Loss of sound after engine shutdown

[Christopher Low 5,332]

When I cut off the fuel during shut down of the 737 NGX (version 1.10xxxx) in P3D v3, the thrust rating dropped down to a value of around 1.3%, and then one of the sounds "switched off" (sorry for the poor explanation, but I am not sure what sounds refer to which systems), but other background sounds remained. However, since I have upgraded to version 1.20xxxx in P3D v4, when the thrust rating drops down to that 1.3%, all sounds just cut off instantly. This does not sound right to me. Even if it is supposed to go silent, I would expect the sound to fade away, rather than stop suddenly.

Is this normal?

[Ephedrin 418]

Do you have USB sound?

Check your usb power management.

I can further instruct you to do this later if needed.

[Christopher Low 5,332]

Why would that have anything to do with my problem? To be clear.....it is only the "power down/APU etc" sounds in the 737 NGX cockpit that stop suddenly. I do not lose all sound on my PC.

[scandinavian13 5,192]

3 hours ago, Christopher Low said:

Why would that have anything to do with my problem? To be clear.....it is only the "power down/APU etc" sounds in the 737 NGX cockpit that stop suddenly. I do not lose all sound on my PC.

If people are offering their time to troubleshoot, I would highly encourage either rolling with their suggestions. They're volunteering their time, and as you took the time to post here, it would indicate that you couldn't, or didn't want to, solve it on your own. It's a bit blunt, but if people are willing to help you out - even if it doesn't make sense to you on the surface - I'd suggest trying it. There's usually a reason someone goes through the effort of tapping a bunch of keys on a keyboard. Not trying it and posting a question not meant to clarify, but to push back, only delays your eventual solution. If the directions were unclear, that would be one thing, but "why would that have anything to do with my problem?" That's a bit off, in my opinion. Were it me, I'd be tempted to let you try to sort it on your own from then on...

In this case, it does actually make a bit of sense.

This is incredibly common, and not only in the sim community. People get driver updates, or update the P3D client, and don't check their default sound device. In these cases, Win and the sim will attempt to select one for you, and it might choose the wrong setup. If you're losing sounds selectively, it's nearly guaranteed to be an improper sound device selected.

[Christopher Low 5,332]

I did not mean to cause offence, Kyle. It's just that I got the impression that Marc thought that the sound stopped working on my PC completely. That is not the case. What I mean is that the engine/APU etc. sounds stop abruptly when the thrust value gets down to around 1.3%, rather than fading away like they did in P3D v3. Other sounds (both in the cockpit and outside) carry on working fine. It is not (in my opinion) a sound environment problem.

I have checked my soundcard, and it seems to be working fine.

[scandinavian13 5,192]

2 minutes ago, Christopher Low said:

I have checked my soundcard, and it seems to be working fine.

Note that I recommended checking the sound device selection. Right click the speaker icon in your system tray, and select Sounds. Click over to the Playback tab. Ensure that the proper device is set as default. Next, open the sim and go into the sim settings. Ensure that the same device is selected in the sim.

If certain sounds are disappearing, it's an issue of routing.

Imagine setting your computer up as if you had a 5.1 sound system, but you only have 2 speakers. The computer will be attempting to route sound to 4 speakers (3 speakers, and one subwoofer) that do not exist. As such, if a sound fell into the dynamic range or position of speaker 3 (when you only have speakers 1 and 2), it simply won't be heard. Why the change? I don't know, but it very common that this is the symptom of an improper config.

[Olympic260 415]

To add there is a known issue in P3Dv4.4 that affect some users and what you describe matches the symptoms. I can not find the thread now but the fix is to put

 

time_constant=0;

 

Under Sounds tab in prepar3d.cfg

 

EDIT

 

Edited January 2, 2019 by Olympic260

[Christopher Low 5,332]

Thanks, Chris/Kyle. I have checked the sound options that Kyle suggested, and they are listed below. I will now add that statement to the Prepar3d.cfg file, and test. I am using P3D v4.3, but it may still be relevant....

SoundBlaster X-Fi is set in the System Tray (and working properly)

SoundBlaster X-Fi is set (for all three options) in P3D v4

Edited January 2, 2019 by Christopher Low

[scandinavian13 5,192]

15 minutes ago, Christopher Low said:

I am using P3D v4.3, but it may still be relevant....

Bug crept in on the 4.4 release, so I would not mess with the sim's config if you're not on 4.4.

What are your options for your sound devices? List all of them.

[Christopher Low 5,332]

The only active option was Speakers - Creative SoundBlaster X-Fi. However, I noticed that another one called SPDIF Out - Creative SoundBlaster X-Fi was disabled, and I am reasonably certain that it was enabled in the past. I conducted a test flight in the 737 NGX, and the shutdown sound appeared to fade away rather than stop abruptly, so I may have resolved the issue. Many thanks for your help, Kyle.....and apologies (to you and Marc) for the sceptical attitude

Edited January 2, 2019 by Christopher Low

[scandinavian13 5,192]

18 minutes ago, Christopher Low said:

The only active option was Speakers - Creative SoundBlaster X-Fi. However, I noticed that another one called SPDIF Out - Creative SoundBlaster X-Fi was disabled, and I am reasonably certain that it was enabled in the past. I conducted a test flight in the 737 NGX, and the shutdown sound appeared to fade away rather than stop abruptly, so I may have resolved the issue. Many thanks for your help, Kyle.....and apologies (to you and Marc) for the sceptical attitude

No need to apologize. Just a note for future interactions.

Hopefully that fix sticks.

[Ephedrin 418]

Christopher,

no problem, I had probably a very similar issue in the past. I use to have a 5.1 speaker system for the typical flightsim sound, developer specific sound such like PMDG or A2A‘s accusim sound, all that stuff. I have to make sure that this system is set as default sound device prior to double clicking on P3D. This system uses those coloured plugs (I don’t know their name). Additional to that I have a USB headset for FS2Crew or other co-op games I play. 

Now it happened that when this headset broke I had the same HS as a backup as I really liked it, however it seems to have a slightly different software/hardware, whatever, I‘m no computer expert. Anyway, I suddenly lost all my dev‘s sounds and I had no clue what had happened. It came out that when I unpluged the old USB headset and plugged in the new one my USB ports‘ energy management was reset to „allow windows to turn of decive“ or whatever it‘s called. Additionally the devs’ sounds were switched to another small USB speaker that I normally don’t use. First I hadn‘t noticed it as when I started my computer and used the device actively in P3D it worked. However when those developers‘ sounds became (more) silent like for example wind noice in flight vs on the ground the system simply turned off this USB port. Hey, I‘m sure that must be 1€ or so in the yearly energy bill. Anyway I lost those subtle sounds too. And that is why I suggested that. 

Good to hear that you got it resolved! 🙂

Edited January 2, 2019 by Ephedrin

[Christopher Low 5,332]

Well, after another flight tonight.....I am not convinced that the problem has been resolved However, I will have a mess about with settings, and see if anything changes.

[Ephedrin 418]

So just to understand you correctly: you loose your FS-Sounds under P3D4.3 but all your system sound works? So when you play youtube with P3D running there is no issue? Can you check that your intended sound device is set in all 3 relevant places as the active one? This would be windows sounds (set as default, run the soundcheck if needed), then the P3D settings and third the PMDG sound device assignment. I don‘t know if anything could screw up there, but just to rule that out completely. 

I couldn‘t use USB sounds at all when P3Dv3 was actual but I don‘t know if the resolution came with a new version of P3D, a win update or driver updates. But you might want to make sure that all this is up to date, except maybe P3D. 

In another thread I‘ve recommended the driver tool that is recommended in te Avsim CTD guide. It‘s freeware and might point you to something. Maybe worth a try. I can‘t recall its name right now, I‘m at work... driver booster I think

[Christopher Low 5,332]

No, I am not losing any sound at all. What I mean is that.....when I shut down the engines in the PMDG 737 NGX in P3D v3, one of the sounds of that shutdown sequence would fade away at around 1.3% thrust. However, the other (NGX cockpit) sounds continued to play. In P3D v4, all of those sounds stop very abruptly. In fact, something similar happened in the 747-400 (passenger version) this afternoon. This is why I mentioned to Kyle that I think both of you misunderstood what I was trying to describe. There is nothing wrong with the sound environment on my PC. In short, it sounds like a set of NGX audio clips that were playing in P3D v3 now stop abruptly at some point after the engines have been shut down (or more correctly....after the fuel to those engines has been cut off).

Edited January 2, 2019 by Christopher Low