Water textures

[guibru 472]

1 hour ago, Sethos1988 said:

So you want them to pour millions into creating a brand new flight sim engine or completely overhauling an existing shelf-product, create brand new SDK tools and, in the process, completely wipe out their entire current mod support? Sounds like a brilliant plan.

And ironically, P3D's water looks miles better than the two civilian competitor products. The oh so fabled Aerofly 2 FS with its brand spanking new 300FPS engine, basically has flat ortho water.

Correct but there are a lot of people who don’t like P3D water. That is why I say that.

[Christopher Low 5,324]

My P3D water at altitude has improved since I installed REX4 Texture Direct with Soft Clouds Enhanced Edition. The texture still looks static beyond a certain distance, but it is an improvement over default, and also has better colouration.

Edited April 26, 2019 by Christopher Low

[NorwegianAviator 60]

On 9/25/2018 at 1:35 PM, Rockliffe said:

Hmm, that's interesting, as I've read many, many reports of others who share my experience. All I can say, is that I have used every incarnation of REX weather and texture products for the past 9 years, but have failed miserably in trying to get proper water textures in P3D, regardless of numerous installs and attempts. I certainly haven't got anything against the guys at REX, other than I feel extremely disappointed in buying the product and have never been able to get the textures to look anything other than horrible even after pursuing help on the forum. Maybe you're right, maybe there is something wrong at my end, and if that is the case I would be the first to put my hand up and admit being wrong, but then why are so many others reporting the same experience?

Share your opinion. Been having the same problems with water since I switched over to P3D from FSX several years ago (P3D v1.3). Default water textures look far superior than any texture replacement program I've tried in my opinion. I have even contacted REX about this issue, but didn't receive much response at all.

[NorwegianAviator 60]

4 hours ago, guibru said:

Stop taking your head off for water rendering.
Pressing LM won’t do any good, the only way to get a better rendering is to change the P3D graphics engine.
I remind you that it is the same as FSX. It’s an old graphic engine. 

Yes, but even FSX had better water rendering in most cases. At least programs like REX could make wonders by replacing water textures etc, which is certainly not the case anymore in P3D.

[guibru 472]

2 hours ago, NorwegianAviator said:

Yes, but even FSX had better water rendering in most cases. At least programs like REX could make wonders by replacing water textures etc, which is certainly not the case anymore in P3D.

Yes, I agree, but it’s still mediocre compared to what you can have with today’s engines.

[GSalden 4,650]

The wet-look you can make with PTA or Tomatoshade ( Watersurface Tuning )

[mtr75 653]

On 9/25/2018 at 7:35 AM, Rockliffe said:

Hmm, that's interesting, as I've read many, many reports of others who share my experience. All I can say, is that I have used every incarnation of REX weather and texture products for the past 9 years, but have failed miserably in trying to get proper water textures in P3D, regardless of numerous installs and attempts. I certainly haven't got anything against the guys at REX, other than I feel extremely disappointed in buying the product and have never been able to get the textures to look anything other than horrible even after pursuing help on the forum. Maybe you're right, maybe there is something wrong at my end, and if that is the case I would be the first to put my hand up and admit being wrong, but then why are so many others reporting the same experience?

It is obviously subjective, but I think REX4 is fantastic. I fly GA in the Caribbean and am very satisfied with the textures. 

[NorwegianAviator 60]

3 hours ago, guibru said:

Yes, I agree, but it’s still mediocre compared to what you can have with today’s engines.

Absolutely, wish we could borrow the water from DCS World 😛

[KBUR 178]

23 minutes ago, NorwegianAviator said:

Absolutely, wish we could borrow the water from DCS World 😛

 

Agree, but P3D's water is still superb compared to XP11's water. 

And the worst thing about X-Plane's water: " It not only looks terrible but even performs bad as hell ( ---> the CPU impact of this single water texture and its waves - rendering is just beyond ridiculous ". )

 

Cheers, all the best.

Edited April 26, 2019 by KBUR

[NorwegianAviator 60]

6 hours ago, KBUR said:

 

Agree, but P3D's water is still superb compared to XP11's water. 

And the worst thing about X-Plane's water: " It not only looks terrible but even performs bad as hell ( ---> the CPU impact of this single water texture and its waves - rendering is just beyond ridiculous ". )

 

Cheers, all the best.

Can't say I agree with that. With some lua scripts you can make XP's water look quite good. Performance is another story though.

[KBUR 178]

3 hours ago, NorwegianAviator said:

Can't say I agree with that. With some lua scripts you can make XP's water look quite good. Performance is another story though.

FlyAgi - a german female XPlane enthusiast (homepage here: FlyAgi  ) - made a comprehensive tutorial called Tutorial - Leistungsoptimierung in XPlane 11 (Performance Optimization in XPlane11) --> this special one is written in German only.

 

Under point 5) she writes:

Quote

5. Abschalten der FFT-Effekte des Wassers (=switching off the FFT-water effects)

.... Diese Einstellung entlastet die CPU sehr stark und sollte daher zumindest auspobiert werden. (=this adjustment - switching off the FFT effect - is reliefing the CPU load quite substantially and you should give it a try at least)....

In the meanwhile I've done a lot of tests: FFT on and off ! 

With FFT on the workload of my CPU is always ca. 25-30% higher than off - which is enormous !!!

Bottom line: With my own investigations done I agree 100 % with FlyAgi's observation regarding X-Plane11's FFT water effects.

The X-Plane water in all its glory is a real performance hog.  Completely unlike to P3Dv4's water:  Even on its highest settings (water ultra) I can barely see a performance impact, and the engine even depicts waves depending on wind's strength.

 

All the best,

Konrad

 

PS:  For all English spoken folks: If you are interested, there you can find FlyAgi's English article about her Tweak Utility (XPlane only)

Edited April 27, 2019 by KBUR

[rennman 4]

The water in P3D V5 is the worst Ive even seen. REX just responded to me and said they dont do water any more.

 

Im confused why V5 water is worse than V4 water...I guess LM figures its going to be replaced so why bother?..but then why is no company jumping to pick up the slack?

 

Im thinking of just taking the REX water textures from FSX and putting them into P3D v4.5

Imagine its that easy!

Edited February 26, 2023 by rennman

[Rogen 1,086]

Didn't v5 go to Nvidia Wave Water ?.

In v4.5 waves are 3D if set to max which has quite an effect, else they are different, not 3D but maybe better looking ?

And REX Textures do have an effect, although yes I do remember FSX being somewhat superior in water looks, plus there was a dedicated 3rd party tool you could use to tweek them.

Cheers

Edited February 26, 2023 by Rogen

[Christopher Low 5,324]

I decided to disable water textures completely in P3Dv4.5HF2. A sheet of glass looks better than the static ripples that I see above 1000 feet when textures are active.

[Juliett Alfa Romeo 508]

@rennman I recommend that you use ENVTEX textures.