Gollum Posted August 5, 2015 Share Posted August 5, 2015 I have done a lot of reading and a lot of guys who appear to know what they are doing use Active Sky Next as there weather engine, I was almost persuaded to purchase it when I made the mistake of continuing to research and I noticed another lot of guys were getting a big hit on FPS. So back to square one. REX weather architect has just come out but unbiased reviews are hard to find , it seems a little overly complicated ,do I really want to play around with little squares . I just wondered if somebody out there has experience of either of these products ? Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GordonGekko Posted August 5, 2015 Share Posted August 5, 2015 REX Weather Architect is not a weather engine for real world weather if that is what you're looking for. It's only used to create your own weather or use other people's themes. If you want downloadable real world weather I'd recommend ASN. Been using it for years and the only FPS hit is if you fly into very heavy storms and/or have excessive cloud draw distances or cloud layers, but you'll have the same hit from any other weather generator that is rendering enormous amount of clouds. Also, it's not the program ASN itself that causes any FPS hits as its very compact and doesn't use a lot of resources. Having said that, I've used ASN, OPUS, and the regular REX weather engine, not Architect, and hands down ASN is the most accurate and doesn't cause any less FPS hits than any others. Also, if you plan on using the radar features in the PMDG NGX, T7, or upcoming 747v2, then you'll need ASN for the radar features to work properly. ASN is highly configurable to eliminate performance problems and they have a free trial period so you can test it yourself. They also have some of the best customer service around. If I were you I would download it and use the free trial and see for yourself. They also have occasional sales of 30% off, one of which I think is running somewhere now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Newman Posted August 5, 2015 Share Posted August 5, 2015 I have done a lot of reading and a lot of guys who appear to know what they are doing use Active Sky Next as there weather engine, I was almost persuaded to purchase it when I made the mistake of continuing to research and I noticed another lot of guys were getting a big hit on FPS. So back to square one. REX weather architect has just come out but unbiased reviews are hard to find , it seems a little overly complicated ,do I really want to play around with little squares . I just wondered if somebody out there has experience of either of these products ? Thanks Here's the thing... ASN and Rex WA are completely different animals. ASN is what I use, and honestly, compared to the other weather engines out there, it performs superbly. Sure, if you have 5 layers of heavy overcast with max settings in ASN, it will bring ANY system to it's knees but I can happily fly in Seattle, using the Majestic Q400, from Taxi2Gate's KSEA, in Orbx PNW with typical Seattle weather with only a minimal reduction. It's all about how you optimize your settings. Also using lower resolution clouds helps immensely. I use to use Opus FSI and loved it too... but the appearance of the weather with ASN is just superior IMO. Anyway... That's just my two cents about ASN. As for ASN vs REX WA, as I mentioned, it's comparing oranges to apples... they're both fruit, but completely different. These two products are both weather engines, but completely different ASN is a real world, live weather engine. It is designed to download ACTUAL weather, in real time, then inject this into your sim world. REX WA is (for want of a better term) a "manual" weather generator. You have to physically create the weather yourself. You can do this very easily using the tools provided, but there is no way to grab actual conditions and use them. Of course, being REX, users can create and save then share weather themes online... so you can just browse through and find one you like, but if you want weather for a specific local airport that nobody ever flies at, you're out of luck. So you have to ask yourself the question... Are you looking for live, real world weather (ASN), or are you looking to create your own custom weather themes (REX WA)? Of course ASN also allows you to create weather themes too, but it's not as intuitive. One last thing, REX are currently working on REX Weather Direct... This will be a live, real world weather engine based on the tech developed for REX WA... I'm looking forward to that one... But for the time being, I'll be sticking to ASN mainly because I'm lazy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OldAirmail Posted August 6, 2015 Share Posted August 6, 2015 There are "weather engines", weather programs, and cloud textures just to name a few. Active Sky Next, and OpusFSI are two of the better weather engines. Neither have cloud textures. They'll take whatever cloud textures you have in your flight sim, and reproduce the weather in the area that you're flying in. I use OpusFSI because I have a Buttkicker. I've also tried Active Sky Next. Both programs let you download the full version and use it for a limited time. My system isn't the fastest in the world, but it does fairly well. Not only did I not notice ANY slowdown in FPS, but last month I ran both programs at the same time to see what would happen. Even with the two programs running side by side I didn't see a drop in FPS. On the other hand, some people with high detail clouds will see a slowdown. For textures I have REX Essential Plus Overdrive, and REX Soft Clouds. REX Essential Plus Overdrive has both textures and a weather engine. In fact it has a ton of textures including water & runway textures. But,personally, I think that the weather engine is far too slow and cumbersome to use. But I can definitely recommend getting it for the textures. Just buy another weather engine for the weather. REX Soft Clouds, on the other hand is cloud textures only. That's what I have, and I'm very satisfied with the results. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
netwalker Posted August 6, 2015 Share Posted August 6, 2015 I have REX essentials and it states in the manual that it uses real weather updates! What am I missing? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MZee1960 Posted August 6, 2015 Share Posted August 6, 2015 I have REX Essentials Plus w/OD and very happy with it. Great looking textures for sky, clouds, airports, water animations etc. and a great weather engine too with real weather data - all in one easy to use, fps friendly package. Combined with Orbx scenery it works like a charm, and the two give you that added sense of realism default FSX is sooo missing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Newman Posted August 6, 2015 Share Posted August 6, 2015 I have REX essentials and it states in the manual that it uses real weather updates! What am I missing? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Rex Essential is the older generation of REX products. It included a built in real time engine as well as textures. REX Weather Architect is the newest REX product, designed to work with REX 4 Texture Direct (but is a manual weather theme creator... not realtime weather)... And REX Weather Direct will be the realtime weather engine when it's released. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin Posted August 6, 2015 Share Posted August 6, 2015 A nice simple weather engine that works great with any cloud textures like Rex and has no noticeable FPS hit is FSGRW! Great program! http://www.fly2pilots.com/cms/Ui/Pages/Products/MainPage.aspx?id=253b8b5c-0a91-4935-8d01-b3c70aee6034 Cheers Martin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
netwalker Posted August 6, 2015 Share Posted August 6, 2015 Cheers Rob...I will stick with what I have for now [emoji3] just need to work out flight planning. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gollum Posted August 6, 2015 Author Share Posted August 6, 2015 Thanks everybody for your input ,life was much simpler a few years ago. My ORBX products are great and wouldn't go anywhere else and I know that they work well with REX . My thoughts are that weather direct when it comes out will interface with other REX products more easily ,I am going to go down the REX textures with Soft clouds route so I am leaning towards REX , but not yet decided. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FreeBird Posted August 6, 2015 Share Posted August 6, 2015 I use Rex textures with soft clouds and OPUS weather. I tried ASN and went back to OPUS which I think gives a better rendition of the weather. Josh Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geezer Posted August 7, 2015 Share Posted August 7, 2015 Weather engines like opus or asn interface just fine with REX4 Texture Direct. TD is the latest and has the best looking textures especially when adding soft clouds. What I like is you put in the closest medium-large airport and the program produces textures based on the current weather there. Then it installs those textures into fsx in about two seconds, then it opens asn and then it opens fsx. The whole thing is a great combo whether using asn or opus or a different weather program. Doesn't matter. They interface just fine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OldAirmail Posted August 7, 2015 Share Posted August 7, 2015 Josh, take a look at my cloud pictures above. Are you willing to try an experiment? Download the latest ASN, and run it during the trial period (there's no charge). While that's running, startup the latest OpusFSI. Let me know if your clouds change to look like mine. These pictures have real time weather from OpusFSI The cloud textures are from REX so yours may be a little different. These clouds aren't inflated/manipulated. Heavy overcast - Ashville, NC Light clouds - Concrete, Washington Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FreeBird Posted August 7, 2015 Share Posted August 7, 2015 I bought ASN and like it and its interface. I use rex soft clouds but I just like the way OPUS depicts the weather. I ran them side by side for a week and that is what I came up with. Its all subjective. I fly real weather so I just take what it gives me. Others might need bells and whistles for there particular kind of flying and the experience level that they desire and that is fine. Its just my opinion and what I like. I own them both so I'm not missing anything. The pictures look similar to what I see. Josh Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OldAirmail Posted August 8, 2015 Share Posted August 8, 2015 I use Opus too, I was just hoping to find someone who could replicate the cloud improvements that I gained after running both ASN & Opus at the same time. After the ANS demo period was over I uninstalled it. Not because I didn't like ASN, but because Opus has a flight sim oriented ButtKicker "tuner" built in. The cloud improvements continued after ANS was removed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jsapair Posted August 8, 2015 Share Posted August 8, 2015 I use REX for textures...runways, water, sky etc. Set it and forget it. I use ASN for weather. Set the ICAO and conditions b4 you fly. Works for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OldAirmail Posted August 23, 2015 Share Posted August 23, 2015 I use REX for textures...runways, water, sky etc. Set it and forget it. I use ASN for weather. Set the ICAO and conditions b4 you fly. Works for me. Now I'm confused. You have to tell ASN where you are?, or where you are going to be flying from before you can get real weather??? When I used it briefly, I assumed that it could just read the location from the flight sim. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doug Sawatzky Posted August 23, 2015 Share Posted August 23, 2015 Now I'm confused. You have to tell ASN where you are?, or where you are going to be flying from before you can get real weather??? When I used it briefly, I assumed that it could just read the location from the flight sim. No...you do not have to tell ASN where you are, it will keep track of your every move.....also if you enter a flightplan into your sim, it will latch on to it and give you weather info at your destination that you can check on the XGauge enroute... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neucoas Posted August 23, 2015 Share Posted August 23, 2015 I'm using the freeware FSXWX. ATM, it's all I need. Surely will buy ASN any time soon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jsapair Posted August 23, 2015 Share Posted August 23, 2015 Now, what Doug says may be true, I'm not that familiar with ASN but that's my weather engine of choice. How does it know where I am if I don't input that info, either via a direct ICAO or a flight plan?? It doesn't. There's no way. I activate ASN b4 I even activate FSX, so there's no way it knows where I'm at. I enter an ICAO code to the nearest major airport...100 miles is default. You can change that. If you want thunder storms put cumulo-nimbus as your first layer of clouds. If there's another way to do it I'm all ears. I'm just a click-and-look kind of learner. Open to all ideas for sure. jsapair Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Newman Posted August 23, 2015 Share Posted August 23, 2015 Now, what Doug says may be true, I'm not that familiar with ASN but that's my weather engine of choice. How does it know where I am if I don't input that info, either via a direct ICAO or a flight plan?? It doesn't. There's no way. I activate ASN b4 I even activate FSX, so there's no way it knows where I'm at. I enter an ICAO code to the nearest major airport...100 miles is default. You can change that. If you want thunder storms put cumulo-nimbus as your first layer of clouds. If there's another way to do it I'm all ears. I'm just a click-and-look kind of learner. Open to all ideas for sure. jsapair ASN (and all other weather engines) connect to FSX/P3D via an application called "Simconnect". This application is part of FSX/P3D and can be accessed by any external program if programmed to do so. Simconnect feeds all manner of data to those external applications, and more importantly, can take data from those extarnal programs and feed it back into the sim. In the case of weather engines, it tells the external weather engine your location, and then the weather engine downloads the exact conditions for where you are, then feeds that back into the simulator via the Simconnect link. Voila... Instant weather in the sim, without manually telling it where you are This is also how the weather engine achieves true realtime weather changes... it downloads your location's weather on a specified schedule (like every 15 minutes etc), then feeds it into the sim. The main reason for having the ability to load a full flight plan and specify your start/end points within an external weather engine is so it can calculate a smooth transition from one location to the next... "pre-plan" your weather if you like. However, the engine can and does download and inject the weather even if you don't do this. Trust me... I never enter a flight plan in ASN... I never tell it where I am, but I still get the exact real time weather in sim, wherever I am located in the world. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neucoas Posted August 23, 2015 Share Posted August 23, 2015 ASN (and all other weather engines) connect to ... Thanks for the info! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lennie Posted August 23, 2015 Share Posted August 23, 2015 What about ORBX weather? Any one using that? I am so new to this that I just found ORBX weather in the weather folder 2 days ago. Lennie NC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Penzoil3 Posted August 23, 2015 Share Posted August 23, 2015 OrbX weather is a set of nice weather thems. It is not real world weather, outside your window. ASN is, matching what you see out the window at home, or where ever. Just bought ASN a couple weeks ago, and I've been very impressed with it. Sue Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
larweb5 Posted August 23, 2015 Share Posted August 23, 2015 i can't seem to make cumulus x work in p3d v2.5 whats the best weather engine for gliding. i already have rex 4. thanks for any help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stewart Hobson Posted August 23, 2015 Share Posted August 23, 2015 ASN (and all other weather engines) connect to FSX/P3D via an application called "Simconnect". This application is part of FSX/P3D and can be accessed by any external program if programmed to do so. Simconnect feeds all manner of data to those external applications, and more importantly, can take data from those extarnal programs and feed it back into the sim. In the case of weather engines, it tells the external weather engine your location, and then the weather engine downloads the exact conditions for where you are, then feeds that back into the simulator via the Simconnect link. Voila... Instant weather in the sim, without manually telling it where you are This is also how the weather engine achieves true realtime weather changes... it downloads your location's weather on a specified schedule (like every 15 minutes etc), then feeds it into the sim. The main reason for having the ability to load a full flight plan and specify your start/end points within an external weather engine is so it can calculate a smooth transition from one location to the next... "pre-plan" your weather if you like. However, the engine can and does download and inject the weather even if you don't do this. Trust me... I never enter a flight plan in ASN... I never tell it where I am, but I still get the exact real time weather in sim, wherever I am located in the world. I can verify this to be the case. I just finished a flight from Chandler, Minnesota, to Duluth. I connected to ASN *after* takeoff, did not enter a flight plan, and enroute to Duluth, received two weather reports for two airports along the flight route. Since ASN didn't know my destination, I naturally couldn't get a report for Duluth, but the weather was not a problem anyway, and I landed without incident. Stew Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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