New Install of FS9 on new Windows 7 installation

In an attempt to make FS2004 run without crashing due to the clogged installation on my Windows 7 Professional drive, I bought a copy of Windows 7 Home Premium and put that on a separate hard disk. Having installed Windows 7 SP1 and all the necessary updates, MB chipset, sound and video drivers, I did a clean install of FS2004. Installed SP1 and booted it up.

 

Everything is great, except the voices - both pilot and ATC have some background distortion, like there's interference on the radio.

 

All other sounds are OK. I checked my audio drivers etc. All drivers are same as what I was using on the Windows 7 Professional installation. I've uninstalled and reinstalled several times, but the problem remains. I'm totally clueless as to why this should be happening, as aside from being a different Windows installation on a different hard disk, the installations are identical.

 

If anyone has come across this situation before, or has any useful suggestions, then I would be extremely grateful as this so frustrating.

Cheers

Tony

Tony,

 

I assume that you installed your FS2004 as a "default" install, which in Win7 and following versions, means that totally unpredictable and unexpected problems will then occur. I therefore advise you to uninstall your FS2004 completely, followed by deleting any residual files. After that you should re-install your FS2004 but this time as a so called "custom" install, the most important being that you install it in a HD partition outside the one (usually "C") in which your Win7 lives.

 

If your ATC sound problem then still persists or you had in fact already done a "custom" install, then I'm afraid that I cannot help you any further because as far as I know, ATC sound files are technically not different than any other default FS2004 sound files.

 

Good luck and regards'

 

Hans

If you only have a C: drive, install into a folder outside any Program Files folder.

Hi.

 

What's your framerate in your new, clean FS9?

 

If it's greater than 100 to 120 fps or thereabouts, sound will clip rather than forcing a delay to the frame change.

 

FS9 has two ways of handling tasks: some require completion and will delay the frame change so reducing your framerate. Others are not considered essential and are just dumped if not complete at the end of the frame. The playing of some sound files falls into the latter category.

 

Try full screen (may limit fps to your monitor's refresh rate) or just limiting the target fps.

 

D

 

(Workplace lunchbreak so I can't access my FS9 and my memory isn't as good as it might be. It could be that engine & environment are affected but ATC isn't. It could be the other way around. I can't remember...)

Edited December 20, 2021 by defaid

Thanks for the responses guys.

My new installation is on a totally separate hard disk to the original install.

It is a custom install, in the path: C:\MSFS\Flight Simulator 9

I checked the drivers again in System Information. Drivers for my sound card are identical on both windows installations. However, despite the fact that I disabled the "onboard audio" in the motherboard BIOS, Windows still recognised it and installed drivers. So I have now gone in through device manager and disabled the onboard sound device, but the voice sound problem remains.

I set my display properties in the sim to very low. This too had no effect on the voice sound problem.

Frame rates are pretty low, identical on both installations. It is showing me 24.9FPS, locked at 25FPS.

I know there are strange issues with FS2004 in Windows 7. On my original install, after some Windows updates, I had to double click on FS9 twice to get it started. On the new install, I don't have that problem. As Windows 7 is no longer supported by Microsoft, I can't update the new Windows 7 installation any further than SP1.

Voices are distorted... Hmm...

 

I think I'm still looking at this from the wrong angle but it's worth a shot. I don't suppose you hame a microphone plugged in, do you?

 

I'm at work -- again :( -- and looking at Win 10. If I search control panel for 'Sound', one option is Manage Audio Devices. Clicking on that option opens a new window with several tabs.

 

If Win 7 is similar to 10, there may be a Comms tab with 'When Windows detects communications activity:'. Select the Do Nothing radio button to prevent Windows from messing around behind your back.

 

D

 

Hah, problem solved. Finger trouble. :rolleyes:

Testing it against a copy of the original installation copied into c:\MSFS alongside the new install, running direct from FS9.EXE worked perfectly.

Did same for FS9.EXE on new install and it worked perfectly too.

Ran new install from shortcut, got distortion.

FS9.EXE was configured to run in compatibility for XP and run as administrator, shortcut wasn't. I changed the properties in the shortcut and it worked perfectly.... so I guess it's the XP compatibility that is the controlling factor here.

Once again, thanks for your replies guys. Sorry for wasting your time.

not a waste of time, it may help others who have a similar issue in the future. thanks for posting what the fix was.