I haven't seen any hard hitting reviews yet, and I'm curious what people think about REX Texture Direct. To make sure we're comparing apples to apples, please provide:

 

1. Your current weather engine (AS2012, ASN, Opus, FSGW);

2. What texture set you used prior to REX Texture Direct; and

3. Whether or not you are using any "post-production" effects (shader mods, etc.).

 

Oh, and please for the love of everything holy, none of this politically correct "It's subjective, and I don't want to impose my opinion on others" silliness. Just tell me what you think and whether you think it was worth the investment.

I have a mixed review on it really. I was using REX E with OD for textures before and really liked those. They claim that they have some 16,000 new textures but to me it seems like there are much fewer textures than before. However, that being said, the water animation is awesome along with the airport HD signs. I'm also not sure if REX is the reason for my night textures being much darker but I never noticed it this dark before (I like it). Is it worth the $30 upgrade? Yes, in my opinion anyways. The way it loads textures super fast and the ability to choose individual textures to install instead of having to re install the whole theme is awesome. 

 

1. ASN

2. REX Essentials Plus w/OverDrive

3. The only thing I'm using I might see as "post production" is the FSX addon Shade.

 

Hope this can give a little insight!

I have a mixed review on it really. I was using REX E with OD for textures before and really liked those. They claim that they have some 16,000 new textures but to me it seems like there are much fewer textures than before. However, that being said, the water animation is awesome along with the airport HD signs. I'm also not sure if REX is the reason for my night textures being much darker but I never noticed it this dark before (I like it). Is it worth the $30 upgrade? Yes, in my opinion anyways. The way it loads textures super fast and the ability to choose individual textures to install instead of having to re install the whole theme is awesome.

 

1. ASN

2. REX Essentials Plus w/OverDrive

3. The only thing I'm using I might see as "post production" is the FSX addon Shade.

 

Hope this can give a little insight!

Interesting. Thanks. Like you, I was using REX-E with OD textures. I switched to AS2012 last year and decided to get rid of the monstrous OD textures, as I couldn't really see any difference between the OD textures and what came with AS2012. I'm wondering if I should let REX back on my hard drive now.

 

I heard the same thing about the water and airports enhancements. They look great.

The loading speed will probably be one of my favorite parts.

It loads textures really fast. Looks nice. It does look better than rex essentials + OD. Runway/taxiway textures look pretty good at default airports now. I don't feel like I'd be missing a whole lot by staying on OD. But yes, it does look better than OD, seems to be more cloud combos and sky color settings to play with. Water textures have improved in my opinion. 

 

I set up a wintry type of theme and thats the only one i've tried so far. I noticed a big difference on my first flight with 4. 

 

Currently using ASN, Rex 4, and sweetFX

I haven't yet spent enough time with it to form a proper opinion, but my first impressions are extremely favorable. Loading the various textures so quickly is truly a high point; lends itself to much more experimentation.

 

Textures themselves look great; was quite impressed with the new runway & taxiway textures and markings. Also really liked the new airport lights that appear to reflect off the ground.

 

The only thing I wish it had was perhaps a bit more descriptions regarding the textures; I'm not a cloud expert, so I appreciated the older Rex method of describing what a certain cloud type might mean, weather wise.

Thanks, everyone! I suppose I'll have to take the plunge. One more question: Does the interface allow you to load weather influenced textures, too? If so, the improved loading time could be very useful. At the moment, I seldom bother with weather influenced textures because I don't care to wait for the painfully slow process.

Im not exactly sure, but i thought I read from REX, that the weather engine they are currently working on (not yet released) will be designed to load weather specific textures, based on the weather to be injected by their new weather injector. I'm not positive, but I thought I read that one point. 

I'm enjoying the new textures ... quick video of inland water and dusk sky/clouds: 

 

 

just low and slow around Minnesota.

Thanks, everyone! I suppose I'll have to take the plunge. One more question: Does the interface allow you to load weather influenced textures, too? If so, the improved loading time could be very useful. At the moment, I seldom bother with weather influenced textures because I don't care to wait for the painfully slow process.

 

Yes, you can load wx influenced themes.

I have purchased it few days ago, but found it difficult to dowload 6 GB of data with no download-resuming support from the PC Aviator.

 

First, the questionare:

1. ASN (previously AS2012)
2. AS2012
3. none

 

Next, the pros:

- textures are pretty nice looking, I really enjoyed them (and that was the main reason to purchase that kind of software)

- two airport lights sets for Triple screen

- big thumbnails of every texture set

 

Then the cons:

- There are only one set of few categories (i.e. no choice, only one set of textures)

- The GUI scares me with loud 'ding' from speakers every time a user adds a theme. It is a shame I cannot disable it (I guess 'notification' should do that, but I cannot tick it, so I assume it is already off)

- There is no detailed description of specific texture - I remember seeing my friends texture set (REX-E Overdrive as far as I remember) - the description was something like this 'The sky You would probably see during summer / winter', 'this clouds will dominate on a windy day' and so on. I miss this a lot.

- If You pick up texture after texture, You have to save the theme in order to install it as a one package (and not texture after texture right after You picked them up from the list).

- There is no clear indication which texture is currently installed, nor selected to install.

- No pre-configured themes

- Textures picked up by REX4-TD can only be prepared according to the current weather condition at one station (not historic) and not to the flight plan as in AS2012

- Not possible to exclude specific texture when randomizing a theme

 

Overall I'll rate it 6/10. The textures have 8/10, the GUI and all the cones I was able to found in few ninutes recieves 3/10

I've used REX ES+OD in the past, but since early this year I returned to FEX2 (which I also have and which is hughely undervalued imho).

One thing I always keep in mind when looking at promotional screenshots is that the shots are always made under settings highly optimized to show off the product as much as possible.

Using the HD (4096x4096) cloud textures from REX has always increased my VAS upto unacceptable levels, so they had to be reduced to a mere 1024x1024. At that resolution, the textures no longer looked as good as advertised.

I suspect the same thing will be true for REX4 Direct Textures.

 

I do however like the new airport ground textures very much, however I wonder if I will ever use them since I exclusively use addon airports (mostly payware) which usually have custom textures.

Anyone to share some light on this? Is there a use for REX4 textures (ground/airport) when you're on a highly customized addon airport? (FSDT, FB, OrbX, etc).

I also use FEX. I have been very happy with the clouds and sky in FEX but the water has always been lacking.

 

I am interested in REX4 simply for the water, airport texture and sun effects.

 

I am strictly a 1024x1024 resolution person as well.

 

I am on the fence with this one......

 

A demo would be nice. Then I could compare the effects and decide from there.

I'm enjoying the new textures ... quick video of inland water and dusk sky/clouds: 

 

 

just low and slow around Minnesota.

 

The water reflections are very good. On the other hand those lights are awful. The halo for normal streetlights looks about the same size as half a house. Don't know why FSX / P3D just can't do realistic-sized night lighting.

The water reflections are very good. On the other hand those lights are awful. The halo for normal streetlights looks about the same size as half a house. Don't know why FSX / P3D just can't do realistic-sized night lighting.

I think the light is from FTX Global  not REX . I have herd that Orbx will come up with a Light Config tool to fix this problem.