As far as crossfading layers goes....are you fading one up at exactly the same time as you are fading the other down?

Try delaying one layer a bit and you should see better results....or if the layer you are fading up is "behind" the other....fade it up first before fading out the one in front of it, and vice-versa if the layer is coming up "in front".

Simple, but effective with almost any server I've found.

Hope this helps