hi guys, I am shopping around for a weather engine and i was wondering if you had any recommendations in the context of PMDG 737. I am looking at REX Essentials that has a 60% off until the 29 but reviews on Active Sky Next are pretty good..

any thoughts?

thank you

Andrea De Biase

If  you want  the weather  radar  to work  for   the  ngx  than you need  to get  asn,  you still can get  rexe   if  you want  but  you  can  untick  the  rexe  weather  engine  but  still use  all the textures  within it

Active Sky Next is what you need for the weather, theres nothing better on the market, also get 'Rex Textures direct' for the textures. Together they are amazing.

ASN is the gold standard. 

I do have the texture direct already and is really good. I just need a better engine to make it more realistic...too bad the radar of 737 doesn't work with REX essentials, as i said is pretty cheap for a week or so. BTW is this a fact? we know this for sure?

Thank you anyway

Andrea De Biase

I also use Texture Direct and I like it very much. I also have the Soft Clouds pack integrated. REX Essentials will also give you textures, same as REX TD, so you dont need that. I used to use REX Ess for textures and weather, but since I bought ASN, I never looked back. ASN is very straightforward and userfriendly and the weather effects are about the best you can find. REX TD with ASN is a golden combo, in my opinion.

I think i know already the answer but let me understand: the reason why TD and ASN are a good combo is becasue the first gives nice textures and the second gives realistic weather changes (with radar in 737)? so this means that ASN does NOT come with its own textures?

Andrea De Biase

I think i know already the answer but let me understand: the reason why TD and ASN are a good combo is becasue the first gives nice textures and the second gives realistic weather changes (with radar in 737)? so this means that ASN does NOT come with its own textures?

Andrea De Biase

 

Yes, of course. It-s just a weather engine... reads weather and injects into the sim. No textures at all...

I think i know already the answer but let me understand: the reason why TD and ASN are a good combo is becasue the first gives nice textures and the second gives realistic weather changes (with radar in 737)? so this means that ASN does NOT come with its own textures?

Andrea De Biase

Correct. Earlier versions of the Active Sky series did include custom weather textures - but with ASN, they decided to focus on making their weather engine as accurate as possible, (along with the new radar), effectively getting out of the texture business.

 

Rex does textures extremely well, and TD + ASN work great together.

too bad the radar of 737 doesn't work with REX essentials, as i said is pretty cheap for a week or so. BTW is this a fact? we know this for sure?

Thank you anyway

Andrea De Biase

 

Yes, it's a fact and is stated in the NGX intro manual that you'll need ASN for thr radar to work properly. There are also numerous discussion about it here in the PMDG forum. If you plan on getting the PMDG T7 you'll also need ASN for the radar in it as well and would presume that will be the case for the 747v2 when it's released.

 

Besides, the weather that ASN depicts is much better than that of the REX weather engine.

 

 

Sean Campbell

 

 

BTW is this a fact? we know this for sure?

 

From the product page:

 

• Weather Radar - included free as part of the SP1 update, the PMDG 737NGX features a working simulation of the Collins WXR-2100 weather radar. In conjunction with the Active Sky Next weather engine addon, the radar depicts actual precipitation returns (not clouds!) and gives you full control over tilt, gain and radar mode including turbulence and windshear detection.

Do i need to follow a specific sequence of software start ups to get everything to work flawlessly? usually i start REX4TD and pick a theme according to my destination and then FSX starts automatically.

Now that I got ActiveSkyNext (ASN) what do I start first (assuming it matters) and mostly do I link REX4TD to the ASN inside REX4TD settings?

thank you

Andrea De Biase

Since REX installs the textures into your FSX installation, it doesn't have to run in the background. There is no need to start FSX from within REX either. Simply close REX when the installation of the textures is finished, start ASN and then FSX.

 

It is recommended to start ASN before starting FSX, but you don't necessarily have to.

Just one thing to add...

 

The current REX Weather Engine (REX Essentials Plus) is not in my opinion nearly as good as Active Sky Next, however I'm looking forward (with a lot of excitement) to the new REX Weather Engine (Weather Force) which is designed to work with  REX TD.  I might be mistaken, but I believe the new REX Weather Engine will work with PMDG (and all other) products which contain weather radars.  Until then, Active Sky Next is my weather engine of choice.

 

 

Best Wishes to everyone for Happy Flights!

I might be mistaken, but I believe the new REX Weather Engine will work with PMDG (and all other) products which contain weather radars. Until then, Active Sky Next is my weather engine of choice.

 

Yes  your  correct in your  assumption,  just have  to wait  till  it  comes  out

I also use Texture Direct and I like it very much. I also have the Soft Clouds pack integrated. REX Essentials will also give you textures, same as REX TD, so you dont need that. I used to use REX Ess for textures and weather,

 

Noticed  your  comment  that you  don't  use  rexe   since you have  rex4   you  do realize  you  can mix  and  match the  textures  between   the  2  addons  but  as  you have  suggested  just  don't use  the  rexe  weather  engine  just untick the option  to run the  rexe  weather  engine