REX 2 questions?

[T-Bone]

I was thinking about getting it, but to my surprise it's much more than the clouds and weather I thought it was. My flight sim time is very limited, & I like to FLY, not tweak/set things up/test out etc. Reading the reviews I am sort of overwhelmed with info. It's a hec of a program, but I'm not sure it's right for me. I like the simplicity of FSX where I can sit down load a flight with real weather and in 2 minutes I'm starting the engines on my aircraft. I'm not into weather themes, just real world weather wherever I'm flying.

1- with all the REX graphic options (runways/water/clouds) etc, is starting a flight easy or do you have to do a bunch of set up work prior to your flight?

2- When you complete your flight, and want to move onto another flight (different location), do you have to close out FSX to restart a new flight in REX, or can you continue from within FSX?

3- I don't like it when I'm flying in the PNW and there always seems to be a very unrealistsic white blanket of fog/clouds in the valleys so just the tops of the mountains stick out. Will REX eliminate that, or at least make it look realistic?

4- Will my 4 year old computer (Duo-Core 3.0ghz, 2-3 gigs of ramm, & 8800 GTX card) run REX 2 without losing FPS, assuming I'm not using the HD textures?

5- I use Plan-G on a second monitor, will it still function as it does now?

6- Will both the FSX default GPS and ones that come with payware aircraft still funtion as normal?

7- Will REX real world weather update on the fly (FSX does every 15 minutes)?

8- Is REX overdrive just a HD enhancment to REX? Which likely will not be an option for my old computer.

9- If I didn't like REX, or if it didn't run well on my computer, can it be easilly unistalled or deactivated?

10- With REX installed can I still just use FSX as I always have and bypass REX (if I wanted)? It might take me 3 months to figure out how to use REX. LOL

I know, lots of questions, any answers would be greatly appreciated.

[timest]

Hi T-Bone,

First let me start by advising you to read the manual if you would like before purchasing: http://www.realenvironmentxtreme.com/rexmanual.zip

1. All of that matters in how you would like to use the program. Some folks install textures and fly until they want to change them again. I like to use the randomized function to change things up for a new experience each time.

2. You do not need to close out REX for this purpose.

3. Yes, we eliminated this in REX... although some folks like this. Which I will supply those customers with a file that once again returns that.

4. Yes, it's fully customizable in regards to textures and compression algorithms.

5. There is no issue with Plan-G that we are aware of.

6. Of course.

7. Yes, you can set this as well.

8. Yes it is. But NOT just HD, you can customize it as well.

9. Yes, there is a backup function to backup to your original textures.

10. Of course.

Hope this helps

[Rob Newman]

All good advice from Tim there...

But just to add my own experiences, I use REX exactly as you are planning to... I load FSX, and I fly. I don't want to muck about with settings every time, though I must admit I did try the weather influenced texture option a few times and it is rather nice to get textures and clouds that look like the match the conditions!

In the end, I created my own theme with my prefered clouds, water, waves, runways, taxiways and lights... This takes a little while while you look at all the previews and decide which one to use, then I let REX do it's thing and install all the textures... By the way, I use HD cloud sets but I have the cloud resolution set to 512x512 to give me a FPS boost... I know I'm losing some definition by doing that, but seriously, they still look awesome... I have plenty of screenshots on the forum so you can see for yourself.

Once the textures are installed, you can leave REX alone for months until you fancy a change of textures. You can run FSX as normal and it will use the REX textures that were installed in the first setup. You don't even need to run REX again either.

As for the real world weather, the REX weather engine that is installed as part of the package will automatically start every time you run FSX (again, no need to run REX) and then you just load a flight, make sure you select "clear weather" in the FSX weather theme selector then once the flight starts you will see a green bar appear at the top of the screen to inform you that REX is connecting with FSX and it will also let you know when it has finished creating the weather... on my setup, it takes about 30 seconds. It then updates constantly as I fly so no need for flight plans.

Long story short, the initial setup can be a bit overwhelming through shear wealth of choice, but once you've got the initial setup, FSX default backup (REX will do this for you) and texture install done, you can close REX, leave a shortcut for it in the farthest corner of your desktop, and then from that point on simply run FSX and fly... And you get all the REX benfits including the real world weather which is MUCH better than the FSX version.

Go for it... You won't regret it!

[Guest J van E]

As for the real world weather, the REX weather engine that is installed as part of the package will automatically start every time you run FSX (again, no need to run REX) and then you just load a flight, make sure you select "clear weather" in the FSX weather theme selector then once the flight starts you will see a green bar appear at the top of the screen to inform you that REX is connecting with FSX and it will also let you know when it has finished creating the weather... on my setup, it takes about 30 seconds. It then updates constantly as I fly so no need for flight plans.

For completeness sake: you can turn the weather engine off if you want to, so it won't load automatically.

I use REX for clouds, skies, the sun and waterreflections: that's it. When I bought REX a looooong time ago, I chose a set of clouds that someone else adviced (21 for cumulus and cirrus) and I like it and I never changed it. I didn't feel like giving all those other clouds a try... I also only really used the Sparkling reflection and a specific sun. I did however try a lot of skies, mainly for the daytime: they can make a huge difference. I settled for a specific texture, but a few months ago I chose another one that had a nice (whiter) horizon. The rest I don't use at all (you can tell REX which textures you want to install and which not). So I also never ever run REX unless I have installed my system all over again or when I have bought a new PC. (BTW I also don't use the rest because I only fly above PNW and PNW has its own hard coded watercolors and the addon airports already use runway etc. textures that originate from REX.)

I install my textures on the lowest resolution possible simply because imho it looks better: I don't like HD clouds. And btw I don't even have Overdrive because 'default REX' offers MORE than enhough for me.

So I am using REX a bit like robnewman76 does, but I use even less of it. Still it is worth every penny!!! It's the first thing I install whenever I reinstall FSX (together with FTX, ASE and the Katana 4x. And EZdok. And TrackIR... Well, anyway, I won't fly without REX installed!!!)

[T-Bone]

Well that does it then...I'm sold.

Thanks for the great feedback guys, and Tim for all 10 answers. BTW that might be the nicest manual I have ever looked over, and seems fairly straight forward for such a complex program. Good job!

[Rob Newman]

Looking forward to seeing your first screenshots