Works perfectly here on a P3 600. In fact with this system I'm only just becoming able to run the game smoothly at 1024x768 with "everything on" (I've owned the game since 1995 and been through several system upgrades over the years).

Since you're using 98SE I'd advise using full DOS mode if you can. The game will run in Windows but it's a bit lumpy. Indeed there was a special Windows DirectX version released but it ran more slowly than the DOS code.

FU is fussy about VESA compatibility. On my GeForce it will Page Fault unless I run two little utilities coded by Rob Muller (UniRefresh's author). These are vesa12.com, which I understand is functionally equivalent to the noLFB program that's used for other games. And 6bitdac.com which adjusts the colour availability for the game and fixes a brightness issue.

I'm not sure about your ATI card but I'd presume it's VESA 3 compatible. If you're not running a utility to compromise this then that's why you're getting the crash.

Good info you've given there. I'll investigate further later. Could you zip up and attach the 6bitdac.com program, please?

UniRefresh's web site has recently vanished. Although UniRefresh can be found on other sites I don't know about Rob Muller's other files.

Anyway here's a link to the 6bitdac file -
http://www.procerus.btinternet.co.uk/6bitdac.zip

Rob actually wrote this one blind in that he didn't own a copy of the game and coded it by guessing from what I told him of the symptoms. I had found that since installing my GeForce2 I couldn't run FU anymore. Since it was a favourite game I contacted Rob about it and he produced these two files just to fix it!

You only need 6bitdac if, after running the vesa12 or noLFB program, you find the game is really dark. It works in a similar manner to the other programs though. It reports that the graphics card is unable to support 8 bit colour so the game then runs in 6bit. I can't see a difference myself but there's bound to be some degradation. I just like it bright when I'm high up in the Grob glider over France!

Here's vesa12.com too -
http://www.procerus.btinternet.co.uk/vesa12.zip
for those that want it.

Hope this gets the game working. Applying the 2.4 game patch won't do any harm either although none of the fixes in it are really stability related.

FU remains my all time favourite flight sim despite having owned many others. It's just so refreshingly simple and direct. The planes seem to have a responsiveness that's often lacking in other sims. It's a great game for unwinding after a long day...

Alternate host for 6bitdac.zip and vesa12.zip is now here:
Re: VESA Fix Utility Listing (for old video cards)