Sound effects volume settings always reverts to max

[Norstaera]

And it's driving me crazy (some might say I'm already there). It doesn't matter whether I'm launching the game or loading a save - this setting always reverts to max, no matter how many times I've changed it. This is my first v. 1.6.1170 playthrough. I use Bethini to set my .ini's. I am trying a couple of new mods that I didn't use on v. 1.6.1130, but I can't see where they mess with sounds at all.

What's weird, to me, is that only one sound setting reverts. The others all stay where I put them. I'm at level 17, and this is the only recurring issue.

• I've checked SSEdit for conflicts that might pertain.
• I've checked conflicts in Vortex.
• I've searched the game directory for 'sound' and 'volume' to see if there are any .ini files which might change the setting and override skyrimprefs.ini.  I'll try another search if I know what term to use.
• I've rerun Bethini.
• I've searched the web trying to find answers and haven't found anything.

Any help or guidance will be much appreciated.

 

[7531Leonidas]

Did you search your computer for an extra skyrimprefs.ini?  Once you do, you should make sure that it isn't set to 'read-only'. 

[scorrp10]

Audio menu slider settings are saved in Documents\My Games\Skyrim Special Edition\SkyrimPrefs.ini, section [AudioMenu]

For example, mine looks like this:

[AudioMenu]
fAudioMasterVolume=1.0000
fVal7=1.0000
uID7=0
fVal6=1.0000
uID6=0
fVal5=1.0000
uID5=0
fVal4=1.0000
uID4=151039367
fVal3=0.5000
uID3=466532
fVal2=0.7000
uID2=554685
fVal1=0.8000
uID1=1007612
fVal0=1.0000
uID0=94881

The top value is self-explanatory, that is your master volume.
The other 8, however, are pairs fValx / uIDx.   fValx is the volume (0.0=min, 1.0=max) and  uIDx is the FormID of a Sound Category form in decimal.

So what you want to do is convert these uID number to hexadecimal.   Can use Windows Calculator app in Programmer mode for this.
So lets see what are those values (with leading 0's added to pad them to 8 digits)
uID0=94881  = 000172A1
uID1=1007612 = 000F5FFC
uID2=554685 = 000876BD
uID3=466532 = 00071E64
uID4=151039367 = 0900AD87
The fact that first four of these start with 00 means they are defined in Skyrim.esm.   
In SSEEdit, I expand Skyrim.esm, Sound Category.   There are a number of forms in there, many of them are actually derivatives of other categories, and only some of them have the "Should Appear on Menu" flag.
Namely:
00017A21 - AudioCategorySFX ($Effects)
00071E64 - AudioCategoryMUS ($Music)
000876BD - AudioCategoryVOCGeneral ($Voice)
000F5FFC - AudioCategoryFST ($Footsteps)
The Master category (000EB803) is there as well, but I suspect the game has it hard-coded, which is why .ini file does not store uID for it.

Now, of special interest is uID4.    It starts with (09), meaning it is from a mod.   In my load order, mod index 09 is 'Realistic Water Two - Resources.esm', and indeed it has a Sound Catagory Entry:
0900AD87 - AudioCategoryRWTWaves (RWT Waves), flagged 'Should Appear on Menu'.   And yes, when I go into Audio menu in the game, there is an "RWT Waves" slider there.

Also of interest is the fact that there are three empty 'slots' (uID 5,6,7).   They provide space for other mods, but I wonder if that means that there are only 8 slots, and what happens if you have more contenders than slots.

Now, on to your actual problem:
When I go into audio menu in the game, and change a slider,  I can see my SkyrimPrefs.ini updated with the new value the moment I exit the Settings menu.   If your SkyrimPrefs.ini is write-protected, or is being used by some other app (BethINI maybe?), then Skyrim might not be able to alter it.   That could be one reason.    However, if file updates, it is likely something else.   If you post here your SkyrimPrefs.ini [AudioMenu] section, that may shed some light.