I've just installed the recently released "AMD dual core optimiser". Task Manager indicates that sometimes the two cores are under load while fs9 is running. Fs9 runs fine and I can't say I've noticed any change in performance one way or another.The problem I have is that the window that displays the aircraft you choose to fly doesn't! It remains black all the time.I'm picking this one will be hard to fix apart from uninstalling the optimiser.Anyone have any ideas?Thanks

Uninstalling the AMD utility doesn't cure the problem. I can select and change any of the aircraft in FS9 in the usual way but none of them are displayed in the bottom pane.They load and you can fly them but you can't see them as you select them.

I have expierenced the *Blacked Out Preview Window* also...In my case it 's an nVidia Driver issue...Setting the AA to 4x or lower cures it...I think this is a common cause for the blacked out preview window...Just a thought...Have Fun!!

Chuck thank you very much!You were dead right. I had installed a new driver before the AMD utility.I can only get the preview pane to show when AA is set to application controlled.Without your help I would never have guessed that that was the problem.Thanks again,Clive

>Chuck thank you very much!>>You were dead right. I had installed a new driver before the>AMD utility.>>I can only get the preview pane to show when AA is set to>application controlled.>CliveMy understanding is that you DO NOT want your AA to be application controlled...it's best set in the driver settings. What driver version are you running? What video card do you have?On my system (7800GT, 84.xx driver), I set AA in the driver settings at 4x and I don't have any problems. However, with some older drivers I did get the "black window in a/c selection".Rhett

RhettYes that was my understanding too that AA should be set in the driver but with the latest driver (91.31) it's not possible. Any setting other than "application controlled" produces the black preview pane. Maybe I will set it in the driver anyway and trade-off the convenience of the preview window for better AA.My card is a Geforce 6600 GT. I've had a look at the Nvidia Forceware forum and there are endless problems with Nvidia drivers. Some much worse than the problem I had so I guess I must count myself lucky.Thanks for your replyClive

"Any setting other than "application controlled" produces the black preview pane."Huh...Now I have never heard of that...The *Normal* complaint is that AA in the 8x mode will cause the blacked out preview window...Typically dropping AA to 4x will cure it...I'm of the opinion..Whatever works for You and Your Perticular System is the way you ought to set it up...However...I'm curious on this one though...Mainly because this is a fairly common complaint and is typically solved by dropping AA down to 4x or less...(BTW..I use to use application controlled settings myself..Contrary to the masses..It provided the best results for my system at that time...So nothing is cast in stone...Whatever works for you!!)Are you using the "Classic Control Panel"?? or the New Control Panel?? Have you spent much time tweeking in the control panel in the past?? (ie: are you really familiar with it...or kinda new to it??)I am using the Classic Control Panel as that is where I feel comfortable..personally...I have just started messing around with the New Control Panel...I just wanted to get the new drivers up and running in familiar territory...Then I'll take the time to "Learn" the New CP at my lesiure... I'd like to make a suggestion..You can do as you wish...But I am going to provide a link below to a guide which I follow when doing a driver swap...It is written by a good guy on another forum...I use it regularly...I have read nVidia's recommended driver procedure...I just feel more comfortable using this method...It works well for me...You can read through it and decide for yourself...Here is the Link:http://forums.flightsim.com/dc/dcboard.php..._id=17587&page=I just wonder if something may be conflicting between an older driver install and your 91.31 install...My swap to the 91.31's was pretty much un-eventful...I just don't understand why you would have this "Odd Problem" and I would not...I know stranger things have happened...May be just the way it is...I realize we have different cards...I just though it may be worth a shot??One other thought is...Are you using the "Factory" nVidia Forceware Drivers...Or some Tweeked versions...I may consider using the factory drivers and see if your "Issue" persists...Then you may try out some tweeked drivers to see if there is any performance difference...I like to start off with "Factory" variants first an get a baseline...Then check out some Tweeked Drivers if I feel the need..Lately I have wound up sticking with the Factory 90.xx variants...I havn't had much luck with any of the Tweeked Versions thusfar...Again...Just my Opinions!!*I posted this(Below) in another thread...I thought I may copy it here since your talking about driver issues..he he:*I know everyone will get different results depending on your system...However I use the following settings with pretty darn good results in FS9...I'm familiar the "Horriable Shimmering" you all are referring to...You may wish to give this a shot and see if it helps you out?? You may have to tweek more from here:Currently using nVidia 91.31 Forceware Drivers...(I have used these same settings for several previous driver variants with decent results also)...I set my FS9 profile up with these settings...I only use FS9...Not sure how these settings will effect any other game...>Anti Aliasing: 8x (4x if you don't like the *Blacked Out* Aircraft Preview Window..A very slight shimmering increase compared to 8x..)>Anisotropic Filtering: 16x>Image Settings: Quality>Vertical Sync: On <------------Switch to OFF>Force Mip Maps: <------------Switch to Trilinear>Conformant Texture Clamp: On>Trilinear Optimisation: Off <--------------ON>Anisotropic Mip Filter Optimisation: Off <--------ON>Anisotropic Sample Optimization: Off>Gamma Correct AA: On>Transparency AA: Supersampling (found this made a huge>differences to autogen trees and chainlink fences)>Triple Buffering: Off>-ve LOD Bias: ClampHave run these settings on BFG 6800Ultra OC, XFX 7800GTX Overclocked and XFX 7950GX2 xTreme...Thanks psolk!!Have Fun!!

Chuck,Thanks for the very detailed advice. I'm using the new Nvidia control panel. Some of the settings you are using worked on my set up and some didn't. I guess Gamma AA and Transparency AA are not supported on the 6600 GT.If I set AA x4 in the Flight sim 2004 profile the black preview pane appears but if AA x4 is set in global and global AA is set in the fs9 profile then no black pane.I think tweaking these settings for me should be more accurately called fiddling because honestly I haven't a clue what most of them do. :-)Conformant Texture Clamp: I bet that one would stump most flight simmers. :-)But having said that fs9 is running pretty well now - just a bit of shimmering confined to small areas. Frame rates are good and the scenery looks great.Thanks again for all your help.Clive