Video problems in FS2004

[Guest papatango]

I was wondering if anyone else is having similar problems with FS2004. They seem to be related to video card issues. I have an Athlon 2700+, 512 mb RAM, and a GeForce Ti 4400 128 MB video card, and am running XP.First I downloaded the 44.67 drivers from http://www.guru3d.com. I think that this driver is only required for FX cards, but I installed them anyway. Even though Microsoft says you need these drivers for FX cards, they are not yet available at NVidia's site. Maybe they will be by Tuesday.I was able to get past the splash screen once. Then after that, the splash screen would load, but then go away. The process fs9.exe just disappeared from Task Manager.I went back to the 44.03 drivers from NVidia. This seemed to do the trick. But now, I get flickers on all of the scenery. Then after I viewed my flight profile, I keep getting flickers of the dialog box as well. Only when I move my mouse over it, the dialog flickers and briefly appears.I never had video issues with FS2002. I have seen other posts where people with ATI cards were also seeing screen flickers. I hope that this is only a temporary driver issue. If anyone has not experienced these problems, what version of NVidia drivers are you using?Thanks.

[Guest jcomm]

I am affraid my reply will not contribute directly to solve your problem, because although not to such an extent, I have also experienced stutter, and "white" aircraft selection menu screens after installing NVidia 44.03.My question is (running Win XP Professional + SP1 on a P4@2GHz, 640MBRAM and GainWard Geeforce 4 Ti4200 128MB):1) I have installed DirectX 9.0b from MS site, and I had NVidia 29.42 installed;2) I installed fs9;3) I installed NVidia 44.03 and got weird behaviour from fs9, and while better display in IL-2 also more stuttering there from time to time.... so.... I reverted back to my good old NVidia 29.42!!!But!!!! What should be installed/upgraded first: DirectX or the NVidia drivers? Whenever I upgrade DirectX, should I also upgrade NVIdia drivers? What should go first????Thx in advance for your contributions...

[Guest papatango]

I have DirectX 9.0b installed. I don't think that you can remove it once you put it on. I had it installed before I upgraded to 44.67. I don't think that DirectX and NVidia drivers share any of the same files, so the order should not matter,I just got a BSOD (Blue Screen of Death) on XP! I have not seen that yet with any software. I had reinstalled 44.67, and thought things were running fine, when right in the middle of flying I got a BSOD.Either it was FS2004, or those NVidia drivers. I may try 29.42 as well. I did find that boosting the Anisotropic Filtering got rid of the shimmers. Only at 4x did thems seem acceptable, but it was killing my frame rates.PapaTango

[Guest jcomm]

Thx PapaTango for your comments!Hope your sort out your problems too!!! Mine were solved (again...) with those old 29.42 drivers...

[Guest SoarPics]

"What should be installed/upgraded first: DirectX or the NVidia drivers? Whenever I upgrade DirectX, should I also upgrade NVIdia drivers? What should go first????"Install the drivers first, then DirectX.

[JerryG 1]

Yep -I've NEVER got the BSOD in XP before until I used FS3004.However - Chris Willis has been helpful and after reading afew threads, we discovered for --some-- NVidia drivers andgraphics cards, you can get missing panels and evena BSOD.Please read these 2 threads -http://forums.avsim.com/dcboard.php?az=sho...26302&mode=fullhttp://forums.avsim.com/dcboard.php?az=sho...25943&mode=fullThey should help. The bottom line (until NVidia releasesa new driver) is stay away from AA (anti-aliasing). WhenI set this to 2x - I got the BSOD.However, using the workaround in the posts I made to thosethreads above will give you all the panels and still allowyou to use AA in either windowed or full-screen mode.Hope this helps ...JerryG

[Guest papatango]

I did not know that there were already threads on this. I will definitely check them out. I was going to revert back to previous drivers to find something stable. I see in the threads exactly the same behavior: BSOD and screens blanking out.ThanksPapaTango

[duckbilled 310]

"I keep getting flickers of the dialog box as well. Only when I move my mouse over it, the dialog flickers and briefly appears."Yes. I am having the exact same problem. I tried changing drivers after fs installed directx 9 but the problem existed before I uninstalled fs. I am currently using the 44.67's. Right now I have fs2004 uninstalled because I added some aircraft and I could not get it to go past the splash screen. I figured I would start from scratch and add ac one by one. All I had installed were Meljet v1 777, FFX 737's, PAI, FSP, Aardvark and UT. Here are my specs. It looks like we might have some similaritesWindows XP Home FS2002 ProAsus p4g8xD p4 3gb 2*512mb micron pc21002*80 gb western digital 7200rpm 8mb cache - raid 0Leadtek gf4-ti4600

[Guest]

Is anybody getting flickering clouds? Mine seem to flicker at a distance for some odd reason. I have installed the latest 45.20 drivers but that didn't fix the problem.AMD 1800XP512 MB RAMGeForce3 Ti200Andy

[Guest papatango]

The problem is with setting the Antialiasing. It basically does not quite work yet. You should turn it off within fs2004. If you want to use it (I do because it makes distant objects sharper), you have to turn it on outside of fs2004. You can do it through Display Properties | Settings | Advanced | GeForce 4 | Performance & Quality. I get the best results using Quincunx Antialiasing. I get the best picture with the least framerate hit.Here is the bug though: If using 44.67 drivers, I and several others get the dreaded Blue Screen Of Death when choosing any menu item. If using 45.20 drivers, you merely do not see a portion of the screen, like the Create A Flight screen. All you see is the picture of the airplane. And you see the screen flicker when moving your cursor.So what I use is the 45.20 drivers. I set my Antialiasing to Quincunx. When I lose the screen, I just turn off Antialiasing momentarily to see the screen. When I go back to flying, I turn back on Antialiasing.It is a pain, but that is all we can do until they update their drivers. The sim though is definitely worth the temporary inconvenience!Hope that helps out.PapaTangoAthlon XP 2700+512mb RAMGeForce 4 Ti 4400 128mb

[Guest aeroworx]

Hi all,Wish I could help, I am running a GeForce4 Ti4200 with the 44.03 drivers from Nvidia, Anti-aliasing set at 2 and Anisotropic Filtering at 2. I have disabled Antialiasing in FS2004.I've had no problems so far and get good framerates. I've logged about 25 hours and FS2004 is running fine. No funnies here.For the Nvidia users: Could this perhaps be a driver issue? Just sharing my thoughts, as I have seen quite good comments in the Hardware Forum on the 44.03 drivers from Nvidia, and they work fine for me.CheersHenning| P4 2.0 GIG | Epox 4G4A Motherboard | 1 GIG RAM | Gainward GeForce4 Ti4200 128MB with 44.03 Nvidia drivers | 80 GIG IBM Deskstar 7200 | Sound Blaster Live! |"You know that you are low and slow when you get a bird strike from behind..."

[W2DR 1,859]

Just to add to what Henning has said, I ran FS2004 for about 20 hours on a Ti4200 with the 44.10's and never had a problem. No matter how I set the AA and AF it ran just fine. No stragne problems anywhere. It could well be a driver-specific issue.Doug

[JerryG 1]

Well -I started with teh 44.03 drivers and had problems mentioned in thesethreads -http://forums.avsim.com/dcboard.php?az=sho...26302&mode=fullhttp://forums.avsim.com/dcboard.php?az=sho...25943&mode=fullI installed the 44.67 (BETA) drivers - the official ones are not out until this week - and same problems.So, it depends on your exact video card, etc. ...JerryG