17 replies to this topic

[Mr-Sim]

First off you will need a program called DXTBmp which you can download here and a program which you can use to resize .bmp's, I will be using Adobe Photoshop CS3 in this tutorial.

Ok lets start!

1. First off you need to have these settings in Real Environment Xtreme-



2. Then go into Theme Selection and select your favourite cloud theme (for best quality use the HD ones, they still work!) Then once you have select your favourite cloud theme, click Install.



3. Then you need to go to your FSX Directory/Texture folder and locate a file called "cumulus1.bmp". Once you have located this file, copy it to your desktop.





4. Next you need to open the program DXTBmp which you downloaded before, you should of installed it by now. Open the file "cumulus1.bmp" which you copied to your desktop. Then go to Save As-Extended Bitmap, keep the file name as "cumulus1.bmp" and then make sure you have Extended 32 bit 888-8 selected and then click save.



5. Now you need to open your preferred program to resize the .bmp. For me, open photoshop and then open the "cumulus1.bmp", then go to Image-Resize and change the 4096x4096 to 1024x1024, select ok. Go to Save As, overwrite the file you have on your desktop and when it asks the bmp options, select 32 bit. You can close photoshop now, we are done with it.





6. Next open DXTBmp again and open the "cumulus1.bmp" file, then go to Save As-Extended Bitmap and repeat step 4.



7. Copy the "cumulus1.bmp" file to your FS9 Directory/Texture folder.

8. If you have problems with your clouds and they look blurry, they can be 2 solutions, in the the Weather tab in Display (in the settings part of fs9) make sure 3D cloud percentage is at 100%. The other solution could be in your fs9.cfg. First off to get to this file you need to make sure you have Hidden folders disabled in Control panel which is in Folder options and can also be accessed in a windows explorer. Next you need to open the run dialog, XP users can open it by going to the start menu and select Run, Vista users can use the Windows logo button+R on your keyboard, next type %AppData% and a new window will open, go to Microsoft then FS9 and the fs9.cfg will be in there, open it with Notepad and then use Ctrl+F and type in "TEXTURE_MAX_LOAD=" (without the quotes) you need to make sure the number after the = is 1024.

Enjoy your clouds!

Here's mine!

[Thunderhead66]

great tut will help alot of people

[Alaska_MD-83]

Not bad, I am happy with my current clouds, but I am sure that a lot of people will benefit from this.


Mac Wannabe

[Noble.]

It's actually a lot easier to set up REX to install 1024x1024 Cumulus clouds, as opposed to a higher resolution, and then resizing it yourself; as FS can be very picky about the resizing techniques used.

[Yeah]

Those clouds don't look like the REX clouds I've seen in other REX screenshots though, could you post more pictures of them so I can decide if I'm going to buy REX right now or not? Also, how frame rate intensive is this?

Edited by Yeah, 09 April 2009 - 09:16 PM.

[Noble.]

Yeah, on Apr 10 2009, 03:15 AM, said:

Those clouds don't look like the REX clouds I've seen in other REX screenshots though, could you post more pictures of them so I can decide if I'm going to buy REX right now or not? Also, how frame rate intensive is this?

Depends on your Graphics card, if you've got an ATi, it's going to affect your FPS pretty badly.

To be honest, I'd wait for REX for FS9, especially if you don't use FSX.

[Mr-Sim]

If anything I'de say my fps have improved or have stayed the same, they may not look like REX clouds but remember these textures have been resized down to 1024x1024 from 4096x4096. I'm running a 8600GT (NVIDIA) but I'm not sure on if there's less performance with ATi cards, if you don't have REX, I wouldn't recommend buying it just to use for FS9, I'de wait for the REX FS9 version.

[Peter797]

I think REX may have lost some customers because of this tut

[Mr-Sim]

They won't because clouds is the only one you can convert, and not many people run both sims.

[Peter797]

True.

[Noble.]

Mr.Sim, on Apr 13 2009, 03:17 PM, said:

They won't because clouds is the only one you can convert, and not many people run both sims.

Actually pretty much every single texture enhancement in REX can be converted for FS9, since that's what I've done.  

[Peter797]

Sweet ^

For some reason, some of my clouds are blue/cyan color. It's really annoying, but they look great. Any idea how to make them all white?

[Mr-Sim]

So you have managed to get REX water working? Please do tell.

[RicardoRoda]

I did this for all the clouds possible to commute between FSX and FS and I say, give some without any problems!

Regards

[Peter797]

, I have blue clouds!! Maybe I need to change cumulus02?

[bigflyersmallbyer]

Mr.Sim, on Apr 13 2009, 04:29 PM, said:

So you have managed to get REX water working? Please do tell.

Yes the textures will work but the wave effects wouldn't.

[Peter797]

bigflyersmallbyer, on Apr 15 2009, 05:49 AM, said:

Mr.Sim, on Apr 13 2009, 04:29 PM, said:

So you have managed to get REX water working? Please do tell.

Yes the textures will work but the wave effects wouldn't.

Obviously

[Mortenkp91]

You can also try to save them in DXT3 instead of BMP 32. It's a bit better for your FPS!