Hey gang,Currently below is what I have as far as FSX goes:FS Genesis Mesh - North AmericaUTXI am adding GEX North America todayMy thinking is, all I need now is a good weather/clouds program to really bring my FSX up a notch or two, and would compliment my installation nicely.I am strongly considering REX 2, for this.Will it give a big performance hit? Currently with my system, I get very good performance in FSX. I have most sliders maxed out, so have room I can back off a little if need be.I notice REX2 also has a flight planner, is it better than the stock flight planner? Is it very complex? I like things fairly simple, I would purchase more for the weather and clouds, but if the planner is good would be nice to have as well.Would I get any conflicts with what I currently have installed?Any feedback would be greatly appreciated!Thanks,

Hi,REX is a wonderful addon! I saw a very minimal performance hit with my system(really, 1-3 FPS)I haven't messed much with the Flight Planner, though, and the Weather engine is good(obviously much better than default) to the limitations of FSX.As I don't have any UTX or GEX, I wouldn't know about any conflicts there.It brings a whole new level of atmosphere to FSX!

In a nutshell, what Wendall said, though I can add a little more - I have UTX and GEX for Europe and it integrates just fine with them.Before purchasing I was a little sceptical about REX - I thought it was just a few cloud textures and that actually FSX's weren't that bad anyway. When I purchased I was pretty blown away - far more realistic clouds with lots of choice of sets. But not only that but it improves static lighting (ie not from the sun), runway textures, taxiway textures, water etc. You may have to spend a little time picking out what suits you in terms of these improvements as each one has a number of different settings, but it's well worth it. It's a must have I think, and that's without me venturing into the flight planner or weather generator (I just get it to download real-world weather).

Ok thanks guys!I installed GEX this morning, and am very pleased with it, now I will head over and grab REX, that should put me in good shape for a while.Thanks again,

I also have UTX Europe, Ultimate traffic 2 and REX 2.0 Overdrive with no compatibility issues. I suggest spending some time figuring out a "theme" of textures you like to use most often. Writing (over writing) "themes" into FSX takes some time. You can also backup any themes you're particularly happy with.

Will do, thanks for the tip Anthony!

Flew my first flight tonight with REX, a night flight, pretty impressive!Have had a wierd thing happen though, for some reason when I launched the flight, it seems to disable my hot keys I have mapped for my Track IR 4 pause, precision, and center key commands.I have the left arrow, up arrow, and down arrow, assigned for these three Track IR functions.I can minimize FSX and view it in the Track IR software, and they work then - however when I resume back into my flight, they no longer work as they used to.Wonder what REX does to cause this?

I think I know what the problem is. My Track IR Profile, is tied to the game FSX, therefore launches when FSX is started from it's executable.Now I am launching FSX from within the REX program, therefore it is not loading my FSX profile in the Track IR sofware...Not sure how to work around that - unless maybe I make the profile for FSX the default...Question - to get the benefit of REX, does FSX need to be launched from within the REX program, or does it all work when launching just the standard FSX executable as before?

I think I know what the problem is. My Track IR Profile, is tied to the game FSX, therefore launches when FSX is started from it's executable.Now I am launching FSX from within the REX program, therefore it is not loading my FSX profile in the Track IR sofware...Not sure how to work around that - unless maybe I make the profile for FSX the default...Question - to get the benefit of REX, does FSX need to be launched from within the REX program, or does it all work when launching just the standard FSX executable as before?

After the REX textures are installed, you can start FSX with the FSX executeable. If you want to use the REX weather engine, run that from its own executeable as well.Regards,Bob

Great to know, that will take care of the problem - thanks sargeski!

Thought I would report back with my final impression.First, thanks again sargeski, that worked like a charm. I did not realize you could close the rex interface after loading everything, now I am doing that with no problem. I use rex real weather, ( have rex weather set to load with fsx), and I have used the flight planner as well - pretty neat program and fairly easy to use.I have had FSX since it was released, and now I just cannot believe I have not added the two programs I did yesterday ( GEX and REX), until now.All I can say is wow, what a difference that has made. Almost like a whole new sim for me - and those clouds from REX, absolutely fantastic! So far everything is running flawless, and if I took any performance hit from these two programs, I sure can not tell it. Everything still just as smooth as it was before, with very decent framerates.Thanks again for the feedback gang, going to go enjoy some more flying!

Slightly off topic..............I'm also a fan of ground environment add-ons. I have Ultimate Terrain X Europe installed but I also use VFR scenery. Obviously VFR and UTX cannot be run (seen) together but I'm constantly torn between the two. I like to fly VFR in the Carenado Cessna 172 but I really miss the 3D textures in VFR scenery and I really miss the "Real World" in UTX. Thankfuly REX 2.0 is a high quality constant no matter what ground textures I use.