I've seen a lot of activity recently around REX's new EnvironmentForce (over 20 pages here at Avsim) and I like how it sounds automated; I've considered investing but I find REX's product range bewildering. I don't have a huge amount of time or money to put in to P3D nowadays so I only purchase good value products with a wide feature set and minimal performance impact, that don't need hours of tweaking for optimal results - I want plug and play without having to upgrade to an RTX2080Ti-SLI and i9999k.

REX sell a multitude of products, some of which seem to need other REX products to deliver the full effect, some overlap each other so you're not getting full value. All the marketing hyperbole that REX use on their website confuses me more. At the moment I own REX4TD+SC which I think is a good product that gives me decent results and I'm clear on what it does; I have REX4 autogenerate a weather based theme and upload it to the sim before I fly. I'm very happy with the weather depiction I get from FSXWX engine (I used AS16 previously on FSX).

Would anyone be kind enough to explain what each REX product does in laymans terms, competitor products with a similar feature set, and how they interact with other REX products (or are incompatible with other developers stuff)? My understanding is thus, please correct me if I am wrong:

• EnvironmentForce - Shader tweaks like PTA and TomatoShade, but more automated, it adjusts lighting and colours in the sim. Also seems to do some stuff with cloud shapes and formations, but not textures? Reports suggest there are quite a few teething issues with at the moment. Generally, shader mods seem to need a lot of configuring and break P3D whenever it's updated so thus far I have steered well clear of them. Also I find result of these is often very overdone/garish.
• SkyForce - Cloud textures, which are continuously updated to suit weather in the sim, but I think that only happens properly if you have the REX WeatherDirect engine? Similar to ASCA. It would seem to massively overlap with REX4TD+SC that I already have, so would I get much benefit from SF?
• WeatherDirect - Sets weather in the sim like ASP4, FSRealWX, FSGRW, FSXWX, Opus etc. My understanding is this didn't get a great community reception?
• WeatherArchitect - A weather engine that you have to set up yourself, it won't download real world weather to the sim unlike all the above. Seems kinda pointless, why isn't that just part of WeatherDirect?

The below I am fairly clear on so these should be right?

• TextureDirect - Replaces environmental textures like sky, clouds, airport tarmac but you have to choose them yourself unless you use the rather hidden weather generated theme function. Similar to EnvTex and FEX.
• SoftClouds - Very much does what it says on the tin(!), replacement cloud textures that are softer, can be used to expand the TextureDirect library.
• Worldwide Airports - Replaces the textures on default airport buildings.

Edited May 10, 20197 yr by ckyliu

I think a lot of this comes down to your individual needs and personal tastes, but I do agree, REX offers a bewildering array of products, and it does get a little confusing trying to understand what does what, and how they interact with each other, as well as other add on's like PTA etc.

I currently use REX4TD+SC, AS4, and PTA, and i'm very happy with they way they look, interact, and operate in my particular sim setup, and for my needs and tastes.

To a certain extent, I try to apply the "KISS" principle with these.. With REX4TD+SC i'll change up the cloud, sky color, sun, and water types and textures every so often, just to keep it interesting and introduce a somewhat different look, but I often fly for months at a time without making any changes. I have a fairly minimal set of tweaks applied in PTA v2.66, and virtually never mess with these. I have tried a few of the "presets" that are available, but I always end up going back to my "self developed" preset, as it is well adapted to my needs and tastes. The same pretty much applies to AS4, I just start it up at the beginning of a simming session and let it load the real world weather for the current location i'm flying in, and I have only very minor changes made in the settings and options etc.

I'm sure the various other REX products are excellent and work well, but i'm quite satisfied with what i've got running for the time being, and i'm in no particular hurry to change anything.

 

 

 

Yes, REX sell a multitude of products since FSX (or even FS 2004?) so I understand you get confused.
My first reaction would be to tell you that if you are satisfied with what you already have, don't bother with other products.

But if you want to see your sim world drastically improved, and that you only run P3D V4, you should upgrade to SF + EF.
This combo works with zero (or almost) settings, all being automated.
And the result using both is spectacular.
You can also give Worldwide Airports a try if you wish, but it is not a revolutionary product.
All the other REX products are obsolete or not adapted to P3D V4.

You also want a serious weather program, and everyone here will warmly encourage you to invest in ActiveSky, which is the best of the bests.
That being said, I am rather positively surprised by REX SF new weather engine which is much more accurate than the previous version. Cloud injection is very smooth now as well so maybe both SF and EF will satisfy you.

OK To stip it down to basic's

You don't say but I will presume you will have ASP4 weather?

This is how you could make your life as easy as it can get.

Install REX SF

Open the programme and within the texture, setting set the res to DTX5 512

Close, forget about it.

Install Rex EF.

Enter manual mode, set textures res to match above.

Set to Auto made.

The top two options turn off as ASP4 handles them two.

That's its.

Now all you do is start ASP4 & EF only, go fly.

EF will then import from SF what it thinks are the right clouds and structures for the given weather report. If you don't use sharder programmes like PTA/TS then just let EF do everything for you. It will in AUTO mode. 

Does that sound as simple as you would like it to be?

My PC spec is below and I really only fly the FSL. All runs well even into EGLL or anywhere else. 

 

 

Edited May 10, 20197 yr by Nyxx

.... and don't worry, you won't need a RTX2080Ti-SLI and i9999k to use them, even though it might help! 😁

 

 

Just curious, but what airport scenery is that in the pic David..??

I'm guessing KSAN maybe...?

Edited May 10, 20197 yr by SunDevil56

@NyxxThanks for the explanation, it sounds simple enough and I understand I need both ef & SF for the full effect. I use FSXWX weather. I notice you didn't mention airport surface textures (tarmac, concrete etc), would I still need REX4 for that?

Edited May 10, 20197 yr by ckyliu

AS P3DV4 + ASCA provides my weather needs simply and beautifully.

8 minutes ago, ckyliu said:

@NyxxThanks for the explanation, it sounds simple enough. I use FSXWX weather. I notice you didn't mention airport surface textures (tarmac, concrete etc), would I still need REX4 for that?

I only use addon airport, so if you use REX4 for that then SF/EF will not do that. You get a weather engine in SF so you could use that so it would make life even easier?

11 minutes ago, ckyliu said:

@NyxxThanks for the explanation, it sounds simple enough. I use FSXWX weather. I notice you didn't mention airport surface textures (tarmac, concrete etc), would I still need REX4 for that?

I would be interested to know that as well.

Arghh. David answered while I was posting this.. Thanks David..

Edited May 10, 20197 yr by SunDevil56

24 minutes ago, SunDevil56 said:

I would be interested to know that as well.

Just answered it Scott but REX4 can still be used for runways etc, it would not effect SF or EF. 

Edited May 10, 20197 yr by Nyxx

1 hour ago, David Roch said:

.... and don't worry, you won't need a RTX2080Ti-SLI and i9999k to use them, even though it might help! 😁

 

 

Nice area, which airport is it?

It looks like Orbx KSAN to me. Comes with a nice PR area and custom AG.

The approaches into KSAN are really nice. My only gripe is the poor jetways but GSX can fix that.

Edited May 10, 20197 yr by Nyxx

46 minutes ago, Nyxx said:

 You get a weather engine in SF so you could use that so it would make life even easier?

I would but REX's weather engines have traditionally been poorly regarded in the community, I think the word "simplistic" tends to feature a lot in feedback. I'm very happy with freeware FSXWX because it's so incredibly simple for great results, I  start it before I fly, input nothing to it and it just works without fettling endless pages of options that I don't understand (had that issue with AS16. I know everyone raves about AS but FSXWX does everything to my satisfaction and costs nothing so I will not be purchasing ASP4. It all comes back to that value thing I talked about in my opening post).

Edited May 10, 20197 yr by ckyliu

1 hour ago, SunDevil56 said:

Just curious, but what airport scenery is that in the pic David..??

I'm guessing KSAN maybe...?

Yes 😉