Speaker configuration keeps changing!

[Mehdi]

I've got a very anooying problem - I have 5.1 speakers which work fine and in the settings in the Creative Speaker Settings or something like that it says 5.1 Speakers - Calibrated, and with music and other games it works fine.

However, when I start up FS, for some reason it keeps changing to 2/2.1 speaker settings. Why? It's been doing this recently after I reinstalled FS but I don't know how it actually started... Even in FS, when I switch back to the desktop to change it back to 5.1, when I maximise FS it again changes itself to 2/2.1.

Any help?

[MWISimmer]

FS9 doesn't support 5.1 sound, not sure about FSX.  ;)

[Mehdi]

Ahhh right, thanks a lot for your comment. That settles things!

[NickN]

Put this inthe FS9.cfg file and it will give you a simulated 4.1 surround.. let it overwrite the original text but do make a backup of the config file before editing in case you wish to revert


[SOUND]
SOUND=1
SOUND_FADER1=0.460000
SOUND_FADER2=0.460000
SOUND_FADER3=0.620000
SOUND_FADER4=0.800000
SOUND_FADER5=0.090000
SOUND_FADER6=1.000000
SOUND_QUALITY=2
Channels=4
SamplesPerSec=44100
BitsPerSample=16


FSX supports 5.1

[Mehdi]

Thanks a bunch, Nick, will try it out later!  :)

[Mehdi]

Nick, it doesn't seem to have worked? It's still changing to 2/2.1 and I'm not getting any sound out of my rear speakers still... Any more ideas? Or have I done something wrong?

[NickN]

Is Windows set to 4.1, quad or 5.1?

Try swiching the Windows Sound properties and see if it tickles the rears.

Also verify the drivers are set to the same

[Mehdi]

The Windows Sound settings? Is that the box in the Accessories -> Entertainment? Unfortunately... that, along with other Windows programs like the calculator and the games have disappeared... they did so some months ago and I never understood why... the only things in Entertainment are Windows Media Player and RealPlayer...

If it's any help, everything else works in 5.1? For example my music on iTunes and so on.

[Mictheslik]

I had this problem a while ago with 7.1 surround....I think eventually I just reinstalled my drivers and it sorted itself...

.mic

[Mehdi]

OK cheers, I'll download the latest drivers now and see what happens.

[Mehdi]

Nope, no luck... installed the latest drivers and it's the same problem.

It's gonna drive me mad, I swear.

[NickN]

Control Panel - Sounds and Audio Devices - Volume Tab - Speaker Settings - Advanced Button

Speaker Tab - Dropdown

Work the dropdown. See where it is set by default. If you have 5.1 you should be set to 5.1 however the tweak I gave you above may work better in quadraphonic or just the generic 'surround sound speaker' mode.

Try a few different ones and see if the audio tickles the rear speakers at all.

Your audio drivers probably have their own equalizer and speaker settings too. There can be a clash between their settings and what Windows is set to run however most modern sound systems will switch when you switch the main Windows Audio properties, but not all of them do that. You may have a conflict in the sound driver settings instead of the Windows settings.

[Mehdi]

Nick, you're a genius mate, the Windows one was set to "5.1 Surround Sound" and I changed it to simply "Surround sound" and it worked in FS, thanks a lot!

Does this mean though that I lose use of my centre speaker / subwoofer? It still sounds alright in iTunes.

Mef.

[Mehdi]

Well as if taunting me with this problem wasn't enough, God has laid another problem on my ass. It all goes well and I'm getting some nice sounds out of all my speakers in FS but then when I open a panel, for example the Overhead or the throttle or something, the sound goes back to the 2/2.1 ?! It means I have to switch back to the desktop and change it back... Why's this happening?

EDIT : Now every time I switch it back, once I go back into FS it will be in Surround for a second or so before it changes back again automatically... looks like there's no winning with this one.

[NickN]

As I said, you may have a clash between the creative driver settings in the creative mixer and Windows. You need to verify the creative drivers or EQ settings are not overring the Windows settings and visa versa... and from what you say about it switching automatically, it sounds like creative is switching things... set creative to 4 speaker and Windows to quad.. or surround


As for 5.1, unfortunately FS9 is not a 5.1 app and as such the edits I gave you will only work if the sound properties for Windows and creative are set to match it. After you are finished with FS9 to get the full 5.1 back you need Windows and the creative drivers set back to 5.1