Default P3D v3 Clouds vs Rex Soft Clouds

[DunRingill 21]

I use the default Clouds. With a little HDR they look great imho except for the cirrus clouds, they're the same since FS9 i Believe. I will reinstall Rex and use cirrus from there.

[pete_auau 1,159]

I agree, best just to do without Vector. The performance/visual trade off is just not worth it. Plus it tends to have some very strange elevation and landclass anomalies.

 

Got  no issues  here  at all using vectors,   although using  fsx  still might be  the reason

[Cruachan 705]

Hi,

 

I'm with AnkH on this one. Do without ORBX FTX Global Vector? You must be joking. Not on your life! For the coastlines alone it has to be worth it. In my case I simply followed Rob's guidance and have been using his recommended settings since day one. No stutters or VAS issues here.

 

http://robainscough.com/P3D_Orbx_Vector_Settings.html

 

Mike

[JimmiG 244]

The default cloud textures are the same as FSX, but the HDR and bloom makes them look more dramatic. Still a bit cartoony IMO, but they don't look too bad.

Remember that the sky color also has a huge impact on how you perceive the clouds. A dark blue sky color will make the clouds "pop", while a milky, bright color will make them blend in more. I'm still searching for the best sky colors. I've probably gone through 15 - 20 sets from freeware sets to REX 4 to REX Essential without finding something I really like. They're all too dark, too bright, too saturated, too inky and none look like the sky I see when I look up in real life.

[Pe11e 812]

Sorry for going offtopic here, but since you guys are talking about to be or no to be vector, I must say that I'm on edge uninstaing it from the start of using p3d v3.2. And that's simply because I've noticed that LM implemented a really good and detailed vector data in v3, I found that after comparing the scenery from top down view. Guess what, lakes and rivers shapes are exactly the same with vector! It only added some rivers here and there and of course roads, for which I don't care much.

Now only question remaining are the coast lines, are they good also in default p3d like rivers and lakes?

[Dominique_K 10,149]

Another happy camper with Vector.

 

There is no other addon covering the world outside the fat regions as it does. Only for the precisely drawn coastlines and added rivers and lakes, it would be worth the price for me.

 

Where I fly, I do not see any special penalty with everything checked (except the frozen water surfaces and the tertiary roads that I do not visually care for).  Maybe because I don't fly PMDG and Aerosoft mega-hubs !  If anything could be improved in Vector that would be the  highway textures and  the insertion of the road network into the urban textures. 

[GHarrall 494]

I used to to be a UTX USA / Canada guy but switched to vector. Has there ever been any direct performance comparison between the vector and UTX products?

[Guest]

 

 

In my eyes, this is a little bit to harsh.

 

That's why I started with 'imho'.  :wink: And saying 'it's the worst Orbx add-on' doesn't necessarily mean it is utter crap: it simply is not their best. :wink: I did use it for a while only for coastlines, rivers and lakes, but in the area's outside of regions where I would want to fly even those waters are too much. I also don't like having to fool around with elevations and so on. Besides, I think I fly outside of regions once a year or so nowadays so I simply have no need for it. So for me, very personally, it's their worst add-on. I can imagine however that if you would want to fly in your own country all the time and there is no region for it, that Vector is great.

 

 

Sorry for going offtopic here, but since you guys are talking about to be or no to be vector, I must say that I'm on edge uninstaing it from the start of using p3d v3.2. And that's simply because I've noticed that LM implemented a really good and detailed vector data in v3, I found that after comparing the scenery from top down view. Guess what, lakes and rivers shapes are exactly the same with vector! It only added some rivers here and there and of course roads, for which I don't care much.
Now only question remaining are the coast lines, are they good also in default p3d like rivers and lakes?

 

Er, I do think you are mistaken and/or doing something wrong. Afaik LM never updated the vector data: it's mostly the same as it was in FSX. If you do not see any difference you don't have Vector enabled somehow or you not disabled somehow when you compare the two. The differences should be (and are) HUGE. Or you accidentally are comparing both on a spot that accidentally was good by default. (Although that is hard to imagine.)

[vcarlo 529]

Getting back on topic of this thread.... my response to the OP is neither.  I have tried both and always find myself returning to FEX for (IMHO) the best looking clouds in Prepar3D.  I love REX for many textures (especially water and enhanced sun), but for clouds and skies I prefer FEX :wub:

[Pe11e 812]

Er, I do think you are mistaken and/or doing something wrong. Afaik LM never updated the vector data: it's mostly the same as it was in FSX. If you do not see any difference you don't have Vector enabled somehow or you not disabled somehow when you compare the two. The differences should be (and are) HUGE. Or you accidentally are comparing both on a spot that accidentally was good by default. (Although that is hard to imagine.)

 

Hm, I can recall clearly that I took the screen BEFORE I installed Vector, and took exact same screenshot again AFTER installing and enabling VECTOR. I saw added rivers and few lakes, but the river costlines and river shapes were IDENTICAL. At that point I was pretty confused, especially because I was testing before/after on vanilla P3D, just with ORBX Global installed. 

[Dominique_K 10,149]

Hm, I can recall clearly that I took the screen BEFORE I installed Vector, and took exact same screenshot again AFTER installing and enabling VECTOR. I saw added rivers and few lakes, but the river costlines and river shapes were IDENTICAL. At that point I was pretty confused, especially because I was testing before/after on vanilla P3D, just with ORBX Global installed. 

The default coastlines and hydro network vary very much in quality from place to place as does the mesh. The US is, in general (not always),  better served. Where the default uses USGS or the like data you mightn't see the difference. In most of the places in the world, you do.  Very much so.

[Pe11e 812]

The default coastlines and hydro network vary very much in quality from place to place as does the mesh. The US is, in general (not always),  better served. Where the default uses USGS or the like data you mightn't see the difference. In most of the places in the world, you do.  Very much so.

 

Tested the area around Zurich, so maybe that area is with better data?

[Dominique_K 10,149]

Might be, knowing that other sceneries can also interfere (OpenLC EU, AS Zurich etc.). Are your  Vector 4 main files at the bottom of the scenery library, just above the xxxx Base files  (the Vector AEC being below) ?

 

Clouds

 

To answer the OP, I use default clouds for two reasons. I've seen many pics/vids of the REX older textures and I feel they look cardboardish, specially at high def.  I really don't like what I see. Maybe the soft clouds don't suffer from that. Gotta check. But also, I am reluctant with the REX idea of having to choose a set of clouds before starting a session. Call that lazyness. 

 

I tried the HDE in v2. I didn't see much difference with default  except for the cumulus.

 

Also, I do not find the default textures so bad. I wouldn't say the same for the LM implementation of cloud arrangement  which is IMHO  the only thing where P3D is inferior to FSX

[Bobsk8 12,733]

Might be, knowing that other sceneries can also interfere (OpenLC EU, AS Zurich etc.). Are your  Vector 4 main files at the bottom of the scenery library, just above the xxxx Base files  (the Vector AEC being below) ?

 

Clouds

 

To answer the OP, I use default clouds for two reasons. I've seen many pics/vids of the REX older textures and I feel they look cardboardish, specially at high def.  I really don't like what I see. Maybe the soft clouds don't suffer from that. Gotta check. But also, I am reluctant with the REX idea of having to choose a set of clouds before starting a session. Call that lazyness. 

 

I tried the HDE in v2. I didn't see much difference with default  except for the cumulus.

 

Also, I do not find the default textures so bad. I wouldn't say the same for the LM implementation of cloud arrangement  which is IMHO  the only thing where P3D is inferior to FSX

 

You don't have to select  clouds before starting a session. I use the same clouds for many weeks. Every once in awhile I select a different set,  just for variety. They all look great. Much better than default. 

[be77solo 125]

I use stock clouds, despite buying Rex4/TD/Soft Clouds.....  after a couple installs I abandoned REX completely... not worth the effort. They are very slow following updates and not worth the trouble.