I also assume you are using two monitors, correct? If so, please disconnect the second monitor and test with only one display connected. Multi-monitor setups can sometimes introduce additional issues, especially with stutters and latency.
Also, please let me know which audio device is set as the default/main audio device, list all audio devices and the exact models of both monitors.
When you install NVIDIA graphics updates, Windows automatically installs a secondary driver that channels audio through your graphics card’s HDMI and DisplayPort channels. In MSFS 2024, this driver triggers random engine locks. [2, 3]
Uninstall in win 11 apps settings, search for NVidia, and uninstall the HDMI Audio.
After it’s done confirm in Device Manager there is no NVidia audio driver.
Right-click the Windows Start menu and select Device Manager.
Expand the Sound, video and game controllers section.
Locate NVIDIA High Definition Audio (or NVIDIA Virtual Audio Device).
Right-click it, choose Uninstall device, and make sure to check the box that says “Delete the driver software for this device.”
Note: This will not stop your PC sound from working, as your main headset or mother board audio runs on a separate Realtek or USB device. [4]
2. Force Explicit Audio Routing Inside the Simulator
Leaving the simulator’s sound settings on generic parameters forces Windows to constantly query the hardware channels during high-bandwidth streaming sweeps, crashing the software thread. [3]
Launch MSFS 2024 and navigate to Options > General Options > Sound.
Do not leave the main audio selection on Default.
Manually click the dropdown and explicitly choose your exact speakers or headset model. Do the same for the communication/microphone channel. [3, 5, 6, 7, 8]
3. If you’re using any 3rd party virtual audio apps/devices, uninstall them. SU 5/5.1 introduced changes which may adversely affect these, causing issues from audio crackling to PC freeze/GSOD, even though they may have been stable prior to this.
Chrome is not the issue. I did a test where after boot I made sure I close everything unrelated to MSFS (including Chrome). Still had the stutter issue.
I will try unplugging the second monitor. Thanks for that tip.
For audio drivers, I deactivated everything in the device manager (including Nvidia HD Audio and all that stuff) except the Realtek audio driver my soundcard needs.
I don’t think 2nd monitor as the issue tbh, but it can’t hurt to simplify what you have plugged in for debugging. I just resolved a nasty PC freeze/GSOD issue with MSFS 2024 and it was audio related in the end.
Also, what refresh rate is your monitor running at? You can try dropping it to 60 and run MSFS at VSync 1/2 refresh with Low Latency ON or OFF (do not use Boost). It all helps in terms of probing the system to see what the effect is, to narrow down where the issue is coming from.
Kind of stating the obvious, but have you run experiments at different quality/performance settings to see if/when audio crackling disappears? MSFS’s architecture makes it very easy for the audio system to be put under stress it seems, so finding the balance point that gives the system enough headroom given the amount of data being pushed in is tricky.
For me this only happened when I was running the simulator in unlocked frames and virtualizations enabled. It’s when ever I get those purple spikes that I observe in the render frame.
Interestingly, I had a test the other day where my FPS was unlocked, I started getting these stutters right before landing with the same popping audio. I then went back to locking my frame rate to the most demanding scenario. On my system that’s landing at KATL with BeyondATC and a complex airliner. It brings my FPS Down from 75-60 to 40FPS (NATIVE).
I then went and locked my FPS in the sim to 40 again. All those issues were gone and I have a smooth gameplay.
I have had a lot of sound stutters and cranking in the past. Deactivating and deinstalling the NVIDIA sound driver has not helped. But disabling the autostart of two Elgato sound related files which are installed together with my stream deck software has done the job (till now …)
I’m trying to track down an annoying issue in MSFS 2024 and maybe someone has experienced the same thing.
The simulator itself runs great. If I just fly and don’t touch anything else, I rarely get any audio crackling.
However, the moment I start using my second monitor, the problem appears almost immediately. For example:
Scrolling in Google Chrome
Typing into websites
Using Navigraph Charts
Interacting with other applications on the second monitor
As soon as I interact with those applications, I get short audio crackles and sometimes very small stutters in MSFS. Once I stop using the second monitor, everything becomes smooth again.
My system:
Ryzen 9 7950X3D
RTX 4090
64 GB DDR5
Windows 11 25H2
Sound Blaster X4 (USB)
Dual monitor setup
What I’ve already tried:
Different NVIDIA drivers
DDU clean driver installation
Chrome hardware acceleration ON and OFF
Different Windows sound settings
Different USB ports
LatencyMon (showed nvlddmkm.sys and dxgkrnl.sys among the highest execution times)
No NVIDIA HD Audio Driver installed (only NVIDIA Virtual Audio Device)
I’ve been investigating this together with my “friend” ChatGPT for quite a while now , but we still haven’t found the actual root cause.
Use NEVER NEVER NEVER a browser besides the simulator. A browser with his HW access, GPU and VRAM usage does exactly all the things you do not like to see on a PC running the MSFS. It is worthless to search for other reasons as long as a browser is running in background or even in foreground.
But why is that happening only since a few month i would say?
I never had any problem with that while flying MSFS but now.
There must be a reason for this weather it is the browser or what ever.
By the way it is not only the browser. Also Navigraph App can cause this. What is than the point for those Apps when we cant use them ?
You already have a topic about about similiar issue, so I’m not sure why you didn’t continue the discussion there.
Also, if you’re reporting a bug or asking others to help troubleshoot it, it would be very useful to include screenshots of your MSFS settings, your NVIDIA driver settings, and the exact driver versions you’re using (for example, your NVIDIA graphics driver, Sound Blaster and Realtek audio driver). That information can make it much easier for others to identify a possible cause.
I’m currently flying a VFR Bush Trip in 4K with DLSS set to Quality M ovveride, LOD 350/200, and textures on Medium. I also have Microsoft Edge running in the background with 10 tabs open, and I’m not experiencing any audio crackling/stutter.
I’d also like to remind you that you still haven’t provided the required information I asked for earlier.
I am still experiencing a lot of this, particularly when I fly over busy cities with lots of photogrammetry, live weather effects and a third party fighter jet. I hear popping and skipping sounds, kind of like how you did back in the day of audio CDs - the sound would distort, skip, and pop if the disc surface was bad.
That’s exactly the kind of sound I’m hearing while flying third party jets over busy areas. The issues are not as prevalent when cruising at height, but at lower heights and flying fast, I tend to experience this more. Definitely due to optimization issues on the CPU and RAM side, in my opinion.
, but we still haven’t found the actual root cause.