No change, everything is in the box.
But what did change is that now I am using 5 half spheres and a texture of 1024x512 the screen refresh time takes 30u at 1024x768 fullscreen (70 at same resolution windowed, other specifications [see previous posts]). I'm still at around 50 fps with a radeon 64.

I've been watching other games, paying atention to grass. Why the major part avoid alpha transparency and use indexed? Just because of the extra channel? If it was only it, I still think it is worth the extra channel because it can even make up for the memory against the need of a higher resolution sprite.