Giving away their next release for free seems a bit desperate to me.

I bet the thread showing hundreds of users verifying their purchase on the system should make REX team very desperate.I don't know how much proof is needed to understand that AS2012 has a disadvantage over REX clouds - the reason is unknown apparently. And I would bet, that if I had a chance to make my own comparison on those systems which claim not to suffer of the problem, that I would find one. I already made one big topic with screenshots, tested on clean FSX, I couldn't find anything wrong in my setup. And believe me, I'm very thorough about that.Apart from that, I don't think anything good is going to come out of this topic. Because as with any product, there are pluses and minuses, and as with any discussion, like Intel vs AMD, FSX vs Flight, Nvidia vs ATI, things often tend to go south, quite quickly.

I am using FSrealWX lite at the moment, was thinking to buy Active Sky 2012 but unfortunately it comes with those textures which I don't want and also its high price tag. I think I will settle with the freeware at the moment.

Me too! Looking insanely good.

I personally find the clouds in AS2012 to be more 3d and immersive than I did with REX. Additionally, I never set specific weather for my route, and AS2012 is very good about providing realistic weather for most areas on the fly.Of course I never used REX with ASE, Just REX Overdrive (which is a great product also)....so ymmvI will say I like REX water textures slightly better...

Be aware that AS2012 is causing framedrops (for some), inculuding me. Maybe others just didn't notice.

I don't think that's a fair statement based solely on the fact your LOD is way, way above the max set by the developers of FSX (4.5) and I would suspect many others have set this setting high too. I have absolutely no problems with AS2012 with LOD set at the FSX max - 4.5. One of the great things with AS2012 is the ability to download textures based on your flight plan and the weather.Best regards,Jim

I see the performance difference as well. BUT: The AS2012 clouds seem more realistic when flying through and among them.

I don't think that's a fair statement based solely on the fact your LOD is way, way above the max set by the developers of FSX (4.5) and I would suspect many others have set this setting high too. I have absolutely no problems with AS2012 with LOD set at the FSX max - 4.5. One of the great things with AS2012 is the ability to download textures based on your flight plan and the weather.Best regards,Jim

Jim, no no, don't go that way.1) I tested with default fsx.cfg2) I tested with a clean FSX installation3) I tested in the FSX situation in which LOD doesn't play any role - e.g. in the middle of the oceanAlright?

I see the performance difference as well. BUT: The AS2012 clouds seem more realistic when flying through and among them.

That's a point one could argue. I see no big difference between the two and halving of the FPS is hardly a reason.But I guess that's a moot point.

I am getting a little tired of the violent wind shifts that I get with REX and even with the FSUIPC setting it doesn't help. I will wait for the Essential to come out to make a final decision whether to move on to AS2012 or not.

I am getting a little tired of the violent wind shifts that I get with REX and even with the FSUIPC setting it doesn't help. I will wait for the Essential to come out to make a final decision whether to move on to AS2012 or not.

As far as I am concerned, FSUIPC will *always* eliminate wind shifts if setup properly. I have ASE and I occasionally got a wind shift until I picked FSUIPC.

As far as I am concerned, FSUIPC will *always* eliminate wind shifts if setup properly. I have ASE and I occasionally got a wind shift until I picked FSUIPC.

Maybe my settings are incorrect. Could you make a screenshot of your FSUIPC's winds tab and post it here or send me a PM? I'd be really grateful.

Maybe my settings are incorrect. Could you make a screenshot of your FSUIPC's winds tab and post it here or send me a PM? I'd be really grateful.

Open up FSUIPC.Navigate to the "Wind" tab.Tick in the box that says "Smooth wind changes near aircraft". Put a "1" for the box that says "with changes to this many knots or degrees per second."Then also tick the boxes that say "Suppress these wind effects "Turbulence" "Gusts" and "Variance". those are the settings that I use and I never ever have any wind shifts.

That's a point one could argue. I see no big difference between the two and halving of the FPS is hardly a reason.But I guess that's a moot point.

Argue all ya' want, but I've got more actual instrument experience than you (I'm KIDDING!... but I do). The AS2012 clouds tend to do that weird "2D pivot thing" less when flying through them or near them then the REX clouds --regardless of both being set at 4096. That's not a moot point to me. I want realism first (especially when in the soup).FPS are halved because you won't make a compromise. The 2048 and 4096 AS2012 clouds show no discernible difference to me and bring FPS up higher than REX's 4096 textures. This brings us back to the subjective decision of which one we want to use.I'm simply telling would be customers, as a real pilot, that the AS2012 clouds tend to be more realistic when flying near or through them.EDIT: Just to clarify, I've been a REX user since it's release and an avid user at that (back then I had to beg mom for her credit card!). I still use it for runway, sky, etc textures. But when someone keeps barking louder than everyone else about how AS2012 has an extreme performance bug, I want to interject my opinion and give reasons why that particular opinion is not as big a deal as you're that person is making it.

Edited February 15, 201214 yr by ZachLW

I agree. It is nice in AS2012 to go through a huge cloud bank rather than see the clouds rotate around you as you hit them. That was one part of REX that instantly pulled me out of my immersion. I also think the cloud layering (the building of realistically stacked banks of storm clouds) is much better in AS2012. All in all they just seem, well, more beautiful in AS2012.That said, AS2012 probably benefited from seeing what REX did, and tried to better that. I would bet that REX is now making changes based on AS2012...hopefully REX Essential is even better than AS2012 (don't see how to improve it but)... I'm no ######, I had a hard time pulling the trigger on AS2012 due to price, but I'm glad I did. I will download the free REX update, and if it is better ,than I'll happily switch back.

Edited February 15, 201214 yr by gtrbarbarian

Alright Zach. I don't want to argue, as a matter of fact.

Personally I still haven't found an FS cloud solution that depicts a realistic white out when inside the cloud like they should. But for me, as2012 is slightly better than Rex clouds in some aspects.In regards to the spinning clouds when on top or directly below, I believe both Rex and as2012 exhibit the same behavior. JBSent from my iPhone using TapatalkJB

In regards to the spinning clouds when on top or directly below, I believe both Rex and as2012 exhibit the same behavior. JBSent from my iPhone using TapatalkJB

Which would make sense since Fsx is likely the engine actually rendering the textures. These are flat 2d textures being rendered and not 3d volumetric entities that you can fly through. I doubt that would change regardless of the mechanism providing those textures.