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Article ID: 925722 - Last Review: April 17, 2009 - Revision: 3.1

The known graphics-related issues that you may experience when you play Flight Simulator X

View products that this article applies to.

INTRODUCTION

This article describes the known graphics-related issues that you may experience when you play Microsoft Flight Simulator X.

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If you are experiencing graphics issues, a black (blank) screen, or slow performance in Flight Simulator X, download and then install the latest video card driver.

The video card lets you see graphics on the screen. A driver is a piece of software that enables the operating system (Microsoft Windows) to communicate with the hardware in the computer. A driver acts as a translator between your hardware and the operating system. The latest driver for your video card can enable more efficient use of your video card features to improve the performance of the game. Generally companies release their drivers regularly for the cards to keep up the pace with the ever-changing software technologies.

To download and install the latest drivers, contact the computer or video hardware manufacturer. See the "References" section for more information about how to contact the video hardware or computer manufacturer. To see whether applicable driver updates are available for download, visit the following Microsoft Windows Update Web site:

http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com (http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com)

To view a video presentation about how to install the latest video card drivers from the Windows Update Web site, see the "Additional information" section.

To identify the name and the manufacturer of the video adapter, follow these steps on a computer that is running Microsoft Windows 98 or Microsoft Windows XP:

Click Start, click Run, type dxdiag, and then click OK.
Click the Display tab.
Under Device, look for Name and Manufacturer.
Click Exit.

To identify the name and the manufacturer of the video adapter, follow these steps on a computer that is running Windows Vista:

Open the Direct X Diagnostic Tool. To do this, click Start
Collapse this imageExpand this image
, type dxdiag in the Start Search box, and then click dxdiag.exe in the Programs list.
Click the Display tab.
Under Device, look for Name and Manufacturer.
Click Exit.

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Graphics hardware error messages

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Error Message

Resolution

The drivers currently installed for your video card may cause your computer to stop responding when Flight Simulator is running. Click Yes to search for newer drivers, or No to continue.

To resolve this issue, contact your graphics hardware manufacturer to obtain and install the latest version of the driver for your graphics hardware. For information about how to contact your hardware manufacturer, see the "References" section. To see whether applicable driver updates are available, visit the following Windows Update Web site:

http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com (http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com)

For information about how to download the latest drivers by using the Windows Update Web site, see the "Additional information" section.

Flight Simulator is not working with your video card. Verify that you have the latest video card drivers installed for your video card. Flight Simulator will now exit.

This issue may occur if one of the following conditions is true:

Your video card does not meet the minimum system requirements for Flight Simulator X.
Flight Simulator X cannot correctly initialize DirectDraw or Direct3D to display the game.
The DirectX installation is corrupted.

To resolve this issue, use one or more of the following methods:

Determine whether the graphics adapter on the computer has 32 megabytes (MB) or more of memory. To do this on a computer that is running Windows 98 or Windows XP, follow these steps:
1. Click Start, click Run, type dxdiag, and then click OK.
2. Click the Display tab.
3. Under Device, verify that the Approx. Total Memory value is 32 MB or more.
To do this on a computer that is running Windows Vista, follow these steps:
1. Open the Direct X Diagnostic Tool. To do this, click Start
  Collapse this imageExpand this image
  , type dxdiag in the Start Search box, and then click dxdiag.exe in the Programs list.
2. Click the Display tab.
3. Under Device, verify that the Approx. Total Memory value is 32 MB or more.
The graphics adapter must have 32 MB of memory for Flight Simulator X to work correctly. If the graphics adapter does not have 32 MB of memory, you must upgrade the graphics hardware to run Flight Simulator X. For information about how to contact the hardware manufacturer, see the "References" section.

Note The graphics memory value that appears in the DirectX Diagnostics Tool may be slightly less than the actual total because the DirectX Diagnostics Tool uses some of the graphics memory.
Turn on the Direct3D Acceleration feature in the Microsoft DirectX feature. To do this on a computer that is running Windows 98 or Windows XP, follow these steps:
1. Click Start, click Run, type dxdiag, and then click OK.
2. Click the Display tab.
3. Next to Direct3D Acceleration, click Enable, and then click Exit.
  Note Windows Vista automatically enables Direct 3D acceleration, if it is supported by the display device and driver.
  To learn how to turn on the Direct 3D Acceleration feature, click Play to view this streaming media demonstration:
Install the latest version of DirectX on the computer. To download and to install the latest version of DirectX, visit the following Microsoft Web site:
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/directx/default.mspx (http://www.microsoft.com/windows/directx/default.mspx)

If the issue continues to occur, you must perform troubleshooting steps to identify the actual cause of the issue. For more information about how to troubleshoot this issue, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

191660 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/191660/ ) Games: The DirectDraw option or the Direct3D option is unavailable when you start games for Windows

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General graphics issues

Portable computer displays in full-screen mode

The display cards on some portable computers may let you select a resolution that is larger than the LCD device can support. In these cases the view may be truncated when you run Flight Simulator in full-screen mode. To see the full-screen image, either reduce the resolution or use windowed mode (press ALT+ENTER). Driver updates do not resolve this issue.

Press ALT+TAB

Pressing ALT+TAB to switch between Flight Simulator X and another program minimizes Flight Simulator X to the task bar. In some instances, Flight Simulator X may not restore to the desktop or take a long time to restore. To enable the correct behavior, exit Flight Simulator X, and then restart the computer.

Visual Experience with AMD processors

The initial visual experience on a computer that has an AMD processor may be lower than expected. To improve the visual experience, follow these steps.

Note Adjusting these settings may affect performance.

On the main menu, click Settings.
Click Customize.
Move the Global slider on one or more tabs to the right.

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Hardware-specific graphics issues

ATI

On computers that use an ATI video card, you may experience the following issues:

Use of the ATI Radeon X1800 CrossFire Edition video card may cause the screen to flicker or to appear black.
The game runs slowly.
A fatal error occurs when you start the game. The error message indicates the following information:
Problem signature
Problem Event Name: APPCRASH
Application Name: fsx.exe
Application Version: 10.0.61637.0
Application Timestamp: 46fadb14
Fault Module Name: atiumdag.dll
Fault Module Version: 7.14.10.523
Fault Module Timestamp: 46c10882
Exception Code: c0000005
Exception Offset: 0004e060
OS Version: 6.0.6001.2.1.0.768.3
Locale ID: 1033

To resolve these issues, visit the following ATI Technologies Inc. Web site to download the latest driver for your specific video card:

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

NVIDIA

To download NVIDIA video cards, visit the following NVIDIA Corporation Web site:

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

When you use NVIDIA video cards, you may experience the following issues:

Fireworks have defined, square borders and appear blocky when you use the NVIDIA GeForce2 video card. This issue occurs with all driver versions.
De Havilland Beaver windows appear opaque in spot plane view on computers that use NVIDIA GeForce2 video cards.
Dolphins may not appear in Missions on computers that use GeForce2 GTS or GeForce2 Pro 32 MB video cards.

NVIDIA MX 4000, NVIDIA MX 440, NVIDIA MX 420, NVIDIA MX 400, NVIDIA MX 100, and NVIDIA MX 200

When you play Flight Simulator X, the game performance is slow or choppy. To resolve this issue, try updating the drivers. To do this, visit the following NVIDIA Web site:

http://www.nvidia.com/page/home.html (http://www.nvidia.com/page/home.html)

If the issue continues to occur, reduce the game settings to a minimum. To do this, start the game, click Settings, and then click Reset Defaults. If the issue continues to occur, try reducing the settings options on the Setting screen all the way to the left.

S3 UniChrome

On computers that are using the VIA S3 UniCrome video cards, you may experience the following issues:

Special effects (fireworks, fire, and so on) do not display correctly on computers that use S3 UniChrome video cards.
The game runs slow
Error when you start the game "Invalid hardware drive detected, flight simulator will not work with your video card verify that you have latest video card driver installed, Flight simulator will now exit"

To resolve these issues, download the latest drivers. To do this, visit the following S3 Graphics Co., Ltd Web site:

http://www.s3graphics.com/en/drivers/index.aspx (http://www.s3graphics.com/en/drivers/index.aspx)

If the issues continue to occur, upgrade the video card that is installed on the computer. For more information, see the "Additional information" and "References" sections.

S3 Deltachromes

If you experience issues when you use the S3 Deltachromes video card, try to update the drivers. If the issue continues to occur, you may have to upgrade the video card.

Intel 945, Intel 815, Intel 915, and Intel 845

If you experience slow performance when you use one of the following Intel video cards, set all the game options to Defaults:

Intel 945
Intel 815
Intel 915
Intel 845

To do this, start the game, click Settings, and then click Reset Defaults. If the issue continues to occur, try reducing the settings options on the Setting screen all the way to the left. If the problem continues to occur, you may have to upgrade the video card. This issue occurs because of the video card drivers. See the "Additional information" section for more information about how to upgrade your video card.

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Additional information

For more information about how to update your graphics adapter drivers by using the Windows Update Web site, click Play to view this streaming media presentation:
For more information about how to upgrade your graphics hardware, visit the following Microsoft Web site:

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/moviemaker/expert/dunn_03august11_vc.mspx (http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/moviemaker/expert/dunn_03august11_vc.mspx)

Additionally, you can view and compare features and prices of different video cards. To do this, visit the following Microsoft Web site:

http://windowsmarketplace.com (http://windowsmarketplace.com)

After you open this Web site, type graphics adapter in the Search box, and then press ENTER.

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

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REFERENCES

For information about how to contact a graphics hardware or software manufacturer, click the appropriate article number in the following list to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

65416 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/65416/ ) Hardware and software vendor contact information, A-K

60781 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/60781/ ) Hardware and software vendor contact information, L-P

60782 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/60782/ ) Hardware and software vendor contact information, Q-Z

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.

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