Speedy Posted March 24, 2008 Share Posted March 24, 2008 G'day guys I am currently in the market for a environment/weather add on and currently my choice is between FEX for US$45 or a bundled Active Sky X / X Graphics for US$70. Hoping someone who has tried them could give me a run down on the pros and cons of both. Cheers Speedy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maxter Posted March 24, 2008 Share Posted March 24, 2008 I have the ASX bundle and have found that great, no complaints at all FWIW. It seems to do everything that I need it for and then some. I have nothing else to compare it with though as it is the only weather app I have for FSX. Cheers, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gwolb Posted March 24, 2008 Share Posted March 24, 2008 I know REX looks really good, and FEX is coming out with major updates/weather engine also, but those are not out yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Private-Cowboy Posted March 24, 2008 Share Posted March 24, 2008 Not sure when REX will come. If you want to wait for REX, you may need to have a lot of patience. FEX is just a few textures. I own ASX+XG bundle and like it very much. The clouds might not look as great as FEX/REX but there is little performance hit and the weather engine does a lot to make flying so much more immersive. I'd get ASX+XG bundle now or wait for REX. Or ASX (only, not the bundle) combined with FEX. But you'd miss the runway and taxiway textures and other thing then. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pips Posted March 24, 2008 Share Posted March 24, 2008 REX? FEX? Pray tell what are these? Some variation of FTX? Keeping up with these acronym's is very confusing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wolter van der Spoel Posted March 24, 2008 Share Posted March 24, 2008 Hi Pips, it's all not that complicated; FEX = Flight Environment X REX = Real Environment eXtreme FEX is available on the market and REX is still in beta as far as I know and they both add clouds an water textures to your FSX ................ that's it in a nutshell Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest J van E Posted March 25, 2008 Share Posted March 25, 2008 FEX is just a few textures.As a brand new FEX-owner I hope you don't mind me saying this is doing FEX a bit short. As you said, the clouds in FEX are better than in XG. The water looks awesome too and so does the sky: the editing possibilities are deep and endless. When you look at it, it indeed seems FEX is just a few textures, but they sure do bring life into FSX, much more than I ever expected. (My main reason for getting FEX was that I hated the blue default FSX water in FTX: but right now I can only look at those awesome clouds...! .) And what REX will bring no one knows yet. I decided not to wait for that one anymore and go for the one and only original... The skies are absolutely stunning, and with the upcoming upgrade it will even get better. A lite weatherengine is also on the way (being a free version for FEX-owners of a new Environment engine that is supposed to knock ASX out of the skies, so they say... ). Don't know when this all will be released, just like we don't know when REX will show up, but at least with FEX I can enjoy awesome skyscapes right NOW. Within a few months I think we will have three big choices: ASX+XG, FEX+Environment engine (or whatever it's called) and REX. We know what ASX+XG offers, we know the quality of FEX and if that quality is equaled with the Environment engine, all will be very fine (but that still has to be seen) and REX is still a big question (how good it will be and when we will ever see it). If you want to have something NOW the best deal would be FEX with ASX. But if you can wait some longer FEX and the new Environment engine might be a better choice. Or you can get FEX now and buy the weather engine later on (if the free one isn't good enough for you): you can of course also use the default FEX weather engine and do without a seperate one at all (I sure don't need a special weather engine, so the upcoming free one will be a nice bonus for me). REX looks interesting but it's a new company (or just a new man?) and it still has to be seen if he can deliver and how support will be. (FEX support is great, I can tell you.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Private-Cowboy Posted March 25, 2008 Share Posted March 25, 2008 I find it quite optimistic to purchase things based upon promises. 1.) REX is 'comming soon' forever now and I'm for one am sick of that. If its coming in 2009, very well, but say so. If you have problems developing, say so but holding firm on 'coming soon' which is not the case just shows disrespect of the customer and fan base. 2.) The update for FEX is also annouced since the invention of the wheel and has yet to materialise. Nobody is saying it won't be goog but as long as it is not on my hdd it is nonexistent and should not be the factor for a purchase decision. I'm not doing FEX short, I'm just basing my evaluation of FEX on what is here and not on what may be some day. 3.) Those great looking clouds in FEX-update and REX previews are using an extremely high res. You can imagine the fps hit that this will cause. And don't let the devs of those tools tell you otherwise. Such res does not come for free. 4.) Flying is less about nice high res clouds than it is about fighting the weather. What good are high res clouds and nice water if you still rely on the same old crappy FSX weather engine. I've chosen ASX for the weather engine alone over FEX because it creates challenging and realistic weather. 5.) The only complete package is ASX+XG and it is available and was available for a long time. And it does its job perfectly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest J van E Posted March 25, 2008 Share Posted March 25, 2008 1.) Amen. 2.) Amen to that too. Of course, just as I said, if you want to buy something NOW, you should get FEX and ASX for the most complete package. I personally did NOT buy FEX because I'll get a lite weatherengine with it sometime, soon or not... 3.) Don't know about REX but I've had a small test with the FEX hi-res clouds: during a straightforward testflight (loading a flight with a plane on AP so you can compare things quite well) I had no loss of fps at all. During a 'manual' test I did lose about 3 or 4 fps, but that could have been due to me moving around. The hit doesn't seem big anyway, and you should not forget you can use those hi-res clouds at 1024 to (lower res, okay, but coming from a more detailed source, so better looking). 4.) It all depends on what you like. Some like GA low and slow, some like heavies, high and fast. To me (right now) I like to see nice clouds and that's it. I don't even have wind on...! I couldn't care less about challenging and realistic wather. I have to add though that right now it also has to do with not having the right hardware to cope with realistic weather...! Big change that may change in time to come and then I might indeed care more about the weather! But even then I think I can live quite happily with the 'crappy' FSX weather engine. 5.) Or ASX+FEX. I also think that a lot of people (more than you think) will buy more than one package and combine the best of them. Right now people are already using FEX water, REX beta clouds and an X-Graphics sun, probably making use of ASX weather... So in the end, if you really want the best, you probably need all of them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Private-Cowboy Posted March 25, 2008 Share Posted March 25, 2008 1.) Nice we agree on that 2.) Same as 1.) 3.) Those updated high res clouds will have 4096x4096 as far as I know and I honestly can't imagine that this will not mean a fps hit. 4.) You've obviously not enjoyed the fun of a crosswind landing in heavy weather yet 5.) Maybe, but what would someone do who want's a weather addon now? There is only ASX. And I prefer XG too because it also enhances airports greatly with very well done runway and taxiway textures. FEX does not and will not cover that and and REX might be overtaken by FSXI. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matthew Webb Posted March 25, 2008 Share Posted March 25, 2008 ASX/XG are probably in for a mighty service pack this year to keep ahead of the competition... Or maybe a paid new version.... :'( Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest J van E Posted March 25, 2008 Share Posted March 25, 2008 3.) Yes, well, I quite don't understand it too, but that cumulus sample I got was a whopping >20 Mb, while the original cumulus was about 1.2 Mb. Still, fps in that 'real' test didn't drop at all. I was kinda surprised too. But we will have to wait until the patch/upgrade is released to be absolutely sure, I guess. 4.) Hm, looking forward to it... Some rudders are maybe coming my way some time soon, so.. we'll see if I like it! Could well be that I love it: I DO know I am missing out on an important of the real experience right now... 5.) If you want a weather engine NOW there is indeed only one choice. And a mighty fine one too, so I am told. Has anyone seen Speedy in the meantime? I wonder if these posts helped him or not. ASX/XG are probably in for a mighty service pack this year to keep ahead of the competition... Aren't they all? It's the latest hype... That paying part doesn't sound too good, though... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Private-Cowboy Posted March 25, 2008 Share Posted March 25, 2008 Well I'm a bit pessimistic maybe but the only capable weather engine is ASX from HifiSim. And that they know how to build a good engine is out of question, they've delivered with ActiveSky back in the FS9 days and did for FSX with ActiveSky X. Those lofty abitions from FEX/REX are only empty words till I see the weather engine in action myself. Anybody can do nixe textures but to programm a good engine behind those seems harder than you'd think. Or what can be an explanation that both REX and the FEX update are so much behind schedule. For me REX and FEX are a case of overpromising and underdelivering atm which is quite the opposite to what FTX did. I did expect much with FTX but was overwhelmed by what I got. FEX and REX only give me hot air so far. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jakbaz Posted March 25, 2008 Share Posted March 25, 2008 Hi all I bought the download version of ASX/XG and found it very good. i havn't tried the others so cant comment on them,but with ASX/XG it all looks as real as you can get,so Speedy go for it, you wont be dissapointed. Hope this helps you make up your mind. Baz UK PS with the crappy weather we have been having lately it brings FSX to life. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Private-Cowboy Posted March 25, 2008 Share Posted March 25, 2008 I need to make something clear. I don't want to bash FEX or REX. If you want to get FEX for the great textures it offers, go ahead. You'll hardly find anything better atm. If you'd like to wait and see what REX may offer you might as well do that. BUT DO NOT BUY FEX for a weather engine update that is not there (yet). I've learned one thing over the last years with the addon business. NEVER EVER BUY AN ADDON BASED ON PROMISES. I've been disappointed - screwed over I dare say - many times with promises of updates that never came. If you don't learn from your mistakes you're doomed to repeat them. SO USE COMMON SENSE! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Casioalpha Posted March 25, 2008 Share Posted March 25, 2008 Have FEX, ASX & XG Currently using FEX Orbx water, ASX for weather engine, XG for remain textures. Reasons: FEX textures are very nice, but give me a performance hit, so when I scale them back I loose visual quality (I find personally lower quality than XG at same res (i.e. default res)). XG textures (esp. clouds) have given me a notable improvement in rendering performance (i.e. smoother FPS). ASX for weather secondary to all the tweaking I can do, and ability to integrate with XG. We have been waiting for the weather engine from FEX for a number of months now, and will only be a light version - requiring another purchase for a full version to interact with FEX - who knows when that will happen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Private-Cowboy Posted March 25, 2008 Share Posted March 25, 2008 I'm using XG's clouds at 256x256 (default res). Is there a big benefit by using 512x512? And what is the fps cost? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Speedy Posted March 26, 2008 Author Share Posted March 26, 2008 Has anyone seen Speedy in the meantime? I wonder if these posts helped him or not. Yeah I am still about Will likely get the ASX-Xgraphics bundle initially, I really want decent weather. Might add FEX to it later if I am not completely satisfied with the Xgraphics clouds and water. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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