Asa<->rex - Best Way To Setup This Combo...?

[WebMaximus 372]

Hi,Has any quick tutorial on how to best use ASA and REX together been made by someone?TIA,

[Guest Buzz313th]

Yeah... Just disable all the weather options in REX... Load your theme textures into FSX, then start FSX with either ASA or ASX. No need to run Rex anymore, since it would only be used for weather input and ASA or ASX is usded for that. The final outcome will be that ASA and ASX will run the weather and you will see your Rex textures ingame...JB

[tohughes76 0]

Don't forget to take advantage of the snapshot feature either! Pick your favorite REX textures for each theme (stormy, for example), install them, open ASA and take a snapshot-afterwards assign it to the appropriate category. Once you have a few different themes ASA will autoselect the appropriate snapshot of REX textures and install them for you. After a little time invested setting up your snapshots, you won't have to open REX to select textures every time!

[WebMaximus 372]

I've haven't really looked into the snapshot functionality yet just read about it but spontaniously my first thought even though I'm sure it's a great feature is...and forgive me for beeing stupid...but how do I know what cloud textures etc I should choose for each type of weather...I'm no weather expert :(

[Guest Buzz313th]

Don't forget to take advantage of the snapshot feature either! Pick your favorite REX textures for each theme (stormy, for example), install them, open ASA and take a snapshot-afterwards assign it to the appropriate category. Once you have a few different themes ASA will autoselect the appropriate snapshot of REX textures and install them for you. After a little time invested setting up your snapshots, you won't have to open REX to select textures every time!

Ok, dumb question... But will ASA change the textures automatically based on weather conditions?Example... Running ASA in realtime download weather mode, and flying into a cold front, from a stable warm front, if you set up the snapshots with two different themes, will it change the cloud textures for ya in the same FSX session?JB

[JSkorna 137]

Hi JB,No, because once FSX starts you cannot update textures except for cirrus. So no weather program or texture program can do this.Thanks,

[tohughes76 0]

I've haven't really looked into the snapshot functionality yet just read about it but spontaniously my first thought even though I'm sure it's a great feature is...and forgive me for beeing stupid...but how do I know what cloud textures etc I should choose for each type of weather...I'm no weather expert :(

@WebMaximus:In the descriptions of their cloud textures, the REX devs did a good job of explaining what sort of weather situation you would likely find each in. Start easy with a clear and a stormy theme-bright blue skies/white wispy clouds for the clear and greyish skies/dark bottomed clouds for stormy. After that, go with the REX descriptions and lean towards softer edged clouds for IMC/Snow (more of a stratus look) and harder edged for Stormy/Universal (cumulus look). Not a definitive guide, but it will get you started. I think after a short while after people have time to get their feet wet, we can start a snapshot thread where people can detail exactly which textures were used for their weather themes.

Ok, dumb question... But will ASA change the textures automatically based on weather conditions?Example... Running ASA in realtime download weather mode, and flying into a cold front, from a stable warm front, if you set up the snapshots with two different themes, will it change the cloud textures for ya in the same FSX session?JB

@Buzz:Unfortunately you cannot "hot swap" textures while FSX is running, so everything must be loaded before FSX is launched. In the scenario you describe, ASA would most likely choose a Universal snapshot...so set those up with clouds/skies that would look appropriate in most situations.

[WebMaximus 372]

Thanks alot Tim, I'll try what you suggest and I'm looking forward to the kind of weather thread you mention - seems like a great idea to me!

[chatman 29]

As I'm also interested in this topic: is it sufficient to install any REX theme (let's say "realistic") and FSX will use REX-Clouds together with ASA-weather?I still didn't get into this snapshot-thing...

[WebMaximus 372]

That is exactly what I will do for now, use the realistic REX theme and then let ASA do it's magic.One thing I still quite don't understand with this snapshot thing is that say for instance I will start a flight at Arlanda in Sweden where I live on a grey and rainy day and thus ASA will inject the correct textures for that type of weather but then I do a long flight and duirng the flight the weather instead turns into great and warm weather with clear blue skies...then I will have stormy-looking textures used to show nice and blue skies since FSX won't be able to change textures while running or am I missing something here...?For that reason my thought is that this snapshot thing is better for short hops where you will stay in the same weather area where for long flights covering many different types of weather you might be better off using the best looking general textures you can find...?Well...will start with the realistic REX theme and see what it gives.

[tohughes76 0]

That is exactly what I will do for now, use the realistic REX theme and then let ASA do it's magic.One thing I still quite don't understand with this snapshot thing is that say for instance I will start a flight at Arlanda in Sweden where I live on a grey and rainy day and thus ASA will inject the correct textures for that type of weather but then I do a long flight and duirng the flight the weather instead turns into great and warm weather with clear blue skies...then I will have stormy-looking textures used to show nice and blue skies since FSX won't be able to change textures while running or am I missing something here...?For that reason my thought is that this snapshot thing is better for short hops where you will stay in the same weather area where for long flights covering many different types of weather you might be better off using the best looking general textures you can find...?Well...will start with the realistic REX theme and see what it gives.

You will see that there are seven different themes that the snapshot feature utilizes. The Universal theme is what would most likely be chosen when ASA weather has to depict multiple types of weather in one flight (Correct me if I'm wrong, Jim). The trick is to find sky and cloud textures that would work in both a storm environment and on a clear day to make the universal snapshot. I personally go with a sky that has a little bit of grey in the blue and clouds that have some tint to them but not too dark on the bottoms.I will try to run a flight today that hits mulitple types of weather using the theme I put together from REX textures. I'll capture screenshots of the same textures in different weather to give you an idea.

[WebMaximus 372]

Thanks Tim for trying to explain. looking forward to see some screenshots and maybe you can then also share the names of the different REX textures you used?All the best,

[tohughes76 0]

Here are two shots using ASA controlled weather at the beginning and end of a single flight using the same textures. The day sky is REX "Arid Blue" & the clouds are REX cumulus 48 and cirrus 20. You can see they look pretty good both in fair and stormy conditions, at least to me :(

[WebMaximus 372]

Yeah, they look very nice - I'll do some experimenting with the snapshot feature myself the next coming days and see what I come up with.

[chatman 29]

Thanks for the screens!What still puzzles me is how REX and ASA themes go together. While ASA has 7 which are clearly linked to weather conditions (stormy, IMC, clear) REX has 10 of which only 2 seem to fit to the ASA ones name-wise.So how would the process of defining REX-snapshots for ASA look like?Thanks!