Rex TD and soft clouds with AS 16 just looks great. 

Edited July 7, 20196 yr by Bobsk8

On 7/6/2019 at 2:34 AM, Simicro said:

Hi Mates,

I am in the process to end my quest of textures to enhance my P3DV4 visuals, in order to enjoy the sim instead of searching, buying, installing, trying...

But before I might want to make a last attempt with REX 4 Texture Direct and Soft Clouds Enhanced as it is on sale $16.22 until July 14.

Here's my story:

1) I have decided to stay away from shaders as AC addons makers like PMDG or Aerosoft do not recomment them for potential conflicts with the VC. Notheless, by curiosity I made an attempt with ENVSHADE because it was just ON/OFF and requires no further settings. But I was not happy, so end of the story.

2) I tried ENVTEX: I was only interested by the dawn and dusk skies. The day sky was not bright enough for me on a sunny day compared to the default sim. And I did not like the clouds.

3) I then tried REX SKyForce 3D. I was not interested at all by the weather engine as I use ASP4. I like the skies but not the clouds.

4) I stay away of ASCA because it is too cartoonish for me.

That is why I'm considering a last attempt with REX 4 Texture Direct and Soft Clouds Enhanced to have a combo with skies, clouds, water, sun, moon which would satisfy me.

I confess that I like the default P3D clouds. They are a bit cartoonish but not too much like ASCA. So I'm a looking for a little improvement. On the other hand I don't like textures that are too photoreal like in some products because it clashes too much with the graphics style of the sim. Yeah, I know, I'm difficult.

To conclude, I would be intested to hear folks who have gone through several products and ended up with REX 4 Texture Direct and Soft Clouds Enhanced.

I have tried Shaders and got rid of them in my P3Dv4.5

I would not fly without Active Sky, Rex Texture Direct with Soft Clouds, as well as Rex Sky Force but turn off SF weather engine and only use Active Sky for the weather engine.

I'm now using a combination of ASP4, ASCA, REX SoftClouds and PTA and I'm very happy with it.

ASP4 => Weather Engine
ASCA => Global Automatic Mode with only Sky Colors and Cloud Structures enabled
REX  => for Cloud Textures and Sun Effects
PTA  => for a few Contrast and Lighting improvements

There is not much to set (except in PTA) and the result is impressive.
When I look at real-time webcam images from various cities and then compare them to the weather in P3D, the cloud formations and sky colors are really fitting and realistic.

I am satisfied and from now on I do not touch anything anymore 😉

using   ef  with  sf  with  asp4

 

 

 

 

On 7/6/2019 at 8:17 PM, GSalden said:

 

 

 

 

42 minutes ago, pete_auau said:

I think that's a perfect sum up on ASCA PTA or SF EF.

Everyone can look and choose there own personal preference.

I will refrain from my opinion as it's pointless and turns into arguments based on taste. It would be nice if topics on SF EF did not get filled with ASCA screenshots this like others are not ASCA v SF topic.

I am very happy with the improved sky/dawn/dusk/sun/water textures and effects in REX 4 Texture Direct. I have the Soft Clouds Enhanced Edition, but I rarely see clouds as I prefer to fly with clear skies (for performance reasons) until I can replace my five year old I5 4690k @ 4.3Ghz/16GB DDR3-1600 RAM/2GB GeForce GTX 770 GPU system.

Edited July 9, 20196 yr by Christopher Low

Again, thanks all for your participation.

In the end and at this time I'm staying with Sky Force for clouds and skies. And REX 4 Texture Direct for the water. I'm staying away from shaders. And that ends up (at least temporarily and for a while) my quest for enhanced textures.

@Christopher Low I have nearly the same rig (see my signature) as you until I upgraded to a GTX 1080 and 32Gb RAM but as we know the graphic card plays a lesser role vs the CPU. My settings are overall high/very high, and clouds at max in P3D and generally I get 50-60 fps in the A2A C172 and around 40 fps in the PMDG 777, outside of the big addon airports. I plan to stay 2-3 more years on my current rig.