Two problems

[Guest]

Overall FS2004 is a great improvement over 2002 even if no simulator shattering new features were added. In FS2002 the frame rates would take a sizeable hit with the autogen scenery turned up and when ever there were too many AI aircraft on screen. This no longer happens. I just purchased an NVIDIA GeForce FX 5600 video card with 250 MB memory and I get great frame rates (in the 30s) even with many of the graphics turned up. VFR flying is a pure thrill with a single exception. The 3D clouds take the frame rates down to single digits whenever they are on screen. I turned off AA within FS2004 and messed with all the sliders but the best I can get is about 12-14 FPS with few scattered clouds and the 3D turned all the way off (and then the clouds look horrible). Right now I just use the "simple clouds" which are a step back, even worse than FS 2000 and before. Although the sim is still playable with the 3D clouds on, it is very annoying like if you got used to using a broadband internet connection and suddenly had to go back to dial up.This is a great dissapointment to me especially considering my system (Pentium 4, 2.4 GHz, 512 RAM, and the above video card). In addition none of the 2D panels show up. I just get a black area of the screen where the panel should be. I have read about this bug that may be a result of some video cards but I have not heard about a definate fix. I restored all the driver defaults and even downloaded the new drivers from NVIDIA but this only made things worse (the entire screen would turn black when ever I toggled on the menu bar). Right now I only use the 3D panels so this has not been a major problem.Are these problems related to my video card? Are they bugs? Has anyone been able to get better performance out of the 3D clouds? Any advice would be appreciated. - Thanks.