[everclear]

Oh so it has to be OpenGL, not DX, I see, thank you.

Also water=4 works fine with my 4870x2 it seems. Actually I'm not sure since the game stubbornly reverts water=4 to water=1 unless I make config.ini read-only. But then it just looks like water=1 again. Can someone post a screenshot of how water=4 is supposed to looks like?

EDIT: Nope, seems like water=2 is the farthest you can go with ATi cards. Ah nevermind, it looks pretty enough as it is.

Hi, since you've mentioned setting read-only flag, i won't insult you by mentioning basic OS stuff. Just things IL-2 related (and sorry if i mention some obvious stuff):
1. Load IL-2, from the main menu go to "Hardware Setup".
2. In Hardware setup, click on "Video Modes". Make sure Render: Open GL is selected. Hit back.
3 Click "Video Options", go through the dropdown menus, chose max for everything. It will all be "High" except for "Land Detail", which *MUST* be *Perfect* (as mentioned before in this thread).
4. From this point on, *do not use the hardware settings from inside the game*, or your config.ini file will revert to it's original, non-racy self. This will also happen if use the IL-2 config app, or any 3rd party config app which doesn't explisitly set the water to 3 or 4.
5. Now edit your cinfig.ini file, just the [Open GL] section, making sure that the lines already mentioned in this thread are there:
(open GL section)
HardwareShaders =1
Water = 4 (or 3, it's a huge step-up from 2, at least you get surf...)
Save, you can leave the file open in the editor, no problem there. Anything more exotic than Notepad will tell you if the file's been externally changed while in the editor (i still use Edit++, http://download.cnet.com/Edit/3000-10247_4-886277.html, tiny, nice markup highlighting, shareware & expandable).
Fire up IL-2, open any mission, and, as soon as it opens, hit [Tab][Shift]. This will bring up the console, you'll see a bunch of text & a prompt appear at left screen. Take screen shot (Print Screen on mine, believe that's default). Hit [Shift] [Tab] again to kill the console]. Post screenshot (you can have the stuff dumped to a logfile instead, but this is easier).
6. Hit the "Win" key, this will let you switch from IL-2 to your desktop, where your config.ini is still open in your editor. Has it changed? If so, i'm kind'o at a loss. You can use some util like FileWatch 0r whatever (go to Sisinternals - nice freeby utils there. You're probably using them already, but just in case...).
7. If all this was not happy-making, post your config.ini (and the screenshot with the console open). I've never had IL-2 modify my config file without my going into hardware setup, and i've used *ancient* ATI cards with water set at 3.

Hope this is of some help, 'luck, and post if you work things out. IL-2 has awfull 'purty graphics for an old game, shame not to have them maxed out...
-d