>own nearby Martin Mars Water Bomber fleet. That's one that I>haven't yet seen in the many aircraft files that are out there>and there's quite a story behind them. There *IS* a Martin Mars for FS. I think the model will be a few years old now, but as I recall it looked pretty good. It was in US Navy colors (dark blue). You can search for the Martin Mars on some of the big Fs sites and you should come across it.Rhett

Thanks Rhett, it's there all right, both in Navy colours and the water bomber version. I was searching under "mars" rather than "martin".Decisions decisions, which one do I get now.

At one time I had the blue navy version and flew it around a little.Not nearly enough. I may have to get it again. They need a Mars water bomber in California right now. Rhett

First of all, welcome to the community. There is so much that flight simulation has to offer as you have discovered. You can be a bush pilot, an airliner captain, an air force top gun, and many other variations without leaving home. About your performance problems your system should be OK depending on which Athlon you are referring to. I ran for years including FS2002 on a PentiumIII 512 Ram 64mb video card and had lots of fun so don't let that stop you from enjoying FS2004. Off course I had to reduce settings and couldn't run be greatest and latest add ons. I've since upgraded to an Athlon 64 3700+ and top video card and most problems have gone away but still some aircraft/scenery/weather conditions tax my system. Some new processors are on the horizon that may just be the answer to our prayers just remember the words "conroe" or "core 2 duo" when you go shopping for your next system.Regards, Carlos

Welcome Les:I am sure you will enjoy many hours flying FS. This flying business is either in your blood or it isn't. For those who have the bug, I don't think we can get enough of it.I would suggest downloading and useing autostart (free). When the sky gets thick with clouds and aircraft, or particularly at a high density airport I am afraid that any system may be brought to its knees. Autostart helps a little bit.To remedy disappearing rivers and/or roads as you mentioned, somewhere along the line you might want to consider adding USA Roads and/or Ultimate Terrain.Happy Flying:RTH1585368CFI

hi Lesyou can also visit vatsim.net and check out how you can get to the next level in realism !:-wave