Environment Force Discussion Thread

[earthdog 842]

1 minute ago, busdriver said:

 

Folks,

I have SF3D, but do not have PTA, ENVTEX or ENVSHADE, and not even fully sure what they do, but in reading, appear to enhance visuals. Honestly, it all seems a bit daunting to setup and configure. Would REX EF make this simpler, while improving visuals? What do i need to maximize the visuals? Please help, it's a rainy day here. and kid and significant other free, so have some time to play around! 🙂

 

Cheers!

I feel you 🙂

SO a free solution would be to download TomatoShade and get onwe of the many profiles out there and have visual upgrade asap. You can also try reshade with a profile and give it a go...Plug and play visual upgrade for free, BUT you may start NOT liking something and then you will start the long tweak way :)))

If you want to maximize visuals then you have to send your wife and kids to the moon to habve enought ime tweaking PTA , reshade etc

[bbuckley 133]

2 hours ago, Nemo said:

I am using SF3D, ASP4 and EF in Automated Mode. I've made some flights but I have not yet seen any cloud dynamics (morphing, size and color changing). Maybe my expectations were too high but I did not yet experience any of that what has been advertised in REX EF videos. I can make changes with the mini GUI, but wasn't Automated Mode supposed to do this? I don't want to tweak the whole time ...

I bought the combo SF3D & EF and so far I'm a little confused and not impressed. I'm an IT guy so I should be able to get this right, but previously I was using PTA and ASP4 and REX TD with SC for textures and I liked the look much better then. I don't notice any cloud texture dynamics and I've tried with SF3D running and not (but sync on).  So far I'm very disappointed. 

[earthdog 842]

2 minutes ago, bbuckley said:

I bought the combo SF3D & EF and so far I'm a little confused and not impressed. I'm an IT guy so I should be able to get this right, but previously I was using PTA and ASP4 and REX TD with SC for textures and I liked the look much better then. I don't notice any cloud texture dynamics and I've tried with SF3D running and not (but sync on).  So far I'm very disappointed. 

If you have been using a good PTA ini with some dynamic (expressions) capabilities you will not be surprised by EF.

[Nemo 1,305]

3 minutes ago, bbuckley said:

I bought the combo SF3D & EF and so far I'm a little confused and not impressed. I'm an IT guy so I should be able to get this right, but previously I was using PTA and ASP4 and REX TD with SC for textures and I liked the look much better then. I don't notice any cloud texture dynamics and I've tried with SF3D running and not (but sync on).  So far I'm very disappointed. 

Do you have it in automated mode? I've opened a thread in the REX EF forum where I ask if EF, SF3D and ASP4 work together in automated mode as I cannot see any weather/cloud texture dynamics.

[bbuckley 133]

Just now, Nemo said:

Do you have it in automated mode? I've opened a thread in the REX EF forum where I ask if EF, SF3D and ASP4 work together in automated mode as I cannot see any weather/cloud texture dynamics.

Yes Automated Mode.  

[bbuckley 133]

3 minutes ago, earthdog said:

you will not be surprised by EF.

Surprised or impressed? I was using Gerard's all months apr preset and loved it.

[earthdog 842]

Just now, bbuckley said:

Surprised or impressed? I was using Gerard's all months apr preset and loved it.

impressed i ment 🙂 Yes Gerard is using expressions in his ini file that can alter dynamically many elements based on time of day,season,percipitation e.t.c I have my own and i am staying there for the moment. As i said another thing missing is Reshade's ambient lighting...It makes a big difference imo.

Edited May 4, 2019 by earthdog

[mpw8679 428]

43 minutes ago, busdriver said:

 

Folks,

I have SF3D, but do not have PTA, ENVTEX or ENVSHADE, and not even fully sure what they do, but in reading, appear to enhance visuals. Honestly, it all seems a bit daunting to setup and configure. Would REX EF make this simpler, while improving visuals? What do i need to maximize the visuals? Please help, it's a rainy day here. and kid and significant other free, so have some time to play around! 🙂

 

Cheers!

While PTA is a very powerful shader utility I prefer Envshade.  Improves the look of the sim depending on different conditions automatically.  Its cheap and is VERY simple to use. 

[RTK1972 288]

Is reshade still working with 4.5 ? I had troubles after switching ton4.5 so i deleted it..

[threexgreen 3,139]

I'll have to weigh in on the performance - like some others, I have huge performance issues. I noticed while testing that I generally lose some 3-4 FPS with EF running. Then I prepared my first actual flight with EF. Put myself at KMSY with a thunderstorm just above the field and that's when my jaw dropped - but not in a positive way. With EF running and working its magic, the sim went from a steady and smooth 30 FPS to 14, a drop of 16 FPS. Texture settings set to 512 and DXT5. 

Just about to post over at the REX forums. What on earth...

[earthdog 842]

5 minutes ago, RTK1972 said:

Is reshade still working with 4.5 ? I had troubles after switching ton4.5 so i deleted it..

It does work. I am using 3.0.4

[Nemo 1,305]

I'm out of game. After three days fiddling and tweaking I've not got Environment Force to give me acceptable results in "Automated Mode" with SF3D and Active Sky. Luckily I could go back to my former combo:

SF3D (no skies) +  ASP4 + ASCA (only skies) + EnvShade.

which is good enough for me at the moment. Maybe I'll give EF another try when REX comes up with a "real" weather engine. Until then ...

Bye.

[mpw8679 428]

6 minutes ago, Nemo said:

SF3D (no skies) +  ASP4 + ASCA (only skies) + EnvShade.

This is my recipe as well.  Tough combo to beat.  Very little tweaking required.

Edited May 4, 2019 by mpw8679

[reecemj 146]

Am with you guys a little bit more testing and am going back to PTA,AS and SF. Been at this for 2 days.

Am not mad at Rex yet.😁

Edited May 4, 2019 by reecemj

[Tomaz Drnovsek 440]

Can EF be a straight up replacement for Envshade or PTA and provides "realistic" effects out of the box or do we benefit from using additional shader add-ons like Envshade or PTA in combination with EF? I know it can be used either way but mentioned shader add-ons do change the visuals in a way to be realistic by itself, so, can we say EF does the same thing in Automatic mode by itself or would be a description that EF enhances the visuals (default, Envshade or PTA) more appropriate? Do other shader add-ons provide any additional effects that EF does not?