You're right on the money with that mate I remember even back to the original IL-2 new driver releases usually screwed with something in the game to point that new core.dlls would be released to help solve the issue. And if my memory does serve me right when Paciific fighters was released there was a big problem with ATI cards rendering the sea black at times and from certain viewing angles on some peoples rigs and on others rendering the sea black constantly from all angles and views. So I'd say and be putting my money on a gpu driver issue as well.