Microsoft Knowledge Base Wiki

This article describes the known graphics issues that you may
experience when you play Microsoft Combat Flight Simulator
3: Battle for Europe.

In this article

The following list describes known graphics issues that you
may experience in Combat Flight Simulator 3.

General graphics issues

Download and install the Combat Flight Simulator 3 update

The Combat Flight Simulator 3 update addresses many video issues.
To download the update, visit the following Microsoft Web site:

Video drivers that are not supported

When you start Combat Flight Simulator 3, you may receive one of
the following error messages:

To resolve this issue, first make sure that:

• Your video adapter has 16 megabytes (MB) of
  memory.
• You have the latest video drivers installed.

Step 1: Verify that your video adapter meets the minimum system requirements

1. Click Start, click Run,
   type dxdiag in the Open box, and then
   click OK.
2. In the DirectX Diagnostic dialog box,
   click the Display or Display 1
   tab.
3. In the Device pane, note the value next to
   Approx. Total Memory, and then click
   Exit.
4. If you have less than 16 MB of video memory installed on
   your video adapter, install additional video memory on your video adapter or
   install a video adapter that has more video memory.

Step 2: Update video card drivers

Contact the manufacturer of your video adapter for information
about how to obtain and install the latest version of the video driver for your
video adapter. You may also visit the following Microsoft Windows Update Web
site to see if applicable driver updates are available:For information about how to contact the manufacturer of your
video adapter, see the “Vendor Contact Information” section of this article. To
identify the name and manufacturer of your video adapter:

1. Click Start, click Run,
   type dxdiag in the Open box, and then
   click OK.
2. Click the Display tab.
3. Under Device, look for
   Name and Manufacturer.
4. Click Exit.

• Graphics corruption if your screen resolution setting or your color depth setting is too high

  If you select a screen resolution setting or a color
  depth setting for your video adapter that requires more memory than your
  adapter supports, graphics may not appear as expected. For example, this
  corruption may occur if the video adapter on your computer is based on the
  NVIDIA chipset and you configure your display to use a 1600 × 1200 screen
  resolution and a 32-bit color setting. Symptoms of graphics corruption include
  the following:

  • Terrain objects lose their coloring if you bail out of
    an aircraft.
  • Graphics on your aircraft or on the ground are missing
    or garbled.

  To resolve this issue, reduce the screen resolution setting
  or the color depth setting, or both.

• Graphics and sound corruption if you use high image quality levels

  The game’s audio, video, or both may not work as
  expected if you use an image quality level that is too high for your video
  card. The game may also provide low frame rates. To resolve these issues,
  reduce the level of the Image Quality setting in the game.

• Dialog box corruption

  If you change the screen resolution settings during the
  game, text may not appear as expected in some dialog boxes. To resolve this
  issue, close the dialog box, and then reopen it.

• Poor performance

  If user interface components of the game do not perform
  as expected, quit the game, and then turn off pre-flight animations. Note that
  if you do this, you cannot preview the aircraft before you fly. To turn off
  pre-flight animations, follow these steps:

  1. Start Notepad. To do this, click
     Start, point to All Programs, point to
     Accessories, and then click
     Notepad.
  2. On the File menu, click
     Open.
  3. In the Files of type box, click
     All Files.
  4. In the Look in box, locate and then
     double-click the C:Program FilesMicrosoft GamesCombat Flight
     Simulator 3 folder, click Game.xml, and then click
     Open.

     Note By default, Game.xml is located in the C:Program FilesMicrosoft
     GamesCombat Flight Simulator 3 folder. Depending on where you install Combat
     Flight Simulator 3, this file may be in a different location on your hard disk.

  5. Locate the following entry in Game.xml:

     ShowUIWorld=”true”

  6. Modify the entry to the following:

     ShowUIWorld=”false”

  7. On the File menu, click
     Save.
• Corrupted HUD gauges

  Some video adapters (for example, the S3 ProSavage video
  card) require textures that have square dimensions. You may experience graphic
  corruption in HUD gauges because the textures of HUD gauges are not necessarily
  square.

• Flickering clouds or other graphic anomalies

  If clouds flicker or if some items on the screen appear
  in front of other items instead of behind them, you can turn on the
  High Resolution Z-buffer option and turn off the
  Dual-Pass Rendering option. To do this, follow these steps.

  Note To do this, use the CFS3 Configuration program. The preset Combat
  Flight Simulator 3 configuration is designed for maximum compatibility with
  video cards. Changing individual settings in the configuration is not supported
  and may cause your computer to stop responding (hang), or may cause other
  problems. If this occurs, use the Default Settings command to restore your configuration to its original state.

  1. Click Start, point to All
     Programs, point to Microsoft Games, point to
     Combat Flight Simulator 3, and then click Run
     CFS3Config.
  2. On the File menu, click Custom
     Settings.

     When you are prompted to confirm that you want to
     change your settings, click Yes.

  3. On the Window menu, click
     Overrides.
  4. Click to clear the Dual Pass Render
     check box, click to select the High Resolution Z-buffer check
     box, and then click OK.

  If your computer stops responding after you change these
  settings or if changing these settings causes other problems, restore the CFS3
  Configuration program to use the default settings. To do this, follow these
  steps:

  1. Click Start, point to All
     Programs, point to Microsoft Games, and then click
     CFS3 Configuration.
  2. On the File menu, click
     Default Settings.
• In-game animations

  Certain animations, such as propeller spin, may not
  work if you are in a gunner position and use the external view.

• Microsoft Windows 2000 drivers

  Some video drivers that are designed for use with
  Windows 2000 (especially those drivers that are also designed for use with
  Microsoft Windows NT version 4.0) do not support DirectX 8.0. As a result,
  these video drivers do not work with Combat Flight Simulator 3. To resolve this
  issue, download the latest drivers for your video card that are compatible with
  Windows 2000. For more information about how to do this, contact your video
  card manufacturer.

• “Error in CFS3CONFIG.EXE”

  When you start CFS, you may receive an error message
  that is similar to the following:

  cfs3config has caused an
  error in CFS3CONFIG.EXE. cfs3config will now close.

  Restarting the
  computer will clear this condition, but if it the problem recurs, you must
  install the latest drivers.

Hardware-specific video issues

• 3DFX Voodoo 3 Series video cards

  If your computer uses one of these video adapters, rain
  and snow effects do not appear. Smoke may also look square.

• 3DFX Voodoo 4 4500 video cards

  If your computer uses one of these video adapters,
  Combat Flight Simulator 3 may provide low frame rates. To resolve this issue,
  set the level of the Cloud Detail option to 1.

  Additionally, you may see odd patterns (for example, expanded,
  striped, or concrete patterns) on air bases if you fly low. To work around this
  issue, use the CFS3 Configuration program to turn off composite textures.
  Notice that if you do so, the overall appearance of the terrain is poor.

• 3DFX Voodoo 5 5500 video cards

  If your Windows 2000-based computer uses one of these
  video adapters, discontinuous bands may appear across the screen. To work
  around this issue, use the 3DFx control panel to disable the second chip. For
  more information about how to do this, see the program documentation, or
  contact your video card manufacturer.

  Additionally, the graphics may
  not appear as expected if you try to use a 32-bit color setting. To work around
  this issue, reduce your screen resolution, or use a 16-bit color setting.
  
  

• ATI All-In-Wonder 128

  If your computer uses this video adapter, small
  triangles may appear on the Combat Flight Simulator 3 screen.

• ATI Rage Fury Maxx

  If your Windows 98 Second Edition-based computer uses
  this video adapter, some objects that are on the ground may flash as you fly
  over them.

• Mobility Radeon 9000

  If the computer uses this video card, Combat Flight
  Simulator 3: Battle for Europe may play at too high a speed. To resolve this issue, download
  and install the latest video drivers.

• ATI Radeon 9700 Pro
  

  Issue 1

  When you play Combat Flight Simulator 3, the game may
  stop responding (“hang”) and you may receive the following error message:

  The video drivers on this system are not
  supported.

  To resolve this problem, download and install the latest
  video drivers from the following ATI Web site:If the problem continues, install version 6.14.10.6378 of the ATI
  Radeon 9700 video drivers from the following ATI Web site:
  

  Issue 2

  If you are running the game on Microsoft Windows
  Millennium Edition (Me) with the ATI Radeon 9700, visit the following Microsoft
  Web site to download and install the latest Combat Flight Simulator 3 update:

• ATI Radeon 7200

  If your computer uses this video adapter, the screen
  may have a black border on the top of the screen that is about 1 inch tall, and
  you may not see the bottom of the screen. To resolve this issue download and
  install the latest video drivers.

• ATI Rage 128 Ultra
  • When you try to install the latest drivers for ATI or
    the Rage 128 Pro video cards, the drivers do not install correctly. The drivers
    may install if you click to clear the Block Unsupported Drivers check box, but
    doing so may cause more serious issues with the game.
  • When you try to start Combat Flight Simulator 3, you
    may receive the following error message:

    The video
    drivers installed on this system are not supported. CFS3 can not run with this
    configuration. Contact your video card manufacturer for information on
    upgrading to a new version.

    To resolve this issue, visit the following
    ATI Web site to download and install the latest Powered by ATI reference Rage
    128 PRO drivers:If the issue continues to occur, turn off AGP Texture Acceleration, and then turn on. To do this, follow these steps:

    1. Click Start, click
       Run, type dxdiag in the
       Open box, and then click OK.
    2. Click the Display tab.
    3. Under DirectX Features, next to
       AGP Texture Acceleration, click
       Disable.
    4. When you receive the following warning message,
       click OK:

       This will disable AGP
       (Acceleration Graphics Port) for all display devices on your system that
       support it.

    5. Next to AGP Texture Acceleration,
       click Enable.
    6. Click Exit, and then start the
       game.
• Matrox G400, G450, and G550

  If your Windows XP-based computer or your Windows
  2000-based computer uses one of these video adapters, aircraft, buildings, and
  terrain lose their coloring and are drawn all in white. To resolve this issue,
  set the level of the Image Quality option to 1 in the
  Display Options dialog box.

  Additionally, if you
  change the color quality or screen resolution settings during the game, colors
  may not appear as expected. To resolve this issue, quit Combat Flight Simulator
  3, and then restart it.

• NVIDIA nForce motherboards

  If your computer uses this one of these motherboards,
  Combat Flight Simulator 3 may stop responding (hang). To work around this
  issue, upgrade the nForce motherboard drivers to the latest versions.

  f your NVIDIA nForce motherboard has a video card in addition to the
  on-board video, your computer may stop responding (hang). To work around this
  issue, use the nForce basic input/output system (BIOS) to turn off the on-board
  video.

  For more information about how to do this, see the
  documentation that is included with your hardware, or contact NVIDIA.

• NVIDIA Vanta TNT cards

  If your computer uses one of these video adapters, and
  you have the latest reference drivers installed, the target cone may not change
  color.

• NVIDIA GeForce 4 TI4600 cards

  If your computer one of these video adapters, you may
  experience display issues when you run Combat Flight Simulator 3 in Safe mode.
  To resolve this issue, increase the setting of the Image
  Quality option.

• NVIDIA GeForce2 MX/MX 400

  If your computer uses this video adapter, you may
  receive the following error message:

  The configuration
  override file is out of date.

  To resolve this issue, download and
  install the latest video drivers.

• NVIDIA GeForce3 Ti200

  If your computer uses this video adapter, you may
  receive the following error message:

  The video drivers
  installed on this system are not supported.

  To resolve this issue,
  download and install the latest video drivers.

• S3 Savage 4 Chipset video cards

  If your Windows XP-based computer, your Windows
  Millennium Edition-based computer, or your Windows 98-based computer uses a
  video card that is based on this chipset, you can run Combat Flight Simulator 3
  only in Safe mode (with reduced graphics). If your Windows 2000-based computer
  uses a video card that is based on this chipset, you cannot run Combat Flight
  Simulator 3.

• S3 ProSavage Chipset video cards
  

  Issue 1

  If your computer uses one of these video adapters, you may or may
  not see smoke through the propeller blades.
  

  Issue 2

  If the S3 Graphics ProSavage DDR is installed in your computer,
  you may hear no sound during game play. You may also receive the following
  error message:

  CFS3 is running with reduced visual quality
  because of out of date driver or unsupported hardware.

  This behavior
  occurs because S3 video adapter drivers are not compatible with the game.
  Combat Flight Simulator 3 detects incompatible video drivers and sets the game
  to run in Safe Mode. Safe Mode disables sound in the game. You may be able to
  resolve this issue by downloading the latest video drivers. Visit the following
  S3 Graphics Web site to download and install the latest drivers for your video
  adapter: If updating to the latest video adapter drivers did not resolve
  the issue, upgrade your video adapter. If you do not want to obtain and install
  a new video adapter, return the product for a refund. For information about the
  Microsoft Satisfaction Guarantee, visit the following Microsoft Web site: To enable the sound in the game, follow these steps:

  1. Quit Combat Flight Simulator.
  2. Click Start, point to All
     Programs, point to Microsoft Games, point to
     Combat Flight Simulator 3, and then click Run
     CFS3Config.
  3. In the CFS3 Configuration dialog box,
     on the File menu, click Custom Settings.
     Click OK to acknowledge the warning message.
  4. On the Window menu, click
     Overrides.
  5. Clear the Disable Sound check
     box.
  6. Click OK to close the
     Parameter Editor for Overrides dialog box.
  7. In the CFS3 Configuration dialog box, on the
     File menu, click Exit.

  Intel 845 or Intel(R) Extreme Graphics (Chipsets: 82845 and 82830)

  When you start Combat Flight Simulator, you may receive
  the following error message:

  Your video card does not meet
  the minimum requirements or is unsupported. CFS3 can not run with this
  configuration

  To try to resolve this problem, install the Combat
  Flight Simulator 3 Update. To download and install the update, visit the
  following Microsoft Web site:Intel 82865G

  When you start the game, you may recieve the following
  error message:

  Windows – System Error (X) Microsoft
  Windows detected and recovered from a device failure. Please save your work and
  reboot to restore full functionality.

  To resolve this issue, download
  and install the latest drivers. If the issue continues to occur, adjust the
  game graphics quality.

  To download the latest video card drivers,
  visit the following web site:

  Adjust the game quality

  1. Run CFS3Config.
  2. In the CFS3 Configuration window, on the
     File menu, click Custom settings.
  3. Click OK if you receive the following
     warning message:

     Changing your setting could cause CFS3
     to behave erratically, including locking up your machine. Are you sure you want
     to change your settings?

  4. In the Parameter Editor for Image quality window, move
     the Overall graphics Detail slider all the way to the
     left.
  5. Click OK, and then quit
     CFS3Config.
  6. Test the game.
• PowerVR Kyro-based cards

  If your computer uses one of these video adapters, you
  cannot use the high-detail (composite) terrain feature. If you turn on this
  feature, the graphics in the game do not appear as expected.

• Power VR Kyro 2

  If your computer uses this video adapter, you may
  receive the following error message:

  Microsoft Windows
  detected and recovered from a device failure. Save your work and reboot to
  restore full functionality.

  To resolve this issue, download and
  install the latest drivers. If this does not resolve the issue, start the game
  with Safest Settings. To do this:

  1. Click Start.
  2. Point to All Programs, point to
     Microsoft Games, point to Combat Flight Simulator
     3, and then click Run CFSConfig.
  3. Click File, and then click
     Safest Settings.

Other

• AOpen 3d Navigator PA700 Pro 32MB (Chipset S3 Savage 4 Pro)

  If your computer uses this video adapter, you may
  receive the following error message:

  The configuration
  override file is out of date.

  To resolve this issue, download and
  install the latest video drivers.

• Asus V7700

  If your computer uses this video adapter, you may
  receive error message:

  The configuration override file is
  out of date

  To resolve this issue, download and install the latest
  video drivers.

• 3d Prophet 4000

  If your computer uses this video adapter, the game may
  stop responding (hang). To resolve this issue, download and install the latest
  video drivers.

• Trident Cyber Aladin

  The menus do not appear. To resolve this issue, use the
  CFS3Config utility to start the game with the Safest Settings:

  1. Click Start.
  2. Point to All Programs, point to
     Microsoft Games, point to Combat Flight Simulator
     3, and then click Run CFSConfig.
  3. Click File, and then click
     Safest Settings.
• Retail drivers and video adapters

  If your computer uses one of the following video
  adapters and you use the retail drivers that are included with the adapters,
  you may experience graphics issues. To resolve these issues, update to the
  latest reference drivers that are available from the chipset manufacturer. The
  following table lists the video adapters and the recommended
  resolutions:

  Collapse this tableExpand this table

  Video adapter	Recommended resolution
  ASUS V7700 (GeForce 2) (Windows 98)	Download the latest NVIDIA reference drivers from the following NVIDIA Web site: http://www.nvidia.com/page/home (http://www.nvidia.com/page/home)
  Guillemot Maxi Gamer Cougar	Download the latest NVIDIA reference drivers from the following NVIDIA Web site: http://www.nvidia.com/page/home (http://www.nvidia.com/page/home)
  Hercules 3D Prophet (GeForce 256)	Download the latest NVIDIA reference drivers from the following NVIDIA Web site: http://www.nvidia.com/page/home (http://www.nvidia.com/page/home)
  Hercules 3D Prophet II MX (GeForce 2 MX)	Download the latest NVIDIA reference drivers from the following NVIDIA Web site: http://www.nvidia.com/page/home (http://www.nvidia.com/page/home)
  Hercules 3D Prophet II GTS (GeForce 2 GTS)	Download the latest NVIDIA reference drivers from the following NVIDIA Web site: http://www.nvidia.com/page/home (http://www.nvidia.com/page/home)
  Hercules 3D Prophet II GTS Pro (GeForce 2 GTS Pro)	Download the latest NVIDIA reference drivers from the following NVIDIA Web site: http://www.nvidia.com/page/home (http://www.nvidia.com/page/home)
  Hercules 3D Prophet 4000XT (Kyro)	Download the latest PowerVR reference drivers from the following PowerVR Web site: http://www.powervr.com (http://www.powervr.com)
  Hercules 3D Prophet 4000XT (Kyro)	Download the latest PowerVR reference drivers from the following PowerVR Web site: http://www.powervr.com (http://www.powervr.com)
  Hercules 3D Prophet 4500XT (Kyro II)	Download the latest PowerVR reference drivers from the following PowerVR Web site: http://www.powervr.com (http://www.powervr.com)

Vendor contact information

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:

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 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.

For more information about Microsoft games, visit the following
Microsoft Web site:

Article ID: 331562 – Last Review: August 7, 2012 – Revision: 1.0