Hello Pete,
and thank you very much for your effort with this topic.
I understand that my suggestion of hiding and moving the mouse cursor into the upper left screen corner by hitting a joytick button is not the best solution. In this case it is really better to move the mouse manually into the corner. But very often you just forget doing this. So, I try to suggest a last option, which might be of interest, also for people which are flying in windowed mode:
What about an all new option tab within FSUIPC, on which you can (if you want to) set the following options:
a ) [ ] enable/disable Move mouse cursor out of screen after using it (as a switch)
b ) [1/2/3/4...X] Number of seconds the mouse will be moved after the last mouse input (as an input field)
c ) [TopLeft / Top / TopRight / Left / Right / LowerLeft / Lower / LowerRight] Where to move the mouse after it is not used (as a dropdown field)
d ) [ ] Hide the mouse pointer after moving it (as a switch)
e ) [ ] Restore original position when moving it again (as a switch)
This would be a very universal thing, which also the "Windowed-Users" might benefit of (even if they are flying the default airplanes). Because there is really nothing more annoying than a mouse pointer sitting in the middle of your field of view. And yes of course, you can move the mouse pointer every time out of your sight manually, but I think an option like "moving after a certain amount of time" would be really comfortable. Because here you do not even need to push a button or move the mouse every time you are changing things manually (which is also nerve-racking and takes away some fun of flying).
So, maybe this is a more universal addition to FSUIPC, which is worth of thinking it over. If not, it would be also OK for me. I just wanted to write you this last idea, which I had this morning.
Best regards,
Chris
PS: And just as an addition information for all FSX PMDG 737NGX pilots out there - if you are also suffering from lower frame rates because of the visible mouse pointer: Just move the mouse pointer into the upper left corner (if you take a closer look into this corner you will see a litte, uniform colored "dot"). Just placing the mouse over that "dot" and you are fine. But as it is really hard to keep the mouse exactly on that pixel you might try the second method: Move the mouse pointer into the upper left corner (it will then transform into a "resizing pointer" (two arrows)), hold the left mouse button and resize the little "dot" you can see in the upper left corner - It then transforms into a uniform colored area. Every time you are placing the mouse pointer within this area, the additional calculations will stop and your framerate will go up instantly. You can even move this area around and replace it wherever you want it (e.g. into the lower left corner of the screen, if this is a more intuitive place for you to place the mouse pointer after using it) just be pressing and holding the left mouse button and dragging this "uniform colored area" around your screen.