I’ve noticed this too, in fact it has become my warning cue that ATC voices will now cease.
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Do you have the same issue if you follow the OP’s steps to reproduce it?
Yes
Provide extra information to complete the original description of the issue:
When flying, there will be a circumstance where a voice not contributing to the ATC conversations can be heard. After the voice is done talking, the ATC remains on mute for the rest of the flight and any other flights in your session. The only way to fix it (as for now) is to close the game and relaunch the simulator, which is increasingly becoming annoying to many people, for it ruins many flights.
If relevant, provide additional screenshots/video:
The forums isn’t allowing me to share my video. However I do have evidence.
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Yes, this happens in every session with MSFS 2020 latest updates no 3rd party installs.
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If I don’t notice in the chat, then ATC cancels my IFR
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I’m at 6,000 on the Glide Slope ILS and ATC is telling me go to 14,000.
I ask for a lower altitude and it denys.
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This thread is a mess.
Someone has been merging threads about different issues with ATC thus different people talk about different issues in this thread now.
The issue I (and probably a few others) that I have -and posted about earlier- is years old and has not been resolved sofar.
The issue is that ATC stops communicating to me and even AI pilots, not just the audio but even the written communication in the ATC window does not show.
I can read and hear AI pilots respond to absent ATC instructions and even my AI copilot responds to these messages but there is nothing written much less heard from ATC.
I am quite sure it only happens using online voices but it is not the audio that cuts out. Flying with offline voices is a workaround but these are not nearly as good as the online ones.
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Yes, there’s several versions of this problem although I suspect they are related in root cause.
I almost never use copilot and yet get lost ATC voices routinely (happened on my most recent flight). As you say there was a separate thread for that with hundreds of posts but now it’s all been merged into this one.
Hello all the Monthly Live Development Stream is coming up on Wednesday, Nov. 29th at 10:30am PST at Twitch. Please if you really care about this bug that has been logged since 2021 please send your questions via November Developer Stream: Ask a Question! (microsoft.com)
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It’s odd how this problem has several variants and also that, for some at least, it can be intermittent. Around 10 days ago it re-occurred for me a flight or two but then, for no reason I can think of, disappeared! Two days ago I flew into an incredibly busy Chicago O’Hare (even did a thread about it) and fully expected to lose ATC somewhere, but no, it all behaved perfectly and continued so on my onward flights.
As a programmer it’s not odd at all, this kind of thing is not uncommon in complex systems. An entire class of bugs called race conditions leads to exactly these kinds of inconsistent behaviours.
I can fully understand that as a layperson it seems inexplicable. Sometimes while trying to understand and fix race conditions we feel the same!
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I think I have found the solution for the unfortunate failure of the ATC sounds.
In computer programs, certain events or parts thereof are often called/searched at a specific location. Sometimes after updates such a location is moved to another place or directory. Or parts are given a slightly different name, which means that not everything works properly anymore. To make everything work properly again, you can reset some settings. Often followed by restarting the program.
For the ATC in FS2020 I found the following. It works for me anyway. So I would try it. Following the steps below, I have now flown several times, both VFR and IFR, and have been able to hear all the sounds of the ATC contacts from start to finish at the gate.
Here are the steps to take.
- if you are in FS2020, go to OPTIONS
- Go to GENERAL OPTIONS
- Click on MISC
- Click on LANGUAGE
- Change (in my case) EN-US into another language (in my case NL-NL)
- Click APPLY AND SAVE (bottom of screen)
- A screen message will appear: “Language will only be applied after restarting the game”.
- Click OK
- Click on ESC GO BACK (bottom left of screen)
- Click on ESC GO BACK (bottom left of screen)
- Click on ESC QUIT TO DEKTOP (bottom left of screen)
12 Click on YES in the menu. Then FS2020 will be closed
- Restart FS2020
- Go to OPTIONS again
- Follow the above points from 2 to 12 again. Return the language settings to the desired language (in my case NL-US) and follow all the above points until closing FS2020.
Afterwards everything is back in the desired language and for me the ATC sounds worked as they should.
I hope it works for all of you and look forward to hearing about your results.
Thank you for the suggestion, but ever since this issue started with the release of SU5 in 2021, I have been able to restore the Azure voices and have ATC back to normal just by restarting the program without changing the language. The issue with Azure reoccurs when Azure is overwhelmed, such as when the sim tries to play two voices simultaneously or other conditions when Azure is busy.
During the past week, I have been able to make multiple flights into busy airspaces without losing Azure voices, but in other weeks, I will lose Azure voices on almost every flight at the same time of day and airspaces, so the problems seem to vary over time.
We need Asobo to fix this issue once and for all.
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Just a thought - isn’t Azure a Microsoft product? Do Asobo just import it in “as is” or do they play around with it? Might be a clue as to what is wrong.
As I say, just a thought.
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It’s a good question and based on this video I found on youtube from way back when MSFS Really was 2020 [https://youtu.be/PbMxU4h8y5E?si=ZvUmdQViNuwFVnTX&t=30] [https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/products/ai-services](https://Azure Cognative AI Services) used in MSFS , it seems they just send the data ie Text and Azure provides the Speech. Hence Text-to-Speech. However as many have pointed out if too many “Events” are sent to the Azure Servers a “Race Condition” develops which I can only assume results in a “disconnect” from the Azure servers and what we are left with is a co-pilot which reads back what ATC said but that part is done on OUR side not the server side.
- What is needed is a way to ensure that the communications between OUR aircraft and OUR controller at the time has priority. All too often I see the Azure servers struggle to provide real-world communication with other (non-player-character) aircraft often repeating the same instructions while making it nearly impossible to US to reply and thus continue receiving radar service aka. “IFR flight plan canceled maintain VFR ect”
PS to the mod I know this post “doesn’t add to the bug report” but I ask that it remain at least until the next Live dev stream where I hope they will address this bug which has over 843 votes and 1751 posts. Thanks
This has been reported as a bug and the community has been reporting it for years now. I have given up on MicroAsobosoft fixing it anytime soon. I have no real idea what the problem is that causes the ATC to stop talking and leave us with only text, but if I had to guess, after chasing this issue for so long and trying all the suggested fixes, I would lean toward some type of data transfer issue. Surely Azure can handle text to speech for FS2020 right? I have gigabit internet so speed is not an issue. The only real clue I can offer is that for me it seems to happen when a plane and ATC speak over each other transmitting at the same time. The only solution I can offer is not to use ATC. VATSIM is a work around for this “ATC Drops Out” issue.
VATSIM requires some knowledge and skill building, but at least the controllers won’t abandon you on those zero visibility IFR landings. LOL
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I’ve been using default offline ATC for many months now with it’s quirky voices. It works and doesn’t drop 99% of the time. Much preferable to the unusable (drops wise) online ATC. I just wish the voices could be changed.
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With all due respect VATSIM is a human workaround I prefer to have a software/artificial intelligence workaround
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Do you have the same issue if you follow the OP’s steps to reproduce it?
Provide extra information to complete the original description of the issue:
If relevant, provide additional screenshots/video:
same for me
This is not cure the problem. Just reduce ATC lost probability.
Do you have the same issue if you follow the OP’s steps to reproduce it?
Provide extra information to complete the original description of the issue:
If relevant, provide additional screenshots/video:
having this problem with a320v2 but not with any other planes.
The new A320 in beta is just a matter of selecting VHF1 and turning the volume up in the cockpit, it’s nothing to do with this bug were ATC drops out mid flight.
Just wanted to report the last few days/flights seem to have been fine again for me consistently, whereas before nearly every flight didn’t work at all. I can’t say I do anything differently, same region, same planes etc, so who knows.
Knocks on wood