WX Advantage Radar

[gregda 21]

Thank you!

[gregda 21]

I'm getting an error when clicking setup.exe (the file wxrad_patch_20160519.exe mentioned on the hotfix page is not present when unzipping the download so assume those are old instructions).  This is the error message: "The folder path 'MILVIZ/REX Game Studios, LLC.' conatains an invalid character.'

[rstough 528]

Try this: http://www.mediafire.com/download/325lhfbjgqmcg44/wxradar_20160621.zip

 

The installer software had an issue, but is fixed now.

[gregda 21]

Thanks for the prompt response and fix.  It installed fine this time.

[rstough 528]

Thanks for the prompt response and fix.  It installed fine this time.

 

That is great news.  Again very sorry about the mess up. 

[edpatino 1,964]

That is great news.  Again very sorry about the mess up. 

 

This is just a patch or a complete installer?. Do we need to uninstall the previous version first?. Please explain, because at your site you're still mentioning the patch of 20160519 and offers a link to a file that seems not to be a patch.

Cheers, Ed

[rstough 528]

This is just a patch or a complete installer?. Do we need to uninstall the previous version first?. Please explain, because at your site you're still mentioning the patch of 20160519 and offers a link to a file that seems not to be a patch.

Cheers, Ed

 

It is a patch, but since we are updating all files it is pretty much a full version.  You will be required to enter your license information to access this.   This build overwrites any previous builds.

[edpatino 1,964]

It is a patch, but since we are updating all files it is pretty much a full version.  You will be required to enter your license information to access this.   This build overwrites any previous builds.

 

You will excuse me, Sr., but this is still kind of a mess. I bought this WX radar at SimMarket, got an email from them last Wednesday about the new update. When trying to install using the serial key provided, the installer says that the information does not match with your records. Have you revised the installer?. The one that you posted here does not work for me either (same message). Never had this before with any REX product.

Ed

[rstough 528]

You will excuse me, Sr., but this is still kind of a mess. I bought this WX radar at SimMarket, got an email from them last Wednesday about the new update. When trying to install using the serial key provided, the installer says that the information does not match with your records. Have you revised the installer?. The one that you posted here does not work for me either (same message). Never had this before with any REX product.

Ed

 

Ed please contact me at support@rexgamestudios.com.   That way I can assist you directly in regards to your sensitive license questions.

[edpatino 1,964]

Ed please contact me at support@rexgamestudios.com.   That way I can assist you directly in regards to your sensitive license questions.

 

Thanks, Reed. I've sent the email.

Ed

[KenG 492]

After much back and forth I decided to purchase this product. I teach weather radar use and interpretation as one of the classes my company provides. I have thousands of hours using these systems and have a high expectation of how they should work. I have used Bendix Weather radars in the past, but not this particular variant. 

 

I can't really call this a review as I don't have enough time with the product. The reality of weather radar is you spend allot of time looking at a black screen followed my moments of thrill seeing color. 

 

There are lots of photos about this so I shall forgo that. Purchase and download were typical with instant gratification. Download and Install of the Update 2 version was easy but there are two files in the package, an .exe and a .msi. The install must be run from the .exe. Easy to make this mistake as inside the .zip file the icon for the startup.exe can be confused for an Edge icon. The whole quick glace versus attention to detail.

 

Installing into various aircraft is made easy by the management utility. Only if you have allot of aircraft you want to add this radar to it can be repetitive having to click begin and install each time. Other than this the tool works very well for what it is designed to do and I appreciate being able to resize in the tool.

 

 Using the weather radar in flight is where the rubber meets the road. Testing is usual for a weather radar, place the mode switch into test and read the results. Painting the sky for departure was a typical tilt the radar up and look for hazardous returns. One feature I feel this radar is missing is ground clutter. Radar is based on reflectivity and when the cone is set too low you should see ground clutter. In a sim environment I can understand the lack of this feature but it did make it difficult knowing where the bottom of the  cone was. How wide is the cone? 

 

 After take-off and climb I tilted the radar down to search for returns. The system does as expected and looks for precipitation. That means cotton ball fluffies with minimal moisture will not paint. No you need bigger cells with vertical movement to pick anything up. The lack of ground return kept me guessing on tilt the entire climbout. 

 

 During cruise I assumed the system was perfectly bore-sighted and set 0 degrees tilt. It was here I realized the beam was much narrower then I anticipated. Much of my experience has been with an 8 degree beam. So at 40 miles the beam covers 16,000' below and above me and at 80 miles range the beam is 32,000' above and below. It seems this is not the case with WX Advantage and you have to tilt the center of the beam into the cell to pickup weather. This means flying around with a much lower tilt angle then I am used to. This narrow beam also means it is very easy to top a storm with the radar and miss hazardous returns. Once I figured this out it was easy to identify storms and compute the tops. However like the real world the top of the radar return is not the top of the storm and you can still find hazardous weather above the top of the return.

 

 Descent also meant digging the radar much deeper into the negative tilt angle then I am use to. Again the lack of ground clutter kept this a guessing game the entire time. I was able to find weather but the lack of ground returns took one of the major clues of attenuation out of my deck. I had to suffice with steep gradients and bowed back ends, which unfortunately I saw allot of.  I was unable to find a typical pie cutout of a storm so either the storms I was around were not that massive or this is not a feature of WX Advantage. The storms that ASN was injecting as viewed using fltplan.com on my ipad at destination seemed about right. WX Advantage was able to identify the weather, although it did miss some light rain on final approach. Overall fairly accurate.

 

 This is one of the best weather radar simulations I've used for FS. A few differences then what I am used to using a Bendix radar can be explained by differences is radar dish equipment. The lack of ground returns and beam width are my biggest complaints. Even if we are going to use a narrow beam ground returns would be a nice feature. I also saw no mention of beam width in their documentation.

 

 Anyone looking for more then the typical top down view of clouds weather radar fake system, should enjoy this product. But, remember this simulation is much more meaning you actually have to work the tilt or miss a storm. REX/MILVIZ do a good job stating that Weather Radar is an avoidance system and not a penetration system. The manual also does a very good job of radar management 101 and is worth reading. With the summer storms brewing having WX Advantage on-board as another tool makes simulation take one more step closer. 

 

 Again this is a preview after only a couple of flight. There is still allot more weather I need to find with this system and see how it performs, but right now I put it into the "recommend to a friend" basket. 

[JB3DG 225]

Hey Ken

 

Thanks for the review. The RDR-4B uses a 30inch dish with a 3° beam so yes it is considerably narrower than what you are used to. However, the precipitation cell processing shader is going through some upgrades that should subtly improve on what you were looking for (the latest update saw merging of separate storm cells out in the distance that fall with in the beam FOV). And yes terrain returns are also in the works.

[Guest]

No problems installing the REX WX update, working very well in my Milviz aircraft integrated and in the one or two other aircraft for 2D mode.

 

Here's the flysimWare Learjet 35a with integrated REX WX radar in P3D V3.3.5

 

 

 

Cheers, Rob.

[barrel_owl 304]

 

Here's the flysimWare Learjet 35a with integrated REX WX radar in P3D V3.3.5

 

:Applause:

[ppo 67]

How do I get the wx radar to show in the vc of the Milviz B737-200??

Latest version I have is 3.160428.

The wx radar does show in the Baron though.