DCS Hanging onto sound device after shutdown

I just upgraded to DCS DCS/2.5.6.49798 Now when I exit the game DCS is somehow hanging on to the audio device.

This does not affect audio in other windows applications but it does result in no sound the next time I launch DCS, I will have no sound.

I can correct this by opening the properties dialog of the audio device, going to the advanced tab, and clicking the Test button. This will prompt a warning about audio device in use, clicking Yes will generate a test tone. ( see attached png image )

DCS will again work for 1 game cycle but after exit the next time you launch you will have no sound until you repeat the process.

relevant log entries

When Sound works:

2020-07-05 18:56:39.945 INFO INPUT: Device [TrackIR] created deviceId = -1

2020-07-05 18:56:40.058 INFO SOUND: Using driver: wasapi

2020-07-05 18:56:40.061 INFO SOUND: Found 3 available audio device(s):

2020-07-05 18:56:40.061 INFO SOUND: 0: ID: "{0.0.0.00000000}.{26f68f61-225e-4041-8513-f78d6622e222}", Name: "4 - LEN P27h-10 (AMD High Definition Audio Device)"

2020-07-05 18:56:40.061 INFO SOUND: 1: ID: "{0.0.0.00000000}.{41dcc071-c919-47d3-a0ca-a87e2bc93e9a}", Name: "Telephone (Plantronics P540-M)"

2020-07-05 18:56:40.061 INFO SOUND: 2: ID: "{0.0.0.00000000}.{4f0aea1c-eb92-4a0f-bcd8-0c122201feda}", Name: "Speakers (Realtek High Definition Audio)"

2020-07-05 18:56:49.227 INFO SOUND: Added sound path: Sounds

2020-07-05 18:56:49.279 INFO SOUNDER: Loaded 207 packed sounders.

... ( truncated for brevity Sound entries of adding sound path )

2020-07-05 18:57:25.169 INFO VISUALIZER: cascade shadows init (preset:'default' quality:1 layers:1 size:1)

2020-07-05 18:57:25.193 INFO SOUND: Opening default audio device.

2020-07-05 18:57:25.204 INFO SOUND: Driver reports 1 channels with mask 0x636164

2020-07-05 18:57:25.204 INFO SOUND: Using 1 channels at 16000 Hz

2020-07-05 18:57:25.204 INFO SOUND: Channel layout: FrontCenter

When sound fails:

2020-07-05 19:15:02.672 INFO INPUT: Device [TrackIR] created deviceId = -1

2020-07-05 19:15:02.787 INFO SOUND: Using driver: wasapi

2020-07-05 19:15:02.791 INFO SOUND: Found 3 available audio device(s):

2020-07-05 19:15:02.791 INFO SOUND: 0: ID: "{0.0.0.00000000}.{26f68f61-225e-4041-8513-f78d6622e222}", Name: "4 - LEN P27h-10 (AMD High Definition Audio Device)"

2020-07-05 19:15:02.791 INFO SOUND: 1: ID: "{0.0.0.00000000}.{41dcc071-c919-47d3-a0ca-a87e2bc93e9a}", Name: "Telephone (Plantronics P540-M)"

2020-07-05 19:15:02.791 INFO SOUND: 2: ID: "{0.0.0.00000000}.{4f0aea1c-eb92-4a0f-bcd8-0c122201feda}", Name: "Speakers (Realtek High Definition Audio)"

2020-07-05 19:15:11.880 INFO SOUND: Added sound path: Sounds

2020-07-05 19:15:11.944 INFO SOUNDER: Loaded 207 packed sounders.

( ... truncated for brevity )

2020-07-05 19:15:48.280 INFO SOUND: Opening default audio device.

2020-07-05 19:15:48.292 INFO SOUND: Driver reports 1 channels with mask 0x0

2020-07-05 19:15:48.292 INFO SOUND: Using 0 channels at 16000 Hz

2020-07-05 19:15:48.292 INFO SOUND: Channel layout:

2020-07-05 19:15:48.295 ERROR SOUND: Failed to Initialize IAudioClient: 0x80070057 (E_INVALIDARG)

2020-07-05 19:15:48.295 ERROR SOUND: Failed to start SND_Renderer.

2020-07-05 19:15:48.295 ERROR SOUND: can't start renderer

my audio device is the telephone :(

hope this helps,

Himilou

dcs.log

dcsgood.log

I experienced today a very similar issue. After starting DCS there was no sound anymore. I launched a YouTube video in Firefox and still no sound on both applications.

I restarted the PC and it worked again. I will test if it is broken next time I start DCS.

btw. I use stable DCS. Haven't changed anything since it has been working well. There was just a small Windows 10 update before encountering the issue. Don't know if this is related to that.

I think I use DCS stable, not sure pretty new at this. You can avoid rebooting using the workaround, and you can quickly access the properties dialog of your audio device by right clicking your speaker icon in the systray and selecting troubleshoot.

I think I use DCS stable, not sure pretty new at this. You can avoid rebooting using the workaround, and you can quickly access the properties dialog of your audio device by right clicking your speaker icon in the systray and selecting troubleshoot.

Will test your work around tomorrow if the issue is still there.

And I just noticed your version number which is the stable version of DCS. I updated to that version the day it was released but never had a sound problem till today.

had some tests now.

it seems to be a different problem bc the work around did not work here.

but i found out that the "Nahimic 2+ Audio Driver" causes my sound problem, that i see only with DCS. All other apps and games show normal sounds. never ever had this kind of no-sound-problem with it in DCS for 4 years. it just sterted yesterday.

turning off the Nahimic app (via the icon in the info area of the windows task bar) helps, but DCS has to be restarted to get the sound working again.

(the Nahimic drivers showed another problem with DCS in the past. they took away some 15%-20% of my GPU usage when running, and thus my FPS in DCS were reduced by 15%. turning off Nahimic instantly gave back the better FPS and GPU usage was 0%.)

don't know if this is related to your problem though.

I recently had some big trouble with this damn Nahimic driver, after an April automatic driver update. My whole computer had no more sound. This is what I did to make the issue go away:

1. In Windows 10, open Apps & features menu
   
2. In the search engine, look for "Realtek"
   
3. Uninstall all "Realtek" software
   

Once I restarted, W10 used a standard driver for my internal sound card and the issue was gone forever.

I suggest you try that.

I recently had some big trouble with this damn Nahimic driver, after an April automatic driver update. My whole computer had no more sound. This is what I did to make the issue go away:

 

1. In Windows 10, open Apps & features menu
   
2. In the search engine, look for "Realtek"
   
3. Uninstall all "Realtek" software
   

Once I restarted, W10 used a standard driver for my internal sound card and the issue was gone forever.

 

I suggest you try that.

thanks. it's not a too big thing for me bc i'm always asked at the windows startup if i want to run them, and 95% of the time i just use the sleep option when "turning off" my windows that rememberes the state of it. so it does not bother me too much. and it is easy to turn off the part of the driver that causes the problems like described in my post before anyway.

OK, but I think himilou should give it a go.

First off, well crap. I now have no sound at all even after trying my trick and restarting the PC.

I double checked the preferred output device in windows and in DCS to no avail.

I have a realtek high def audio device. I did try uninstalling realtek software but that made no difference.

One thing that is interesting is that in the bad case the log indicates using 0 channels and then throws a Windows HRESULT Invalid Argument.

In the good case it shows using 1 channels and works.

couple of questions.

Do the devs watch this forum for bugs or should I report elsewhere?

Can either of you check your old log ( I belive it only saves current and 1 previous launch ) and see if you show using 0 channels?

Thanks!

We'll find the solution, don't you worry. Please have my latest dcs.log (from release version) attached. I see DCS detects 2 channels on my rig.

Try deactivating Nahimic mirroring device and NVIDIA/AMD sound outputs in the Sound manager of Windows (see the black arrows in my screenshots):

What does your Device Manager show for a sound card? Here's mine:

dcs.log

Im actually playing DCS on my work computer since I've had to bring it home for the covid crisis.

It has realtek HD audio using the default OEM drivers that ship wth windows 10 and

a plantronics desktop telephone also default drivers. The telephone was my sound device as I dont have any desktop speakers at home.

Today I went out and bought a logitec USB headphone and mic and its working great so far.

I looked at your log but I dont see an error so it must be from when your sound is working correctly.

Oh OK, you wanted me to find my dcs.log from when I had that sound issue.

But I was talking about a Windows issue, not a DCS specific issue. It was tied to this Nahimic thing nonetheless, hence I talked about it. And it was back in April, so no dcs.log sorry.

In your log I see that DCS correctly selects the channels.

What I find strange is that in the broken case on my machine DCS selects a different channel ( channel 0 ) and then gets a windows return HRESULT of invalid argument.

Not sure why DCS decides to use channel 0 ( which I guessing is not a valid channel number ) instead of 1.

In any case I bought a pair of logitec headphones w mic and the sound works perfectly through those now.