P3D V4 Sound Stuttering on Long Haul Flights

[nighthawk65 4]

I have been working on a new build and testing now that I have returned from Afghanistan and can get caught up.  I recently tried a series of test flights and I am not too sure if I might have a problem.  So short duration flights of under 5 hours with the PMDG 737 and associated FS2Crew program, has no issues.  However, long-haul flights appear to have major issues. 

First I have not tried either the B777 or 747 with FS2Crew on say cross-country flights, but I will give that a try to see if there is any difference.  What I have noticed on the long haul flights was FPS instability going from the mid 40's at the start to single digits.  I found the culprit being simlink form Navigaph and that problem no longer remains.  Instead now there appears to be severe audio stuttering with loss of audio via the FS2Crew application, however, the application still works you just don't hear anything.  The audio stuttering has no effect on FPS.  Whether or not I mute the audio, the aircraft still flies and functions normally with FPS in the mid 30's to mid 40's.  Both flights were able to be finished but with no audio.  I also tried to reset the audio via the FS2Crew Control Panel, but no avail.

Test Flight 1: PMDG 747 with FS2Crew from Flightbeam KSFO to Aerosoft EDDF

Test Flight 2: PMDG 777 with FS2Crew from Flightbeam KIAD to Fly Tampa OMDB.

Below is a complete listing of my system and specs, with the most up to date software and drivers, except NVIDIA as the current driver is causing my GPU to have display issues.

·          Specs:

o    Case: EVGA DG-86 (Average Case Temp 28°C)

o    Fans: 5xCorsair PML 140 Pro Led (3 Front Case and 2 Rear Case) and 3xCorsair PML 120 Pro Led (Primary Top Case) / EKWB-Furious Vader EVO 140x 3 and EKWB-Furious Vader EVO 120x 3 (As Back-up)

o    CPU: Intel 8700k

o    GPU: GB Aorus Xtreme Geforce GTX 1080ti Waterfroce WB

o    MB: GB Z370 Aorus Gaming 7 (*Note* the top M.2 slot is not utilized, to avoid turning off the 0 SATA Port)

o    RAM: G. SKILL TridentZ RGB 32GB SDRAM DD4 3200 CL14

o    Audio Card: Creative SBX AE-5 7.1

o    PSU: Thermaltake PS-TPG-1250DPCTUS-T G RGB 1250W

o    Storage 1: Samsung 960 EVO M.2 500GB (OS)

o    Storage 2: Samsung 960 EVO M.2 500GB (P3D)

o    Storage 3: WD Black 6TB Performance Desktop HDD (Photo Scenery)

o    Storage 4: Samsung 860 Pro 500GB (Other Gaming Drive)

o    Storage 5: Samsung 860 Pro 500GB (P3D File and Gaming File Storage)

o    Storage 6: Samsung 860 EVO 1TB (Music and Document File Storage)

o    Storage 7: WD Black 1TB HDD (Movie File Storage)

o    Storage 8: WD Black 1TB HDD (TV Series File Storage)

o    BT/Wi-Fi: ASUS PCE-AC55BT

o    Lighting Rod: LOGISYS UV Deluxe Sound Activated Cold Cathode

o    Lighting Strips: CableMod WideBeam Hybrid LED 60CM RGB (UV with an additional 60CM Extension)

o    Cables: CableMod Modmesh Nylon Blue

o    Monitor: ASUS ROG Swift PG27VQ OC 165GHz

o    Speaker: Creative Katana Sound Bar / Logitech G933 Headset for P3DV4

 

·          Cooling:

o    CPU/MB: EKWB FB GA Z370 Gaming RGB Monoblock for both the CPU and MB

o    GPU: Pre-Installed WB

o    M.2 SSD: EKWB NVMe Blue Heatsink x2

o    Coolant: EKWB CryoFuel Blue Premix UV Reactive

o    Pump: EKWB-XTOP DDC 3.2 PWM Elite

o    Reservoir: EKWB RES X3 250 RGB

o    Radiator: EKWB Coolstream XE 360 and EKWB Coolstream CE 420 (For Top and Front Positions)

o    Cable: EKWB DuarClear UV with PrimoChill Anti-Kink Coil UV Reactive

o    Temp Sensor: Thermaltake Pacific Temp Sensor

 

·          Settings:

o    OC Settings:

§   CPU: I7-8700K; (OC to 5.0GHz @ 1.435V, Temp: 40-60C°) Verified Stability

·          Core 0-5 set to 50x

·          Core Voltage: 1.435V / VCore LLC: Extreme / Core Voltage Mode Adaptive

·          AVX Ratio: N/R

§   GPU: Gigabyte Aorus Xtreme Geforce GTX 1080ti WF WB; (OC to 1746GHz, Temp: 30-50C°) Verified Stability

·          Aorus Graphic Engine: Set to OC Mode

·          GPU Boost Clock 1746MHz

·          Memory Clock 11448MHz

§   Memory: G. SKILL TridentZ RGB 32GB SDRAM DD4 3200 CL14;

·          OC using XMP Profile 1  

o    Nvidia Control Panel:

§   All Default, except;

·          Prefer Maximum Performance

·          Shader Cache Off  

o    Nvidia Inspector: PREPAR3D.exe

§   All Default, except;

·          Single Display Performance Mode

·          Prefer Maximum Performance

·          Shader Cache Off  

o    System Sound Settings:

§   Speakers Properties;

·          16-bit, 44100 Hz CD Quality

·          Allow applications to take exclusive control of this device: Not Selected

·          Communications: Do Nothing Selected

o    Logitech G933 Headset:

·          Surround Settings Not Utilized Only Stereo Option is Selected

o    P3D V4.2

§   Traffic:

·          Aviation Traffic: None Selected

·          Land and Sea Traffic: Road Vehicles 0%, Ships and Ferries 20% and Leisure Boats 0%

§   Display:

·          FXAA: Off

·          AA: (Day) 2-8xSSAA or (Night) 8xMSAA All depending on location and conditions

·          Texture Filtering: Anisotropic 8X

·          Texture Resolution: High 2048x2048

·          Autofill Main View: Selected

·          Black Out Desktop: Not Selected

·          VSync: On

·          Trippel Buffering: Selected

·          Target Frame Rate: Unlimited

·          Wide-view Aspect Ratio: Selected

·          Mipmap VC Panels: Selected

§   World:

·          Level of Detail Radius: Max

·          Tessellation Factor: Ultra

·          Mesh Resolution: 5m

·          Texture Resolution: 15cm

·          Scenery Complexity: Dense

·          Autogen Draw Distance: Very High

·          Autogen Vegetation Density: Dense

·          Autogen Building Density: Dense

·          Water Detail: Medium (NO Reflections or Bathymetry)

·          Special Effects Aircraft and Distance: Medium

§   Lighting:

·          HDR Lighting: Selected

·          Dynamic Reflections: Medium

·          Dynamic Lighting: Selected

·          Landing-lights Illuminate Ground: Selected

·          Shadow Quality: Medium

·          Shadow Draw Distance: High

·          Shadows Cast Selected: Internal Vehicle, External Vehicle, Clouds and Terrain

·          Shadows Receive Selected: Internal Vehicle, External Vehicle and Buildings

§    Weather:

·          Cloud Draw Distance 60mi

·          Cloud Coverage Density: Maximum

·          Simple Clouds: Not Selected

·          Detailed Clouds: Selected

·          Volumetric Fog: Selected

·          Detailed Precipitation: Selected

·          Windshield Effects: Selected

·          Thermal Visualization: Natural

·          Enable Turbulence and thermal effects on vehicle: Selected

·          Rate at which weather changes over time: No Change

o    Active Sky Next:

§   General Options;

·          Download Interval: 20 minutes

·          Prevent Downloads while on app: Selected

§   Simulator Depiction Options;

·          Suppress local weather changes: Selected

·          Depict Hurricanes: Not Selected

§   Cloud Options;

·          Maximum Cloud Layers: 5

·          Maximum Cloud Draw Distance: 120nm

·          Multi-Layer Thunderstorm: Not Selected

·          Cloud Motion Effect: Selected

§   Visibility Options;

·          Enable Wing Fade Effect: Selected

·          Fog Layer Generation: Selected

·          Maximum Surface Visibility: 75nm

·          Maximum Upper Visibility: 199nm

·          In Cloud visibility reduction: Selected

o    Texture Direct:

§   Configuration Settings;

·          Texture Resolution: 1024 for all settings

·          Texter Compression Algorithm: DXT5 for all Clouds and 32bit for Wave Animation

·          DirectX: DX11 for Sun Effects and Wave Animation DX10 for Water

·          P3D Settings: HDR Textures Selected

o    SkyForce: Only Cloud Textures are utilized

§   Weather Engine not engaged

·          3D Cloud Texture Resolution 1024x1024 with DXT5 Optimization

·          Cirro-Type Cloud Texture Resolution 1024x1024 with DXT5 Optimization

·          Moon Texture Resolution 1024x1024  

o    UTLive:

§   Configuration Flight Sim;

·          Airline Density: 60%

·          General Avn: 0%

·          Aircraft Contrail Length: 60 Sec

§   Configuration Traffic;

·          Target Frame Rate: 30 FPS

·          Max Altitude ground aircraft visible: 15,000ft

·          Distance to spawn ground aircraft: 15nm

·          Maximum aircraft to spawn: 150acft

 

·          Addons: All have been re-downloaded for the latest version

o    Aircraft

§   PMDG;

·          737NGX

·          777

·          747 QOTS3

§   Majestic;

·          Dash 8 Pilot 64bit edition

§   Aerosoft;

·          F-14 Tomcat

·          CRJ 700

·          Huey-X Waiting Upgrade

·          F-16 Falcon Waiting Upgrade

§   CLS;

·          747 HD Waiting Upgrade

·          DC-10 HD Waiting Upgrade

§   AccuSim;

·          C-182

·          P-51 Waiting Upgrade

§   Carenado;

·          B200 King Air

·          EMB505 Phenom 300 with Navigraph Database

·          C208

·          C-182

§   Duke Turbine;

·          Duke Turbine

§   Military Viz;

·          737-200

·          Bell 407

§   CeraSim;

·          UH-60L

 

o    Scenery:

§   ORBX;

·          FTX Global Base

·          FTX Vector

·          FTX Blue USA/Canada Pacific Fords

·          NA Blue Southern AK

·          FTX Global North America

·          NA Gold USA Northern California

·          NA KEGE Eagle County

·          NA PAKT Ketchikan

·          NA KCGX Meigs Field

·          NA KMRY Monterey Regional

·          NA KTVL Lake Tahoe

§   Aerosoft;

·          Mega Airport Frankfurt V3 EDDF

·          Mega Airport Rome LIRF

·          Mega Airport Anchorage PANC

·          Mega Airport Fairbanks PAFA

·          Mega Airport Sacramento KSMF

·          Mega Airport Nassau MYNN

·          Portland Maine KPWM Waiting Upgrade

§   Fly Tampa;

·          Tampa KTPA

·          Buffalo KBUF

·          Sydney YSSN

·          St. Maarten TNCM

·          Dubai OMDB

§   Taxi 2 Gate;

·          Hong Kong VHHH Waiting Upgrade

·          Seattle KSEA

·          Orlando KMCO Waiting Upgrade

§   Latin VFR;

·          San Diego KSAN

·          Miami KMIA

·          Raleigh KRDU

§   Flight Beam;

·          San Francisco KSFO

·          Phoenix KPHX

·          Denver KDEN

·          Washington Dulles KIAD

§   FSDreamTeam;

·          Chicago KORD

·          John F. Kennedy KJFK

·          Honolulu PHNL

·          Hawaii Airports 1 and 2

·          Las Vegas KLAS

·          Los Angeles KLAX

·          Fort Lauderdale KFLL

·          Ground Services X

§   Imagine Simulations;

·          Atlanta KATL

·          Charlette KCLT

§   UK2000;

·          London Heathrow EGLL

§   Sunny Skyjet;

·          Philadelphia KPHL Waiting Upgrade

§   Wing Creation;

·          Tokyo Narita RJAA Waiting Upgrade

§   Overland;

·          Seoul Incheon RKSI Waiting Upgrade

§   Mega Scenery Earth V2;

·          The Bulk of the Entire United States and England

 

o    Programs:

§   Flight 1;

·          UT Live

·          EZDOCK 2

·          GTN 750

§   Flightsim Estonia;

·          Migration Tool

§   FSFX;

·          Rain Precipitation

·          PMDG 737

·          PMDG 777

·          FREE Lightening / Thunderstorms

·          Chase Plane NOT INSTALLED

§   REX;

·          Texture Direct with Soft Clouds

·          SkyForce 3D

§   HiFi;

·          ASN

·          ASCA NOT INSTALLED

§   PTA;

·          PTA Tweak

§   TOGA Projects;

·          ENVTEX

·          ENVSHADE

§   On course Software;

·          PFE 3

§   Pro ATC;

·          Pro ATC X

§   Aerosoft;

·          PFPX

·          TOPCAT

§   FS2Crew;

·          PMDG 737

·          PMDG 747

·          PMDG 777

·          Majestic Dash 8

§   Navigation;

·          Navigraph AIRAC Cycle

·          Navigraph Charts (Sim-Link NOT INSTALLED)

·          Avila-Soft EFB

§   Virtual Airlines;

·          Vpilot

·          United Virtual Airlines ACARS/SMARTCARS

·          V-Route Premium

·          Sim Brief

·          Project Fly UK

§   Other;

·          Ultimate Defrag

·          FSUIPC

·          Edit Voice Pack

·          AdditPro P3D

·          Airport Design Editor

·          Track IR 5

·          Fly Inside for Oculus Rift NOT INSTALLED

 

o    Sounds:

§   Turbine Sound Studios

·          707 NOT INSTALLED

·          727 NOT INSTALLED

·          737-200/300/800 NOT INSTALLED

·          747-100/200/300/400 NOT INSTALLED

·          757-200 NOT INSTALLED

·          767-200/300 NOT INSTALLED\

·          777-200 NOT INSTALLED

·          CRJ-700 NOT INSTALLED

§   Immersive Audio  

·          737 NOT INSTALLED

·          Dash NOT INSTALLED

 

o    AI:

·          BVAIP3D BOS ATC

 

[byork 2,258]

That's a tough one.

Are you using "default" settings for all your audio hardware?  You're not changing the bit rate or anything, etc for your sound card.

 

[nighthawk65 4]

Originally I had all default settings.  I did see a post on a forum to change from 16bit 48000hz DVD quality to 44100hz CD quality, but I have not tested it yet.  I have a Logitech G933 but I went and uninstalled the software just as a precaution.  Was going to try and redo a long haul flight tonight, to see if that does anything.  Also, side not sure if it matters but I did see in a couple of places not to use 7.1 within headphones.  I have DOLBY access and Windows Sonic which I use for movies and other games, not P3D.  I generally deactivate it, could that matter?

[byork 2,258]

It could possibly matter.  There are 1000s of different possible hardware / driver/ user settings out there.  You may have to experiment a bit.

By Sonic you mean Sonic Studio?

[nighthawk65 4]

No its Windows Sonic for headphones for 7.1 config

[nighthawk65 4]

OK so update, I was able to complete a cross-country flight today form KDEN to KIAD with the PMDG 777 with no visible issues.  However, after I landed and was unloading the sim didn't have a visible error, it just CTD with no error warning in any logs, that seems odd, might be some of my OC settings, but I would think while in flight with all kinds of calculations being conducted it would happen then and not on the ground.  I am going to keep the same settings and tomorrow conduct a flight during the day, but set the sim to dusk-night-dawn setting and do a flight from KIAD to either EGLL or EDDF and see what happens.  I did see that I had Windows FB enabled, so I turned that off, I turned the audio settings to 16bit 44100hz CD quality, plus my Logitech software had surround sound enabled.  I think that one of these three was the culprit.  I would say that if it was the SS, then that is sad, as the sim sounded a little more realistic with SS engaged.  I will let you know the results.

[byork 2,258]

Glad to hear you're making good progress.

[nighthawk65 4]

Finally was able to conduct a long-haul flight with absolutely no issues.  While I am unable to put my finger on the exact issue, I can say with high confidence it would have been one of the following area's; 

1. Incompatibility with Logitech G933 Software

2. Incompatibility with either headphone's set to surround sound settings and/or audio settings set to 16bit 48000hz DVD Quality vs. 16bit 44100hz CD quality

3. Finally, either P3D or PMDG or FS2Crew incompatibility with Core I7-8700k with Hyper-Threading enabled.

I think that the problem and/or bug is within one of these areas or possibly within multiple areas.  While I am not a computer programmer, I just found a difference here with having tried multiple flights from multiple locations with multiple aircraft and settings.  Of course, I could be way wrong.  I just thought you might like to know what I tried and did, and their result. Please feel free if you have any questions.

Thanks for your support and help through this process..

V/R

Kris