Work in progress

[Nick C]

Guys can you please not second guess what clouds I'm using, I already stated that the pictures have a mixture of REX AND FEX!

Thanks for the invite to the comp, but I don't enter competitions, I feel it's a conflict of interest.

Stiz, I don't have them at that size mate, but PM your email address and I'll get across the max res versions when I get home this evening.

[Jason210]

I know REXX, but am not familiar with FEX. WHat is that?

Been trying to read about these products via Googling - not much concrete information on how they actually work, but from what I can gather it seems that they both somehow integrete high resolution photographs with the 3D environment and effects to create highly realistic skies.

I haven't been able to determine the difference between REX and FEX. Both seem to offer these environments via use of a theme selector. I'd be interested to know if these themes can be selected and controlled automatically by FSX's real weather setting, and if so, if the tranisitions come off.

Could you explain how it works Nick?

[Nick C]

Hi Jason, in a nutshell they are replacement texture sheets for the sky, clouds and water. Both REX and FEX have an interface that allows you to select the texture for each that you want to alter and each has a preview screen to give you an idea of how they will look in the simulator. Both allow you to individually change any of these, so for example you can experiment with the sky colour, but leave the water and clouds alone. In both REX and FEX you change the textures prior to running the simulator, not during use. After doing so, FSX will continue to use your desired textures until you chose to change them again. Both also give you the option to run high or low resolutions of your selected textures, so you should be able to improve the look of your sim without any loss of performance.

In their basic form neither effect how the weather is created in your sim, just how good or bad it looks aesthetically. REX does come with its own integrated weather engine and flight planner, although I have these disabled myself.

REX was the original of these two programs and has lain dormant for a couple of years, but Peter Wilding, the original developer, recently passed on the rights to Flight1 who have recently released a couple of updates. There were plans for a weather engine originally, but these were shelved. I don't know if there are any plans to revive this project.

If you're seriously thinking about either package, and they will transform the sim, it may be worth signing up to their respective forums and take a poke around the threads, look at the screenshots etc.

For additional information, these following reviews give a little more insight.

REX: http://mutleyshangar.com/features/martw/rex.htm
FEX: http://www.flightsim.com/main/review/fex.htm

Any further questions, don't hesitate to ask.

Cheers,

Nick

[Jason210]

Thanks a bunch for that info!

I was thinking of trying just one of them. If you could just go for one, which one would you go for?

[Nick C]

I think as it currently stands, if I had to choose one, I'd have to opt for Real Environment X.

[Jason210]

Thanks Nick! I'm very tempted. Having bought the spitfire this month, I may have to wait until next month. My list gets longer and longer...

[Nick C]

Well I think you made the right choice for February, but March is about to start, hence you can go forthwith and buy your next purchase, carrying no guilt.

[Nick C]

[Tigh]

I do find it strange that after a few years of FSX people haven't heard of things like REX and Orbx when they're required purchases for any FSX user and are reasons in themselves to switch to FSX.

[Nick C]

The on-line community makes up a tiny percentage of Flight Simulator customers and new copies of FSX are sold daily. You can't expect new users of FS to instantly have the knowledge of a 'time served' simmer! I know many people who choose not to use these enhancements, simply because flying aircraft and their respective systems is more important to them than aesthetics.