Sound stutter while loading -- or does it really stutter?

How many experience the sound (Loading music) stuttering at time when MSFS is loading ?

I have always just assume things are busy loading, and it was some audio buffering issue, and really, what did it matter, loading was more important than smooth loading music.

But this evening I notice it was not really stopping !

Running a Gaming Laptop, with MSFS on a HDMI monitor (video & Audio)
So sound plays out of the Monitor Speakers.

Tonight I had the sound on the Laptop turned up as well, but of course, the music was only playing though the monitor speakers.

With the Laptop audio turned up, it was apparent that the audio on the Monitor was not stuttering, or stopping for a second, it was being transfered to play through the Laptop sound system.

AS if, during loading, MSFS was temporarily changing its mind as to which sound system was meant to be selected…

Not idea, but also not a big deal when loading.

But then, I also get periods where the VIDEO goes black as well, but the music continues to play.

I has always just accepted that, as the way things were, but now maybe, the video is also temporarily being sent elsewhere (Not the Laptop screen)

Maybe these are symptoms of something that may need looking at ??

1 Like

Did have a slight short sound stutter once today on start up, first time ever but thought it was just a data hiccup. Seems to be some varied sound issues post su8.

With SU8 there are some new sound related settings that allow us to select which audio device we want. Maybe try adjusting those.

Thanks …these new SU8 sound settings in MSFS are set (Correctly). The point is, MSFS , while loading, seem to be switching out of these setting for short period of time while loading, back to the PC’s OS system’s settings. This would seem to be unexpected behavior, resulting the in appearance of the audio stuttering.

When you add this ion top of what is clearly a very shaky and unstable UI, its just one more thing that acts as a symptom that all is not well in the MSFS UI.

I have a big screen TV connected to my laptop but I rarely use the speakers on the TV. I almost always have headphones plugged in and never noticed an issue. My audio settings in MSFS are set on default.

I have noticed it as well. I posted quite awhile back about the possibility of (some) stutter issues being related to speech files as I do notice there is a definite relation between ATC speech/text and a lot of the micro-pauses and stuttering on my system.

I experience this as well and never really thought it was a problem since many of the games seem to do this upon loading in. I always thought it was just part of the process.

In the application code, sound threads usually have a higher priority than other threads, to help prevent stuttering, but this is rarely a bulletproof design considering how the Windows scheduler works.

And there you go, opening a whole Pandora Box about what thread the UI should be on, and audio buffering !!

In this case, while loading, it may not be of any priority (forgive the pun), but in General, (since being made X-Box compatible), the UI has for PC users has degradated, sometimes in the extreme.

2 Likes

Mine’s done it since SU…5 was it? The Xb*x one, when we started getting a lot of CTDs. My heart still stops every time it happens.

3 Likes

funny !!! so does mine – EVERY Time !!!

I cant say I get any stutters with the music when loading. In fact I use the music as a guide to know if its hung or not when loading since the graphics occasionally dont change, particularly if I am doing something else at the same time and another windows has focus…

maybe not … the whole point of the post was to discuss if the Music was in fact stuttering, or just changing its destination audio device, in a random way during loading - under certain circumstances.

Do you ever get short duration BLANK screens when loading ?

I don’t know if it’s related but I have observed the following: I have switched off the menu music so I don’t have music playing during loading the game. BUT nevertheless, there is a certain point during loading, where I here a short stuttering part of the music (only 1sec or so)…

1 Like

Music creeping out of an opening Pandoras Box !! Best close the lid and move on :hear_no_evil:

1 Like

Agreed…otherwise, the “press any key” screen might jump out!

In my experience. If you have a loose usb cable connected to a device, this sound stutter happens. I recently remedied it on my end by unplugging my webcam, which was the offending device. Haven’t had a sound stutter since.

The selected audio device for output is an operating system function. If you get sound stuttering when MSFS is loading, I would imagine that the sound system function is temporarily disrupted rather than MSFS trying to switch to an alternative output source. I have a separate sound card, I dont rely on the motherboard sound system at all so perhaps that helps to avoid the sort of issue you are encountering.

I suspect many of us get the odd video issue during loading, I certainly do hence using the music as a guide to indicate if the application has hung or not.

REDRUM REDRUM REDRUM

I get the stutter too during loading.

1 Like

You might imagine that, but I quite clearly stated, in the opening post, that the sound SWITCHED, and momentarily came out of another sound system, (the laptop speakers).

The sound did NOT stop,/ stutter, it just momentary changed speakers (audio devices)

This is what was so strange … a stutter I could understand, but a momentary change in audio devices, indicates some sort of “Mix up” taking place, which made this an interesting observation.