747 engine startup sound

[WebMaximus 372]

Hi,Thought I'll start a new thread for this one even if it's related to sounds that has already been discussed in other threads but now I'm 100% positive...I don't hear a thing when starting the engines more than the sound from start switch when it gets back in it's original position.Have been listening to the PMDG747_ENGSTART.wav file and if that would be the sound I heard when starting the engines in the sim I would be more than happy but like I said...I don't hear this sound and no other sound either for that matter.Am I the only one? And yes...I know it has been said that you actually don't hear that much from the engines in the real cockpit but you must hear something?! :-)And I recently did a total reinstall from scratch and I'm using the very latest patch so a reinstall wouldn't help since I've had this problem all the time both before and after the reinstall.Am I the only one with this question/problem? Would very much appreciate any help!

[Guest neeraj.pendse]

I thought one can not hear engine sounds unless they are on high N1 settings in a 747 ... did you check outside?- Neeraj.

[michal 44]

>cockpit but you must hear something?! :-)Based on what some real 744 pilot said - what you hear is when the power setting gets changed, not the actual continuous sound. Start adding more power and see if you can hear anything .. eventually you should.Michael J.http://www.precisionmanuals.com/images/forum/pmdg_744F.jpghttp://www.hifisim.com/images/asv_beta_member.jpg

[WebMaximus 372]

OK guys, if you say this is what you hear IRL then I guess I just have to rest my case but I still think it sounds weird that you don't hear a thing when starting these kind of engines...not exactly the type of engines you have in your car...;-) Also find it strange that you can clearly hear the engines shutting down - how come is that when you don't hear a thing when they are spooling up...?Well, thanks anyway for your feedback and I still think it would be interesting to have a comment on this from a real world 747 driver if any is around...?And it would also be interesting to have a comment from PMDG what the PMDG747_ENGSTART.wav file is for when you can't hear it anyway...?

[Guest]

going on my Polar and Atlas DVDs, you can definately hear the engines spool up

[WebMaximus 372]

Hi Alex,Nice to hear I'm not the only one with this concern. From what I remember, I heard the engines spool up too in a Virgin Atlantic 747-400 DVD I own but seem to have misplaced it so haven't been able to check.And as I said above, I hope we can have some comments on this...both from PMDG and a real 747 driver would be great!Don't know if it's just me, but I kind of like to HEAR something when i start the engines in this kind of enormous a/c and I'm still having a hard time beliving you don't hear a thing from the engines IRL during startup.

[Guest Andrea]

Richard,if you listen to the PMDG747_ENGSTART (cockpit) and xPMDG747_ENGSTART (spot) audio wave files (engine start sounds) you probably will have the answer. Moreover PMDG have used only one file (engine starter) for the engine start sound instead of the usual manner to use two separate sound files (engine starter and engine combustion start).*** PMDG 747-400 Sound Package v1.0 sound.cfg file ***SOUND_ENGINEeng1_starter=starterASTARTERAfilename=PMDG747_ENGSTARTviewpoint=1link=starterA.1STARTERA.1filename=xPMDG747_ENGSTARTviewpoint=2*** Devyn J. Silverstein General Electric CF6-80C2B1F Soundset sound.cfg file ***SOUND_ENGINEeng1_starter=starterAeng1_combustion_start=combstartASTARTERAfilename=ban1strtviewpoint=1link=starterA.1STARTERA.1filename=xban1strtviewpoint=2COMBSTARTAfilename=ban2strtviewpoint=1link=combstartA.1COMBSTARTA.1filename=xban2strtviewpoint=2The xPMDG747_ENGSTART is someway "corrupted" because the sound can be heard only after a long time of "silence" from its start and, when it become audible, is heavily crackling. This is probably why is not possible to hear an audible and realistic rising sound during engine start cicle. The problem is that is not possible to replace the default PMDG sounds with another sound package as it is; it requires few adjustments. I'm working to an overhaul.At the end of the day my opinion is that PMDG should seriously consider to mend this problem. It's a very little thing but has big impacts on simmers perception.Andrea

[Guest]

Devyn Silverstein has GE, PW, and RR soundsets for the 744 in the library here, I will try those out on this great airplane

[michal 44]

>I remember, I heard the engines spool up too in a Virgin>Atlantic 747-400 DVD I own but seem to have misplaced it so>haven't been able to check.I do have this DVD and I personally could not hear any engine sound (from the cocpkit) during the startup, spool up and taxi. The first time I was able to hear the engines was when Capt. Carter moved the throttles at least past the 40% position for takeoff. I just replayed this part so I could verify it once again.Michael J.http://www.precisionmanuals.com/images/forum/pmdg_744F.jpghttp://www.hifisim.com/images/asv_beta_member.jpg

[WebMaximus 372]

Hi Andrea and thanks for your explanation!I looked at the soundfiles myself but I'm far from an expert and only noticed what wave files the sound.cfg points out. I've listened to both PMDG747_ENGSTART and xPMDG747_ENGSTART and I also noticed they are both silent the first 15-20 seconds but then I think they sound very nice...problem is I never hear this sound in the sim... As a test, I tried replacing the PMDG747_ENGSTART with a totally different wave file and renamed it to PMDG747_ENGSTART just to see what happened and if I would hear my own wave file...but I didn't. So that makes me wonder if it uses PMDG747_ENGSTART in the first place, maybe it's just PMDG pulling our legs to protect us from ourselves ;-) Also noticed there are a couple of totally different sounds in the sound.cfg file that refers to the very same file...747.wav...which I also find very odd - how could different kinds of sounds refer to one single wav file? Can't see the logic in that and also the 747.wav file is totally silent when you listen to it by double-clicking it in Explorer.Also noticed that there are actually two PMDG747_ENGSTART files - one in the different sound folders under the 747 a/c folder and one in the C:Program FilesMicrosoft GamesFlight Simulator 9SoundPmdg747400 folder...wonder why there's two of them? The file under C:Program FilesMicrosoft GamesFlight Simulator 9SoundPmdg747400 has a slightly larger file size.I don't know, considering we haven't had a single comment from PMDG dev team on this I don't think we should expect a change in the sounds and maybe that's because this is how it actually sounds IRL...that is no sound from the engines what so ever during startup.

[WebMaximus 372]

Hi Alex!I already tried his last soundset and it's truely great except for one thing...you will always hear the sound from the APU even when it's not running. I emailed Devyn about this and he told me that's because his soundset is intended to work with every 747 a/c and not all 747 a/c has the ability to turn on/off the APU.If I only knew how, I wouldn't mind investing some time in changing this myself but I simply don't have a clue how to accomplish that and where to start :-)

[WebMaximus 372]

OK Michael, I belive you but will try to find this DVD just to hear (or not hear in this case ;-)) this myself.

[Guest Andrea]

Richard,also with the 737 PMDG has managed some sound files "out of the standard FS manner": 3 different folders to find all the sound files and not really clear the use for all of them. The 747.wav file is a "mute" sound to make probably possible to mange some sounds in a different way without conflicting with the standard FS9 sound files rules.For shure, considering the very high level simulation reality of the PMDG 747-400, the part concerning sounds, expecially basic sounds, has been quite neglected.I'm collecting a lot of freeware sound material in order to someway review the default sound package of the 747.Andrea

[Mats_J 2]

Andrea,"For shure, considering the very high level simulation reality of the PMDG 747-400, the part concerning sounds, expecially basic sounds, has been quite neglected."To each their own. And our real world drivers were really happy with the sounds. But then again what do they know?

[WebMaximus 372]

Sometimes I get the impression that when talking about 'as real as it gets' and 'this is exactly the way it works in the real a/c' always tends to be about various advanced systems onboard etc and no doubt it's a great feeling to know your a/c on your PC works the same way as the real a/c. Got a good example of that when I did a flight in a real full motion 737-700 simulator last spring at SAS Flight Academy here in Sweden and managed to perform a nearly 100% perfect flight without any interaction from the instructor who was to say the least very impressed - thanks for making that possible PMDG :-)But still IMO the environment when it comes to sounds, graphics etc are also very important to give you that total 'beeing there for real' feeling. Another example of that is that I personally prefer a panel and 2D views that are photorealistic since that gives me more of that 'beeing there for real' feeling than a VC/cabin and for that reason I have been wishing for two models (like the new option where you can choose to have winglets or not) so everyone can pick the model they like best - a 2D model with photorealistic panel and sideviews (and wingviews!) and a virtual model like the present one. That way everyone can pick what they like best.But then again...that's only my personal wishes and opinion and unfortunately for me and everyone else with this opinion it's very clear it's not shared by PMDG.