I've recently decided to come back to the game from a 3+ months hiatus, and so I installed FFXI again on my newly aquired Windows 7 Ultimate. After fiddling around to get the actual game to launch I get to character selection screen, hit Yes and the screen turns black to the normal "Downloading Data...". It goes away after a few seconds but the screen is still black. I can hear the music and see the in-game arrow, but that's about it.

Now, I did a bit of searching before I made this post, and it seems some people had this same issue on occasion, but it would resolve after rebooting POL. For me, it's 100% of the time. I saw some suggestions about network instability, but I used the same computer and the same connection 3 months back and never had this issue before. Also, this occurs with or without Windower.

As for specs, I'm no good dealing with hardware or anything like that, but I ran a dxdiag and I think this is the relevant info:
Spoiler: show

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System Information
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Time of this report: 2/7/2010, 18:49:24
Machine name: TANTARIAN
Operating System: Windows 7 Ultimate 32-bit (6.1, Build 7600) (7600.win7_rtm.090713-1255)
Language: Swedish (Regional Setting: Swedish)
System Manufacturer: FUJITSU SIEMENS
System Model: G31T-M2
BIOS: Default System BIOS
Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU E4500 @ 2.20GHz (2 CPUs), ~2.2GHz
Memory: 2048MB RAM
Available OS Memory: 2048MB RAM
Page File: 883MB used, 3211MB available
Windows Dir: C:\Windows
DirectX Version: DirectX 11
DX Setup Parameters: None
User DPI Setting: Using System DPI
System DPI Setting: 96 DPI (100 percent)
DWM DPI Scaling: Disabled
DxDiag Version: 6.01.7600.16385 32bit Unicode

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Display Devices
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Card name: NVIDIA GeForce 8400 GS
Manufacturer: NVIDIA
Chip type: GeForce 8400 GS
DAC type: Integrated RAMDAC
Device Key: Enum\PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_0422&SUBSYS_8420174B&REV_A1
Display Memory: 1011 MB
Dedicated Memory: 243 MB
Shared Memory: 767 MB
Current Mode: 1680 x 1050 (32 bit) (60Hz)
Monitor Name: Generic PnP Monitor
Monitor Model: L22W-3
Monitor Id: FUS0710
Native Mode: 1680 x 1050(p) (60.262Hz)
Output Type: HD15
Driver Name: nvd3dum.dll,nvwgf2um.dll,nvwgf2um.dll
Driver File Version: 8.17.0011.9621 (English)
Driver Version: 8.17.11.9621
DDI Version: 10
Driver Model: WDDM 1.1
Driver Attributes: Final Retail
Driver Date/Size: 1/12/2010 12:03:34, 9388648 bytes
WHQL Logo'd: Yes
WHQL Date Stamp:
Device Identifier: {D7B71E3E-4762-11CF-6E51-2BA41FC2C535}
Vendor ID: 0x10DE
Device ID: 0x0422
SubSys ID: 0x8420174B
Revision ID: 0x00A1
Driver Strong Name: oem1.inf:NVIDIA_SetA_Devices.NTx86.6.1:Section009: 8.17.11.9621ci\ven_10de&dev_0422
Rank Of Driver: 00E62001
Video Accel: ModeMPEG2_A ModeMPEG2_C ModeVC1_C ModeWMV9_C


Grateful for any response