Of course if your not bothered about using windows mode ie full screen mode only, you could use the old gamma channels to simulate your light and dark. The only thing is its a full screen fade, you cant fade individual areas or other buffers. Here is a link to a small demo plus the gamma fader function:
http://www.blitzbasic.com/codearcs/codearcs.php?code=1109
Mr Brine
http://www.blitzbasic.com/codearcs/codearcs.php?code=1109
Mr Brine