Hi,

I've had the PMDG 777 for some time now, but have always been surprised at the level of sound on loading, after the systems countdown has completed.

The noise is similar to an air conditioning airflow noise, but is much louder than that - almost like a wind noise at full speed.  So much so that there is little change during take-off until the gear is lifted, then things quieten a little.

Deciding if I could do anything to improve matters, I went into the aircraft sound folder and listened to all the individual files, trying to identify those I thought were closest, and removed these tempoarily to a thumb drive.

On loading up the 777 again, little or no change was heard.  Everything sounded normal.

On impulse, I removed the sound folder completely to the thumb drive and loaded up the 777 again, expecting silence.  However, I was surprised to hear no change whatsoever.  All sounds were present, even when extending flaps, taking off up the runway, and retracting the gear.

My question - Where the - - - is the aircraft getting its sound from ??

If I wanted to change the sound package for whatever reason, there would be no point, as the original sounds are still there.

Can anyone explain ?

Ron

13 minutes ago, Kerrydancer said:

Can anyone explain ?

The sound system we use is pretty complex and is meant to step around all kinds of sim limitations (this is even more the case with the DC-6 and the 747). Explaining it would be pretty complex.

All the same, it sounds like your sound device is not configured properly. More specifically, it sounds like your default sound device isn't the proper selection (i.e. it's set to 5.1 surround sound with a system that isn't equipped with 5.1 speakers). Right click the speaker icon in the system tray of your taskbar (bottom right of your screen) and ensure that the proper device is set to the default. Often, if you plug in a USB device that has a speaker, Windows will attempt to assign something to it. As an example, the first time I plugged in my USB headset, Win assigned it as the default device, so while some sound was coming through my speakers, most of the sound was going to my USB headset. Once I re-assigned the default sound device as "Speakers," it went back to normal.

The wind noise is your air conditioning, by the way - packs, recirc fans, equipment cooling fans, and so on.

Hi,

 

Many thanks for your reply.

I have a Sound Blaster Z card installed and have it set to simple stereo headphone output as I use phones when flying. I've tried all of the options this card provides in an effort to improve matters, but have had little success.

I don't mind the ac sound at all however would be grateful of knowing if t here is a way to reduce the volume to a more realistic level.

 

Ron

10 hours ago, Kerrydancer said:

I don't mind the ac sound at all however would be grateful of knowing if t here is a way to reduce the volume to a more realistic level.

The primary concern here is getting your sound set up properly first. If it's not set properly, you're not getting the proper mix of sounds, so you'd be artificially adjusting to a problem that doesn't actually exist. It only seems like it exists because of an improper setup.

The aircraft's sound mix is already set up to be as realistic as possible. It's entirely dependent on your properly setting up your hardware, however. Think of it this way: if you've set up your yoke/joystick to pitch up and down when you move the yoke/joystick left and right, then you won't have a realistic experience, either, but that's dependent on how you've set up that hardware. Same situation here.

There is quite a bit of hissing, and air sounds from the avionics in the cockpit. PMDG did very well recreating this. After a while in the real one, it becomes a white noise. I'm satisfied with the noise level inside the plane. Louder = Better!

I find 20% engine volume with everything else at 100% sounds pretty realistic with my audio setup. It may vary with yours though

18 minutes ago, achutchison said:

I find 20% engine volume with everything else at 100% sounds pretty realistic with my audio setup. It may vary with yours though

Again, I'd argue that your hardware may not be properly configured in this case. That or you don't have the operational experience to determine "real" and are simply going off of un-tuned audio recordings (cell phone or consumer-grade camera YouTube clips).

Maybe... anyways i've got it where it sounds good on my hardware

On 4/22/2017 at 4:10 PM, achutchison said:

Maybe... anyways i've got it where it sounds good on my hardware

If you've got it where you like it, then all's well that ends well. All the same, it's not a "maybe" sort of thing. It's an absolute thing: if you're having to mess with the sound to make it sound better, then something is not configured properly.

It's kinda like not putting the gear up and thinking "man, my performance isn't right," and simply increasing thrust to compensate for the improper config and calling it a day. You can do that, sure, but I wouldn't call that the best course of action.

Still...as long as you're happy with it, I guess it's okay.