This is my first post but I have been a long time reader of Avsim and user of FS, right back to Flight Simulator II although I never bought the FS for Windows 95 version. So, hence, I eagerly await every new release and am always pleased to see the new options that Microsoft have bestowed upon us.I have a very mediocre system compared to some users here, but so far, I have been very impressed with what I've seen (got it on release day in NZ last Thursday). One thing that has stood out for me is the virtual cockpits. Up to now, I've never used them, but this version has blown me away! I am now a VC convertee! Well done MS.I have not tried any of the tweaks yet, but have managed to figure a few things out for myself which has helped me anyway. However, one thing I'm having a problem with is the sky at night. It looks all layered in various gradients of blue, from darkest blue right above the plane, brightening in layers closer to the horizon. You can clearly see the layers. I have not been able to figure out how to change this to just a clear type of sky (no extra blue layers). I have Global textures = Very High and Scenery Complexity = Very Dense. Bilinear Filtering and with Anti-Aliasing = Off.Has anyone else seen this or been able to find a fix for it? Hope someone understands what I'm getting at. It may be just down to my vid card which is a ATI Radeon 9600 Pro 256MB.Thanks for any help.Shug.

my guess is its the graphics card, i dont think i have seen this

Hi Shug, the first thing that comes to my mind is: the display isn't set to 32 bits color, but 16? Either in XP display conf. or in FSX display setting.Regards, Gerrit

Shug,Make sure that your card quality is set to the highest. I remember having problems with an ATI card in the past that were solved by making sure the performance tab was set to high quality.That will also let you have color set to 32bit color.Hope you get it sorted out.Regards,Den

>Hi Shug, the first thing that comes to my mind is: the>display isn't set to 32 bits color, but 16? Either in XP>display conf. or in FSX display setting.Yes, I think that somehow he gets 16 bits only.Michael J.

Thanks to everyone for the tips. I got home and checked my card tonight and found that somehow it had indeed been set back to 16 bit. Soon changed that and voila!, sky looks very much improved.Cheers,Shug