[tomoose]

Still no joy. I get to the 5% spot on the splash screen and drops back to desktop. I did note that the version is 4.09m which I guess is a good thing. It's still checking for the DVD (i.e. I get the spinning DVD icon) which I don't understand as I seem to remember 4.09m was a no-CD patch (or perhaps my memory's screwed up). Anyway, most frustrating as SH4 and FSX work fine and are very impressive graphics-wise and performance-wise. It's just seems to be good old IL2. This is my 3rd install and it's sitting in C:\Games\Il2 Sturmovik 1946\ folder.
Currently I'm stumped.