As regular forum posters will be aware, I've been doing MSFS for years now and while I love it, indeed, remain addicted to it, it never ceases to amaze me what goes wrong. It seems that virtually every time--okay, every other time--I use the sim, there is some kind of glitch even if only minor.Most recently, for example, I had the issue with my 737-200 panel opening up with a continuous whirring noise like a cockpit recirc fan and so I posted here. Unbelievably, it turned out that when I replaced the altimeter gauge, this resolved things! I've had many events like this over several generations of MSFS.It is beyond my comprehension how many issues in FS are solved by doing something utterly unintuitive and seemingly unrelated to the cause or source of a problem. Over the years I've grown accustomed to many aspects of the sim and its idiosyncracies to the point where I feel I have a reasonable degree of "learned intelligence" with MSFS. Nonetheless,, it does on occasion continue to baffle and perplex me completely. I mean, who in their right mind would associate an undesired recirc fan type of noise with an altimeter gauge?!I suppose it's a miracle than ANY of this works at all. We should be grateful for this wonder even if it drives us batty. JS

It seems to me that most of the really quirky things happen with add-ons and I believe that the reason is understandable.Because Microsoft does not provide standarized interfaces and protocols in order for all developers to exchange data back and forth with FS, many methods have been created by the individuals themselves. Witness some add-ons which use FSUIPC, others use FSConnect, and some have made there own interface.For operating systems, MS has always provided standardized procedures in the form of APIs. (I hope that I didn't make myself look foolish there, I'm not an OS guru but I think the term is API.) At any rate, MS and most other OS providers, release interfaces with the OS. If you want to write an application or build a device to attach to the OS, you know the rules before you start.Not so with MSFS. So developers have improvised and sometimes strange things happen. R-

>For operating systems, MS has always provided standardized>procedures in the form of APIs. >>Not so with MSFS. So developers have improvised and sometimes>strange things happen. R-Actually MS has been releasing APIs for FS for a long time now. Check out the SDK on their web site. Of course, it doesn't do everything people think it should so they hack the code. I think more problems come from these hacks than from standard stuff created according to the SDK.

>Most recently, for example, I had the issue with my 737-200>panel opening up with a continuous whirring noise like a>cockpit recirc fan and so I posted here. Unbelievably, it>turned out that when I replaced the altimeter gauge, this>resolved things! >that is not an issue or a bug,that is realism,and called altimeter vibrator.it keeps the altimeters from sticking.must've been the tinmouse panel,correct?if Richard keeps updating it into the next version,you'llhave the same non issue then ;)tataJP.

Thank you for this helpful reply.Actually, it was not TinMouse. I use Luis Pereira's Boeing panels which are very good freeware indeed. And the vibrating sound was never there in either the -200 or -300 models for the first 1+ year--it appeared last week!--and there was nothing about such a sound in the txt file. Besides, it could not have been a normal noise since it remained on when you hit the P or Q keys. There was no way to silence it even with the sim minimized and sound off.JS

there's a good video that takes us through the early days of fs and up until where we are now. If you stop and think about it, I know it's probably like chewing and throwing a ball up in the air, but do the stop thing first, then think. We've come a long way. Of course there are problems, there always will be. Most of mine went away when I got a new harddisk. Go figure. Just my thoughts, but hey, be good on them, because otherwise we wouldn't be here right now. billg

This really has nothing to due with JSacks issue with the panel problem. I'm glad he was able to correct it.A lot of times we experience glitches in FS, is due to us always trying to find the holy grail in FS.It seems we spend more times trying to get one more frame rate than actual flying. We gamble on beta drivers or setting in the FS config to get better performance. We don't think about the consequences of this. There are a FEW good tricks to improve performance but more times than not it's either a placebo effect or taking away from one aspect to improve on another. Raw computer horsepower is going to be the best way to improve FS. Mainly in processor speed and GPU speed. Another way is to clean out your computer. Alot of FREE downloads out there, (I'm not talking about FS downloads), such as Kazaa, Gator, and others are loaded with spyware. Nothing is for free. These will impact your computer performance and hamper FS.Just like every other release of Flight Simulator, we will search for the miracle cure. We will complain about frame rates, we will want a patch to fix frame rates. It will be demanding on the current hardware at the time. It will be awesome !!!!!!! :)This is just a hobby. It's for enjoyment. Lets do soHave a great day!!!!

Yep, I have seen the videos... We've come a long way...It is still daunting how in the final product there is so much room for Tweaks and fixes of all kind...I have owned just a few titles for PC but they seem very stable and straight forward. For Example, I am fan of WWII FPS games, there are almost half a dozen of titles that were launched with no flaws whatsoever, online Gaming seems very stable and simple to access, performance in my machine is just **Perfect** (Have a 3.5 Ghtz Machine with 1Gb of Ram and 256 Video card)... But FS has so many quircks here and there, On line playing is so unstable, lack of features and so difficult to access... Performance is slugish sometimes and grafics are not top notch as we are well aware...I've had MS since the days of MS95, and compared with the rest of titles out there it stays behind in some departments.I am not bashing MS or FS here, it just my opinion and I could be wrong.