Rex Released!

[Alvega 2,124]

Very nice review, Andy. One thing got me puzzled, though:

when it updates weather it forces the sim to pause for a few seconds which i think maybe helps cut down on really strange weather hiccups or fps drops but is also a little strange. didn't really bother me, only happened every hour or so, but i could see how purists might not dig that..i'd be annoyed if it kicked in on final probably, but i guess that's better than having the fps tank at a critical moment so i can see both sides of the issue.

Do you mean the real world weather only updates once in 1 hour?? I thought we could have the option to make it update every 5 or 10 minutes if we wanted to, like with ASX. And if this is possible (update every 5 or 10 minutes), i don't want the sim to pause for a few seconds every time the weather updates. Guess i'll wait for someone to clear this up before buying it.

[Geofa 108]

Very nice review, Andy. One thing got me puzzled, though:Do you mean the real world weather only updates once in 1 hour?? I thought we could have the option to make it update every 5 or 10 minutes if we wanted to, like with ASX. And if this is possible (update every 5 or 10 minutes), i don't want the sim to pause for a few seconds every time the weather updates. Guess i'll wait for someone to clear this up before buying it.

After spending nearly 20 hours I am just getting it running. I don't know about updates every 5-10 minutes (in the US at least reports are only updated once an hour unless there is a special) but I notice on the config settings there is a check for enabling real time pirep reports-which would be much more valuable in my opinion.I'll report more when I get it going fully.

[Alvega 2,124]

After spending nearly 20 hours I am just getting it running. I don't know about updates every 5-10 minutes (in the US at least reports are only updated once an hour unless there is a special) but I notice on the config settings there is a check for enabling real time pirep reports-which would be much more valuable in my opinion.I'll report more when I get it going fully.

Thanks, Geofa.As per a post on the REX forum, the update is every 30 minutes. Waiting for someone to confirm the sim pauses for some seconds during the update process.Cheers.

[spesimen 135]

30 minutes sounds about right. i was pretty sleepy and not watching the clock too closely. as geofa pointed out, the observation data is only updated hourly in most cases a faster update wouldn't really make a difference anyway..?i should also mention the pauses aren't just a lagging or stoppage to the sim but rather a text message (in the upper scrolling bar where like the weather gets printed) would pop up saying something to the effect of downloading the weather.. a few seconds later another one would say it was being processed or such..i noticed a slight drop in frames during this time but nothing major maybe 5fps.. then a 3rd message where it would say it was pausing the sim to update, and everything would crisply pause as if hitting the p key. so it felt a little more 'official' then just lagging out. i think it took around 5-10 seconds, but perhaps my time estimates are off for that too, i'll watch it more closely on my next flights. anyway i didn't find it terribly distracting, i am doing a lot of heavy flights on autopilot though and not as engaged sometimes so i probably care less about that than other people. i'm guessing they chose to do it that way instead of just having the weather mysteriously pop to something new if there had been a substantial change in the observations for the nearest station. the times it happened to me this was not the case and it really didn't look like much had changed at all except a cloud layer or two moved around. i looked a little more closely at the flight planner this afternoon and it seems that it definitely doesn't import... i am pretty used to using asx winds imported into fsbuild for fuel planning and getting average winds which it doesn't seem to show in the flight plan report either...in fact it basically seems to have a maximum of 4 waypoints? i get the impression it's not really intended for serious use at this point, i could see it maybe being nice for people just starting out but it doesn't seem it's even as useful as the fsx planner.. basically i think the engine component and the textures are the interesting aspects of the package for sure, in that regard i feel like i got my money's worth anyway. also i only have about 4 hours of flying on it so anything i've said must be taken with a healthy dose of salt.cheers,-andy crosby

[rstough 528]

Hi Everyone -I noticed the reports here and thanks for the input we are receiving from everyone.First, we want everyone to know that our intention was to provide a basic flight planner. It may seem simple to FSNavigator users, but as you know those can be very complex programs.However, there are some features such as importing an FSX flight plan that will be definitely added the next update that we make.So we thank you all for your suggestions and we look forward to building upon what we have started. We have always looked at REX as beginning point and not a end.

[Geofa 108]

From the little I tried the flight planner-I liked it-and I am sure like all things fs it may be a GA/vs. Airline transport pilot commercial carrier thing.It works logically as it would for a typical Ga pilot. You plan your flight via outside software (or a plotter) and then you enter your waypoints, fuel consumption etc. and then it produces an FAA flight plan with your specifics on it. (I would find this useful for training GA pilots). You then get your weather briefing just like when you call a flight service station based on your flight plan with the weather interface. About the only thing that would not be real for GA is you might put a Sid or Star name in (rarely if ever-but in this case you can just enter the actual waypoints into the planner). Yes it would be nice to import a flight plan from elsewhere similar to filing a duats flight plan. I probably will not use the planner much-but I think it would be useful for one who is in training and needs to learn how one does the plan/briefing.I am running into bugs so far though (the bands across the screen someone mentioned-screen going bezerk about 4 minutes into the weather/theme generation-then it comes out 6 -10 minutes later, and experienced a total freeze of the weather unit on first use). I like the one step button which I will use 99.9 % of the time-where it chooses themes and weather to match real weather. Not sure if the weather apparatus is a gauge that can be used in aircraft but if it would be awfully nice to do so-closest to xm weather we can get now. I don't know about fps yet-but load up sure seems slow.Off to explore more-but it takes a while so it will probably be a slow process of reports from users.

[rstough 528]

From the little I tried the flight planner-I liked it-and I am sure like all things fs it may be a GA/vs. Airline transport pilot commercial carrier thing.It works logically as it would for a typical Ga pilot. You plan your flight via outside software (or a plotter) and then you enter your waypoints, fuel consumption etc. and then it produces an FAA flight plan with your specifics on it. (I would find this useful for training GA pilots). You then get your weather briefing just like when you call a flight service station based on your flight plan with the weather interface. About the only thing that would not be real for GA is you might put a Sid or Star name in (rarely if ever-but in this case you can just enter the actual waypoints into the planner). Yes it would be nice to import a flight plan from elsewhere similar to filing a duats flight plan. I probably will not use the planner much-but I think it would be useful for one who is in training and needs to learn how one does the plan/briefing.I am running into bugs so far though (the bands across the screen someone mentioned-screen going bezerk about 4 minutes into the weather/theme generation-then it comes out 6 -10 minutes later, and experienced a total freeze of the weather unit on first use). I like the one step button which I will use 99.9 % of the time-where it chooses themes and weather to match real weather. Not sure if the weather apparatus is a gauge that can be used in aircraft but if it would be awfully nice to do so-closest to xm weather we can get now. I don't know about fps yet-but load up sure seems slow.Off to explore more-but it takes a while so it will probably be a slow process of reports from users.

Geofa -Thank you for the kind words.We appreciate more and more suggestions.BTW - I am teaching my kids how to fly using Flight Simulator - we developed the flight planner so that someone without experience could create a flight plan.However, we are taking A LOT of notes to make it even more robust for more experience users.

[jwhorfin 0]

i should also mention the pauses aren't just a lagging or stoppage to the sim but rather a text message (in the upper scrolling bar where like the weather gets printed) would pop up saying something to the effect of downloading the weather.. a few seconds later another one would say it was being processed or such..i noticed a slight drop in frames during this time but nothing major maybe 5fps.. then a 3rd message where it would say it was pausing the sim to update, and everything would crisply pause as if hitting the p key. so it felt a little more 'official' then just lagging out.

I found waiting on the runway for a minute or so before takeoff to let the weather load is less annoying then taking off right away and then having it pause during the climb. I haven't hit the 30 minute weather change threshold during flight yet.Overall first impression is when REX starts loading it says it will take 6 minutes to load (before FSX starts) and they mean it ! :( Once it all starts up it is quite amazing what this does for the clouds and airport textures. I haven't been near water yet. I would have paid $60 to get rid of that ugly low haze layer and with REX it's gone! I can't see any difference in FPS at all with default REX settings. I get the same FPS as I did before! Definitely worth every penny and that's after spending only 20 minutes or so flying.Speaking of flying...I'm off :( System: XPS420, Q6600, 3 gigs ram, evga 8800GTS SSC 640meg

[timest 472]

I found waiting on the runway for a minute or so before takeoff to let the weather load is less annoying then taking off right away and then having it pause during the climb. I haven't hit the 30 minute weather change threshold during flight yet.Overall first impression is when REX starts loading it says it will take 6 minutes to load (before FSX starts) and they mean it ! :( Once it all starts up it is quite amazing what this does for the clouds and airport textures. I haven't been near water yet. I would have paid $60 to get rid of that ugly low haze layer and with REX it's gone! I can't see any difference in FPS at all with default REX settings. I get the same FPS as I did before! Definitely worth every penny and that's after spending only 20 minutes or so flying.Speaking of flying...I'm off :( System: XPS420, Q6600, 3 gigs ram, evga 8800GTS SSC 640meg

jwhorfin:The wait is only if you change your water settings, and have them checked to be installed. If you are happy with the set loaded in FSX, simply open the OPTIONS manager in REX and deselect the water textures.Your loading time will drop to only a minute at most. Loading time varies in terms of which textures you have set to transfer to FSX via the OPTIONS area.Thanks ;)

[Dougal 165]

Has anyone managed to get to purchase page in the last couple of hours?Guess i'm giving up now.Been trying *NON-STOP* since this thread started :(

[Guest JimC1702]

A mere 22 hours from purchase to first flight. :) I have a couple of questions that I will post on the RealEnvironmentXtreme forum. But just the water alone that I saw on my first flight made me glad I spent the money. It's exactly what I've been trying to get from FEX for months and haven't been able to accomplish.So far so good.Jim

[Guest -BeNt-]

Well I've not been downloading for that long, finally finished up once I got home from work and told it to resume. But now that I have it downloaded the validation servers give me an error message. "Validation failed: Timed out on connecting." I'm sure this is because of the traffic, but I keep telling it to try again, and have been for the last 30-45 minutes and have yet to get through.....grr, this makes me angry.

[Geofa 108]

Well I've not been downloading for that long, finally finished up once I got home from work and told it to resume. But now that I have it downloaded the validation servers give me an error message. "Validation failed: Timed out on connecting." I'm sure this is because of the traffic, but I keep telling it to try again, and have been for the last 30-45 minutes and have yet to get through.....grr, this makes me angry.

I had the same thing happen. Try the "delete the two files" posts instructions above. I had to do that about 5 times but it finally got the job done, and got rid of the timed out messages.

[Guest abulaafia]

Is the issue with abrupt wind shifts at high altitudes solved ? ASX never managed to really cure that (even though they tried hard).

[Guest -BeNt-]

Well now it tells me Activations Limit Exceeded? I haven't even freakin' validated or installed!!!! NOT ONCE? You gotta be kidding me, this is turning into a horrible joke now. So now I've got to contact FlightSim Store and probably wait a week or more till I get a reply, if I get one. Angry doesn't explain the malcontent I'm feeling now.