22 replies to this topic

[rstough]

REX ESSENTIAL - FEATURE # 4



What is this REX EDGE Technology?

You hear of armies that have secret weapons, REX EDGE would be considered REX Games Studios secret weapon.

This is REX Game Studios' version of its own "cloud" technology. It is an array of dedicated servers that have been setup to handle the transfer of large amounts of data to be utilized not only in REX Essential, but in all future projects.

This technology has allowed us to expand the connectivity of REX Essential. What do we mean by that, you ask? Well, we mean that you, as a user, are now connected in various ways to all other users of REX Essential. Thus, this allows you to share what you have created with other people across the world that are using REX Essential in real-time.

REX EDGE also allows us to bring together a repository of weather data. Every 10 minutes we are downloading and storing the latest weather information from NOAA and VATSIM. We just recently implemented the storing and archiving of real upper level wind/temperature data from world's radiosonde reports. This is extremely exciting to us in that instead of providing a forecast we are now the only one providing accurate real-time winds aloft data. We have found that this data has significantly reduced the quick changes in winds shifts aloft. Though we are still bound by the limits of FSX technology, this still brings a realism not found before in the flight sim community.

This technology also opens up a huge amount of potential in other areas with future projects... thus allowing us to connect all our technologies together. This will become very important in "SIMAIR". As we continue down the list of features of REX Essential, we will highlight how REX EDGE technology is being used.

Next topic we will review is: Texture Area Enhancements

[Robert S]

Wow, goodbye Facebook, hello "REXbook" LOL.

I can see the immediate benefits to your existing user base, as well as the tremendous potential for future enhancements for REX/SIMAIR etc.

[WilliamJSS]

Man o man. This sounds awesome!

[birdmanmike]

Um! I hate social networking. I don't mind real time data etc.- call me anti social if you want but I don't want to know particularly what other people are doing or for them to know about me, unless I choose. I like my privacy too. I trust that aspect is optional?

Cheers, Mike

[Bigsweede]

Yo !

[jodle]

Amazing! REXbook RULES! :-)

[Wast3d]

from feauture to feauture im getting more excited.

[CG-1976]

Now this sounds good for Polar Op heads like me

[rstough]

Um! I hate social networking. I don't mind real time data etc.- call me anti social if you want but I don't want to know particularly what other people are doing or for them to know about me, unless I choose. I like my privacy too. I trust that aspect is optional?

Cheers, Mike

Mike -

This gives you the option to share what you have created with others. You DO NOT HAVE TO if you do not want to. Others CANNOT SEE what you have created unless you want to share it.

[inny321]

Ok so in this new tech etc does it give the options like ASE to select how many cloud layers REX injects because this would be good ..
Regards Stev e

Edited by inny321, 17 January 2012 - 06:20 PM.

[birdmanmike]

Thanks Reed, understood. Just don't want email and such shared. It was someone saying RexBook that worried me ;-)

[Bigsweede]

Um! I hate social networking. I don't mind real time data etc.- call me anti social if you want but I don't want to know particularly what other people are doing or for them to know about me, unless I choose. I like my privacy too. I trust that aspect is optional?

Cheers, Mike

Hmmm... forums like this might be considered as social networking...
Hate when that happens..

[Robert S]

Um! I hate social networking. I don't mind real time data etc.- call me anti social if you want but I don't want to know particularly what other people are doing or for them to know about me, unless I choose. I like my privacy too. I trust that aspect is optional?

Cheers, Mike

Hmmm... forums like this might be considered as social networking...
Hate when that happens..

Exactly...unless a developer calls it a replacement for Facebook, just consider it a joke from this user...

[birdmanmike]

True. I stand (or sit) corrected. I shall love it to bits!

Now on to revelation #5 . . .

[Yann]

This sounds awesome

[Clem Wu]

Been wondering what the new REX EDGE technology was and here it is! Awesome news. Thanks so much! We can finally share themes without sending maintheme via email.

Cheers,
Clem

[corbu1]

Great News!!!! Sounds really Great! Thanks so much for all your efforts and providing it for the community!

[elephantshapedcloud]

Another great preview... i am getting more and more and more excited everyday about Essentials - and i was very excited already the first time i read about it ... so... - WOW!
Looking forward for more again!
GREAT!
Cheers,
Chris

Will it have shader 3.0 support? Particularly for Prepar3D.

Hello KevinNZ!
maybe not at first place - don't know ... but if not at first, then almost certainly over a longer period i guess. Because REXessentials will certainly be avilable for P3D!

http://www.realenvir...tial-feature-2/

Cheers, Chris

[oneslyfox]

Hi Reed,

I read with some concern that you are talking up the use of radiosonde data for upper winds instead of a forecast model. Would you be able to provide more information about this? I have always considered winds aloft to be the most important issue that has yet to be dealt with adequately by either REX or Activesky (unsure about AS2012...supposedly it's an improvement). My concern arises from the fact that radiosonde data is very sparse and infrequent, particularly in a country such as Australia where I am based.

Surely the best solution would be to use high resolution GRIB data in the form of the NOAA's GFS model. However, this IS a forecast model. I actually would have thought REX and Activesky would already both be using this model, yet the winds I experience in flight sim are often 180 degrees out. It appears as though you have previously been making interpolations from either ground based observational data or low resolution upper air data. GRIB data is accurate, and is the source used by realworld aviation for planning. It will also be used by the upcoming PFPX flight planner I am testing, with very successful results. Ideally this forecast model would be supplemented by the radiosonde data where it is available. Can you please confirm that you are using GRIB data supplemented by radiosonde data where and when it is available?

Apologies for the sizes of the following pictures - any smaller and they're unreadable.

Here is a picture of the realworld radiosonde locations. Balloon launches are of course infrequent, sometimes fewer than once per day.


Compare this to the GFS GRIB forecast model as depicted in PFPX (resolution is higher than this picture shows - you can zoom in a lot further). Note that this resolution - horizontal, vertical and temporal - would simply be unachievable using radiosonde reports.


Kind regards,
Geoff

Edited by oneslyfox, 21 January 2012 - 04:11 PM.

[keeszondag]

Interesting read Geoff, txs for that. But did you take in consideration the way FSX is treating the winds aloft data and the limitations thrown with that system? We simply cannot override the 24 weather layer setup of fsx. Would be a great day for the sim community if something more detailed would see the light!

[oneslyfox]

Hi Kees. Unfortunately I don't know very much about the way weather can be injected into FSX. However I do notice REX2 periodically updating the weather as I fly about the virtual world, so I would have thought one of the things it injects into FSX is the spot winds for a location nearby. These winds currently do not appear to be very accurate - I'd suspect this is more an issue with the resolution of the data on the REX server as opposed to the constraints of FSX. I would have thought that the use of the free GFS model would enable REX to accurately inject spot winds every X nautical miles, not necessarily to the accuracy I was referring, but at least such that the winds aloft are in roughly the correct direction across a few levels. Otherwise IMHO there is little point in advertising 'realistic winds aloft'. I am aware that a finite number of weather layers would limit the ability to replicate cloud cover, but surely there is a way to make realistic winds aloft possible. Maybe REX could inject a few layers of the winds aloft, and when it notices a climb or descent some different layers can be injected.

I've been involved in a few FS software projects in the past and I know it's likely that I'm still asking for something which is not possible within the constraints of the program. Therefore all I'm asking for is consideration of whether this approach is possible in a future update.

[raggs]

Excellent Information. Can't wait for the release! Kudos to the entire development team!

[Guitarman]

Where to Download?Please!!!

Where did you purchased REX ? Sorry but I can't find your order number into your databases.

Essential is not available yet.

PS : Please don't copy the developer's banner into your signature ... .