Don't confuse clouds with weather. Most people make the mistake of comparing performance of weather processors by performance when it's the clouds that cause the most impact. In a weather program, you have two areas to be aware of - impact when the program downloads weather updates in flight and impact when that weather is injected into the sim. Active sky has been the best in that area, bar none, freeware or payware. However, if you are in heavy clouds, rain, etc, you will get a performance hit regardless of which generator you use.

 

So, for the best weather program, go with AS2012 - it will give you accurate weather with the least performance hit. The graphics are very frame friendly and I personally prefer them but visuals are purely in the eye of the beholder. *I* think they look best, others may not - you have to decide for yourself but for the best result, I'd still go with AS2012 over the competition, including the latest releases.

Don't confuse clouds with weather. Most people make the mistake of comparing performance of weather processors by performance when it's the clouds that cause the most impact. In a weather program, you have two areas to be aware of - impact when the program downloads weather updates in flight and impact when that weather is injected into the sim. Active sky has been the best in that area, bar none, freeware or payware. However, if you are in heavy clouds, rain, etc, you will get a performance hit regardless of which generator you use.

 

 

Good points. It's hard to compare weather engines in terms of performance unless you can set up exactly the same weather scenario ("theme"). Even then, there are so many variables involving many settings that Active Sky and REX provide, that it complicates comparisons between the two. I've had a bit of stuttering with REX (have used ASE for weather and textures from REX until Essentials). However, I've been able to smooth things out fine by playing with the settings in REX.

 

As far as visuals, I think the weather generator in REX produces more dramatic weather and better visibilities, but it's close.

 

Randall

Thanks guys-

 

I guess the idea was to pick one and stick with it, including textures.

So, for the best weather program, go with AS2012

 

Tempting ...

Thanks guys-

 

I guess the idea was to pick one and stick with it, including textures.

 

Well, yes and no. :) The weather generator is a measurable entity - it either depicts what the metars say or it doesn't. And it does it with a minimal performance hit. The textures are purely subjective. That is in the eye of the beholder. For textures, I used to prefer FEX over REX but after AS2012 came out, I switched to that. However, I still have FEX and REX on my system. One of the advantages of AS2012 is that you can use anyone's textures and still get the best weather generator. That way, if I like the water from FEX, the sky from REX and the cloud sets from AS2012, I'm fine. IMHO, REX textures are too dramatic and not at all realistic BUT that's MY opinion. There are others who absolutely love them. If you can afford to mix and match, get different ones, if not, go with AS2012 - even the default FSX textures look good when properly placed. :)

Thanks again all!

 

I'm leaning toward Active Sky; I am looking for realistic physical weather and am not as concerned with eye candy.

 

Question: which does HAZE better? That's a big one for me around here in NJ.

 

cheers

Andrew

AS2012 hands down! But I'm prejudiced. :)

I am looking for realistic physical weather and am not as concerned with eye candy

That realistic part is the one which lead me to use the freeware as often as I can. Best and most realistic looking experience on e.g. some overcast situations and visibility transitions. I haven't tried REX-E so far (which looks nice on screenshots), as I'm waiting for that OD compatible addition, but that freeware beats the payware of mine, even with the very latest patches applied.

 

When you want some weather + texture addon, there is only AS2012 or REX(-E) of course. But, in my eyes, the status of being payware does not necessarily mean that this is the best choice. For nice cloud textures, the Avsim library also offers some variations.

 

And you can combine every weather addon with every texture choice of course. That's by design.

I think better "haze" probably goes to REX Essentials. But I haven't made close comparisons. That'll give me something to do!

 

Randall

I'm looking forward to trying REX-E too. The dev posts on the system's details and the screenshots showed an improvement over the old REX weather engine. That visibility handling seems to have been a focus in development and I would love to judge about the actual success of that free update.

 

So, if they read it, please bring on REX-E OD soon! :Peace:

 

Randall, did you try the freeware by the way? Not that you have to if you're happy with REX-E so far, but since you plan for comparisons, maybe it's worth a note.

This past week I did an upgrade from ASE to AS2012 I was amazed at how much AS has improved. I like the ability to select what resolution my textures will be in AS2012. After several flights using AS2012 textures I am very happy with the clouds and all the textures that the program offers. I have been a AS users for years and have seen such a major improvement, IMHO HiFi has really done a great job.

 

Bob

I like the ability to select what resolution my textures will be in AS2012.

Sorry for asking stupid things, but isn't that normal on all the texture addons around?

Sorry for asking stupid things, but isn't that normal on all the texture addons around?

 

It's certainly the case w/ REX-E ...

Ok - got AS Evolution... doesn't seem to be working right as it only seems to grab the same sky depiction (some low cumulus, higher overcast) no matter where I go.

 

I suppose I should RTFM but I thought it would be easier! Maybe I'm missing something. New post going up.

 

This is my consistent with my experience using REX Essential and ASE. The REXE weather engine causes me noticeable slow down during weather injections. REXE also takes a long time to download and process weather from the database on startup. On the other hand, I do not notice any performance cost using ASE.

 

As a result, I use ASE for my weather engine and REXE for my textures.

This would be your best option if you are willing to buy them both.

 

 

David DD