Party chat audio drops out when I open game bar on PC.

Hi there! This is Virginia O.

I understand that you are having issues with your Xbox game bar party chat not working.

I apologize for the inconvenienced this has caused you. I will do my best to help you.

Here are the troubleshooting steps to perform on your Windows PC:

Please reset the Xbox Game Bar App by opening Settings > Apps > Apps & features.

Find Xbox Game Bar, click Advanced options, and then select Reset.

And then check audio device settings. Press Windows key + G to open Xbox Game Bar. Go to Settings > Party Chat and make sure the correct input and output devices are selected.

Next is to update audio drivers. To do this please open Device Manager, find your audio device, right-click, and select Update driver.

Make sure your audio drivers are up to date.

Then check app permissions.Kindly open Settings > Privacy > Microphone.

Make sure Xbox Game Bar and the Xbox app have permission to access your microphone.

After that is to adjust volume mixer. Please right-click the volume icon on the taskbar and select Open Volume Mixer.

Find all instances of Xbox Game Bar and make sure their volumes are turned up.

Once done performing all the steps kindly restart your PC and then try joining the party again.

Thank you for your cooperation.

Of course, mate.

Ok:

Open the Xbox Game Bar and join/initiate a party chat (don’t leave the party till the completion of the solution).

Now open the Xbox Game Bar Settings by clicking on the Gear icon and in the menu shown, click on Party Chat (in the left half of the window).

Then set your Audio Output to the headset and if it is already set to the headset change it to another device (if you only have one single device, then try to use a dummy device from applications like Virtual Audio Cable).

Repeat the same for Audio Input and then close the Settings Windows.

Then click on the Widget Menu and choose Audio.

Now make sure the output (in the Mix tab) and input (in the Voice tab) is set to your headset. And make sure the system sounds are on max.

Then repeat steps 2 to 4 but make sure your headset is set as audio output and input device.

Now close the Settings window and check if the party chat and the game's volume have started to work fine.

If not, then check if disabling Push to Talk in the Party Chat settings of the Game Bar solves the issue

I am having the same issue, this used to work but now I cannot use push to talk in Sea of Thieves unless I toggle the game bar open when in an Xbox Party audio chat.

I also cannot set mouse buttons as push to talk hotkeys in the Xbox Game Bar settings, only keyboard keys.

The audio will come from the source. If your PC is the source of the party chat, it will be the source of where the audio is. You would need to either open the party chat on your console or get a headset that allows multiple inputs.

Are you using the chat mixer to change the balance between party and game chat audio? That function makes a beep when you max out the mixer function to all game or all party chat audio.