sound problem (unexplained volume drops)

[Bob Scott 7,745]

7 hours ago, LGKR said:

I have also had the exactomento same problemo. I concur that the issue seems Microsoft related. I suspecto the mute function in the Your Phone app, which cannot be turned off.

YourPhone can be uninstalled, though.

Run Windows PowerShell as admin and enter the following command:

Get-AppxPackage Microsoft.YourPhone -AllUsers | Remove-AppxPackage

I did that after seeing that Big Brother went and re-installed KB4601319 after I explicitly uninstalled it...so far so good, though I haven't made but a handful of flights since, so it might be a tad early for a declaration of victory...

[Noel 4,563]

Always, since my original install of Win 10 in March 2020, despite all the updates, I've always had the problem in P3D w/ a fresh boot up of Win 10 where the DEFAULT setting in the Sound>Communications dialogue BEHAVES as if the Reduce the volume of other sounds by 80% is active, even though the Do Nothing radio button is selected in the interface at boot up.  So I have to first move the radio button to one of the reduce buttons, then back to the Do Nothing radio button, and until the next boot the other sounds will not be reduced as per my preference.  Does this imply a registry setting that is simply not set up correctly?   Has anyone tried changing the default communications device in P3D?

[Bob Scott 7,745]

I read a couple of obscure older discussions that suggest the audio ducking can also be caused if the combined audio from multiple sources peaks to where it overdrives the output.  Not sure if I buy that, but it might be worth trying reducing the output volume from the PC and then bumping up the speaker/amp volume to compensate.

@Noel--it's not a registry issue, as I inspected the registry after boot-up and confirmed the proper key's presence back when it was hitting me nearly every flight.

I just experienced two episodes of this ridiculous ducking aggravation again during a test run of the sim this afternoon.  This follows a set of Winhosed updates earlier today that unceremoniously reinstalled the previously-uninstalled KB4601319 without asking.

 

[mikeymike 366]

7 hours ago, w6kd said:

I read a couple of obscure older discussions that suggest the audio ducking can also be caused if the combined audio from multiple sources peaks to where it overdrives the output.  Not sure if I buy that, but it might be worth trying reducing the output volume from the PC and then bumping up the speaker/amp volume to compensate.

@Noel--it's not a registry issue, as I inspected the registry after boot-up and confirmed the proper key's presence back when it was hitting me nearly every flight.

I just experienced two episodes of this ridiculous ducking aggravation again during a test run of the sim this afternoon.  This follows a set of Winhosed updates earlier today that unceremoniously reinstalled the previously-uninstalled KB4601319 without asking.

 

I have uninstalled the same update a little while ago as you suggested and it was fine.

thou now it’s doing it again and I cannot see the same update when I check the update install.

possibly a different update now causing this?

cheers

mike

[Noel 4,563]

28 minutes ago, mikeymike said:

I have uninstalled the same update a little while ago as you suggested and it was fine.

thou now it’s doing it again and I cannot see the same update when I check the update install.

possibly a different update now causing this?

cheers

mike

It's a coding error either in the realtek driver or otherwise.  Again nothing to do w/ recent updates or any updates for over a year now since I first installed the OS, it always clearly acts as if it's set on 80% reduction even though its set on Do Nothing.  I just make it a habit to go there right after boot up because after it's fixed it's fine until the next boot up, just like my Saitek yoke which requires it be turned off and back on again in order to center the aileron axis, another coding bug w/ the driver.  Fortunately both can be dealt with.

[Noel 4,563]

As a side note I don't get this in MSFS presumably because ATC is not interpreted as 'communcations'.

[Christopher Low 5,388]

My PC updated last night before it shut down, and that annoying 80% drop in sound volume has returned after opening the ATC window. It was a simple correction last time, but that isn't the point. Is this a Windows issue or a P3D issue? Who do we beat around the head with a wet fish.....Microsoft or Lockheed Martin?

Edited March 15, 2021 by Christopher Low

[Bob Scott 7,745]

1 hour ago, Christopher Low said:

My PC updated last night before it shut down, and that annoying 80% drop in sound volume has returned after opening the ATC window. It was a simple correction last time, but that isn't the point. Is this a Windows issue or a P3D issue? Who do we beat around the head with a wet fish.....Microsoft or Lockheed Martin?

I think it's probably both--Microsoft foremost, because Winblows isn't respecting the user's global settings in the communications config, and LM because P3D doesn't apparently register to get and handle the ducking events, eliminating the behavior at least for itself.

[Christopher Low 5,388]

Mine was still set to "do nothing", so I clicked on something else, and then switched back to "do nothing". That worked.

[Noel 4,563]

1 minute ago, Christopher Low said:

Mine was still set to "do nothing", so I clicked on something else, and then switched back to "do nothing". That worked.

This is what I've done since the new Win 10 build 3/2020.

[lownslo 592]

I first encountered this problem 5 weeks ago when I made the mistake of allowing Windows 10 to update without first researching the update (my bad!).  Which was KB4601319.  Of course, right away I realized I'd suffered from the sound ducking but removing KB4601319 did not resolve the problem.  So I resorted to using the above solution of "Apply" any of the top 3 choices in my Sound > Communications tab, then reverting back to "Do Nothing" after each system boot.  A pain, but at least I had sound working correctly when I interacted with ATC.

Today I was offered no less than 4 updates, and decided to take a gamble (after making a fresh image back-up, of course).  Now the sound ducking is resolved on my system!  The updates I installed are:

Security Update for Microsoft Windows (KB5000802)

Update for Microsoft Windows (KB4589212)

Servicing Stack 10.0.19041.860

Update for Microsoft Windows (KB4601664)

How's that for a shotgun solution!!  Of course, it's hard to know which update fixed the problem for me but maybe there is a solution in my updates today that could help others.  As always, YMMV when it comes to the witchcraft of Windows!

 

 

[Noel 4,563]

1 hour ago, lownslo said:

How's that for a shotgun solution!!

Don't hold your breath!

[coastaldriver 920]

Well those recent updates did all that to my installation! Now here is the next weird thing. I was able to switch devices and go to another sound device - do nothing etc. So then I plugged in the headphones - engine and other sounds over the phones and ATC on the speakers only at the same time - go figure! So fed up with MS updates screwing up my systems - I wont even start on the issue of MS Defender!

[OzWhitey 3,353]

14 hours ago, w6kd said:

I think it's probably both--Microsoft foremost, because Winblows isn't respecting the user's global settings in the communications config, and LM because P3D doesn't apparently register to get and handle the ducking events, eliminating the behavior at least for itself.

It’s windows, not p3d i think. For me, this problem mostly occurs when two text-to-speech voices are playing simulateously. That’s normally pilot2atc and voiceattack, playing over my Oculus Virtual Device. So not really p3d’s fault, as both are separate programs - though it’s an interesting question whether it would still happen if p3d was not running concurrently.

I’ve had temporary success with the change of setting in the ‘communication’ menu as described in this thread. Thing also seem to work better for me if i set the output device specifically in both p3d and the “app volume” control panel (take a look at this if you haven’t already), rather than just leaving these set to “default”.

[Bob Scott 7,745]

On 3/14/2021 at 8:45 AM, LGKR said:

I have also had the exactomento same problemo. I concur that the issue seems Microsoft related. I suspecto the mute function in the Your Phone app, which cannot be turned off.

I solved the problem by opening the sound cards config, name a soundcard I don't use as the "default" sound card, and then name the sound card I want to use (a non default soundcard) in P3D and other apps. This worked on my system by tricking Microsoft to mute a soundcard I dont use.

I'm now trying a variation on this theme--since I use a 4K TV as my display and an HDMI 2.0 cable between my 3090 and the TV, I enabled and configured the nVidia HD audio device on the video card as my default device, and explicitly set my Creative X-Fi as the sound device for P3D and Couatl.  So far so good...if it's still ducking, it's apparently doing it to the default device, which only affects system sounds.  And by using the TV audio this way, I can still hear the system sounds (through the TV).

Having to engage in these sorts of creative "stand on one leg and do a Gregorian chant whilst touching your nose" masturbatics to defeat yet another unwanted broken Windows update is really a country mile beyond the point of mere aggravation.