REX Sky Force Very First look

[Guest]

27 minutes ago, DaveCT2003 said:

I'll give Sky Force a really good and fair review, and no NDA applies as REX broke their agreement with me thus rendering it null and void - which honestly doesn't matter, but I thought the community might judge the review as unbiased knowing that.

Best wishes.

 

Sorry to hear about the problems with REX. I thought you actually tested it because I seem to recall you posting about SkyForce really being something big but maybe I am mistaken. Anyway, I actually wanted to say something in my post which you quoted about me having no fear of your review being biased and well, after reading your post I still have no fear for that. If you hang around long enough here you know whose views you can trust or not. 

[Greggy_D 935]

8 minutes ago, J van E said:

I thought you actually tested it because I seem to recall you posting about SkyForce really being something big but maybe I am mistaken.

I thought the exact same.

[Nyxx 6,993]

28 minutes ago, J van E said:

Sorry to hear about the problems with REX. I thought you actually tested it because I seem to recall you posting about SkyForce really being something big but maybe I am mistaken. Anyway, I actually wanted to say something in my post which you quoted about me having no fear of your review being biased and well, after reading your post I still have no fear for that. If you hang around long enough here you know whose views you can trust or not. 

 

19 minutes ago, Greggy_D said:

I thought the exact same.

Yer your both right

Dave said this on the topic of REX SF

"Besides, it's really important to consider the source when evaluating statements. Some folks know that I've been around our hobby for 30+ years, I'm blessed by being able to work with many leading developers, and I have and I'm experienced with the vast majority of mainstream flight sim products. I use terms like "ground breaking" very sparingly, and hope that people would find it meaningful that I made such a statement. If not, then it's okay. I'm merely trying to clue my friends and fellow flight simmers into something I believe is VERY important coming down the pike to us."

 That statement carried a lot of weight coming from Dave. But now it turns out he has never even used it. 

Not sure what to say or think, but look forward to his review all the same the more the better. 

[cmpbellsjc 2,960]

30 minutes ago, J van E said:

Sorry to hear about the problems with REX. I thought you actually tested it because I seem to recall you posting about SkyForce really being something big but maybe I am mistaken. Anyway, I actually wanted to say something in my post which you quoted about me having no fear of your review being biased and well, after reading your post I still have no fear for that. If you hang around long enough here you know whose views you can trust or not. 

I thought so as well, judging from these two posts in Dec. I think that is what threw us off.

On 12/18/2017 at 4:56 PM, DaveCT2003 said:

My friends,

I can't say very much about Sky Force, as I'm constrained by a NDA.  But from my in-depth conversations with the boss (Reed Stough) about how the software works an achieves it's incredible visuals and weather accuracy.  From what I know and have seen, I am very impressed.

I absolutely can not say another word about this, nor will be I able to stream first looks of Sky Force as I've done with many other Betas.  The best advice I can give my friends in the community is to subscribe to the REX Newsletter for important updates - not only on Sky Force, but several highly innovative products that REX has coming out (I've seent them too, and I'm also very impressed with them).

It's an educated guess on my part, but I believe REX has had to remain secretive about development of their upcoming products due to the new ground they break - in several directions!

Just one last word. Those who know me, know that don't engage in any level of hype. You'll never get anything but straight talk and honest recommendations from me.

Best wishes.

 

 

On 12/18/2017 at 5:47 PM, DaveCT2003 said:

 

Well, I understand you humor, but we know this isn't true.  Besides, it's really important to consider the source when evaluating statements.

Some folks know that I've been around our hobby for 30+ years, I'm blessed by being able to work with many leading developers, and I have and I'm experienced with the vast majority of mainstream flight sim products.  I use terms like "ground breaking" very sparingly, and hope that people would find it meaningful that I made such a statement.  If not, then it's okay.

I'm merely trying to clue my friends and fellow flight simmers into something I believe is VERY important coming down the pike to us.

And brothers, I really wish I could tell you more.  Maybe REX will allow me to do a live product release stream, I'd love that!

 

[DylanM 1,069]

things that make you go  indeed...

I think it may be time to get back to actual usage impressions and scenarios . The updated screenshots do look pretty impressive, but I do have a question (don't have SF yet) - if the built-in SF weather engine is disabled, then why is the re-draw still occurring? Isn't injection then a function of the primary weather engine (AS / Opus)?

[aktorsyl 93]

2 minutes ago, DylanM said:

things that make you go  indeed...

I think it may be time to get back to actual usage impressions and scenarios . The updated screenshots do look pretty impressive, but I do have a question (don't have SF yet) - if the built-in SF weather engine is disabled, then why is the re-draw still occurring? Isn't injection then a function of the primary weather engine (AS / Opus)?

I don't think redraw is happening if you use ActiveSky as the wx engine, but admittedly I haven't tested that yet - but I can't imagine that there would be redraw in that case.

 

[timest 472]

Folks,

I’m grateful to those here who have truly offered their valuable insight and constructive criticism/feedback. We are truly listening and figuring better ways to apply this knowledge to further enhance the product. We are in the process of compiling bug reports and will issue a service pack when it becomes available. 

Thank you all, and I wish you and yours a very happy new year. 

Cheers.

[DaveCT2003 1,820]

1 hour ago, Greggy_D said:

I thought the exact same.

Yeah, I understand. 

Here's the deal, it's not as straight forward as you think. Part of the REX NDA states that you will not divulge that you are a Beta Tester, and if you go back and read what I said, I never claimed to be nor did I ever say I'd seen the product. This is a requirement imposed by REX which causes a confusion and in my opinion needless problems for REX and potential customers alike.  They are other things, but we're here to talk about the product, not break down REX's inner workings.

As I already said above, my statement was based on the knowledge Reed gave me of the inner workings of SkyForce over 2 years of many lengthy and in-depth technical conversations, along with the trust Reed and I built over the past many years.

After what happened with REX, their never getting the product to me, and some reports we've seen thus far, I felt compelled to write in based on what I'd written earlier - so I knew this was going to come up when I posted, especially with that person Nyxx whom I don't like or respect and whom has an axe to grind with me for saying so - I mean it was a given.

Anyway, you're are correct to question what I wrote so long as you don't imply that I said I was a Beta Tester or had used the product, which I never claimed.  That said, Beta Testers rarely are told the inner workings of a product, they simply use the product to see if it has errors - unless they are an "internal tester".  I am an internal tester for several developers, but not REX (they really only have two testers besides Reed and Tim), but I know a lot more then other REX testers about how the product was created to work.  To be fair, I asked Reed the same question countless different ways over 2 years to see if the story changed, and it never did, and together with the trust we'd built, well, I still trust what he's told me and hopefully that will bare out in the next few days.

WHAT YOU DON'T KNOW

Reed and Tim won't tell you, and I couldn't say so before, but now I can.

REX had some people terribly betray them last month, and Reed and Tim were shell shocked by the first one, then the second hit, and then before they caught there breathe it happened a third time - all from different vectors. None of it was fair, none of it was right, and it all stunk from high heaven to lower hell.   Absolute betrayal that I know hit Reed on a very personal level.

If the community knew what happened then I'm 100% positive the good people (most of the people in flight sim) would rally to Reeds side.  I'm not kidding, what happened made me sick followed by really pissing me off.  That shell shock together with the stress and lack of sleep over the last year has affected my friend Reed so profoundly that I scarcely recognize him anymore - and that's really the best explanation of why I left, maybe it was to get his attention, Lord knows (and I'm sure Reed would admit) that I tried.  When SkyForce was released before I even saw it was just the final straw, as you know I'd been supportive of the product, and Reed doing that to me was really crappy and just the final straw for me.

Regardless, and as I already said, do not take my leaving REX to mean anything positive or negative about their products - that would be a Big Mistake. 

Now, I think most people will agree that nobody can base a purchase decision on what they've seen in this thread. Yeah, the weather engine looks like it's going to be crappy, but it's going to take flying in, under, over and through many different weather conditions to judge this product, and you need to have some understanding of when and what type of clouds appear (I'll rely on my Naval training and manuals for much of that).  BUT THE REAL BASIS FOR THIS BEING A GO or NO-GO is how it will be perceived by the average flight simmer, who doesn't necessarily care that a certain type of cumulus cloud appears over another, they want cool, semi-realistic looking weather that makes sense and doesn't impact their sim performance, and a weather engine that doesn't go freak out and then go berserk like we had with REX Essentials.

Finally, and Reed has known this for a while, I've been using ENVTEX for many many months because Sky Force wasn't being delayed and delayed and I just hated Texture Direct and especially Soft Clouds.  But now Sky Force is here, and I'm going to give it a run for it's money.  If it's what Reed promised, it's going to be something!

 

 

 

[ryanbatc 12,846]

2 hours ago, ryanbatcund said:

Tim

I tried posting at your forum but I can't get my password activation email (I'm guessing your servers are busy).  When I download the REX download manager I get the app hanging.

Ever seen anything like this?

REXapphang by ryan b, on Flickr

@timest

[timest 472]

1 minute ago, ryanbatcund said:

@timest

Hi Ryan, 

I'm sorry I overlooked your original post.

1. Did you check your spam in your email program?

2. Are you running the app as admin, by right-clicking on exe and selecting RUN AS ADMIN?

Rather than clogging up the AVSIM forum with support, you can send an email to our Tier 2 staff at support@rexgamestudios.com in the meantime while we try to play catchup on support via our forum.

[Nyxx 6,993]

You really do have a problem don’t you read my reply, was it rude, condescending, No and I even said I still look forward to your review, I have no idea why you are so rude to me. I even said your comment carried weight, that’s a compliment.

If I had an axa to grind and a problem with you, I would PM you and try and sort it out. That’s how I would deal with a problem because things on forums can easily be read in the wrong way.

I dont have an axe to grind with you at all and the only comment I’ve ever read from you that I thought was silly was when you statement on “cheap was always best” you way of knocking FSL.

It was and I still think it’s a silly thing to say. If that’s why you think I have an axa to grind, then grow up and act your age. If you have a problem do it like a man, PM me and talk to me personally and tell me you problem. Not make stupid remarks like an 8 year old would do and talk about me in the 3rd person. Really! How old are you?

 

 

 

[jabloomf1230 2,445]

Almost all of this catfight should have been relegated to PMs.

[DaveCT2003 1,820]

23 minutes ago, jabloomf1230 said:

Almost all of this catfight should have been relegated to PMs.

I'll have to respectfully disagree.

They are absolutely right to question my comments last week, I would have done so, and it's in the best interest of the community both present and future.  I was legally prohibited from full disclosure back then, but provided it now.  I don't see any of that as a fight, or even disagreement.  I see it merely as clarification, one that really is important (not for me, but for the community).

Best wishes.

 

 

[sbs9 40]

Shots from my first test of SF:

https://sbsim.de.quickconnect.to/photo/share/eKbrsxpD

Weather data source: AS16. 

[ZKOKQ 984]

42 minutes ago, sbs9 said:

Shots from my first test of SF:

https://sbsim.de.quickconnect.to/photo/share/eKbrsxpD

Weather data source: AS16. 

Great shots Roman. What PTA preset are you using ?