REX OverDrive Released!

[papab]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
OFFICIAL ANNOUNCEMENT FROM REAL ENVIRONMENT SIMULATIONS

Real Environment Xtreme OverDrive Released!

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Real Environment Simulations is pleased to announce the release of REX OverDrive. REX OverDrive is a 9.9GB FREE High Definition texture upgrade for REX FSX and is available to all current REX/FSX customers.

REX users will be able to expand their FSX experience with hundreds of free high definition textures for all areas REX has made improvements in, and will be user-scalable for the FPS conscious pilot.

"Our team worked tirelessly for almost 6 months, with more than 1,100 man hours on this update and we're extremely confident users will enjoy the outcome" states Tim Fuchs.

All REX customers who wish to update to OverDrive will need to make sure they have REX Service Pack 3 installed prior to the OverDrive install process. Visit the link below for more info: http://realenvironmentxtreme.com/forum/index.php?topic=10463.0 (http://realenvironmentxtreme.com/forum/index.php?topic=10463.0)

Developer Reed Stough also adds, "We've also been working tirelessly on multiple projects, including the next stage of service packs for REX/FS2004 and REXPlane for X-Plane. The updates will also include weather-related and under the hood enhancements.

For more information, please visit: http://www.realenvironmentxtreme.com/overdrive.html (http://www.realenvironmentxtreme.com/overdrive.html)
For discussions, please visit: http://realenvironmentxtreme.com/forum/index.php (http://realenvironmentxtreme.com/forum/index.php)

[hey_moe]

Made it a sticky, don't have time to DL this morning but I am looking forward to it tonight,Thanks ...Mike:jump:

[papab]

Thanks Mike!

[falcon409]

Lots of folks, me included are having problems with the installer. There are quite a few already who have posted this problem, and it doesn't seem to make any difference which download site you use either. If you don't have a problem installing then that's great, but this is a problem and a lot of folks have it.

[Aviator32]

I managed to download it eventually and it installed without the error messages but all the favorite themes I created have completely vanished. I had to pick all the separate bits again and to be honest, I've only chosen one of the new 'Overdrive' textures which seems like a poor return for a whole mornings download and 10GB on my hard drive! I really think that unless you are the type who likes to experiment a lot or who changes the texture sets on a regular basis (and who has the time) then it seems like a bit of a faff.

[VCN-1]

Lots of folks, me included are having problems with the installer. There are quite a few already who have posted this problem, and it doesn't seem to make any difference which download site you use either. If you don't have a problem installing then that's great, but this is a problem and a lot of folks have it.


I have the same problems.

VCN-1

It seems it needs to be installed in the REX folder not the Program Files(86) folder. When I changed the folder it installed correctly. I got that information from the REX forum.

[falcon409]

I have the same problems.

VCN-1

It seems it needs to be installed in the REX folder not the Program Files(86) folder. When I changed the folder it installed correctly. I got that information from the REX forum.
Excellent!!:salute:

[warchild]

I'm running version 02-2010.0611 and there doesnt appear to be an update path for it. Is it possible to use one of the others???

[Aviator32]

I'm running version 02-2010.0611 and there doesnt appear to be an update path for it. Is it possible to use one of the others???

I think you are up to date as all the links here - http://realenvironmentxtreme.com/forum/index.php?board=25.0 - mention 20100611 as the name of the update.

Besides this is not an update as such more an enhancement with a heap of extra HD textures.

Get it from here (and go and do something else for a few hours while it downloads) -

http://www.realenvironmentxtreme.com/overdrive.html

(You'll need to be logged in to the REX forums)

[warchild]

Awesome. Thank you :) Downloading now ..
(chuckles:: It'll only take an hour :) )

[Cazzie]

Well, here is my good fortune, I start downloading from Mirror 1 this morning, at 2:30 PM the download is 93% and guess what, we have a total power outage! My frikkin' luck! Sorry REX, but I am too PO'd to go after the 3.5 GB again,. I'll stick with what I have in SP 3. If at some time I see a significant difference in the REX Overdrive textures and they do not cause major frame hits, I'll start the download again at bedtime and let it load through the nigh. Otherwise, I am just in too ragged a mood from the outage and lost of all that time downloading and the letter i received from the Social Security Administration yesterday, which is just entirely too political to rant about here.

Needless to say, I am currently at war with the Federal Government of the United States. I may go to jail over this matter, which is a total travesty of justice and freedom!

Caz

[XLR8]

Same here with the error .I tryed 3 times same thing .

[papab]

Well, here is my good fortune, I start downloading from Mirror 1 this morning, at 2:30 PM the download is 93% and guess what, we have a total power outage! My frikkin' luck! Sorry REX, but I am too PO'd to go after the 3.5 GB again,. I'll stick with what I have in SP 3. If at some time I see a significant difference in the REX Overdrive textures and they do not cause major frame hits, I'll start the download again at bedtime and let it load through the nigh. Otherwise, I am just in too ragged a mood from the outage and lost of all that time downloading and the letter i received from the Social Security Administration yesterday, which is just entirely too political to rant about here.

Needless to say, I am currently at war with the Federal Government of the United States. I may go to jail over this matter, which is a total travesty of justice and freedom!

Caz

Caz,
Sorry for the problems. If you go to the REX forums and go to the general discussion thread you can find several dowmload manager links. This is how I downloaded mine.
Secondly,Flightsim store has a CD for OverDrive ( they are just charging $9.85) to cover handling and shippinf costs

BTW- REX forums now have a Thread dedicated to Overdrive. Lot of quesions have been answered.........

Take Care!

Rick

[flyer01]

Lots of folks, me included are having problems with the installer. There are quite a few already who have posted this problem, and it doesn't seem to make any difference which download site you use either. If you don't have a problem installing then that's great, but this is a problem and a lot of folks have it.

I had this problem also.
I have REX-OD working now.
I uninstalled REX then reload everything and now its working
getting ready to try REX-OD now.

flyer01

[Tako_Kichi]

I had no issues with the download even after I accidentally stopped it when I closed the download window by mistake! Thankfully I pointed my browser at the file again and Firefox 3 spotted that I already had part of it and picked up from where it left off.

Installation took a while as did the usual transfer of files once I had picked my new 'look'.

Only had chance for a quick look so far as I have been trying to finish a paint off but I like what I am seeing although I may change things again as I prefer my previous sky and water settings so I'll either look for something closer in OD or go back to the 'low def' textures for those.

[Gregory Paul]

Think i'll just stick with what I have.

[warchild]

As i've been following this thread rather closely ( and use firefox as well ) i didnt have any problems with the download and install. however, after selecting my new set of textures, and beginning the installation progress, the copy sticks at cumulus_01.bmp and doesnt give me yhe option to cancel he install. On top of which copying the files is taking up so much of my memory ( 8 gigs ) that i cant open the task manager to kill rex or do anything else for that matter. I've taken ownership of the FSX directory, i've given myself and everyone else liberal read write permissions, and its still no joy.. I suspect that the problem with cumulus_01.bmp is on my end, but the copy process is taking an inordinately large amount of my system, and wish that when it cant write a file, that it would eventually time out and give me an option to cancel, which it doesnt.. To qualify, i timed the second attempt on the one bmp file to over half an hour and had to hard crash my machine to stop it.. Believe me, this part is never fun, irregardless of how much i love the rest of your work..

[Alan_A]

My install went fine, but when I loaded textures, my video card shut down - most of the screen went black, though certain areas were restored when I moused over them. I rebooted, then discovered that somehow, my boot device had been removed from the priority list in BIOS and I couldn't boot. It was easily fixed, of course - all I had to do was go into BIOS, reselect my 3Ware RAID card and re-insert it in the boot priority list. But it's a strange thing to have happen during a texture install.

All I'd wanted to do was change my cirrus textures. Of course, I had to reinstall all my cloud and sky textures, since the installation wiped out my old custom themes. I guess it was duirng the cloud and sky (re)installation that the rest of the problems got touched off.

Hell of an installation experience, is all I can say...

[RobH]

Well, for some scary reason, my install went perfect. Which is not usual for my system. I actually think I get better frame rates with the Overdrive package. I can now run my water level on 2X max. Before I could never get past 1X Low. I am very satisfied with it. Still have to pick out the perfect combination.

I have never had my water look this good before!

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a83/RobH1108/FSX%20REX/grab_003.jpg
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a83/RobH1108/FSX%20REX/grab_007.jpg
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a83/RobH1108/FSX%20REX/grab_015.jpg
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a83/RobH1108/FSX%20REX/grab_017.jpg
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a83/RobH1108/FSX%20REX/grab_019.jpg

[warchild]

the culprit for me turned out to be a corrupted cumulus01.bmp file that was over 23 m3egs in size.. i renamed it and had a flawless install with the exception of everything going black for a while.. Immediately headed to NOAA's site and brought up the severe weather radar, which resulted in me heading for little rock arkansas.. After punching the core, mi watched my p-61 get knocked a hyndred feet sideways like it was a piece of paper.. Good work guys.. simply great work..

[Alan_A]

I'm still defragmenting and backing up, but am looking forward to a first test. Screenshots look great.

Is there a rundown somewhere on which textures are new? What with the install issues, I haven't had a chance to look for one yet. I will, but if you know of one, let me know. Thanks!

EDIT: OK, I see now that all the new textures are marked "OD" in the pull-down menus. Disregard the question. Will check some of them out now.

[dvj]

I think I'll just order the DVD at some point. Downloading that large of a file is just not right. Why not break it up into more manageable bits? All this for a few HD clouds? I don't get it. With all the cloud and water settings in REX, do I really need more? Hmmmm. It it worth it?

[falcon409]

I think I'll just order the DVD at some point. Downloading that large of a file is just not right. Why not break it up into more manageable bits? All this for a few HD clouds? I don't get it. With all the cloud and water settings in REX, do I really need more? Hmmmm. It it worth it?
No, not really. . .as a matter of fact, given my system specs, even though I did download and install, what it's done now is simply bog down the sim, so I'll be reverting back to the original. Even flying a couple hours this evening, it was difficult for me to see any real visual difference. So unless you think you just have to have the HD stuff. . .I wouldn't bother.:salute:

[JayKae]

It is all freeware though so yeh people can take it or leave it as they please :) You are missing out on some amazing items in the OD package though if you don't get it.

[Alan_A]

I have to say I'm impressed with some of the new textures. I put together a sky texture package of Graceful Rising, Perfect Polluted and Silverish (all new), and the skies finally look realistic for the northeast and mid-Atlantic U.S. I'd been struggling with some of the technicolor options before. More experimenting to do but this feels like a nice improvement.

[Cazzie]

Well, after I lost the download yesterday due to a power failure, I downloaded it during the night. This morning I installed it, somewhat..

It took a good 30 minutes just unwrapping and processing to get to the install screen and after above five minutes of installing, I got this:

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y168/cazmodel/afinekettleoffish.jpg

I tell you folks, I am as pissed at everything in life as I have ever been and this did not help matters. I am deleting the entire REX from my system and going with the HDE clouds. Tim, I'm sorry, it is not worth the time it takes, you people have got to come up with a better way. Your programs are excellent, but the packaging and installing are a PITA!

I am not about to try to re-download the program as it takes a half a day. By-by, I'm am washing my hands of this!

Caz

[stiz]

downloaded in about 2hrs ere and installed without any hassel .. like the new water textures!

Also those haveing problems ... is your windows installer the latest?? could be the problem, and at about 2 meg its not exactly gonna take a lot of time if its not :)

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=889482fc-5f56-4a38-b838-de776fd4138c&displaylang=en

[papab]

Well, after I lost the download yesterday due to a power failure, I downloaded it during the night. This morning I installed it, somewhat..

It took a good 30 minutes just unwrapping and processing to get to the install screen and after above five minutes of installing, I got this:

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y168/cazmodel/afinekettleoffish.jpg

I tell you folks, I am as pissed at everything in life as I have ever been and this did not help matters. I am deleting the entire REX from my system and going with the HDE clouds. Tim, I'm sorry, it is not worth the time it takes, you people have got to come up with a better way. Your programs are excellent, but the packaging and installing are a PITA!

I am not about to try to re-download the program as it takes a half a day. By-by, I'm am washing my hands of this!

Caz

Caz- I my previous post I suggested several things to do and directed you to the REX forum,OverDrive section. A lot of folks have posted and gotten the fixes....
REX Forum,OverDrive section: http://realenvironmentxtreme.com/forum/index.php?board=35.0

[hey_moe]

OUCH!
Well, after I lost the download yesterday due to a power failure, I downloaded it during the night. This morning I installed it, somewhat..

It took a good 30 minutes just unwrapping and processing to get to the install screen and after above five minutes of installing, I got this:

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y168/cazmodel/afinekettleoffish.jpg

I tell you folks, I am as pissed at everything in life as I have ever been and this did not help matters. I am deleting the entire REX from my system and going with the HDE clouds. Tim, I'm sorry, it is not worth the time it takes, you people have got to come up with a better way. Your programs are excellent, but the packaging and installing are a PITA!

I am not about to try to re-download the program as it takes a half a day. By-by, I'm am washing my hands of this!

Caz

[MudMarine]

Amazing what we've become.....it's FREE! I had the same problem as everyone else. Took me 10 seconds to fix it.

[Cazzie]

Amazing what we've become.....it's FREE! I had the same problem as everyone else. Took me 10 seconds to fix it.

Please relate your 10 seconds of fixing Mud, I'd like to see it.

Caz

[MudMarine]

Please relate your 10 seconds of fixing Mud, I'd like to see it.

Caz

All I did was download the files into the REX folder......DONE!

[papab]

Please relate your 10 seconds of fixing Mud, I'd like to see it.

Caz

Caz, See this link
http://realenvironmentxtreme.com/forum/index.php?topic=10485.0

[Sedr37]

Great news, need to try this one.

[Cazzie]

Caz, See this link
http://realenvironmentxtreme.com/forum/index.php?topic=10485.0

Many thanks Mud and papab, that did the trick, off to upload new textures and then defrag while I take a 3-mile walk.

Caz

[papab]

Glad we got you up & running!
Rick

[AndyE1976]

Downloaded and installed fine here, although I did learn the 'put the exe in the REX folder first' thing from an issue I had reinstalling SP3 and the default installation folder of c:\program files (x86) needed to be changed to the REX folder - but it says that in the text on that screen of the installer, so that was straight forward.

Would probably be worth including a readme file in the installer package that tells you some of this stuff though and I'm not sure why the installer has to be in the REX folder either - no other update programs I've encountered do, but it's free so I can live with a few 'features' of the installer.

thanks REX

[guzler]

I only use the 512mb textures and they look great, so this would be a waste of drive space for me.

[heywooood]

well I got it and like it

Thanks Tim and REX crew :salute::salute:

[Alan_A]

My install went fine, but when I loaded textures, my video card shut down - most of the screen went black, though certain areas were restored when I moused over them. I rebooted, then discovered that somehow, my boot device had been removed from the priority list in BIOS and I couldn't boot. It was easily fixed, of course - all I had to do was go into BIOS, reselect my 3Ware RAID card and re-insert it in the boot priority list. But it's a strange thing to have happen during a texture install.

All I'd wanted to do was change my cirrus textures. Of course, I had to reinstall all my cloud and sky textures, since the installation wiped out my old custom themes. I guess it was duirng the cloud and sky (re)installation that the rest of the problems got touched off.

Hell of an installation experience, is all I can say...

Just an update - according to the (very quick) replies I got on the REX forum, the screen blackout is an effect of the program used to convert textures to FSX format, and isn't specific to REX. I'd never seen it before - maybe it's specific to Windows 7, and earlier I'd been on Vista 64. In any case, it's easily addressed - you just right click on the (black) desktop and select "refresh." No need to reboot.

Still experimenting with textures - the new skies are quite good.

[Tako_Kichi]

The progressive blackout occurs with XP Pro too. It's not a problem unless you are trying to do something else while the files are transferring in which case a refresh (or clicking on the desktop icon in the tool bar) gets rid of it.

[Alan_A]

The progressive blackout occurs with XP Pro too. It's not a problem unless you are trying to do something else while the files are transferring in which case a refresh (or clicking on the desktop icon in the tool bar) gets rid of it.

I believe you, but strangely, I never saw the blackout when I was running REX 2.0 under Vista. The only other variable I can think of is that I upgraded to faster DRAM, so maybe there's an issue there. In any case, no big deal now that I understand what's going on and how to work around it. Back, now, to our regular texture-exploration programming, already in progress...

[Scratch]

I can't get over how these new HD textures have minimal impact on my frames. I'm a glutton for punishment so I maxed out everything the first time I used the Overdrive textures and am very pleased with the results.:ernae:

[heywooood]

I didn't want to think it - the whole 'xyz improved my frame rates' is so endless and usually exaggerated - however...

I can fly with cumulus clouds now where I could'nt before - so it is definitely creating less of a hit

imagine that