>I take it your KSEA-KSFO flight wasn't done at night using>the default 737-800 VC. The gauges cannot be read unless>you turn on the panel lights....I agree, this is a huge black mark against FSX. Why they couldn't supply something so basic as self-illuminated gauges is beyond me. This has been a standard feature in many add-on aircraft for years. Having to switch on cabin lighting to see the multi-function displays at night is absolutely ridiculous.And yet....Despite this I regard FSX as the best flight sim I have used, by far. There are so many good things in it. Performance could be better on some computers but on my medium to good machine it is very acceptable.I have been using the Horizon VFR scenery for a few weeks now and it demonstrates one huge improvement: unlike FS9 it handles high resolution photo-real textures almost flawlessly. In fact its performance with photo-real appears to be identical to default generic textures. The result is nothing short of spectacular. And the scenery runs as smooth as the proverbial baby's bottom....Best regards, Chris

>Hi,>>What I do not understand is how MSFS9 (and all other programs)>could have been running perfectly fine.>>MSFSX was your only application causing computer lockup>problems.Well, all I can say is, FSX pushes a system to its limits, even more than FS2004 did. FSX is a good burn-in tester if you are overclocking.If your overclock can handle a 4-hour FSX session, it's probably a stable overclock. :)RhettAMD 3700+ (@2530 mhz), eVGA 7800GT 256 (Guru3D 93.71), ASUS A8N-E, PC Power 510 SLI, 2 GB Corsair XMS 3-3-3-8, WD 250 gig 7200 rpm SATA2, CoolerMaster Praetorian

>I take it your KSEA-KSFO flight wasn't done at night using>the default 737-800 VC. The gauges cannot be read unless>you turn on the panel lights however the 2D panel has some>decent night lighting with the panellights off.The "lighting system" in FSX is so completely different from previous sim versions that I've spent (now) over three months trying to sort out all the possibilities, and I'm still not wholly satisfied with the results.With the sole exception of the default C172, none of the other default's are using the "new system" completely, with the results being as you've noted.In FS2k2 and FS9 I was able to make use of an (undocumented - perhaps even unintended?) feature that allowed me to apply "emissive lightmap textures" to the VC gauge polygons, which in turn allowed for infinite control over individual gauge's lighting, both in color, control and intensity... all through the simple use of a paint program, such as Photoshop.That option has now been completely eliminated... However, in all fairness to ACES, I've yet to complete my experimenting with what IS available, so the jury's still out on this issue for the nonce... ;)As for the OP, "Lawndart," you've demonstrated your integrity by having the intestinal fortitude to publicly acknowledge your sloppy computer housekeeping... With much respect... :-beerchug