Well ive been using fs2004 for a while on my old nvidia fx5200 card which ran the game reasonably well with average qualiy settings, however i recently decided to upgrade my graphics card due to the nvidias poor perfromance in other games. I went for an ATI Radeon 9600XT 256mb AGP card. In every other game i have there is absolutely no problem, the graphics are silky smooth and miles better than the old fx5200. I hadnt used fs9 for a while, and not since i got the new card, so i was surprised when i tried to play the game yesterday there were some problems.FS2004 loads up ok, however if you close the game and try to run it again, absolutely nothing happens, even though fs9 is shown as running in the process manager. The real problem however, is that there is no way i can change any of the graphics settings. Under the display section in settings in fs9, all the sliders for the quality are greyed out, altghough it is still possible to check the checkboxes. The resolution is stuck at 800x600 also, as the space at the top where theere should be the tabs to select hardware options etc, there is nothing, the space is just empty. When you mouse over there is a highlight but it covers the whole box and clicking does nothing.I have downloaded the very latest drivers today and there has been no difference.Any suggestions? Thanks for your help.((edit) i can provide a screenshot of the display settings screen if you like)

Try deleteing the FS9.cfg (move it to a safe place if you've made any personal tweaks to it) and then go into the sim to reconfigure the settings.Greg

OK, noob question of the day, where is fs9.cfg? Its not in my root fs9 directory, and theres no mathces at all when i search my entire hard disc for it. I get the feeling this may be a cause for concern. Appologies for the general amatureness of this!{EDIT} sorry, found it, googled it and found where it was, should have done that before posting really shouldnt i!

Well i removed fs9.cfg as you said, but no joy, still getting the uncooperative display screen.Ive attached a screenshot

Might be time to start fresh. First, see my post #12 in this thread to check your Device Manager for hidden devices: http://forums.avsim.net/dcboard.php?az=sho...g_id=2504&page= Specifically, make sure the old nVidia video card isn't hiding there. Next, use the Windows Add/Remove to remove the current ATI drivers. Then use Drivercleaner Pro ] to thoroughly clean the registry of any left over nVidia and[/b ATI drivers. Follow the Readme to the letter and it will clean your system. Then reboot and reinstall the ATI drivers before a final reboot. Finally, go back and delete the FS9.cfg again before heading into the sim to allow it to rebuild the cfg file.Greg

Well before i went for the big driver reinstall, i decided to try a completely fresh install of fs2004. I wiped the game and removed all the add-ons i previously had installed - a completely fresh start. Unfortuenately the same thing has happened, although after looking round the menus, the issue of not being able to move sliders is accorss the board - on everything from AI traffic to volume, the sliders wont budge. Could this be a problem other than my gfx card?

I had a go at what you said anyway, followed the readme to the letter, everything went well although its not made any difference to the menu 'lock-up'

Unfortunately simply removing FS9 through Windows often leaves alot behind. Since your other games are working fine I suspect FS is looking for your old video card and simply blanking out all the menus when it can't see it. You might try again uninstalling the sim, followed by deleting anything left behind on your hard drive and registry assoiated with it. Also, use the search function in XP to find any related files the sim installs outside of it's main folder.You can type "regedit" (without the quotes) in the "Run" window of XP to get into your registry. Then do a search in the registry for "Flight Simulator" and delete any registry entries you find.Good luck,Greg