FSX popping sound

Filed under: It's always something.

All of a sudden I'm experiencing a popping sound while flying in FSX SE. It's not a loud sound but it's loud enough to hear and to be distracting. Just pop... pop... pop. I timed them and they're happening at just about 5 seconds apart. And it only happens when I'm flying in FSX SE. It doesn't happen in any other application or while just on the desktop, or even when FSX is just open and not flying. (I tried X-Plane 11, also, and there were no pops.)

I plugged in a set of external speakers and installed Orbx Southern California yesterday. Before I did those things there was no popping. Since, while troubleshooting, I disconnected the speakers, deselected the Orbx files, yet the popping remains. I've tried everything I could find online, reduced FSX settings to low, deselected all extra things in the sound control panel, restarted, restarted again.

Obviously something happened when I either installed the Orbx files and/or connected the speakers that I can't now seem to back out of (It makes more sense that it would be the speakers rather than the Orbx files.)

Any thoughts or ideas? It's distracting enough that it kind of zaps the fun out of flying.

Kirk - You don't have anything running in the background do you? Try Task Manager, CTRL-ALT-DEL to see if anything besides FSX-SE is running.

These noises are something you will have to just whittle away at, as none of us can hear it. All we can do is make suggestions, and most are going to seem far fetched, but we don't have much else to go on either!

okay, in the main menu for FSX there is a selection setting for sound. in the sound section, there is a box that says "Play user interface music" . Is that box checked? If so, uncheck it and see if anything changes. Also, when you are flying and the popping is pecking away at you, hit "Q" and see if that does anything. "Q" will only quiet anything FSX related, but if it continues, it could rule out FSX and then point you to the computer. Like I said, it's a "hunt and peck" type thing!

Rick

Filed under: It's always something.

 

All of a sudden I'm experiencing a popping sound while flying in FSX SE. It's not a loud sound but it's loud enough to hear and to be distracting. Just pop... pop... pop. I timed them and they're happening at just about 5 seconds apart. And it only happens when I'm flying in FSX SE. It doesn't happen in any other application or while just on the desktop, or even when FSX is just open and not flying. (I tried X-Plane 11, also, and there were no pops.)

 

I plugged in a set of external speakers and installed Orbx Southern California yesterday. Before I did those things there was no popping. Since, while troubleshooting, I disconnected the speakers, deselected the Orbx files, yet the popping remains. I've tried everything I could find online, reduced FSX settings to low, deselected all extra things in the sound control panel, restarted, restarted again.

 

Obviously something happened when I either installed the Orbx files and/or connected the speakers that I can't now seem to back out of (It makes more sense that it would be the speakers rather than the Orbx files.)

 

Any thoughts or ideas? It's distracting enough that it kind of zaps the fun out of flying.

Based on what you indicated, it sounds (no pun intended) like Orbx is the issue. If it was the speakers it certainly do it with X-plane as well.

I'd look at your scenery config file and look for anything left over from Orbx. I'd also check the FSX install directory for any Orbx folders. You may want to try and backup FSX.cfg and delete it. Rerun FSX and it will rebuild. See if that changes anything.

Any errors in event viewer under the control panel/Admin. Tools?

Are you using Nvidia's audio capability? You might not want that. Just complicates things.

Found this on Google, try the change to see if anything improves?

Here's what i think you should try:

Under the "Options/Settings/Sound Menu check the "Windows Sound Device Voice" and change "Default Voice Device" to "Speakers (High Definition Audio Device".

Good Luck

Thanks, guys, for your suggestions. I'll try each one. I'm loving this new found hobby too much to let this problem ruin it for me.

Let the troubleshooting continue!

Do you also hear it when the speakers are not plugged in? If so, is your (wireless) headset plugged in perhaps?

And how about the monitor. Does it have speakers? It may be getting its audio signal through the HDMI cable.

Other thought. Printer. A Usb connected printer that says "error" can cause erratic currents on the Usb mainboard port, which affects other Usb ports. And as Usb runs to the PCI-bridge also affects the PCI Audio devices.

The fix would be to turn off the printer. Maybe disconnect it's Usb. And if needed do a full shutdown and cold pc boot. (to clear residual current.)

Thanks again for all the suggestions. Turns out that rebuilding the FSX.cfg file fixed it. I don't know what happened or what the difference is between the old one and the new one, but the popping is gone. Now i just need to redo the changes I made to tweak the settings to work with my setup. But I did that once so I can do it again.

Thanks, guys!

Good news.

Btw, don't fight it, just go-around. That centreline will still be there later.

Rushing to get there, or "get-there-itis" is the mother of all air crashes.

Thanks again for all the suggestions. Turns out that rebuilding the FSX.cfg file fixed it. I don't know what happened or what the difference is between the old one and the new one, but the popping is gone. Now i just need to redo the changes I made to tweak the settings to work with my setup. But I did that once so I can do it again.

 

Thanks, guys!

If you have both FSX.cfg files compare the both of them with the program Diffmerge. You'd have to place each one in its own folder. Name one folder old for obvious reason, and the other new. Right click the old folder and select Diffmerge. Then in Diffmerge select the new folder to compare. The shaded areas as you scroll through the text are your differences.

I used to use Winmerge, but I had issues with it so I don't recommend it. Though, it may work for you and others.

Fantastic tools to compare and contrast PHP files and what have you. Since I run a couple of websites it's been useful. Though, I know next to nothing about PHP actually. I just edit and what not from what I'm supposed to based on instructions and Github repositories, etc.

Anyway, I hope you still have the old FSX.cfg file to compare with. I'm really curious to know what it was. Could help others including me.

Actually, if you deleted it you might be able to run Recuva and get it back.

https://sourcegear.com/diffmerge/

https://www.ccleaner.com/recuva

If you have both FSX.cfg files compare the both of them with the program Diffmerge. You'd have to place each one in its own folder. Name one folder old for obvious reason, and the other new. Right click the old folder and select Diffmerge. Then in Diffmerge select the new folder to compare. The shaded areas as you scroll through the text are your differences.

 

 

I used to use Winmerge, but I had issues with it so I don't recommend it. Though, it may work for you and others.

 

Fantastic tools to compare and contrast PHP files and what have you. Since I run a couple of websites it's been useful. Though, I know next to nothing about PHP actually. I just edit and what not from what I'm supposed to based on instructions and Github repositories, etc.

 

Anyway, I hope you still have the old FSX.cfg file to compare with. I'm really curious to know what it was. Could help others including me.

 

 

Actually, if you deleted it you might be able to run Recuva and get it back.

 

https://sourcegear.com/diffmerge/

 

https://www.ccleaner.com/recuva

Of course! I hate it when people discover a fix for something then don't take the time to fully explain what they did.

I rarely ever empty the recycle bin so I knew I still had the old file. I did as you suggested and compared them using Diffmerge.

I captured the sound section. Here it is (you can open it in a new window to see it full size):

http://kirkstenvall.com/images/fsxcfg-compared.png

New on the left, old on the right.

I don't know what I'm looking at except things are in a different order. I'm just glad that you all helped me fix it.

Maybe the sound quality and the sound lod?

I know I messed around with something trying to eliminate a short freeze during touchdowns. I think I may have changed the lod from 1 to 0. But I did that several days ago and just noticed the popping last night. So I'm not sure.

Good news.

 

Btw, don't fight it, just go-around. That centreline will still be there later.

Rushing to get there, or "get-there-itis" is the mother of all air crashes.

Right? I have to remember that.

;)

Sorry, I just realised that "fighting for the centreline" is not really the same as "get-there-itis".

It's more a case of tunnel vision. Not the primary one, but still a cause of quite af few crashes.

Pilot's focissing only out the window, and letting their speed drop dangerously low for example.

Or focussing so much on the centreline, that they forget to touch down, land long, and run out of runway before they come to a stop.

Anyway, more constructive:

When landing, in/after the flare, focus on -the far end- of the runway.

That will keep you lined up best. And also keeps you most aware of crosswinds.

And when flying always keep scanning.

-speed-attitude-altitude-vertical speeed-heading-outside scan for crossing traffic-check a few buttons and switches---

>and back to

-speed---attitude---altitude---vertical speed----heading---outside scan for crossing traffic---check a few more buttons and switches---

and again.

Ad nauseam.

Don't focus on just one thing for too long. Keep scanning

If you are focussed on one thing and it gets tricky, stop. Do a new full scan, and only then come back to that tricky thing. (FMC for example)

Always remember this accident, Eastern Air 402. Fiddeling (fiddling?) with a 5 ct cockpit light for a long time led these pilots to lose track of altitude.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_Air_Lines_Flight_401

Air crash Investigations episode of the flight:

https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x5wcrtc

Safe flights!:)

The audio device hardware IDs ( I think they're hardware IDs) have changed. The sound_lod has changed from 0 to 1. Sound quality is now 2 from 1.

Your old FSX.cfg all had the sound faders set at 1, where's the new FSX.cfg is set at 0.5.

Did a search.

SOUND_LOD=1 (fsx will play the default waves files for the ai traffic, regardless if they have SOUND or SOUNDAI folder or not!)

SOUND_LOD=0 (fsx will play the sounds in the SOUND folder if the AI have a SOUND folder (aliased or not with an other aircraft))

https://www.flightsim.com/vbfs/showthread.php?244465-Sounds-for-AI-Are-you-sure-of-what-you-ear

I can't find a resource on what all of the FSX.cfg entries do. It may have had to do with the sound card hardware IDs. Or the sound quality its self where a plane or something needed that specific quality setting and every time it triggered you heard a pop.

I noticed the difference IDs also. I believe the ID in the new cfg is from my graphics card, through HDMI, and the old is from the built in Realtek card.

I'm sure I didn't change anything except maybe the LOD (whatever that is).

After thinking about it for a bit, I think I may have changed settings in the sound.cfg and not the config.cfg. Anyway, I don't know how all the changes were made to the config.cfg. But I'm certainly glad I was able to fly from Crescent City, CA to Eugene, OR last night without a single pop. :)

Booooo. That blasted popping is back. :(

This time it's only happening with a Carenado C172N Skyhawk II and not with the default FSX C172. And it started immediately with the Carenado aircraft, from the first flight.

I recreated the fsx.cfg file as before, which fixed the issue then, but it didn't fix it this time. I compared the old cfg with the new cfg also, expecting to see a difference, but the sound sections are identical.

I don't recall if I mentioned this before, but the popping only occurs when the engine is running.

I'm going to read back through this thread and troubleshoot again.

:(

I recorded a video that has the "popping" sound in it. It's so weird that I had this same problem with the FSX default aircraft and was able to fix it by recreating a new cfg file but I'm unable to find the cause of the same problem with this aircraft. I'll just go back to using the default C172, which is kind of a shame cause I like the Carenado C172.

Hmmm. The microphone. This is a laptop and I'm pretty sure it has a mic that's always open. I'll look at that. Good idea, cRJ_simpilot! Thank you!

Just for the record in case someone reads this in the future, I've tried both sound cards - the build-in one and the one on the nvidia gtx card).

and the one on the nvidia gtx card).

This may also pose a problem. I would disable and/or uninstall Nvidia's sound crap. It will more than likely cause nothing but issues. Unless of course you need it for some application. I've never found a use for it myself.

Use Revouninstaller and the advanced setting to create a system restore point and remove any and all of its registry settings upon uninstall. Just make sure you scan through the file tree and it isn't pulling anything with it that you need. May not be the case, but it can happen.

I'll try that too, then. I think the nvidia stuff is used to pull sound through the HDMI cables that are plugged into it. I'm not totally sure how that all works. I believe I have 3 sound choices: the nvidia card (HDMI), an Intel card (HDMI), and what I would think is the main sound (Realtek?), which is what the headphone jack is connected to and what I use (although I've tried the other two). It has to be a problem specific to my set up as there is hardly anything related to it that I can find online. (I say that so people don't think it's a problem with the Carenado aircraft... which is actually pretty awesome).

I was really excited when I bought the C172... but the default C172 is looking better and better. :D

Thanks again for your help and suggestions.

I've been dinking around with this for a number of days with no luck... until the proverbial light went off over my head.

The rhythm of the popping, about every 5 seconds, is what I found so annoying I think. It's also what turned that light on. The engine sound from inside the cockpit is made up of four .wav files, each one a little louder and higher pitched than the one before it. That's how it sounds like the engine is running faster. As the throttle is pushed in, the sound is handed off to the next .wav file; one blending into the next. And guess what the duration of each of those .wav files is? Yup. Five seconds.

The popping only happens when the engine is revved way up... one .wav file. I think there's a pop at the end of this .wav file (although Carenado says this is the first they've heard of this particular issue) so who knows.

Anyway, I may try to futz around with it some more. But, in the meantime, I copied the four engine-from-inside-the-cockpit .wav files from a different aircraft and renamed them to be used with this aircraft and that has fixed the popping.

The sound from my fsx is very low, although all settings are set to maximum. This problem does not appear in FSX SE or FS9.

I'd love it if anyone could help me solve this problem

What you are doing is called 'high jacking' some else's thread (being of a different problem that you have). Start a new thread for best results. Just a suggestion. Not being critical although it might sound like it. We all have to learn 'stuff'. This one of them. This happens often so no biggee. Cheers.

Chuck B

Napamule