Hi Frank and welcome to the forum,
ATI cards have problem to run ship sim geforse cards are batter but, but try to sve the mission and start it from saved missions and try again
If we shall help batter then you need to attache your Dxdiag to your next post.
Your dxdiag can be obtained by following these instructions:
Click Start > Run. type in dxdiag and press Enter. You may see a popup asking about WHQL drivers, click Yes/Ok to proceed.
In the window that appears, click the button that says Save All Information, when the Save Dialog box appears, save the file to your desktop. To upload the file here, click Additional Options underneath the reply area and choose Browse near Attach. Browse to your desktop, click the file and click Open.
* Windows Vista and windows 7 users need to press the Windows Key + R to access the Run prompt.
You can then post your reply with the file attached.
Regards, TJK/Tore