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Shots over German with REX Skyforce


chiccolo

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Stefan Geppert

Hi Benjamin,

some nice shots, but i am still struggling with buying REX Skyforce...i read some reports and tests but opinions are almost 50:50...so actually i have to say your pics are nice, but there is no "wow effect" from my side compared to ASP4 + ASCA (what i am using right now). At least from the optical Point of view.

 

So my main question is: How about Performance? Did you use ASCA before? Is the Performance better with REX Skyforce?

Regards

Stefan

 

 

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Hi Stefan I bought it directly in the Rex Store, got there 15%. I just like the textures better than those of ASCA. Now use only AS16 and the new textures of Sky Force and the real cloud model without the weather engine.

 

the performance is the same. Going well.

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peter kelberg

same here  used  to have  asca   found  to have the  same  performance,  now  only  use  as16  with  sf

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Stefan Geppert

Thanks for your replies!

@peter kelberg So what is your personal opinion after changing from ASCA to REX Skyforce, does it really look much better? The cloud coverage should be better, thats what i read? I also noticed that the weather engine coming with REX SKyforce is completely bad, so if i would go for REX Skyforce i would do the same --> ASP4 weather engine + REX Skyforce, but i am still not convinced to buy REX :-)

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J0hannes Butz

Hi Stefan, excuse me to sneak into this discussion :D

I've bought it yesterday, as there's only so much you can do with PTA. I'm now using the ASCA sky textures and cloud formations, ASP4 weather and RexSF3D clouds and sun/moon textures. The cloud coverage is the same - though it might seem as if the clouds were thicker resulting in thinking there's more. I think the cloud textures in SF3D are awesome, especially the Cirrus look so real. Some of the clouds still look a bit like placed photos but it isn't as bad as with previous products.

The gripe I had with ASCA was that the clouds looked a bit too hard on the edges. In SF3D I'm happy to report that 512x textures look great and higher resolutions still look very soft. I would say it is the closest to reality as you can get right now, judging by this video: 

I'm certainly not regretting my purchase, though I wouldn't say that even the reduced price of 32€ (for me) is justifiable for just cloud textures and I would be reporting back much happier if the price was 5-10€ lower tbh.

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Stefan Geppert

Hi Johannes,

thank you very much for your Feedback!

What is your Intention with this Video? It's nice but i awaited a comparison between real life and REX SKyforce... what it isn't?! Did i miss something? :huh:

I think i will wait until there is a discount Promotion for REX Skyforce before i buy ^_^

 

Regards

Stefan 

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J0hannes Butz

I'm sorry to not have clarified that - I like to compare real photos and videos to what I see in the sim and this video is certainly very much up-close to clouds.

On 1/31/2018 at 7:40 AM, Stefan Geppert said:

i awaited a comparison

OK - I've taken some shots comparing both ASCA (left) and SkyForce3D (right) for you to compare:

 

The "from below" shot was not taken in the exact weather scenario! Both Add-Ons used 1024x textures, all other settings stayed consistent through these shots.

As explained above, the cloud cells are placed at the same spot, it just seems that the ones that Rex delivered have more "soft cloud" around the original cell. ASCA clouds are way harder on the edges. And I feel like the Rex clouds have a slight purple tint to them which I removed via PTA (same presets used in shots above).

Also I wouldn't be sure if you can stack discounts in the Rex store in case you're a previous customer. ;)

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Stefan Geppert

Hi Johannes,

thank you very much for this comparison...in These pics i actually like the REX Clouds (Pictures on the right side) better too.

I would get the 15% off because i used some REX products earlier. Will see, my decision is not made yet, actually i am fine with ASP4 + ASCA and still see no "must have" benefit of REX Skyforce. You are right that ASCA clouds sometimes seem to be a Little bit "hard" but look very good anyway. My hope was, that Skyforce has a much better Performance because REX always advertised that they will have a "completely redesigned cloud model with increased Performance", but now, from users i hear that the Performance is the same like ASCA, so just for some "softer" looking clouds the Money is not worth it from my Point of view...

Maybe my opinion will Change one day, i just have to watch more screenshots/Videos of REX Skyforce i think :D

Regards

Stefan

 

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J0hannes Butz

They seem to have integrated the "better performance" into their weather engine - which I will keep neglecting to use. On the product page it says that non-visual clouds will not be rendered which should also be the case in ASP4 when selecting minimum cloud draw distance to 60mi and the maximum to over 100mi.

I have not seen a noticeable difference in frames and I think that the Rex optimization is only good for maybe 2-5 fps at max, which I would probably not notice anyways. For that I'll keep using ASP4 with it's advanced functions. In my experience a well optimized ASP4 will look awesome with lots of visual effects and still only have minimal impact on fps.

Overall - I'll assume you've read the review on ADX - SF3 will look a bit more polished. It has some nice features for people not already using PTA, ASCA or other Rex products, if you use all features excluding the weather engine of course I think it's still worth it's price tag but I'll agree that 30€ for just cloud textures is a bit too much.

Still like others, I've seen so many of those shots here and on other forums that I felt the need for better textures :rolleyes:

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Stefan Geppert

That sounds to me like you are an ASP4-Expert?! ^_^

Actually i did not change many Settings in ASP4 except the Maximum cloud draw distance and the Maximum cloud layers. I like what i see in the sim and i have "flyable fps" with great visuals but i can imagine that there are some improvements when diving into the ASP4 Settings deeper.

So, i would appreciate it if you could send me your ASP4 Settings, maybe i can adopt some of these Settings to my sim?!

Thank you in advance!

Stefan 

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J0hannes Butz
1 hour ago, Stefan Geppert said:

send me your ASP4 Settings

there are too many variables, I've compiled my methodology in this thread over at the HIFI Forums https://hifisimtech.com/forums/showthread.php?8658-Active-Sky-for-P3D-v4-amp-ASCA-realistix-settings

For performance: make sure to test each step of cloud layers with an FPS counter and compare the average FPS, minimums won't get you anywhere in P3D. In addition, I would set maximum visibility as low as it's acceptable for you (see other thread).

I like to set my cloud draw distance to 20mi further than what I can see so there are no edges in the sky. Also make sure you set the minimum draw distance as low as you can go (60mi) for best performance. In previous versions it had affected how clouds were placed (density and diversification) but that is not the case any more with ASP4/ASCA.

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