Mace

Yes there is. In your install /scenery folder, there are 11 files whose names start with "photo...". If you don't like their photoscenery, rename each file and add ".stock" after each files' bgl extension. No more photoscenery. Personally, I kept the "photo9guavolcan.bgl" turned on, because it is a photo of Volcan de Agua which is off to the southwest. It doesn't quite match the surrounding either, but it's not that bad. You will also want another file to get rid of stock P3D objects. PM sent.

Also, Aerosoft / Michael Cependa has a DC-8-50 Jet Trader (freighter) version of his DC-8 in the works.

I wouldn't characterize it as "non compatible scenery". To me non-compat would be something that just plain wouldn't work in the sim and cause CTD's. LatinVFR MGGT does not do that. At worst it is not up to modern standards in terms of textures and lighting, so you have to temper your expectations and remember what the stock MGGT looks like (lol). I have LatinVFR MGGT in my P3Dv4.3 install, and all I had to do was edit the ADE/AFCAD file to eliminate some duplicate objects, and it's been ok. Certainly better than stock. Install it outside the sim as Benjamin notes. Sometimes these older sceneries are simpler, and stand LESS chance of messing with your P3D install because of that simplicity.

Since Steve answered the part about core usage quite well -- I won't address that, other than to say, he is correct, ha ha. In my experience with the 8700K -- your best bet is to overclock your 8700K and not use any AffinityMask tweak with that cpu. It's possible that someone has found a good AM setting for the 8700K, but I haven't.

And a Skipper too!

I'd like to know the FMC allows you to enter a plan, including SIDs and STARs -- or, is it simply one of those FMC's where you load a default P3D flight plan into it?

I have flown on 747's (I believe, 747-400's) to Europe and back several times during the period 1998-2005. On at least one of the flights, it was fairly lightly-loaded, and I remember being able to stretch out across several seats to relax. I love that about widebodies. I remember the first time I overflew Greenland in clear weather -- that was really interesting and gave me notice about how big the world is -- or should I say, how small the world is. You think Greenland is some distant place of ice and sea, but yet, here I am a couple of hours out of KORD...seeing its vast expanse of white ice roll below me. I have also flown in an A340. I would suppose it qualifies as a widebody, too? I do not remember the A340 being as roomy as the 747. Sadly I never flew on a DC-10, and now the only way I'd get to do it would be to tape myself up into a Fedex package.

There is no easy way :) And I am like you, I have some scenery installed via the old method, and some via the new. Theoretically yes, you could get your aftermarket effects (.fx) files out of there, BUT keep in mind that all of your installers for those sceneries will still think they're in P3D\Effects. That's not a big issue though. The bigger issue is, will your scenery still have those effects working, if you move them? -- that is where Addon Organizer "should" help. While I have installed various sceneries outside P3D's structure, and some of those have Effects subfolders, I do not know if using AddonOrganizer and setting the Effects up as a component actually works or not, since I do not know what effects I might be missing (possibly something like smoke from a smokestack, or similar...). I really haven't payed much attention. Others here probably have though.

UTX Tropical American and Caribbean -- I do not have that. It looks a little older than the Orbx stuff, but that doesn't really mean anything if it's a quality product, since the scenery layer system hasn't changed since it was released. I do have Orbx OpenLC South America. Your post made me check the manual for OpenLC SA. In one place, it shows a map where Central America is /not/ included, and in another place in the manual it shows a map where Central Am /is/ included. Based on what I see around MROC, and points west of there, it is definitely Orbx vector'ed -- also I loaded myself into Puerto San Jose, Guatemala, and the coastline and breakwater are definitely Orbx vector also -- so I'd say that's either OpenLC NA extending that far south, or OpenLC SA extending that far north.

Regarding trees / autogen in general...I would be all-in on a product that could deliver that (performance). I just wish autogen weren't so cpu-heavy. If LM could somehow pull that into the gpu realm...

PTA in concert with the P3D HDR settings..."saturation" in particular. Together, this has gotten rid of the cartoon-blue water in my sim. It's still very blue in the tropics on a sunny day, but at least now, in overcast Lake Michigan it is a nice slate/blue/gray.

Yes I have used dummy fsx.exe's to install before. Another thing I do is install old scenery outside the P3D structure (i.e. D:\SCENERY\MGGT). I then use Lorby's Addon Organizer to add the scenery to my sim. If the scenery has Effects, such as the freeware Belo Horizonte (Brazil) scenery, I can use Addon Org to add those as well (as a component...). That way, my Effects subfolder isn't in P3D\Effects. It is in D:\SCENERY\SBCF\Effects.

The scenery comes as an .exe as I recall. You simply run the .exe, install it to wherever, and you're done. I think I may have activated it in P3D's Scenery Library as well. Works fine that way, but will still have stock MGGT items showing. If you want to eliminate the stock scenery items that show in P3D, you'll need to use a program like ADE (Airport Design Editor) to create an Exclusion Rectangle.

Do any of you have the following Cali (SKCL) Colombia scenery? It says it's been updated for P3Dv4: https://secure.simmarket.com/pksim-alfonso-bonilla-aragn-skcl-fsx-p3dv3.phtml

LatinVFR MGGT works in P3Dv4, albeit it's a little dated. I *did* have to add a revised AFCAD file for it, to add an exclusion for the stock P3D objects, delete a few unattached nodes, and clean up a few problems in the taxiways. The main thing is the exclusion rectangle, which you could also add yourself if you have ADE There is a freeware MHLM / San Pedro de Sula / Honduras that works in P3Dv4. Unfortunately I am at work and can't remember any of the details. SAP is a decent-sized airport in Hondo that handles a fair amount of cargo flights from MIA, and some pax as well. LatinVFR MROC supposedly works in v4 but I have not tested. There is a thread here at AVSIM about "older LatinVFR sceneries" that has more info.