FS2002 Crappy Sound System

[Guest]

All of my noise packages for various aircraft have cracks, pops, and hisses like an old' LP. Is there some tweaks or something I can do to remove all that garbage? Changing the sound quality doesn't seem to affect it. -Redbomberman

[wsieffert 0]

What operating system are you using, Win98/ME/XP? What kind of sound card/on-board do you have? What drivers have you loaded for your controller chips, sound, and graphics adapter?

[Guest]

Windows 2000 w/ Service Pack 3Sound Blaster Audigy + Latest Driver PackATI Radeon 9500 Pro + Latest Catalyst DriversAs an example, the PSS A320 has a terrible amount of random static and the like. Both internal and external.-Matt

[Guest outtatimeiii]

Mine does this too, but not frequently. Just a few pops and hisses during the first minute or so after the aircraft loads or when something else loads. I just got used to it. Always thought it was caused by my not so great ESS AudioDrive ES1938 soundcard.

[someone 0]

>Windows 2000 w/ Service Pack 3 >Sound Blaster Audigy + Latest Driver Pack >ATI Radeon 9500 Pro + Latest Catalyst Drivers >>As an example, the PSS A320 has a terrible amount of random >static and the like. Both internal and external. >>-Matt If Creative's Windows 2000 drivers are anything like their XP drivers, I suspect that is your problem.

[Guest]

I have this very same problem too, but only since I upgraded my system, before everything was fine with sound.My theory is that the Radeon 9700 pro / soundblaster Live don't like one another !!!Best RegardsPaul MantonAthlon XP2400+Epox 8KHA+ mobo512mg RamHercules 3D Prophet Radeon 9700 proSoundblaster Live 5.1Sony P1110 21" monitor

[Guest]

Nah, I don't think it's that...I've got WinXP running a SB Live 5.1 and a Nvidia Geforce 2 MX400 and it does it on this system too. Even before I got the SB Live it did it on the built in AC97 (which before anyone jumps on me, I know is a crap chip!!) Whether it's Creative drivers - that's another question. I certainly didn't have the problem on my old K6-2 500 system which used a SB 64 card (not that I could go back to that system now :) )So I reckon more feedback is needed to work out what's going wrong.Duke

[Guest]

I get severe sound stutters sometimes when I switch to SPOT view, and it sounds like the player is stuck repeating a certain sound byte. I had this with Creative Labs SoundBlaster Live sound card they released. I have a C-Media sound chip built-in on my Soyo Dragon MB, and I get the same "repeating" stutter sound. I have upgraded to C-Media's lastest drivers with no positive results.I am running Windows 2000 PRO on my system. Perhaps there are other FS2K2 users out there with the same operating system (maybe even the same MB), and are experiencing no sound problems whatsoever. If you fall into that category, pray tell, what sound card are you using? I really want relief from this problem. I highly suspect it could be totally related to the operating system. I don't recall having any problem like this with Win98.Any thoughts?Keith

[LAdamson 240]

I have a Soundblaster live card/ASUS card/windows XP and NO stutter or hiss.This is on my year old Athlon 1900XP. I used to have some sound problems when running FS2002 on my older PIII600.L.Adamson

[Guest BAW083]

I too also have a similar problem, usually occuring when there is a distinct change in channel.I disabled the nForce2 Dolby thingy on the motherboard and thought that there maybe some issues with the Audigy 2 through that.I only disabled the onboard sound through Win XP's device manger. Maybe i should do the same in the CMOS.

[Guest RonB49]

Have you examined the sound quality slider in dxdiag? (Sorry, i don't remember the exact name of that control.) Mine works best if I set that slider to basic. R-

[Guest]

I'm suprised, I checked your setting and that is your acceleration level, not sound quality. I think adjusting that will kill some audio cards' ability to accelerate sound (hint: performance drop). Anyways back to FS, I honestly believe M$ has released a garbage sound system with garbage sound files.I did some investigation of the type of sound files that accompany FS for the 737 engines. According Sound Forge 6.0, they are 22khz 4-bit files. That's CRAP! Trying to [1] upconvert them using the "sound quality" slider (possibly, just a theory) and [2] loop them continuosly with other similar files is asking for all this static, pauses, and etc. The same holds true for also for the PSSA320 and other aircraft. So it comes down to it, we fly with crappy sounds. Why? To allow those with P3 600s or less to enjoy flying just like us with Athlon XP 2000+s - now I don't have a problem with that, but instead I think for FS2004, provisions should be made to accomdate those with lower-end systems and those with higher-end systems. Lastly FS does not use DirectSound3D, which means alot of this sound processing is shifted onto the processor and off cards like my Audigy for instance.Fact of the matter is, games like Quake 3 or Unreal Tournament blast alot more sounds at the player in 3D than FS with its engine noise and occansional switch-click noise. There shouldn't be a problem with performance too much. Somebody consider MP3 loops that save hard drive space but could load into memory uncompressed, and then just like Winamp, have a sound quality slider that acutally does affects CPU cycle usage.To Microsoft: We the pilots demand better sound!-Matt

[Guest]

Quite often I have found that crackling sound is caused by the sound card / onboard sound being unable to filter out the noise spikes caused by ACPI related power fluctuations. Rather than trying to turn off ACPI (can be quite an upset to windows configurations), you guys may want to try running a background program that keeps the CPU at 100% during idle times eg. prime95, SETI, protein folding, UD Agent, etc. If the crackling goes away, you may want to run one of these programs when you run FS2K2 to tame the crackle monster. This has worked for me on many ocassions!Gary

[Guest]

Why would ACPI affect it? Isn't that purely software, for putting your monitor on standby and the like?-Matt

[Guest]

Yes it is, but it also puts your CPU into a semi-sleep mode when idle, which in turn reduces current draw from your power supply. Programs, like FS2K2, which don't run your CPU at 100% all the time (in fact mine averages about 90% load average when running FS2K2) can have a current pulsing effect as the CPU goes from full power to semi-sleep many times per second. Some sound cards don't like this (esp. SB Live!), and the problem can be exacerbated with lower quality power supplies that have trouble smoothing out the ripples.Techo waffle aside, just try running a program in the background like one I have mentioned, and see if the problem goes away. I recommend Prime95 (http://www.mersenne.org/freesoft.htm), running the torture test and FS2K2 at the same time.