PMDG Touchdown Lag Solutions

I've never seen a comprehensive thread on solving this issue, so I will have a go at compiling one here.

The problem: in an aircraft (mostly PMDG, it would seem), the split second your main wheels touch the ground, there is a microstutter between 1/4 and 1 second long. Then, you hear the aircraft touchdown, and everything is normal afterwards.

The potential solutions to try:

1. For PMDG airplanes, go to PMDG Setup -> Options -> Sounds, and set "preload sounds" to "ALL." "Selective" may also help with touchdown lag, but this hasn't been tested by anyone specifically.

2. Make sure your audio device is processed through a sound card (onboard or add-on) rather than your CPU. Verify this by making sure that your sound device is plugged into a port supported by your onboard audio (lots of mainstream motherboards have one, i.e. Realtek etc.). An example problem in this case is when you plug in your headset through the front port but only the rear ports connect to your motherboard Realtek sound.

(These two options should solve your issue, as these are the primary causes of the lag. If not, try these less consistently effective options.)

3. In Prepar3D, go to Options -> Sound, and set the three dropdown menus on the left to your intended audio device (ideally going through a soundcard as outlined in step 2). By default, the existing setting should be <Default XXXX Device>.

4. In older versions, deleting fx_skidmark.fx from the "effects" folder has helped the performance. This file is not directly related to the split second of touchdown, but has helped some users in resolving their issue.

5. If you use an USB headset, try deleting your headset's software. Corsair's iCUE software has been shown to take up CPU usage as well as inducing touchdown lag. Simply uninstalling the software removed the touchdown lag.

6. Various FIBRE_FRAME_TIME_FRACTION settings have alleviated the issue for a few users in early Prepar3D/FSX days, but the effectiveness of this method is debatable.