I've been using the MILVIZ C310R aircraft to practice IFR procedures and approaches. I put the sound through my headphones via a USB adapter, and adjust the volume to match what I normally hear when wearing headphones in the cockpit. In X-Plane this means setting the interior volume to about 20% with the master volume set at 100%.
The interior sound bus is where MilViz puts most of the engine and prop noises, as well as the gear down airflow noises. Unfortunately, the interior sound bus is also where X-plane puts the nav ident. The result is that the nav ident is only audible at idle power. At cruise and climb power you can't hear the nav ident at all.
You can up the interior volume - but I've no desire to be deaf in my old age - and the aircraft noise still masks the nav ident. I did the normal recommended checks - the nav audio volume is functional in the sim - and is turned up to the max.
It may seem a small thing - but checking the ident has to be an automatic and ingrained part of the instrument approach. Without an Ident, the IFR practice is flawed. For now I have edited the .snd file to remove the C310R engine sound events from the interior sound bus. It removes a significant portion of the realism, but at least I can tune and identify a nav aid.
I would like to fix the problem.
I checked with X-Plane support - who checked with their sound guy - who said that the problem would have to be fixed at the aircraft side. Apparently, there's no central way to change the volume of the aircraft sounds relative to the nav ident. The problem doesn't exist with the standard aircraft because they have very little engine sound on the interior bus.
I've left a request for support on the MilViz site - but I haven't heard anything back yet.
The C310R uses FMOD which is described on the X-Plane web site. FMOD uses a sound bank (Master Bank.bank) that was generated by FMOD studio. The audio samples (and volumes) in the bank are not editable (FMOD studio apparently uses an FSB5/VORBIS to build the bank with a proprietary packet protocol).
So the fix would likely need an adjustment on the FMOD studio project to lower the relative volumes of events output onto the interior sound bus, and a rebuild of the Master Bank file to replace the one in the ./MilViz CT310R V1.09/fmod directory. It shouldn't be a big deal.
Does anyone on the forum have any suggestions about how to go forward, or where I should turn?
Would the C310R be one of the aircraft where SimAcoustics developed the sound for MilViz?
Thx
