That's alright that you're new at this. The default plugins are what you are using right now... which tend to work rather nicely for most users. However, we'll need a little more information about your graphics card. Can you go to the "My Computer" icon and right click it? This will allow you to get "Properties", from here you can then tell us more information and details about the computer. That's all under "General". That will give us the information about your CPU speed, and RAM speed.
Also, you should click on the "Hardware" tab and pull up "Device Manager" which will give you an idea of what cards you have on your computer. Since this is a Graphics issue, you will want to click on the "Display Adapters" icon, and then let us know what kind of graphics card you are using. That way it can give the experts a little bit more of a clue what might be wrong.
In the meanwhile, while this might be a slight "downgrade", give the 1.5.2 version of the 3D6 graphic plugin. If THAT is letting you get rid of the black parts of the ground and fairies and other problems, you might be able to work with that.
The FAQ does say that some graphics cards WILL have issues with 1.6, as taken from the FAQ here:
"Why is the ground etc. black?:
Your video hardware and/or drivers do not support the required blend mode - your system does not meet the recommended requirements (see User Manual). You could try different drivers if your hardware is capable, different hardware, or change plugins (try the v1.5.2 plugin included)."
At present, I can't suggest any other kind of a "work-around" to change that, short of recommending a different graphics card.
Hope this helps.
Edit: Seems Squall beat me to the post.
