KnowledgeBase Archive

An Archive of Early Microsoft KnowledgeBase Articles

View on GitHub

Article: Q309638
Product(s): Microsoft Home Games
Version(s): 
Operating System(s): 
Keyword(s): kbimu
Last Modified: 16-AUG-2002

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The information in this article applies to:

- Microsoft Flight Simulator 2002 
- Microsoft Flight Simulator 2002 Professional Edition 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY
=======

This article provides a summary of video-related issues that you may experience
in Microsoft Flight Simulator 2002.

MORE INFORMATION
================

The following video cards and chip sets have known video-related issues in
Flight Simulator. By updating your drivers from the video-card manufacturer, you
may resolve some of these issues.

ATI
---

To download updated ATI video drivers, browse to the following ATI Technologies
Web site:Q309638

  http://www.ati.com/na/pages/na_index.html
  (http://www.ati.com/na/pages/na_index.html)

  ATI Radeon

  Retail drivers for Microsoft Windows 98 Second Edition (SE): Flights may
  launch to a black screen when you use higher screen resolutions. You can fix
  this issue by installing the latest drivers.
  Scenery and spot plane appears to have blue tint or tone.

  ATI Rage Fury Maxx

  Retail drivers for Windows 98 SE: When you attempt to display drop-down menus
  by pressing the ALT key, this does not always work. You can fix this issue by
  installing the latest drivers.

  ATI Xpert 2000 Pro

  The latest drivers for Windows 98 SE: You may experience texture corruption
  when you use higher screen resolutions.

  ATI Rage Fury Pro

  All drivers for all operating systems: Textures may become corrupted, with
  lines appearing on the screen.

  ATI Xpert98

  Both the retail and latest driver versions for Windows 98 SE: The sky textures
  may be visible through the terrain in certain locations.

  ATI Mobility 128 AGP 4X

  Hitachi retail drivers for Microsoft Windows Millennium Edition (Me): The
  Japanese version of Flight Simulator 2002 may restart or cause the program to
  stop responding (hang).

  ATI Mobility M4

  Garbled or no Text with in the game and Main menus. This can also include the
  ATC window and any pop-up option windows.

  NOTE: This chipset is used in Laptop computers. ATI does not provide drivers
  for this chipset. Please check with the computer manufacture to see if they
  have a newer driver available.

  ATI Rage Mobility

  Unable to adjust visibility, always set to infinite (so no fog, clouds, etc.
  available).

  ATI Fire Gl2, ATI Fire Gl3, ATI Fire Gl3

  Unable to start Flight Simulator. These video cards do not provide DirectX
  support needed to run Flight Simulator.

  ATI Rage 128 Chipset

  To change the Local Weather settings to higher cloud densities and lower
  visibility, follow these steps:

  Windows 98

  You must have ATI Driver Version 4.13.01.7192 or newer installed. If you do
  not, download the latest drivers from:

  http://www.ati.com

  You must have DirectX version 8.1 installed. To download the latest version of
  DirectX, visit the following Microsoft Web site:

  http://www.microsoft.com/directx

  After you download and install both of the updates, change the following
  setting:

  1. Right-click on your desktop, and then select Properties.

  2. On the Settings tab, click Advanced.

  3. On the Direct 3D tab, clear the Table Fog Support option.

  4. Click Apply, and then click OK twice.

  Windows 2000 and Windows XP

  In Windows 2000, you must have ATI Driver Version 5.13.01.3279 or newer
  installed. In Windows XP, you must have ATI Driver Version 6.13.3279.0000 or
  newer installed. To download the latest drivers, visit the following ATI Web
  site:

  http://www.ati.com

  You must have DirectX version 8.1. To download the latest version of DirectX,
  visit the following Microsoft Web site:

  http://www.microsoft.com/directx

  After you download and install both of the updates, change the following
  setting:

  1. Right-click on your desktop, and then select Properties.

  2. On the Settings tab, click Advanced.

  3. On the Direct 3D tab, clear the Table Fog Support option.

  4. Click Apply, and then click OK twice.

  ATI Radeon 8500 and ATI Rage 128 Ultra:

  You may experience flashing textures during game play. To resolve this issue,
  download the latest drivers. To do so, visit the following ATI Web site:

  http://www.atitech.com

  If the issue continues to occur, to work around it, reduce the Z-Buffer Bit
  Depths setting:

  1. Click Start, point to Settings, and then click Control Panel.

  2. Double-click the Display icon.

  3. On the Settings tab, click Advanced.

  4. Click the Direct 3D tab.

  5. Reduce the Supported Z-buffer bit depths to 16.

  6. Click Apply.

Diamond
-------

To download updated drivers for Diamond, browse to the following Diamond Web
site:

  http://www.diamondmm.com (http://www.diamondmm.com)

  Diamond Speedstar

  Aircraft skins may be displayed as chrome when viewed up close.

  Diamond Speedstar A90

  Shadow textures on some aircraft may become corrupted.

  Diamond Viper II Z200

  Reference S3 Savage 2000 drivers for Windows 98 SE: Flight Simulator may stop
  responding (hang) when you use higher screen resolutions. You may be able to
  resolve this issue by installing the latest drivers.

  Diamond Stealth III S540

  The latest drivers for Windows 98: Evidence of texture swapping and corruption
  may be visible on the aircraft.

  Diamond Viper II Z-200

  The retail, the latest, and the reference drivers for all operating systems:
  Auto-generated trees may be visible through the aircraft. Virtual cockpit
  textures may be corrupted.

3dfx
----

Updating the drivers may help with the following issues:

- After installing product, the computer may hang on restart. Updating the
  video card drivers helped with this issue.

- Aircraft may have no textures or colors. Updating the drivers may help with
  this issue.

To download updated 3dfx video drivers, visit the following 3dfx Web site:

  http://www.3dfx.com (http://www.3dfx.com)

  Voodoo 3

  Retail drivers for Windows 98 SE: Aircraft instrument panels may flicker on
  and off when you use higher screen resolutions. Also, water detail textures
  are not visible when you use this card.

  Voodoo Banshee

  Also applies to Creative Labs video adapter that use Banshee chipset.

  To resolve this issue, download and install the latest version of the
  reference driver for Voodoo Banshee-based video adapters. To do so, visit the
  following 3dfx Web site:

  http://www.3dfxgamers.com

  To work around this issue, disable hardware acceleration in Flight Simulator
  2000 and Flight Simulator 2002:

  1. Start Flight Simulator 2000 and Flight Simulator 2002, and then click Fly
  Now!.

  2. On the Options menu, point to Settings, and then click Display.

  3. On the Hardware tab, click to clear the "Enable hardware acceleration" check
  box, and then click the green check mark.


Elsa
----

To download updated Elsa video drivers, visit the following Elsa Web site:

  http://www.elsa.com (http://www.elsa.com)

  Elsa Erazor III

  Retail drivers for Windows 2000: Flight Simulator runs only in
  software-rendering mode. This generally causes slower performance.

  Elsa Erazor III Pro

  All drivers for Windows 98 SE: Black specks may appear on the terrain when the
  Water Reflections option is selected in the Display Settings dialog box.

  ELSA Gladiac 511

  Windows 98: You may experience texture corruption. To resolve this issue,
  download the latest drivers from the Elsa Web site.

Matrox
------

To download updated Matrox video drivers, visit the following Matrox Web site:

  http://www.matrox.com (http://www.matrox.com)

  Matrox Marvel G-400

  Both the retail and the latest available drivers for Windows 98 SE: Texture
  corruption may occur when you select the Antialiasing option in the Display
  Settings dialog box. Additionally, you may experience visible flickering on
  the windshield and doors of the Cessna 182S and the Boeing 777 in this
  configuration.

NVIDIA
------

To download updated NVIDIA video drivers, browse to the following NVIDIA Web
site:

  http://www.nvidia.com (http://www.nvidia.com)

  NVIDIA drivers

  Windows 2000: The computer may restart (crash) when you change the resolution
  in the Display Settings dialog box. To resolve this issue, download updated
  drivers from the NVIDIA Web site.

  Windows Me: The computer may stop responding (hang) when you change views
  while flying in the float plane.

  Windows XP, Windows 2000, Windows 98: The computer may restart in Safe Mode
  after installing the program.

  Geforce 4 Ti (4200, 4400)

  When you play Microsoft Flight Simulator 2002 on a Microsoft Windows
  2000-based computer with Service Pack 3 installed, the game menus will not
  appear by pressing the ALT key on your keyboard. To work around this issue,
  disable antialiasing. To do this:

  1. Click Start, point to Settings, and then click Control Panel.

  2. Double-click Display.

  3. On the Settings tab, click Advanced.

  4. on the GeForce tab, click Additional Properties, click the Geforce 4 tab, and
  then click 3D Antialiasing Settings.

  5. Click to select the "Manually select the antialiasing mode" option, and then
  select the "Off (no antialiasing)" option.

  NOTE: If the card is already set to "Manually select the antialiasing mode",
  click to select the "Allow applications to control the antialiasing mode"
  option, and then test the game.

  6. Click OK, click OK, and then click OK again.


Contact Your Video Adapter Manufacturer
---------------------------------------

For information about how to contact your video card manufacturer, click the
appropriate article number in the following list to view the article in the
Microsoft Knowledge Base:

  Q65416 Hardware and Software Third-Party Vendor Contact List, A-K

  Q60781 Hardware and Software Third-Party Vendor Contact List, L-P

  Q60782 Hardware and Software Third-Party Vendor Contact List, Q-Z

To identify the manufacturer and model of your video adapter, follow these
steps:

1. Click Start, point to Settings, and then click Control Panel.

2. Double-click System.

3. If you are using a Microsoft Windows 95-based or a Microsoft Windows 98-based
  computer, click the Device Manager tab.

  -or-

  If you are using a Microsoft Windows 2000-based computer or Windows XP, click
  the Hardware tab, and then click Device Manager.

4. Click the plus sign (+) next to Display adapters to expand the branch.

5. Note the manufacturer and model of your video adapter, and then click OK.

6. Close all open windows on the desktop.

NOTE: Reference drivers are drivers that are released by the manufacturers of
specific video chip sets. Retail drivers are drivers that are released by the
manufacturer of a video adapter or sound card that use a specific chip set.

Microsoft provides third-party contact information to help you find technical
support. This contact information may change without notice. Microsoft does not
guarantee the accuracy of this third-party contact information.

The third-party products that are discussed in this article are manufactured by
companies that are independent of Microsoft. Microsoft makes no warranty,
implied or otherwise, regarding the performance or reliability of these
products.

Additional query words: msgame fs2002

======================================================================
Keywords          : kbimu 
Technology        : kbGamesSearch kbFlightSimSearch kbFlightSim2002 kbFlightSim2002Pro kbSimSearch
Version           : :
Issue type        : kbinfo

=============================================================================

THE INFORMATION PROVIDED IN THE MICROSOFT KNOWLEDGE BASE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND. MICROSOFT DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. IN NO EVENT SHALL MICROSOFT CORPORATION OR ITS SUPPLIERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGES WHATSOEVER INCLUDING DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, LOSS OF BUSINESS PROFITS OR SPECIAL DAMAGES, EVEN IF MICROSOFT CORPORATION OR ITS SUPPLIERS HAVE BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. SOME STATES DO NOT ALLOW THE EXCLUSION OR LIMITATION OF LIABILITY FOR CONSEQUENTIAL OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES SO THE FOREGOING LIMITATION MAY NOT APPLY.

Copyright Microsoft Corporation 1986-2002.