Hi after posting some graphic problems earlier and having poor frame rates i kept on tweaking my video card Ti4200 gf4 128 mg, i would get lots of improvements but allways something would go wrong graphically, ie, plane textures white no colour and on and on. Then suddenly just before the last time i gave up b4 the colour went dry i heard a strange sound coming from my blaster live audio card. I then started to wonder even with the latest drivers, if it was the sound card all along causing the problems. Guess what?! i disabled the Blaster card and reverted to the onboard card nforce audio and i now love this sim, not that i would ever doubt that it wouldn't be the best add on. My frames are a constant 20 and the sim is as smooth as a well you know what i mean, and i have tested over long flights hours last few days no crashes!!!! try it it may be your answer also.I hope this helps, it may not be every answer to all probs but i like many would have thought it was the video card causing all the problems.

What soundblaster card do you have? Is it the 5.1 Live!? I know that when i had dreadful sound AND graphics problems, i updated the sound cards drivers, but the sim never seemed to be the same - it seemed to have stutters here and there, even though the FPS were always 20+. I might check this out and give it a go...!

That is interesting Rob.I understand the NForce on-board audio is quite good and I have read that others are having problems with the SoundBlaster cards.It is of interest to me because I have on-board sound (not NForce) and have sound problems with the flying lessons and ATC and was thinking I would have to buy a sound card to cure them.Tell me, if you the built-in ATC do the voices sound OK all the way through the flight? If you do not use ATC can you try on of the flying lessons for me, say the Student Solo flight and let me know if Rod's voice sounds as like a chipmunk or as if the tape recorder is running too slow?Thanks

:-hmmm Something else for me to try to get FS9 to work right. I have a Sound Blaster 5.1 Live! and have all kinds of frame rate and stutter problems. I'll have to disable it and try my onboard sound chip (Intel).Steve

I'd be interested to hear how that goes Steve, I have a SB Live too. Got a Gigabyte mobo with AC97 sound, not so sure about that one.Hornit

I have an ASUS P4PE Mother Board with a Analog Devices SoundMax on board sound chip. If I am in Windowed mode in FS2004, I notice a 3 fps increase when I "Q" sound off. However if I am in Full Screen mode (Alt+Enter), the fps count doesn't change when I press "Q" sound off or "Q" sound on.When I disabled the SoundMax entry in Device Manager, the computer started using the MB beep sound, FS2004 was as you might expect without sound, and even in windowed mode pressing "Q" had no effect. (Pressing Q has no effect in Full Screen mode either, no surprise there.)I conclude my FPS performance in FS2004 would NOT benefit from an external sound card since I nearly always fly in Full Screen mode.SoundMAX Integrated Audio Properties in Device Manager shows version 5.12.1.3520 dated 9/6/2002.Larry JonesFlorence, MT

Hi, "the fps count doesn't change when I press "Q" sound off or "Q" sound on." SoundMAX Integrated Audio Mine too, I have the P4P800 8x Board from Asus, With the SoundMAX Integrated Audio, Q or not Q, not single frame rate decrease in full screen.I have still not bought the Audigy II full 24 bits, I will able to make comparaison.ThanksChris Willis[link:fsw.simflight.com/FSWMenuFsSim.html]Clouds And Addons For MsFs

I am running a Sound Blaster Live! What I found for sound is to turn the sound acceleration down to Basic and set the sound quality to low in FS, doing this for me gives me better frames and now when I turn the sound on or off the frames dont change but this sounds just as good as it did when everything was set to high, I do not have a 5.1 Card nor do I have a 5.1 setup, I am running with a 2.1 setup.

sorry it has taken soo long to reply, i have been unwell, however yes it is a 5.1 sblaster live edition card and i swear that i have done continuous testing with new and old drivers, and fs 2004 is still running beautifully.:*

Just for the record, the Audigy II is OK fine with FS9. Frames are about 3-5 more on average vs onboard RealTek AC97 5.1 sound.Noel

G'day..I had all sorts of problems and foud it was because FS 2004 was loaded in F drive ..As soon as I loaded it into C drive it worked great..Athlon 2200 ,MSI ultra 333 pc2700 1gig , 128 meg Grandmar ati vid card ..Greg ..

I have used KX Project Drivers on my Soundblaster Live! Value 1024 card for some time and they work very well for me. They completely replace the Creative drivers. Create a system restore point before you install them and you can always revert if you don't like them.http://kxproject.spb.ru/index.php?skip=1Allcott