Let's talk about the weather

[HawkDsl 50]

I use REX Es+OVD and it does weather and textures. The upcoming Architect sounds interesting, but mother nature does allot of this work for you!

 

 

For me, there is zero interest in flying on pretty days all the time. REX ES+OD has archived weather. When you get home from work, just tell REX to load the weather from whatever time you want, and you will be able to fly live all day and night with the weather that was happening for realz at that time.

 

I can't begin to tell you how really cool this is. I travel for work, and I always have an eye on the sky to spot interesting weather. I keep a little pocket notepad and write down the location and time, then fly it when I get home... But to be perfectly honest, what I saw and what REX puts up is 50/50, cloud wise. There have been a handful of times when it was exactly what the weather really was, and that is always freaking cool.

 

REX also allows you to search weather, and you can plop yourself in whatever weather your looking for... Mother nature doing all the Architecting after all... Architect would be nice to drum up some local conditions to fly in, like practicing cross wind landings and what not.

[rufowler 2]

I am not sure how it does, but an educated guess is it changes the opacity and density.  Check out the video

 

I think that is it,  all of them are using the same REX textures yet they look different.

 

Ah, I didn't realize you meant ASN with vs without REX.  Got it.  Video looks interesting.  I think in an ideal world it seems I should be running both.  Thanks!

 

 

I use REX Es+OVD and it does weather and textures. The upcoming Architect sounds interesting, but mother nature does allot of this work for you!

 

For me, there is zero interest in flying on pretty days all the time. REX ES+OD has archived weather. When you get home from work, just tell REX to load the weather from whatever time you want, and you will be able to fly live all day and night with the weather that was happening for realz at that time.

 

I can't begin to tell you how really cool this is. I travel for work, and I always have an eye on the sky to spot interesting weather. I keep a little pocket notepad and write down the location and time, then fly it when I get home... But to be perfectly honest, what I saw and what REX puts up is 50/50, cloud wise. There have been a handful of times when it was exactly what the weather really was, and that is always freaking cool.

 

REX also allows you to search weather, and you can plop yourself in whatever weather your looking for... Mother nature doing all the Architecting after all... Architect would be nice to drum up some local conditions to fly in, like practicing cross wind landings and what not.

 

Very cool, indeed.  Sounds like the weather archive is a nice option too.  :)

 

Just curious (for anyone commenting here): Is there a big hit your framerate with either or both of these?  Like I mentioned, I have an ok / not great system at the moment, and it struggles sometimes despite tweaks.  I wouldn't want to swap a prettier sky for a soul-crushing 5 fps in my Orbx regions. ;)

[vadriver 247]

rufowler

 

i have been an active sky user for many years (apart from a short time on the initial rex way back when ??) ... i thus can't offer too much comment about rex / opus etc.

 

but like you i prefer to "fly" at a different time to my real world (daylight after dusk !!) & have thus needed active sky's historic weather to much better depict real world weather suited to the simmed time of day in a specific geographic area.

 

one option you have is to try as2012 with its very capable weather engine & for mine good HD textures (to match that weather), then perhaps upgrade to asn for an even better engine, yet stll use as2012 texture loading as i do, given my history of owning the past versions of asa, ase etc.

[rufowler 2]

but like you i prefer to "fly" at a different time to my real world (daylight after dusk !!) & have thus needed active sky's historic weather to much better depict real world weather suited to the simmed time of day in a specific geographic area.

 

one option you have is to try as2012 with its very capable weather engine & for mine good HD textures (to match that weather), then perhaps upgrade to asn for an even better engine, yet stll use as2012 texture loading as i do, given my history of owning the past versions of asa, ase etc.

 

Hmmm... That does sound like an interesting option -- a creative way around things I suppose.  I wonder why AS stopped making textures when their previous versions had them.  Weird.  Thanks for the input!

 

Does 

[vadriver 247]

rufowler

 

i should have added http://www.hifitechinc.com/products/active-sky-2012 for more ... with a discount !!

 

i believe sooner or later they will add textures to asn, but in the meantime they are more than busy with the asn radar integration/s.

 

besides, many like me had as2012 anyway .. which you use before starting fsx & then switching to asn B) !!

[fs4fun 366]

 

 

So this may be a dumb question, but if I don't care about real-world weather conditions because (as I mentioned above) I'm almost never flying live, either of these programs will still be able to just generate some random weather that's appropriate to the geographical location and the season, time of day, etc., that I'm flying in the sim, correct?  Guess I'm just not sure how these work.  :-/

 

REX WA is not available yet, there's an info page here: http://www.rexdirectexperience.com/architect.html

 

Other versions of REX that I've used (REX 2, maybe REX ES+OD) have a "random weather" feature, and you choose the approximate conditions you want and it generates them, but I don't know yet what all the capabilities of WA will be.

 

You  might also want to look at a program called Ideal Flight (on sale this weekend at PCAviator), which will help you come up with a flight plan and automatically generate some suitable weather. I don't have that program either but thinking about getting it at the sale price.

 

Either of those programs plus a texture package such as REX4 Texture Direct or the freeware HDEv2 cloud textures would work well together.

[rufowler 2]

REX WA is not available yet, there's an info page here: http://www.rexdirectexperience.com/architect.html

 

Other versions of REX that I've used (REX 2, maybe REX ES+OD) have a "random weather" feature, and you choose the approximate conditions you want and it generates them, but I don't know yet what all the capabilities of WA will be.

 

You  might also want to look at a program called Ideal Flight (on sale this weekend at PCAviator), which will help you come up with a flight plan and automatically generate some suitable weather. I don't have that program either but thinking about getting it at the sale price.

 

Either of those programs plus a texture package such as REX4 Texture Direct or the freeware HDEv2 cloud textures would work well together.

 

Thanks, fshobby!  I actually do have have Ideal Flight 10.  It was one of the first addons I got a couple of months ago.  And I was thinking about it recently when I started thinking about finally getting my first weather addon.  I like IF, and it has some nice features, especially the way it randomizes not just the weather, but also the date you're flying, the cargo/passengers you carry, your assignment/mission, etc.

 

But after I got FsPassengers, and especially after I got Air Hauler (which I use most often), the "career" aspect of IF feel a little thin.  Depending on how much it costs (or how deep your pockets are), I'd say it's worth a shot.

 

Anyhow, that "random weather" option in REX  seems promising.  Thanks!

[StubbinMyToe 14]

Nothing beats flying through a real hurricane in ASN :)

 

If I were you I would just pick up REX4 for the great textures, then add on some ASN for weather.

[rufowler 2]

Well, as luck would have it, I happened to see in my inbox today an email about a big sale at PCAviator this weekend, including 50% off REX products!  This might be the nudge I needed to dive in since it's only ~$22 usd. But I do realize that it's just a texture program.

 

I guess I might as well start somewhere.  I have a feeling I'll grab ASN or FSGRX when/if it's on sale somewhere ... or if I just feel like throwing a few extra dollars into this hobby which is likely to be the case.  

[gandy 18]

Both ASN and FSGRX have demo's for you to try so it might be worth trying them before you make your mind, ASN has a 7 day full demo and im not to sure about how long the demo is on FSGRX.

[HawkDsl 50]

"But I do realize that it's just a texture program."

 

 

Incorrect; REX essentials + overdrive is BOTH weather AND textures.

 

REX Texture Direct IS only textures.

 

Now, get off the fence and go buy something... throw money at the screen like it was a super model wrapped in bacon.

[rufowler 2]

Incorrect; REX essentials + overdrive is BOTH weather AND textures.

 

REX Texture Direct IS only textures.

 

Now, get off the fence and go buy something... throw money at the screen like it was a super model wrapped in bacon.

 

Right.  I knew that, I just meant that I realize that REX's biggest draw seems to be it's textures, which ASN apparently lacks entirely.

 

Anyhow, yes, I'm off the fence (and not for a lot of money considering that sale) and am trying to figure out the program out now.  Looks promising, but I guess we'll see once I start flying around in some crazy weather.  Hoping there's a setting for raining bacon. ;) Cheers!