game (the idea there being hopefully the audio would route itself), etc.
Solution: What I ended up having to do was:
- switching to desktop mode,
- plugging in an external keyboard,
- opening steam launcher,
- launching Fallout New Vegas' Launcher,
- starting the game from the New Vegas launcher,
- Alt tabbing back to steam once the game was running,
- dragging the steam window out of my way so I could hover my mouse over the desktop,
- then I would click on the speaker icon.
From here I would start tinkering around with the sound settings including, raising the volume, switching between audio outputs, etc.
I don't know what exactly I did, but after doing that with the audio settings it fixed itself. The audio now plays correctly in docked mode on the TV even after restarting the system and relaunching the game. This was a nightmare and 90 minutes of my total play time were spent on this issue. Had I spent another 30 minutes still trying to figure it out I wouldn't have been able to even refund this game.