Reinstalled FSX after several weeks of not simming. Installed TP beta 6 as well. This is what I observe:- TP seems smoother and the water mask works rather well (lake Leman),- Tiles load OK (50-600 tps). The water mask does its job and a load-session typically ends with a series of higher tps (400-600) and stops like it has fully loaded. Back to the sim everything is a blur. At this point, I have to unload the filter, reload the library and the scenery displays at the level reached. I start TP again, wait till it stops loading tiles, reload the library etc... Seems to be a cycle.- When I hit redirects (Google), I unload TP wait a few and re-launch. Nine times out of ten it starts downloading again. When I begin to receive no reply messages it's useless to wait.So the process is a little taxing but the idea is that the area, say Geneva-Crans, will be stored eventually.There seems to be a problematic transition between the cache and FSX' use of it, which I'm not sure was there with the first version (not sure it wasn't either 'cause I was in shock).With FEX clouds, sky and haze, the result is very immersive and way more accurate!

How would you rate FEX versus Active Sky X and X Graphics?

is for me mostly an attempt at giving better structure and actualization to the Wx. When I was on the beta-team for the first (or second) edition we never talked about the art of clouds but about layers, actualization etc... All this to say that art is not attached to AS as far as I'm concerned. X-Graphics I don't know. What I think is that FEX probably is the very best we can get from FSX. Clouds are definitely a notch above, from what I've seen myself or on screenies. I still don't get the wispy entering/exiting the cloud that we got with Fly!, but that's a MFS problem. I get some box/flashing effects when I reach the bottom of the layer but that might be a vidcard issue since I've seen no post on this. There are certain conditions (e.g. heading towards a lowish sun over water) where it's really convincing. I might post a shot later. I also like the way clouds hang out nicely over the mountains and don't seem as much limited to a sq. mile around the aircraft. Looks like there are different textures far away.

I like FEX far away clouds. Haze is convenient for masking imperfections yet providing nice feel. Reflections add a little more.Still have big problems loading all tiles at best res. Numerous passes and I'm not still there. Also have to reload the library; the option refresh scenery doesn't cut it for that. Redirects are a bummer: I'd be happy to pay Google for access to a dedicated server at 1Meg/sec!!!

Someone once claimed that by running the GE application in the background and leaving it open would allow him to use TP for a bit longer. I haven't verified or debunked this yet.