I'm running FSX w/acceleration with a BFG Nvidia GTX 285(I have the latest driver)...for some reason when i threw on flightsim tuesday morning i got this effect...with no changes to any .cfg files...IDK ##### happened...i've deleted my fsx.cfg file, but to no avail, removed my graphics driver then reinstalled...still nothing

I have the same problem we need to get the fx_1 fx_2 fx_3 fx_4.fx files i cant anyware

Would it work to stick in the FSX installation disc and do a repair?

ya i think so

I have the same problem, and Starts upon the update of NVIDA... I was reading other and they say you must replace all the effects folder for another FS folder but makes me crazy. All this things normally ends with a Restore of all FSX and that is really pain full.. I've got My FSX running just fine on my macbook (Bootcamp) and when this things happends. Makes me want to back time and don't update anything.

This is usually caused because of missing texture files for effects. E.g. for contrails, there are fs_contrails.fx files in the FSX\effects folder (and fx_contrails1.fx or so). If you open them in e.g. notepad, there's a reference to a texture file somewhere. If this file is missing, you get no texture but black "placeholders" displayed instead. For vortices, I don't know.Solution: Either get the missing texture files, or install the default files from an FSX installation (e.g. using a backup copy - I personally copied my entire FSX folder to a DVD to have the files at hand should I need them because they were destroyed or messed up somehow, or maybe you can extract them directly from the FSX install DVD (cab files can be opened in the Windows Explorer directly) or by downloading them from the web (Google is your friend), and I think Contrails Pro (a "must have") uses it's own effect files.All in all it can be a little tricky and time consuming to resolve I guess, maybe you can analyze which files aren't found with a utility like filemon (which protocols file accesses) from the Sysinternals tools suite (available at Microsoft's site).As I said, I cannot tell whether this all applies to vortices as well, but I think so.Andreas

Open the folder FSX/Effects/TexturesSee if you can find the files fx_1.bmp and fx_smoke.bmp (date created 26/7/06).These are the texture files used by the contrails and wingtip vortices.You should not be able to view the files as they are DXT5 textures and so not viewable with the usual windows preview tools.