Communication in CS:GO is key, and if you recently changed your mic or use a real-time voice editor like Nvidia Broadcast, make sure to change your input accordingly in the Steam or Windows settings.
Funny enough, for a game that requires communication, you can’t change mic input in the game itself. There is simply no setting responsible for that.
Change Mic Input in Steam
Instead, you can change the CS:GO mic input in Steam. Open Steam settings at the top left of the app (via the Steam button) and press “Settings”.
In the Steam Settings menu find the “Voice” tab at the bottom. Here you can change your voice input device, as well as input volumes. As soon as you change your mic input here, it should immediately apply to CS:GO as well.
A quick note as well that not all settings here affect CS:GO. For example, “Voice Transmission Type” is exclusively for Steam calls. And none of the games.
Change Default Mic in Windows
Sometimes when you have multiple input devices, Windows can mess things up. Multiple times on our setups we had Windows reset the default mic to the one on the webcam.
The best thing to do is set the input device you play CS:GO with as the default device. Whether it is an external mic or a headset, it’s likely to be your main input anyway.
To change the default mic in Windows:
- Open Control Panel
- Got to “Hardware & Sound” (or just “Sound” if you have the icon view)
- Then open the “Sound” panel
- In the “Recording” tab find your main input device
- Right-click on it and select both “Set as a Default Device” and “Set as a Default Communication Device”
Try playing the game and testing your mic. But make sure that in Steam your voice input is set to “Default”.
Check the previous section on how to do that. It should be set to “Default” unless you changed it yourself.
If Your Mic Doesn’t Work
If your mic doesn’t work in CS:GO there are a few tricks you can try. But first, make sure that there are no problems with the device itself and that it’s not broken.
You might want to check your CS:GO audio settings. Make sure that the voice chat is enabled and that you have the keybind set for using the mic.
Other small things you can do are:
- Verify CS:GO file integrity in Steam. Right-click on CS:GO in Steam and in “Properties” go to “Local Files”. Verify the game’s files and if there’s anything wrong, Steam will automatically repair it.
- Update your drivers or audio software you are using. This will depend on what you are using as an input. Check your audio card software and any app that you are using like Nvidia Broadcast.
- Enable microphone access in Windows settings. Search “Microphone privacy settings” in Windows and enable “Let apps access your microphone”. If needed, scroll down and enable a separate setting for desktop apps.
