Thanks for replying Wrench and Allen
I did do the copy, paste and rename of the "desert.cat" file into the EAWEuro folder, I had a quick search on the forums but nothing came up in the 20 or so that I looked at! As I'm brand new to the game, I thought I'd have a quick post to see if the problem had affected anyone else...
Yes it's even before I fly - in fact the flying bit is super (love the 5 different terrains) and I can access the Map screen, just not the Briefing screen. If it's un-fixable then that's cool by me, just it's such a super mod I wanted it to all be tickety boo! :-)
Cheers