Guys - what all of you are describing is missing or subsituted effects in your effects folder. This is caused sometimes by uninstalling an add-on. It sometimes uninstalls other files you need. Or the add-on may purposely replace an effect file with it's own. This is common with smoke effects and lights particularly.My best recommendation would be to do a 'repair' install from your original FSX disks. This should put back the missing files and fix the problems for you. Hope that helps.

It is really annoying since this just appeared like over night! I didn

I actually tried a repair from the disk, and it went through fine. However the problem was still there

A repair will reinstall missing files only. Which means if you installed an addon that replaced an original file, a repair install would not install the original file because a file with that file name already exists.

Billster,I have the X1300 AGP video card. Had to roll back after I tried other Catalyst drivers out there. The driver exe I have came from Guru3d (dot) com, and is: '8-12_XP32_dd_ccc_WDM_enu_72271 (Guru3d.com).exe'. Driver in contol panel/System/DeviceMgr/Hardware/Display Adapter then 'Properties', then 'Driver' tab will show 'Driver=8.351.0.0' ('for X1300/X1500 Series'. Just in case you want to try 'good' drivers for your ('our'?) card. Yeah my 'Radeon' is as old as the moon, too. I get 24 fps with FSX so that card is no slouch (kicks butt). It works fine so I am keeping it until something snaps, and then I will build my own Core 2 Duo system (which is overdue upgrade for me, but can't fix it, if it ain't broke-money is no object, but I AM frugal (ok, 'el cheapo'-haha). Black smoke is ok, but square smoke is NOT ok (hehe). Oh, I trust Guru3d, where I might not trust ANY other site out there for drivers. Cheers.Chuck BNapamule

Well, I checked my files in the effects/texture folder. And while all files in the effects folder were accounted for, almost all files in the texture folder were missing. God knows why! So, I went ahead and installed fsx on my second pc and copied the textures back to my original installation and now everything is fine again. This really is a difficult solution and only applies for people who have a second pc and don

Since installing the contrails from the REX group I get the same thing. I tried replacing with the default contrails and I still get the same thing, so I put the REX contrails back in, now my contrails are normal and my wingtip contrails are black. Great.

Can anyone send me a copy of a working contrails file? I have the same problem, and I don't know how to replace the existing one with the default one.. .thank you... [email protected]

Ok I replaced my Effects with a new copy my friend sent me and now it works just fine. Thanks for the help.Kevin Beugger

You could send me a copy of those files, I am presenting the same contrails problems ... thank you ... [email protected]

Can anyone send me a copy of a working contrails file? I have the same problem, and I don't know how to replace the existing one with the default one..thank [email protected]'

Can you send me the files too? [email protected] you

I am not really sure how this happened but for some reason there's black smoke effects and contrails and they show up black with squares as if my engine was on fire or something. Is this something wrong with my graphics card. I haven't changed my settings but this started happening. Thanks for the help.Kevin Beugger

I also have just discovered this same problem. But I even have little pink parachutes floating past the aircraft at a fixed altitude. I must have installed an addon that changed this effect(s) . What is the effects name that controls this situation and where is the contrails (free) link for the REX version. I looked at the site and couldn't find it anywhere. I don;;t think its my graphics card unless its the latest drivers from nVidia. Using all of Nicks settings and FPS Monitor and get good frames... See attachment. I have no other problems that I know of..Thanks for any help.....fisheyeMy Specs are;2.40 gigahertz Intel Core 2 Duo3328 Megabytes Installed MemoryWindows XP Professional 32bit Service Pack 3NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTS [Display adapter]NET Framework 3.5 SP1

I also have just discovered this same problem. But I even have little pink parachutes floating past the aircraft at a fixed altitude. I must have installed an addon that changed this effect(s) . What is the effects name that controls this situation and where is the contrails (free) link for the REX version. I looked at the site and couldn't find it anywhere. I don;;t think its my graphics card unless its the latest drivers from nVidia. Using all of Nicks settings and FPS Monitor and get good frames... See attachment. I have no other problems that I know of..Thanks for any help.....fisheyeMy Specs are;2.40 gigahertz Intel Core 2 Duo3328 Megabytes Installed MemoryWindows XP Professional 32bit Service Pack 3NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTS [Display adapter]NET Framework 3.5 SP1

After searching my .fx files I found the contrail.fx file. After clicking on the edit and looking inside the file I saw a reference to REX. I must have installed this a long time ago and forgot. I had made a backup of the original files and reinstalled for the fix. However the little pink parachutes are still there but only half as many. Do you think that they are a Microsoft Easter Egg that no one has reported. It happens only at an altitude of exactly 32,800ft I would like to know if any one else sees these. See screen shot attached. By the way, the files in question are, fx_contrail_l.fx and fx_contrail_s.fx If you look inside the file with notepad and they are the REX contrails you will see this reference line; (Texture=fx_rex_contrail2.bmp) and (Texture=fx_rex_contrail.bmp) Under [ParticleAttributes.3] and [ParticleAttributes.4] hope this helps someone...fisheye

After searching my .fx files I found the contrail.fx file. After clicking on the edit and looking inside the file I saw a reference to REX. I must have installed this a long time ago and forgot. I had made a backup of the original files and reinstalled for the fix. However the little pink parachutes are still there but only half as many. Do you think that they are a Microsoft Easter Egg that no one has reported. It happens only at an altitude of exactly 32,800ft I would like to know if any one else sees these. See screen shot attached. By the way, the files in question are, fx_contrail_l.fx and fx_contrail_s.fx If you look inside the file with notepad and they are the REX contrails you will see this reference line; (Texture=fx_rex_contrail2.bmp) and (Texture=fx_rex_contrail.bmp) Under [ParticleAttributes.3] and [ParticleAttributes.4] hope this helps someone...fisheye

Dear Fisheye:I have the same problem, but without the eggs... Is possible to sent me, via email, those two files: fx_contrail_l.fx and fx_contrail_s.fx... regrettably in my case, don't backup... thank you in advance.All the best of the holiday season to you and family,Alberto. ([email protected])

Dear Fisheye:I have the same problem, but without the eggs... Is possible to sent me, via email, those two files: fx_contrail_l.fx and fx_contrail_s.fx... regrettably in my case, don't backup... thank you in advance.All the best of the holiday season to you and family,Alberto. ([email protected])

A word: THANKS !!!!!! Alberto.-

I had the same thing. A great bunch of effects where missing. I could restore them and the effects are fine now.

Hey guys,Since I installed GEX Europe all my effect files are black:( The texture subfolder in the effects folder is gone. No idea how and why that happened (some secret silly copy protection