Have some more questions for you folks

[XLR8]

I am in the market for some kind of upgrade (not for sure what to call it ) for the land,building etc... I was looking at somthing like GEX north america or ultimate terain USA .I have REX . The one thing that I seem to notice is that most screens/videos I have seen ,seem to have more than 1 kind of software added . What is the diffrence between the two .

 

[stiz]

basic explanation:

GEX = textures
UTX = tells the textures where to go, also adds accurate roads+raillines+coastlines

 

[XLR8]

So would one have to buy both .

 

[Tako_Kichi]

UTX changes the underlying mesh to be more realistic with the real world hills and valleys. GEX is a texture pack that makes the ground surface look more realistic (fields, cities etc.).

You can use UTX with the original FSX textures and gain the correct contours.

You can use GEX with the original FSX mesh and gain a better looking ground surface.

If you want to have it looking at it's best then both is the answer.

Although to be honest I use neither as I would rather spend what little money I have to spare on new aircraft.

 

[Dain Arns]

And I'm in the opposite camp.
I look at UTX and GEX as something I use every time I create a flight, no matter what I am flying.
Of course these days its Orbx PNW scenery, which includes mesh, landclass, and textures....

 

[XLR8]

Thanks....That is what I am debating right now . Save the money for a plane,or go for the texture . The only thing I hate is,I don't know when a plane I like will be available .That being said the aircraft are limited to jet fighters (F-22,F-15,Harrier etc) I don't fly heavy aircraft .

Anyone have any idea when some of those aircraft are ready ?

 

[stansdds]

I use UTX as it gives a more accurate representation of roads, highways, rail lines, and coast lines. I find this to be beneficial when flying low altitude VFR. For textures, I use freeware replacement textures and my FSX looks really nice.

 

[XLR8]

I use UTX as it gives a more accurate representation of roads, highways, rail lines, and coast lines. I find this to be beneficial when flying low altitude VFR. For textures, I use freeware replacement textures and my FSX looks really nice.

The freeware textures how are these . I mean is there just one freeware that dose the USA,or is it like state by state . I downloaded a Hawaii texture from ,I forget now . Looks pretty good but some stuff did not line up .

 

[quantumleap]

UTX changes the underlying mesh to be more realistic with the real world hills and valleys.

This is not true for UTX USA, UTX Canada or UTX Europe, though the Ultimate Alaska product does contain some mesh.

UTX primarily provides accurate roads, railroads, water features, enhanced urban land classification, night lighting objects and more road traffic.

A product slideshow is available here.

Jeff

 

[heywooood]

this stuff was confusing to me for a while when I first got into FSX -

mesh = terrain, the shape of the land
landclass = scenery demarcation, the stuff on top of the land like, roads, shorelines, etc
scenery = buildings, trees, airport configuration etc...

landclass and scenery are tied together because landclass will tell the sim where to place the scenery...in the case of trees for instance, the landclass determines where forests will be and from the scenery library the necessary trees are taken and placed there...

then you have 'environmental' addons like REX (payware) and FSWater configurator (which is free)
that alter the sky, clouds, lighting, weather, etc...or the appearance of the water

FSX has by default some decent aspects - but for the most part ACES simply provided placeholders for this tremendous 3rd party development market - some free and some payware

I have bought things that I no longer use - and I have freeware that I would not have minded paying for its that good...so

read the forums and when you see screenshots that you like - ask the poster what they use...you can save a lot of coin

I use REX and FSWater config. for environments and GEX and FTX freeware Pacific N'West and Tasmania along with some beautiful scenery and mesh from Holger Sandman that is free -

you can use google to see which are free and which are payware.

 

[XLR8]

Thanks...I splurged and got GEX . Found some MESH freeware also . So hopfully in a couple of days I will get the DVD mailed to me . Will most defantly keep you posted .


One last question . I have a ati 5850 gpu,and run DX10 or 11 . Should I use the DX preview in FSX .

 

[stansdds]

Depends upon which aircraft you are flying. FS9 port overs often have rendering problems under DX-10. As I understand it, the DX-10 preview works best under Windows 7 and not as well under Vista.