Larian Studios Forums Divinity: Original Sin 2 Divinity - Original Sin 2 - Bugs & Technical Problems PC - Definitive Edition CTD startup due to Audio

PC - Definitive Edition CTD at startup with certain audio output device selected.

As reported and encountered by a few other individuals on Steam (https://steamcommunity.com/app/435150/discussions/6/2521353993646961096/) as well as myself, the Definitive Edition will CTD when selected at startup when certain audio output devices are selected as default. When changed to a device such as Realtek the Definitive Edition will start up without crashing.

For example:
I start DE version of game with normal bluetooth speaker as default and game CTD.
I go to my audio devices and change to Headphones, reload game, start DE version of game and CTD.
I go to my audio devices and change to Realtek device, reload game, start DE version of game and game starts, no crashing.
Alt-Tab out of game, change audio back to Bluetooth speaker, game remains playable, no CTD.

I have discovered that the culprit is a service called "Nahimic service". It's a part of my Asus motherboards Sonic Radar and Sonic Studio. When I disable the service the game works without issue, however when Nahimic service is running the Definitive Edition will CTD as stated in my OP.

I have tried updating my motherboards audio drivers from the Asus website but it's not fixed the CTD issue. The only things I could do are either uninstalling Sonic Radar and Sonic Studio, or disabling the Nahimic service, thought tbh this is something Larian needs to sort out with Asus/Nahimic to make the game compatible.

Now I know the issue (at least for me), I submitted a crash report.

This issue is being look into. Unfortunately, we do not currently have a system with a motherboard that comes with the Nahimic service and associated programs, to be able to do a detailed investigation.