Loaded out FS2004 last night.......very nice results thus far.

[Guest Bambi]

First off, my system specs:Falcon Northwest Mach VP4 3.06 gig processor1024 megs of DDR RamATI 9800 Pro Video w/3.4 Cat driversSoundblaster Audigy2 80 gig harddrivesSony CD-RomPlextor CD-RMS Precision Pro 2 joystickI did the complete install and it installed with no issues. Installed DX 9.0a off of the CD during the install.Rebooted at the end of the install process and then fired it up.Like most ATI owners, I have the blinking menus when changing screens; a bit annoying but not a show-stopper for me. No doubt a driver type issue.Fired up Create a Flight and did my first flight out of Meigs after maxing out the settings to see what I would get in frame-rates. I've kept the frame-rate locked at 20. Really like the new graphical look of FS2004 at dusk which is the time of day that I departed Meigs. Frame-rates were in the high teens.Ended that flight and fired one up from O'Hare at mid-day. Taking off I got frame-rates around 10-13 rolling down the runway. Much better rates once I was airborne, high teens. Jumped from the outside to the VC and the rates were 19-20 most of the time. I did notice when going outside the aircraft, that rates remained at 20 until I moved the viewpoint to include the background horizon. If I moved the viewpoint to where the plane was centered in the screen and no horizon in the background, solid frame-rate of 20. Had the view distance set to 70 miles in the options and I was flying at 8900 feet with not much cloud cover.Haven't really experimented with the settings to find that one sweet spot but on my machine, the horizon in the background or foreground of the screen, drops the framerates down to 10 or so. Don't know if there's a way around this as I spend a lot of time outside the cockpit gawking at the sites.Really appreciate everyone who has taken the time to relate their tips/tweaks here.Looks like this one is keeper for me.Bambi out.