Ultimate Terrain X Europe or Real Environment Xtreme v2.0

[Stratfordman]

I am new to FSX and I am trying to improve the reality of the landscape,weather etc.I am in between purchasing either one of the above or even both of them and I am looking for some advice from anyone who may have purchased them in relation to value for money etc.

I really would appreciate it if someone could give me some useful feedback in order to help me come to a decision or maybe there is something better on the market.

Many thanks in anticipation.

[randalicous]

Hi

Rex is by far and away the program that will give you an instant change in look and feel for the sim. Utx is good but subtle though the night time lighting is a big improvement. I have both and gex Europe and for me rex is the one to go for. Then gex Europe then utx Europe.

Ta

Steve

[mallcott]

Apples and stairs being compared here. Both are addons for the basic visual package, but there is only a tiny amount of crossover between the two. Perhaps do a little more digging into the characters of each, then decide which is more important to you now.

[Stratfordman]

Many thanks for your help.

[JSkorna]

UTX is mainly roads, rails, and water placements with some other things in there.

REX is water textures, sky and cloud textures, with a weather program.

GEX is ground textures.

[charliep51]

I posted this based on USA scenery products..BUT the 3 I mention here do have European coverage that would be of the same high caliber. Good stuff.

I get great visual results (to my tired old eyes) with a 3-way combo of (1)Ultimate Terrain X USA-Canada and (2)Ground Environment X and (3)Flight Environment X <- all 3. I have tried REX in the past and for me there was too much setup and preliminary stuff just to get off the ground every time I used it. With the 3 mentioned above I double-click my FSX desktop icon and I'm ready to FLY! It's more than a little daunting to sort out all these add-on eye-candy products and a PET PEEVE of mine that there is so much obfuscation as to what EXACTLY all these products do -and- compatibility between brands. There are THIRTY-FOUR different scenery vendors in the FSPilot Shop...<-- which one's the 'best'..who knows..are we supposed to try them ALL?

BTW some of the vendors listed in FSPilot Shop are extinct now..so buyer beware...I know BirdsEyeView scenery products have NO SUPPORT and are no longer in BUSINESS..but the 'good old pilot shop' will gladly -still- sell BirdsEye View products to you!! Also many of the products (especially older payware aircraft) are NOT natively compatible with a Windows 7 system particualry on installation..( they are XP-based products) and workarounds are needed or try for a refund..(good liuck on that!) So I would say try the 3 I have listed as they are from the SAME source and are engineered to work together. And these products DO have ACTIVE vendor support, user forums, updates etc....just like real software!! Now relinquishing pulpit for next 'ranter!' Happy Landings to ALL...

-ps since you say your new to FSX may I recommend (for great and satisfying add-on FSX aircraft) any birds from A2A or Carenado. IMHO these 2 set the standard -and- yes..they ARE both actually in business and have great support if needed. My A2A J-3 CUB is a world-beater and my recently acquired Carenado Cessna 340II is a delight. Have fiun!! Spend your $$ wisely.

[Stratfordman]

Many thanks for your honest reply and informative reply.

[TransportSteve]

There are quite a few different programmes available if you do a bit of Google research for the terrain, textures and weather enhancement. Zinertek Technologies, for example, do a night, water and weather add-ons, but, like all Payware vendors you need to look at the prices and exactly what each company offers the end user. Charliep51 made some excellent points, the only thing is that you could possibly end up with 3, 4, 5 or 6 different systems installed on your computer and may get confused as to what each one offers, I wish that we just had only 1 system for terrain, a combination of ORBX/UTX/GEX etc, and one for the weather REX/Zinertek then life would be so much easier in FSX......LOL

Cheerz. Transport Steve.