lzamm

At the risk of offending some people, would those weights qualify as "dumb belles"?

Linking is a much neater solution than moving. Thankfully it's no longer a Unix/Linux only thing but has been available on Windows for quite some time. If you really want to do it manually, have a look at Link Shell Extension. But for MSFS I prefer the Addon Linker, it may be a full-blown manager but all I use it for is linking/unlinking what I want in the Community folder - the GUI format and the various checks available are so useful. Linking does need the disks where the files are physically kept to be reasonably fast, though.

Utterly stupendous. I've been fortunate to see their shows several times, for sheer panache I think they even beat the Red Arrows. The Volo Folle (mad flying) act is just crazy. Incidentally you can try your hand at it in msfs courtesy of indioafoxtecho's mb339.

Why would you? Those engines had to be operated by the numbers - including time limits for the higher power settings - if they were to survive the flight. So if you can get take-off manifold pressure (55" IIRC) with low blower, there's just no point in switching to high. You'd only have to throttle back so as not to exceed the specified MAP, and high blower absorbs more power from the engine and also heats the air more, with possible detonation issues.

Colregs: FAR: Seems pretty clear on paper. Of course, reality may differ.

From what I've read (because I don't use it) the map enhancement tool makes entries in the windows hosts file to redirect searches from the MSFS map servers to Google or wherever. These entries should be removed when the program closes but an improper exit may leave them there. I don't believe simply uninstalling the tool will fix that. So check your hosts file if you haven't done so already.

You shouldn't see any real slowdown in flight (I run X-plane off a USB HDD), but what are your load times like?

Nah, it's just PMDG's unstinting pursuit of simulation excellence. They want their customers to feel they're real Boeing customers, some of which have been pretty vocal of late...

Although I had dabbled in flight simulation before, FS9 was the first one I spent any serious time upon. I just loved the Dreamfleet 727 and criss-crossed the world with it, enjoying every second on the ground and in the air. I held on to FS9 for an unconscionable time even after FSX came out, mostly because of that model (the fact that my PC wasn't very good helped), but eventually made the jump, and then to X-plane and latterly MSFS. I still have FS9 installed on my old machine and occasionally give it (and the 727) a spin, but I find the lack of a proper virtual cockpit and the clunky controls off-putting and quickly return to the modern world. So yes, I miss FS9 - like I miss most of my beloved childhood memories, that are better off for remaining memories and not being revisited.

Have a shot at X-plane! Freeware heaven at the moment, too.

It has nothing to do with virtual or physical memory. It has to do with the way the program is compiled into its executable form. At the lowest level, each memory location is identified by an address that the processor has to store in a "register" in order to do things with it. At the time FSX was compiled, most processors had 32-bit registers and, like a calculator with a fixed number of digits, there is a limit to the largest number you can store in a 32-bit register - 2^32 (-1 for the purists) which is around 4 gigs. So 32-bit program can only access 4GB of RAM, physical or virtual. In addition Windows reserves around 1GB for its own use which is why you only have 3GB. Virtual memory lets the operating system play about with the physical memory allocated to any program. In terms of availability, it only improves things, not makes them worse. Without it, 32-bit programs could not run on 64-bit OS's - or at most they would all only see the first 4GB of physical memory and compete for that.

My bad, just checked and Plan-G does not have slew for X-plane, only FSX. Still recommend it though!

I believe Plan-G has an option "slew aircraft to here" when you right-click on the map, though I don't recall using it myself. Anyway, Plan-G is highly recommended as it provides much better mapping features than X-plane's internal map view.

There's a program called "aired" for editing MSFS .air files. It's in the library.

IIRC if you do not have CIVA installed the LNAV switch defaults to the standard NAV/GPS function. So temporarily renaming the CIVA folder (easier than editing the panel config) will let the Tinmouse follow the MSFS GPS. Been quite a time though so I may be wrong. Oh and you won't be able to play with the INS during the flight either Long time ago I wrote a small gauge that displays your FS flightplan with lat/lon coordinates to make data entry into CIVA easier; it also lists nearby VOR's for the same purpose. If you're interested I'll try and dig it up.