58 minutes ago, Noel said:

OMG!  Here's what I did with my 2 complete reinstalls and the 2nd one involved a fresh Windows 10 install.  Here it is:

1. Copy the contents of the Community Folder to a separate folder (or in the case of a complete Win install, a separate data drive).
2. Delete MSFS, then reinstall MSFS which as you know is a case of checking all the boxes, hitting download, then walking away until it's done.
3. After #2 completes, dump the saved contents of the Community Folder back into the new empty one.

Voila, all done!

I have to assume this procedure is reserved for folks who have massive content in the Comm Folder.  I only have PMDG 738, AS CRJ700, AccuSeasons, GSX Pro, Subtle Taxi Ribbon (fabulous!), FSLTL (forget if that's in there), and a bunch of liveries is about it, about 23 entries in all.  

 

yes your addon situation is not nearly as complicated as mine.  I think I have around 300 total entry's.  Even if I only had that many addons though.  I would still find the encrypted (Non customizable) nature of marketplace versions to be a deal killer though.  Quite a few of my addons have little menu's to turn modules on or off.  

44 minutes ago, micstatic said:

yes your addon situation is not nearly as complicated as mine.  I think I have around 300 total entry's.  Even if I only had that many addons though.  I would still find the encrypted (Non customizable) nature of marketplace versions to be a deal killer though.  Quite a few of my addons have little menu's to turn modules on or off.  

For me, simplicity is highly valued, over more granular control over detail.   I remember when MSFS released within practically hours people were bent on installing as many addons as they could find.  I could not relate.  I'm still stoked by the quality of many of the OEM airports.  I only own maybe 8 or so payware airports I forget and some uninstalled as updated default versions were as good w/ less impact on performance, but still so good.  I've only purchased two planes so far PMDG 738, AS CRJ550-700 and those not from the Marketplace.

I have 4 items in my community folder so addon linker is overkill for me.

sp

4 hours ago, micstatic said:

Quite a few of my addons have little menu's to turn modules on or off.  

So interesting the different ways we all approach these things. I so dislike all those little control panels and even the ones I have I don't think I have ever looked at. The marketplace has been great for me for scenery -- aircraft I always purchase direct -- because it has kept 85 percent of my addons in one place and that has made reinstallation so quick and painless -- a welcome trade off for fine detail control. 

27 minutes ago, Cognita said:

So interesting the different ways we all approach these things. I so dislike all those little control panels and even the ones I have I don't think I have ever looked at. The marketplace has been great for me for scenery -- aircraft I always purchase direct -- because it has kept 85 percent of my addons in one place and that has made reinstallation so quick and painless -- a welcome trade off for fine detail control. 

So you must not fly on vatsim and then get cleared by ground control to a certain gate only to find one of the stock AI airplanes there?  Why would you dislike having options?  I've seen other useful features.  Where you could turn off certain scenery features to improve performance.  Or ones where you can turn off the deice static AI.  Without that feature you could potentially see airplanes getting deiced in July.  I can appreciate that many like the simplicity of the marketplace.  And I'm very happy that many do.  As I'm hopeful it keeps Microsoft in the simulator game which benefits all of us. 

21 minutes ago, micstatic said:

So you must not fly on vatsim and then get cleared by ground control to a certain gate only to find one of the stock AI airplanes there?

Yes, you make a good point, I have had that happen. But I prefer to imagine operations has made a last minute change to the gate assignment and taxi myself to a nearby gate that need to configure every airport I have. I am not trying to argue for one approach or the other, just noting we have different preferences and priorities. 

Can only reccomend Unalaska airport and a few of their City scenery.

Orbx used to be top notch, nowadays the company have lost its soul and most on the store is old junk from FSX. Its partners deliver better stuff. They cant even have people flow wich used to be a trademark of Orbx while other small indie devs can create all kinds of animations. There also used to be better quality control in the Company so all airports got upgraded with their latest flows. 

Before you buy orbx stuff only buy aiports they havent done before in FSX, that way you get the latest stuff made natively in MSFS. 

Just my opinions offcourse.