Hi cdfwalkz,
Welcome to the forum.
First, you must register your serial key for SS 2008 in your profile to get access to the Missions board where you should ask questions about missions by following this procedure:
http://80.95.161.114/shipsim/forum/index.php/topic,13994.0.html (http://80.95.161.114/shipsim/forum/index.php/topic,13994.0.html)
Give as much information as possible about a specific mission. You should also post your DxDiag here.
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 users need to press the Windows Key + R to access the Run prompt.
You can then post your reply with the file attached.
Also, please post the version and build number of SS 2008 that appears in the bottom left corner of the main menu screen when you start SS.
Regards,
Marty