By the way, I am running with all the fancy stuff turned OFF so if you have a lower end video card this is the type of image you're likely to see. I can turn them on but it slows me down and I like to be able to move

(And I honestly don't see a big enough difference to make it worth it the world is crisper and the effects are shinier but for me the performance difference is better) I've had no lag or crashes with my settings like this. *knocks on wood*
I went in and turned by brightness up and my gamma up so that the morning sun in the world seemed like the sun. This might be too bright for some folks. Just right for me.