Summary: Hosted by Eric McClintock, Mark Stewart, Brendan, and Austin Meyer Listen Here: Subscribe to automatically get the latest podcast: iTunes, Zune, RSS XML, E-Mail, All Other. Interview with Austin Meyer of X-Plane "Very slow to build the team, very quick to build the simulator"... Check out all of our questions in the first segment of the podcast, we ask Austin his thoughts on the future of FS #38; X-Plane, get some secrets of X-Plane, and more! The interview also features a voicemail from George, you can listen here and hear Austin's response in the show: Also check out the new X-Plane "remote" application for the iPhone/iPod Touch! [Link] Review: Real Environment Xtreme (REX) Install The install process of REX canrsquo;t be any easier. I have never used the FlightSimStore.com wrapper, but anyone who has used the Flight1 wrapper system should find this process similar. The wrapper is able to download all files you need, which totals around 4GB of data over about a half dozen different individual files ndash; Much better than downloading each one by itself. After downloaded, you just put in your order number and serial key and away it goes. Once installed, yoursquo;re greeted with the REX Configuration Manager interface. The first thing you need to do is locate your FSX.cfg file (If it canrsquo;t find it automatically), and backup your existing default textures - very reassuring. The last step is to enable or disable what options you want to use in REX, they also let you pick your general system specs and it will determine these settings for you. Configuration Manager The configuration manager is what makes REX come full circle. It gives you FULL control over your virtual environment. Lets go through just a preview of the possible optionshellip; Sky Selection: bull; Sunrise (~12 Sky Textures) bull; Daytime (~24 Sky Textures) bull; Sunset (~12 Sky Textures) Cloud Selection: bull; 3D Clouds (~50 Cloud Sets) bull; Cirrus Clouds (~24 Cloud Sets) hellip;You get the idea. Each different texture includes a sample screenshot. In addition to the two different categories, you are also able to customize the inland water, Tropical Water, Water Animation, Runways and Taxiway Textures, and Lighting Effects (Sun, lightning, landing lights, strobe lights, runway lights). Once yoursquo;ve picked your settings, you almost forget that you are actually able to load this into FSX! The great interface and sheer number of options of the theme creation make creating a custom theme an enjoyable experience. You are also able to ldquo;Just Flyrdquo; though, and pick between a list of premade themes. Flight Planner One feature that surprised me was the ability to plan your flight using the REX configuration utility. The process is very simple, simply input your flight information (Type, Aircraft, departure, arrival, etc) and REX gives you printable flight plans, along with navigation information, and weather information. With the weather information, REX relays the conditions at the airport, the TAF forecasts, and an interactive weather map with your flight plan overlaid onto it. The Results So far everything Irsquo;ve talked about have all been pre-FSX. Once yoursquo;re ready, just click ldquo;Fly Nowrdquo; in the Configuration Manager, and REX will install the necessary textures, which takes about 5 minutes every time you change the textures, and then it starts FSX. If yoursquo;ve entered a flight plan, it will automatically load that too. Starting your flight, you will be met with your custom weather theme, and complete texture set. The clouds are picturesque, however donrsquo;t appear to be lsquo;picturesrsquo;. They look and move realistically, which is something you canrsquo;t do with just a photo of a cloud. I also noticed something right away too, the performancehellip; But something was d...
