nope spoke to soon, installed latest driver and its lost. Deff nvidia i think maybe something concerning my particular card (dont know) i know when they released an update way back that crimson skies stopped working. Ah well even more reason to get a new card now
did the edit as nebula said, 1280 x 1024 comes with error. However 1440 x 900 works (well with the gui being big) so go figger.