I know this has been discussed before but I am still having a problem. I've dloaded and installed the file that create a Cold & Dark environment however, when I select a default aircraft, it comes up running either the engines or APU (I believe). I'm thinking it has something to do with the operating system (Vista 64) - don't really know. I've been running flightsim since monochrome green/yellow display and have a little experience with all version of M$ flightsim (owned every one), but, this has me stomped. Any suggestions?WilbertAbit AW9D-MaxThermaltake W0106 700W PSUIntel QX6700 QuadcoreVista Ultimate 644x1G Ballistix Tracer (PC2 8000)2x150GB SATA WD Raptor - Non Raid2x320GB SATA WD SE16 - Non Raid2x IDE Light-On DVDRW 165H65BFG 8800GTX OC2 768MB 626MHz Core Clock3x SILENX 120X25MM FANS + 2x 10in XCLIO Wind Tunnel Case FansDanger Den Water CoolingEnermax temp/fan controller

Simply create a Free flight the way you want it to be by default (location, time of day, aircraft, weather, etc. etc.), start the flight, turn everything off so the cockpit is cold and dark and when everything is exactly as you like it, save the flight: at the save dialogue be sure to enable the 'Save this flight as default option' (or something like that). From then on when you startup FSX this flight will be loaded, meaning that the Free flight screen will show you your aircraft of choice, location, weather, etc. etc. And when you start the flight (even if you've selected another plane) the cockpit will be cold and dark.

Thanks for the reply. The procedure you described is how I've always done in the past (which worked). What I discovered is that the sounds I heard when firing up FSX and sitting at the 2D/3D cockpit was not coming from the aircraft. It was coming from outside airport environment. Once I go to outside view and back to cockpit, the sound was faint (as it should be). It appears to be more of a sound/view association problem. I discovered that if I started up at a small/no activity airport, everything worked as expected. Maybe others that might be experiencing Cold & Dark problem might not have considered that the sound is coming from the surrounding environment and not from the aircraft. Since I'm using the sound drivers that Vista 64 installed or the way that Vista setup FSX, I'll have to live with this until a solution is resolved, which I for now, can live with.Wilbert