I'm wondering if anybody else has run into this with Microsoft Flight...

 

Everything has worked well with my installation of Microsoft Flight for weeks until very recently. Now, I'm noticing that I have all sounds, except when I am in the external view, chase view, fly-by view. I have sound (e.g., engine) in cockpit view and top-down view.

 

I haven't been able to correlate this change in behavior to any particular event. I've mailed this question in to the Microsoft Flight team, and the question was acknowledged as received, but I haven't heard anything back from them.

 

I am running Windows 7 x64.

 

Has anybody run into this? Does anyone have any suggestions? I'm having no sound problems with any other program and have never experienced any sound issues with this machine. I've thought about re-installing Flight, but I don't want to lose my records, and I'm not sure how well Flight handles a re-install. Does anybody have experience with that?

 

Thanks much!

 

Schreck

Hello Jim, welcome to the AVSIM forums.

 

Loss of sound happened to me during the early beta stages. But not since game launch on Feb 28.

I recall someone posting loss of sound when flying the P-51 Mustang at high altitudes > FL30.

 

Try this as a Test: Run the game in windowed mode (Options -> Graphics -> uncheck Full Screen)

 

 

I don't think a reinstall will fix the problem, unless some files got corrupted.

Anyway, reinstalling is a bit tricky if you don't want to lose your career.

 

Basically you have to make a backup copy of all the career files under the career folder.

C:\Users\<Your user Name>\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Flight\Players\<Numbers (Hex) Folder>\Career

 

Then:

Complete uninstall from Control Panel -> Programs and Features

Reinstall from GFWL Marketplace client

Restart Flight and complete at least the first mission (Some guys have done both)

Replace the newly created career files with your career backup copy

Ramon,

 

Thanks very much for the reply. I tried running the game in windowed mode, and it made no difference. No engine sounds at all in external views (except top-down).

 

Thanks for the detailed instructions on re-install. Perhaps I'll wait until the patch next week to see if that corrects the issue, and if not, I'll try the re-install. Will I need to get a new product key, or will it remember the prior key?

 

Thanks!

 

Schreck

Try emailing Flight support. This will not only let them know about the issue you are having and hopefully resolve it for you, but also prevent this from happening to others in the future.

 

The Flight support e-mail is [email protected]

Will I need to get a new product key, or will it remember the prior key?

Jim;

 

You don't need a new product Key; the GFWL Marketplace Client connects to your live account and displays all games and all DLC content you have bought.

Ak416,

 

I did e-mail Flight support last week. They acknowledged receipt of the e-mail, but have never written back.

 

Thanks again, Ramon. I will give this a try if the patch doesn't shake something loose.

 

Best regards,

 

Schreck

Ak416,

 

I did e-mail Flight support last week. They acknowledged receipt of the e-mail, but have never written back.

 

Thanks again, Ramon. I will give this a try if the patch doesn't shake something loose.

 

Best regards,

 

Schreck

One of the support staff is on Steam chat fairly regularly. I will see if he knows anything about this issue next time he is online.

Thank you, Ak416!

Well, the problem persists after the update. I still haven't heard back from Microsoft Flight support (I sent another note this morning). If I don't hear from them soon, I'm probably going to try uninstalling and reinstalling, per Ramon's procedure.

Jim, just a wild guess but have you checked your sound settings? For example, I have Reaktek HD Audio Manager in my systray (you may have to click on the up arrow there to see it in the list). I've noticed that it may reset itself from stereo speakers to something else for no particular reason. If you're set for some configuration of speakers that you don't have, and the game is trying to send sound to the non-existing speakers, it would produce the problem you describe.

 

The fact that it worked before, but does not now, may indicate a driver update in the background which could change some settings, or even break the sound. In that case there should be a record of a driver update somewhere. If there is, and the date corresponds to when you lost the sounds, and changing the settings doesn't fix it, consider rolling back to the previous driver.

 

The Control Panel should also bring up your sound settings if there's no icon in the systray.

 

Good luck.

 

Hook

Nobody seems to know much about this problem. A reinstall might be your best option. As others have said, also double check that all your sound and other drivers are up to date as well as Direct X.

 

Also, when in an external view and you do not hear sound, have you cranked your speakers right up? Does the sound in the menu still work? Seems odd that it is only in the external views you do not hear sound.

Okay, new information...

 

I finally received an e-mail from Loki, suggesting that I might be able to confirm the game cache if I have the Steam install. Unfortunately, I do not (I installed from Microsoft Games - LIVE).

 

The interesting item came toward the end of the e-mail, when he suggested zooming in on the external view, because the sound is supposed to be louder when you are closer to the airplane. I remembered that being the case from weeks ago, so I fired it up and went to external view. I zoomed all the way in... no difference.

 

Then, and this gets to Ak416's last post, I decided to crank the volume way up. There was sound! Faint... very faint, but it was there. I then zoomed out... NO difference in sound level. I cycled through the external views with the sound CRANKED and I heard sound in every view. Zooming made no difference. Of course, when I cycled back to the cockpit view I was nearly blown out of my chair. LOUD!

 

So, two new observations:

 

1) The sound is actually there, but very, very faint in external views

2) Zooming makes no difference in volume level

 

Does anybody know if these volume levels are persisted in a file somewhere? Any other ideas?

 

I've written support back with this new information. Thank you a k416 for the suggestion to crank the speakers. If I had not heard from MS this morning, this suggestion would have also led to this discovery. Oh, and as far as menu sounds and other sounds, they work fine and at the expected volume levels.

 

Hook, thanks for the suggestions. I am investigating, and I also have the Realtek HD Audio, so I will check this and check for driver updates.

 

 

Best regards,

 

Jim

PROBLEM SOLVED: First, thank you all for helping me find the problem.

 

Hook, I looked at the Realtek HD Audio control and saw that it was in 5.1 audio mode, however, when I tested the audio on that control panel, I was only getting left and right speakers. Very strange. I forced it to reset to Stereo and then back to 5.1 and the test began working for all speakers.

 

Then, when I brought up Microsoft Flight and transitioned to an external view, I had full sound, at the expected level. Zooming also functioned as expected.

 

So, everything is working again.

 

For future reference, if anybody runs across this thread and is having trouble with the audio, check whether you are getting audio out of every speaker as expected.

 

Thanks again everybody!

 

Schreck

Glad you got it working, and that my suggestions (even through incorrect) led you to the proper fix.

 

So, how is it with 5.1? I'm very tempted to get the full speaker setup.

 

Hook

Glad you got it working! I have had my fair share of audio issues in the past, especially with my 5.1 setup, so I know how frustrating it can be, especially because 95% of the time it is something simple like this :)