You can start FSX whilst the interpolation is ongoing. Once it's done, the weather will load. I find REX startup times to be fine.

I think that the loading times will improve with the SP1 coming up. For me, the db file grew rather fast and caused a serious slowdown of the process. The current workaround is to run MS Access on that rex.mdb file and let it receive the repair&compress thingy.

 

The devs said that a small tool will be included in SP1, allowing for that optimization. Perhaps the interface then performs this step automatically. With the small db file, the loading time isn't far away from my ASE installation. Can't comment on AS2012.

Loading time on AS2012 takes less then a minute.

Also, the Sparkling water animation set from REX-E is the best water I've seen so far. I haven't tried AS2012's water sets so I can't compare.

I think you can count me in on buying AS2012. This sounds like just what I am looking for.

 

I own both and I use AS2012.

Neither, HDEv2 for sky and clouds,

 

Thanks for that, Jim and all who mentioned it. I heard about that freeware sky/cloud set but never took the time to try it out. Should have done that much earlier. Great stuff

It's easy Fritz. You just download the HDE textures then unzip them and move them into the texture folder and over write the existing sky and/or cloud textures. You might want to make a backup of the textures your using now in case you want to revert or you could just run the REX UI again and reinstall the REX textures again.

 

Keep in mind the HDE package is only sky and cloud textures, it doesn't change any of the other REX textures like water, airport, lightning, etc., so you can still use those REX textures and the HDE textures together.

 

cmpbellsjc, what exactly do I need to disable in REX Options, so the next texture download won't change sky and clouds?

 

Thanks,

Dirk.

Turn the yellow marked options off and leave the rest enabled based on your preferences. Also, don't use the weather texture feature in REX when you want to keep the other cloud textures.

 

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Me?

 

I'm using the Sparkling, but I converted the textures to DXT5 since the native version of 32bit were causing some performance and stuttering problems on my rig. Although that was when I installed them from REX OD. I think Tim fixed it in Essentials so that you could install the water textures in DXT format rather than 32bit so you didn't need to convert them yourself.

 

Also, to make the water look better I am using FSWC, a freeware program (http://www.strikingsoftware.com/) and using the Orion preset. That software takes out the horrible milky water effect when flying at night when the moon is out and makes the sunlight reflections look more realistic. Doesn't work in DX10 Preview though, so you need to run in DX9 if you want to use that program.

 

cmpbellsjc, which software did you use to convert the water textures?

 

Thanks,

Dirk.

 

Edited July 12, 201213 yr by Dirk98

Turn the yellow marked options off and leave the rest enabled based on your preferences. Also, don't use the weather texture feature in REX when you want to keep the other cloud textures.

 

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Thanks, CoolP, but I thought the point of disabling sky textures and clouds in the Options was to retain your desired sets of clouds and sky textures when/if USING WX TEXTURES feature to change all other textures (ground, tarmac etc.) according to the wx conditions, am I wrong?

 

Dirk.

I could be wrong, but I think the REX-E 'weather textures' operation (with the use of current weather data) will always lead to fresh cloud textures. That's due to the ways on how FSX handles those texture sets.

 

So all those bmp files like cirrus_scattered, cumulus01 and so on will be chosen by the REX-E engine when you hit that button. The sky themes (colours at dusk and dawn, etc.) are not influenced by that feature. Same goes for the runway stuff and other things. They remain the same, if I got that REX-E manual right.

 

WX TEXTURES allows REX to choose the best textures to represent the weather.

But I may be interpreting it the wrong way. However, the only change I saw in the FSX texture folder happened on the cloud textures when using that option.

 

You can update the rest of course, but not with the WX textures thingy. The wet runways change on the fly or depending on the season on that snow case for example. Means, if my eyes didn't trick me.

cmpbellsjc, which software did you use to convert the water textures?

 

Thanks,

Dirk.

 

 

I used DXTBmp, a freeware tool found via google. I also saved them with the box on the right side check where it says Mip Maps - "Include when saving". I'm sure you could probably do it with any suitable paint/graphics program, but for simple things like that I typically just use DXTBmp or DDSConverter 2.

 

POST EDIT: Its just the wave animation textures I did and you could also save them in DXT1 if you wanted. If you look at the Essentials UI, you could untick everything and reinstall the Sparking set and tick the box in wave animations to have it install them automatically in DXT1 if you dont want to convert them yourself.

 

These are the files I converted to DXT5.

 

If your running the Sparkling set in REX find the following four textures in your FSX/texture folder, they should be pretty big file sizes:

 

OceanHeight20FieldLayer.dds

OceanHeight20FieldLayer1.dds

OceanHeight20FieldLayer2.dds

OceanHeight20FieldLayer5.dds

 

 

 

 

Thanks for that, Jim and all who mentioned it. I heard about that freeware sky/cloud set but never took the time to try it out. Should have done that much earlier. Great stuff

 

Even though I mentioned it first in this thread, I actually found out about the HDE package from cmpbllsjc. He had mentioned it a few times in some other threads so I gave it a shot and was hooked. Sometimes freeware stuff ends up being as good or better than payware.

The Simmarket versions may get updated when REX-E OD is ready. Don't ask me why as I don't know the background. But the REX folks stated that it will happen.

 

But you can always go to the REX forums and grab the REX-E update. This will need you to verify your status, which may only take one post and a bit of wait here. http://www.realenvir...ication-thread/

 

Read this one on the details. http://www.realenvir...r-verification/

 

Now if you are already verified, the download thread is here. http://www.realenvir...l-upgrade-here/ Just log in to the REX forums and click the link for some more instructions on how to download. For not yet verified members, the link won't work.

 

CoolP, I went there to get REX Essential, but the first line in the important announcement reads:

 

BEFORE READING FURTHER, YOU MUST VISIT THE FOLLOWING LINK. IF YOU FAIL TO FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS EXACTLY, YOUR INSTALL WILL BE CORRUPT!

 

[THESE UPGRADE DOCUMENTS ARE ONLY FOR REX2 USERS WITH APPLICATION BUILD 2.3.2010.1027 AND NOT FOR REX2 + OVERDRIVE USERS - WE WILL BE RELEASING REX ESSENTIAL OVERDRIVE SOON AFTER THE INITIAL UPGRADE!]

 

And my version is exactly REX +OVERDRIVE (the build reads 2.5.2010.1027). Am I stuck here? Unfortunately it's a little too convoluted for me.

 

Thanks,

Dirk.

Unfortunately, yes. I was in the same situation and just uninstalled REX OD to get REX-E without OD (yet). But I saw some posts that people installed both in different folders. So if you roam the REX forums, I'd say there should be some tips on how to achieve that.

 

I don't know how far away REX-E OD is. The devs are on the SP1 fixes and then comes OD. So the other option is to wait a bit longer to be on the safe side.

Where exactly did you find a full REX-E install? The one on that thread is just an upgrade and is thus only 1.something gb, a full REX-OD install is 7.7gb's.