This tutorial is designed to help a novice user install any sound package into Microsoft Flight Simulator 2004 or Microsoft Flight Simulator X. The reader is expected to have a basic understanding of files and folders within the Windows operating system and a basic understanding of file compression programs that are commonly used to package sound files. This tutorial will cover the basics of installing sounds, the structure of the sound file, and what is needed to have a fully functioning add-on sound package.

SimAirline.net provides several sound packages that can be downloaded from each virtual airline's Fleet page. These soundss are then installed into an existing aircraft and used to complete the flights from each virtual airline's schedule. This makes it possible to fly with a more realistic sounding aircraft.

Installing Sounds into Flight Simulator
For the purposes of this tutorial, it is assumed that you have already downloaded the correct sound package and are ready to install it. I will use the 757 Sound Package by Devyn Silverstein for this tutorial.

Note: This tutorial does not cover the directory structure of Flight Simulator add-on aircraft and sounds. Please make sure you have read the Aircraft Installation Tutorial before attempting to install a sound package.

The Sound Folder
The sound folder must contain a sound.cfg, which is the sound configuration file, and the sounds themselves, in .wav format. It is important to note that some aircraft will use sounds from some other aircraft, and if that is the case the sound.cfg will have what is called an "alias" to the sounds that will be used for the aircraft. For example, if you installed an add-on 747 and wanted to use the default 747-400 panel from Microsoft, you could install your aircraft and edit your sound.cfg in Notepad so that it contained only the following:

[fltsim]
alias=b747_400

This configures your aircraft to use the sounds that the aircraft installed in the b747_400 directory does.

Installing the Sound Package
Always back up your existing sound folder in case something goes wrong. You can rename your existing sound folder to sound.old and then simply rename it back if you want to restore your original sounds. Now that you know the file structure for a sound package and where everything should go, you can begin installing the sounds.

If you open the file “sound_146661.zip,” you can see that it contains two folders, avsim.diz and a folder named sound.757. Open the folder and move all of its contents to your 757's sound folder.

Note: Before you start though it is always a good idea to look for a readme.txt file or other text file that is included by the author. This will contain important information on how to install the sound package into the simulator.

Testing
To make sure your sound work, start your Flight Simulator and select the aircraft that you just installed the sound package for. Once the aircraft is loaded, you should hear the engines (if you start your aircraft with the engines running).

If you don't hear anything, make sure your speakers are on and that your computer's sound is not muted. If no sounds are still being produced, then you've probably forgotten to copy either the sound.cfg or some of the .wav files.

Conclusion
You should now be able to install add-on sound packages with relative ease. If you’re having problems with a particular sound package, you can usually narrow the problem down to a specific area by simply knowing what all of the required pieces are. If you follow this tutorial and are still having problems with a particular sound package, please contact the appropriate Sounds Manager, and they should be able to assist you. If you have done the testing that is in this tutorial, then they should be able to assist you much more easily if you let them know the results of your tests.

Thanks for reading! If you have any questions about this tutorial, please ask on our Message Boards.

This tutorial was originally written by Nick Anderson.