Can someone explain to me what the difference is between Rex Weather Force and the default when it comes to trying to depict live weather into the sim?  I've hear mixed reviews on both but don't really understand what differs with live weather.  For example, people say on these boards that Active Sky can't do a 3rd party weather solution because of the SDK (not technical so I don't know what that is), but how is Rex able to make one?  Thanks

Edited January 1, 20224 yr by Zimmerbz

I do not have the product, but what I understand is that REX used essentially a memory hack to get access to MSFS2020 and be able to inject METAR based weather. It is obviously not a supported feature and likely one that Asobo would not encourage. I do not have the product and so will not comment on how well it works -- there have certainly been mixed reviews.

 

2 hours ago, Zimmerbz said:

Can someone explain to me what the difference is between Rex Weather Force and the default when it comes to trying to depict live weather into the sim?  I've hear mixed reviews on both but don't really understand what differs with live weather.  For example, people say on these boards that Active Sky can't do a 3rd party weather solution because of the SDK (not technical so I don't know what that is), but how is Rex able to make one?  Thanks

REX WX is not global.  It will display weather based on the Metar but then the WX is the same all around you.  As you move closer to another station it changes and you get an FPS hit in the process of the weather morphing in front of your eyes. Think back to the old FSX WX that popped in as you flew around.  Not sure why anyone still wants that but many seem to insist on having WX matching a Metar exactly instead of having a beautiful dynamic weather system that MSFS had working very well before SU7.  REX is a huge step backwards compared to Live WX but on days like today when Live WX is down REX can take advantage of the situation and get a few more sales I guess...

44 minutes ago, Flic1 said:

As you move closer to another station it changes and you get an FPS hit in the process of the weather morphing in front of your eyes.

You use to get a FPS hit. REX have solved this for 3 weeks now. I suggest using the public beta. Push the time transition slider out to 300ms.

 

2 hours ago, Cognita said:

but what I understand is that REX used essentially a memory hack to get access to MSFS2020 and be able to inject METAR based weather.

Link for your source of info please? Or are you merely speculating?

54 minutes ago, Flic1 said:

 

REX WX is not global.  It will display weather based on the Metar but then the WX is the same all around you.  As you move closer to another station it changes and you get an FPS hit in the process of the weather morphing in front of your eyes. Think back to the old FSX WX that popped in as you flew around.  Not sure why anyone still wants that but many seem to insist on having WX matching a Metar exactly instead of having a beautiful dynamic weather system that MSFS had working very well before SU7.  REX is a huge step backwards compared to Live WX but on days like today when Live WX is down REX can take advantage of the situation and get a few more sales I guess...

It's not a huge step backwards when the default live weather is down. It's an alternative to flying in unrealistic conditions.

1 hour ago, Flic1 said:

 

REX WX is not global.  It will display weather based on the Metar but then the WX is the same all around you.  As you move closer to another station it changes and you get an FPS hit in the process of the weather morphing in front of your eyes. Think back to the old FSX WX that popped in as you flew around.  Not sure why anyone still wants that but many seem to insist on having WX matching a Metar exactly instead of having a beautiful dynamic weather system that MSFS had working very well before SU7.  REX is a huge step backwards compared to Live WX but on days like today when Live WX is down REX can take advantage of the situation and get a few more sales I guess...

I have been a critic of Rex Weather since release.  I purchased it on day one but the abrupt transitions and FPS hit between METAR stations were pretty awful.  Since then I tried it in response to user thoughts after each update - my criticisms remained the same.  MSFS live weather started to fail, so each time it did I would load Rex Weather.  Although the transitions and fps hit were still there, I noticed the actual portrayal of the weather was looking very good.  

I like to place the camera at a tower and watch the traffic using PSXT and RealTraffic addons.  I have the AIG traffic installed and listen to the tower using LiveAtc.  For these sessions I always loaded Rex because the weather was METAR based, so generally more accurate than live weather. 

MSFS/Asobo bowed to pressure and introduced Metar stations.  Immediately the seamless live weather we had since launch started transitioning just like Rex!  The number of live weather dropouts also started to increase.  I read a post here stating another REX update had greatly reduced the fps hit during transitions AND that the transitions themselves were smoother, so I updated Rex and went for a flight - I was very pleasantly surprised with the update! 

Transition are now handled better plus I didn't notice any fps hit.  Weather portrayal is fantastic.  I look forward to seeing how MS/Asobo take the weather forward, but I am quite happy to use Rex and recommend it.

4 hours ago, Flic1 said:

 

REX WX is not global.  It will display weather based on the Metar but then the WX is the same all around you.  As you move closer to another station it changes and you get an FPS hit in the process of the weather morphing in front of your eyes. Think back to the old FSX WX that popped in as you flew around.  Not sure why anyone still wants that but many seem to insist on having WX matching a Metar exactly instead of having a beautiful dynamic weather system that MSFS had working very well before SU7.  REX is a huge step backwards compared to Live WX but on days like today when Live WX is down REX can take advantage of the situation and get a few more sales I guess...

Lol. 

I purchased Rex Weather today, only as back up when LW is down. I just completed a flight from TJSJ to Miami. Seemed to work as advertised, no FPS hit. Good alternative when LW is not available

Two Questions: 

1)  How do you know when LW is down?  Is there quick way to tell?

2)  Is the WX now variable based on real weather?  I have REX and did notice this problem when I first bought it over a year ago.  Been waiting for historic weather.

4 hours ago, knich said:

1)  How do you know when LW is down?  Is there quick way to tell?

Set Clear Skies. Then change to Live Weather. If nothing changes, then Live Weather is down.
You would be very unlucky to find Live Weather that exactly replicates the Clear Skies preset.

Edited January 3, 20224 yr by Reader

I will instantly head over to the REX page and buy REX Weatherforce the moment someone can show me (by screenshots or video) the scenario below:

- a cold front resulting in a clearly visible cloud front, e.g. 20nm away from your departure airport. Means: above your departure airport, almost no cloud visible, some 20nm away a clearly visible cloud layer and from there on, almost overcast. And the weather does not change, morph or transform when approaching the cold front and if you are finally above, you can still look back to the clear sky region with no cloud depicted above. 

And no, please no REX word not allowed that now tell me this scenario is so rare that it does not matter. At least in Switzerland, the scenario is not at all rare, looking up in the sky you have many, many days with half of the sky not showing the exact same weather as the other half and this is simply not possible with REX and the (!) main reason I still did not buy it. 

11 hours ago, Reader said:

Set Clear Skies. Then change to Live Weather. If nothing changes, then Live Weather is down.
You would be very unlucky to find Live Weather that exactly replicates the Clear Skies preset.

Are you doing this at world map or once you hit fly now?

10 hours ago, AnkH said:

I will instantly head over to the REX page and buy REX Weatherforce the moment someone can show me (by screenshots or video) the scenario below:

- a cold front resulting in a clearly visible cloud front, e.g. 20nm away from your departure airport. Means: above your departure airport, almost no cloud visible, some 20nm away a clearly visible cloud layer and from there on, almost overcast. And the weather does not change, morph or transform when approaching the cold front and if you are finally above, you can still look back to the clear sky region with no cloud depicted above. 

And no, please no REX word not allowed that now tell me this scenario is so rare that it does not matter. At least in Switzerland, the scenario is not at all rare, looking up in the sky you have many, many days with half of the sky not showing the exact same weather as the other half and this is simply not possible with REX and the (!) main reason I still did not buy it. 

Check this post comparing MSFS and REX weather using the same METAR - one has to agree just how poorly MSFS is currently displaying the weather.  A few months ago I would go with MSFS live weather always because there were no transitions, but REX is now displaying the weather so much more realistic so its updated and smoother transitions win out for me.

2 hours ago, MrBitstFlyer said:

Check this post comparing MSFS and REX weather using the same METAR - one has to agree just how poorly MSFS is currently displaying the weather.  A few months ago I would go with MSFS live weather always because there were no transitions, but REX is now displaying the weather so much more realistic so its updated and smoother transitions win out for me.

I agree that the current default live weather, particularly clouds, leaves a lot to be desired. However it doesn't have the huge disadvantage that I believe REX still has, of displaying the same weather globally so you cannot see fronts in the distance and fly in to / out of weather. For me this is still a huge step backwards from default. Totally agree that your REX pictures look better than default though.

4 minutes ago, scotchegg said:

I agree that the current default live weather, particularly clouds, leaves a lot to be desired. However it doesn't have the huge disadvantage that I believe REX still has, of displaying the same weather globally so you cannot see fronts in the distance and fly in to / out of weather. For me this is still a huge step backwards from default. Totally agree that your REX pictures look better than default though.

What you state is exactly the problem with live weather at the moment.  the choice used to be easy - MSFS was clearly better because it didn't have global weather plus it depicted several cloud types.  It was amazing to fly towards distant fronts as you say.  REX weather had awful transitions and FPS hits, so apart from the odd check after an update I never used it.  Now we are in a situation where REX is portraying cloud types and METARS much better than MSFS as shown in the images I posted.  Although there are still transitions, they are much smoother than they used to be.

The choice now is to portray the weather and clouds close to reality as REX is doing, but with transitions, or to have non global weather like MSFS, but often with poor clouds and weather portrayal.  Such a shame that MS/Asobo have allowed the weather to deteriorate to the point some consider Rex to be better.