The product is not perfect, by any means, but I feel it a dramatic improvement visually over the last edition. I am hoping that my main complaints will be resolved with new drivers for my Radeon 9700. So, I won't be telling MS to go to heck either. Colin

Hi colin, I did tell MS where to go , Becuase I have a sim that crshes BEFORE i even get off the runway , I dont even have a chance to see the dramtic improvements.I feel I got ripped off.I have downloaded and installed the 3.6 Catyalist drivers form ATI, And ruined the install for the televisionAl I can say is that if M$ had kept this sim in the the stage that it needed , Then we would have a sim , That;1. Users would not have to upgrade to any patch.2. All A/C would be compatiable with it, What ever downlaods usedAll This needs is more time, I think programers rush things that are not ready to use, Compatiablly,With everythingYes, that means that work needs to be done on this ! but to the user needs to spend more money ?Pilotsim

"I have downloaded and installed the 3.6 Catyalist drivers form ATI, And ruined the install for the television"So, that's MS's fault too?Why don't you return the software and get something you'll be happy with. You obviously expect a great deal from it... much more than any software developer could deliver (third party driver compatibility, complete hardware compatibilty, sim add-ons that work BEFORE the sim is even released, etc.). You're demanding alot that could never be delivered... unless you're willing to pay the price of making it all happen. For the price I paid, it works quite well on my system. And many others feel the same way.

<-- Very satisfied customerIntel Pentium 4 @ 1.7 GHzAbit TH7-II MB512mb RDRAMHercules Prophet GeForce3 64mb w/ Omega's DetonatorFX 44.03 driverSBLive! Platinum soundcardWinXP with SP1 and ALL updates!! (MSBlaster showed how many people dont keep their OS updated... =P )Nothing fancy here, and LOVING FS2004!!I hope contacting MS will help you out though friend. =)

No Greg, I dont think you know what is being said here,And by the way your post reads , You dont care

pilotsim7828, Very satisfied customer, I have nothing to complain about this product, Fs2004 run very well with my system. One thing drive me nut, there is some people with lower end system and try to reports bugs peformance by a lower end system and trow many confusion and non accurate bugs to all simers here, it's completly Ridiculous and Outaded testing. I can't replicate their crap lower end system bugs performance with my system !! Ridiculous Ridiculous!BestEric J

Thanks Rockhopper, And Eric J,I dont think i have a low end system , But maybe those that have one May have better luck with FS9AMD Athlon XP 1800+ ( clocked 2200+) ESC MOBO K7S5A768 SDDR memoryFortissimo III 7.1 Sound CardATI Readeon 9000 Pro Vid Card May seem to me that It`s the Vid card Doing the crashing,Thanks Pilotsim

Hi, "After flight sim 9 loads and your in the cockpit , I start to take off, Berfore rotation, And mind you IM NOT EVEN OFF THE GROUND YET.. It crashes to Desktop. This happens every time .All sliders are at the defualt settingsMy computer specs are;"#1 Try to disable the render to texture.These crash problems can be related to many hardware and configuration things, try to change drivers and see, it may be another things also. Do not run anything in background.-In another test from another game with my freindRunning the latest stars wars, make crash his games with AMD XP1700, 256 MB,MSI motherboard, gforce 3 TI 128 MB, Windows XPHe will not able to run this game even at mid slider, everything to low.Medal of honor require less performance than start wars, he can set his details most to full, no lag, but sometime it crash also.These test have been taked with an brand new installation of Windows XP and all driver updated to date with no corruption.You can see it is difficult to locate the problems if we don't change one by one and test, it's the driver ? it's the motherboard?, chipset? AMD chips?, the Fan ? Gforce3 card 128mb?, not enought ram ? not certified ram to the motherboard ? Board not compatible with some card, non compatible card Voltage with board, Board non compatible with driver etc.There is too many reason why this can happendIn my case, it never crash since I have it and run like a charm.ThanksChris Willis[link:fsw.simflight.com/FSWMenuFsSim.html]Clouds And Addons For MsFs

"AMD Athlon XP 1800+ ( clocked 2200+) ESC MOBO K7S5A"I recall reading at the Rage3D boards a last month ago that some folks were having trouble with the 3.6 drivers on that motherboard. But I can't seem to find that thread now.

Now if only enough people send virusses and worms to Microsoft together with death threats and obscenities maybe they will finally realise that developing a flight simulator is a no-win situation for them and stop.

You know Greg, That might be it, But as far as I know the maker of my board is ECSCan you give me more detail to Rage 3D boards ?pilotsim

I'm using a long list of FS2002 aircraft in FS9, thank you.you're the one with a problem, and that problem is your attitude!Just because you have a grudge against Microsoft doesn't mean we should all have the same. Now go play with your legos.

"I can't replicate their crap lower end system bugs performance with my system !! Ridiculous Ridiculous!"Come on Eric....first I've heard of bugs being attributed to the size of one's wallet. Regardless of system speed, issues are either consistent or they aren't (like the newly formed canyons in the Ozarks--not whining, just an example). I know issues I've reported on tend to be verifiable on high end, as well as low end systems. Doesn't mean there's no fix for them either. One recent issue I reported related to A/C Window reflections is an issue with NEWER video cards, but it can be fixed with a few texture tweaks. IMHO, I haven't tracked any issues which I feel are any worse than those in previous versions. IOTW, the sim will go on with or without a patch, although I always suggest if Microsoft is listening that a patch out of P.R. vs. need contributes to the bottom line and cements fans for the next release.Anyway, It's not really the speed of the system--it's the integrity of the system. People getting CTD's...sorry, that's your problem, not Microsoft's. Why? Because most of us aren't...means we've have something right on our side.Although I bet given the chance, Microsoft would help out getting CTD's resolved. Stutters (i.e. pauses)--again it's something the user has to get a handle on. I may see fps falter, but the only pauses I see are at program startup or airport changes. Then there's always the user that says "It only happens on FS2004". Happens--newer apps will uncover a weakness in a system every time.People also are impatient--they are not allowing others the time to learn and come up with fixes for the things Microsoft shouldn't have to--like third party aircraft, gauges, etc.... There are so many "hacked" graphics driver sets out there, that I wonder if anyone is running on anything that could be called a baseline driver standard.But back to your "crap lower end system" comment.... Kind of out of line, IMHO... And, it seems my lower end system has more airtime than many with the latest and greatest.... I ain't letting it go for all the ice in my freezer... I'll take 15 fps for twelve hours straight flying vs. eleven hours of tweaking for every hour of flight...

My FS2004 runs and looks great. This on my old 1.4 GHZ system using a GF3 card. No problems.Jim

I am quite suprised that this post has had so many replies.Whoops, ok I have added another one.Pilotsim.I think we all may be aware of where the link is to email MS if you are not happy with FS9, so I suggest YOU use it and stop wasting bandwidth on posts which have little benefit to other simmers.It may have been nice to elaborate on what problems you have with it and post your specs as someone else has suggested so someone may be able to assist you.I visit this forum to find out information on interesting topics and there have been some great ones lately, the sim has been out for nearly a month now and some of us are still hacking on about "waste of money" blah, blah, blah.BTW, I figured it out a LONG time ago...