GEX EUROPE v2.0 UPDATE IS NOW LIVE

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ANNOUNCEMENT:

THE MAIN FLIGHT 1 INSTALLER FOR GEX EUROPE HAS BEEN UPDATED TO V2.0
 http://www.flight1.com/download.asp?id=gexeurope

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GEX EUROPE ADDS NO SCENERY ELEMENTS TO FSX. IF YOU SEE SCENERY REBUILDS ON FSX BOOT IT IS NOT FROM GEX EUROPE

GEX EUROPE v2.0

GEX Europe v2.0 is a free upgrade/patch and is available to all GEX Europe customers.

GEX Europe v2.0 is an exceptionally large update and will provide the following:

Includes GEX Europe patch 1.02 - v1.025
New airport pads for wet and dry locations
Completely reworked color and tone of all textures

Reworked autogen to reduce trees and buildings in rural areas
Replaced 4 primary texture sets to better depict rural and farming 

New textures for UTX rail yards, interchanges and UTX 'called' grass skirting
Color enhanced the default FSX road textures for those who do not use UTX
Reworked southern Europe textures to better depict a greener north/central Italy (Xclass landclass + UTX is best for Italy)
Added northern and southern Europe full texture support for Xclass Europe landclass

Added interface control to manually enable or disable the GEX/FSX autogen tree performance fix
Added GEX tree tile performance fix for users who fly other countries such as New Zealand and South America

This patch is inclusive. The changes will have a profound effect everywhere in Europe, both north and south, and in all seasons. 

TO OBTAIN THE PATCH:

We have significantly simplified the member area login process!  

If you are already registered, or not, you are good-to-go with the new system by following 3 easy steps:

1. With a connection to the internet, open the GEX Europe interface, Click the UPDATES button in the interface. You will see a direct link to the GEX/Flight1 Members area, Click it. A browser session will start.

2. In the single login box enter your certificate number (or in the case of DVD the reg code provided on the box). 

Case sensitive, caps, or dashes do not matter! The system is now designed to auto-correct for you as long as the certificate alphanumerical characters are correct. The system will automatically detect your GEX product region and display the available updates for it 

Please make sure your certificate/codes are kept secure. The secure hash generated link is code-locked to your IP only. Do not close the member login browser session window while downloading the update or you will have to start a new session if the connection is lost. Once the download is complete you can close the browser.

The system will decline a login if it defines multi-location(s) shared codes in use at which point the GEX certificate/code will be automatically deactivated and remove the wrapper install key from the Flight1 system till the certificate is verified through the ticket system.

3. Once your certificate number is verified a secure IP location hash is generated and a list of download links for the product will be displayed. Click on the link for the GEX Europe v2.0 patch and download. Resume is supported if you use a download manager. 

PATCH INSTALLATION:

1. Run the installer. The patch will locate your GEX Europe install automatically through the registry, there is no need to browse the patch. When complete the patch installer will inform you of success, close it.

2. Open the GEX Europe interface.  The first time the interface is run after the patch is applied the interface will request a backup be run. You can allow this backup or cancel it if you do not keep backups of the FSX default files. The interface will only back up additional files that we added to GEX Europe and will skip any files previously backed up.

3. After the backup process is complete (or skipped), select all the options in the GEX interface if you use UTX. If you do not use UTX simply select the GEX MAIN option (first choice)

4. Click "Install Selected Options"   Once the progress bar completes for all selections, your upgrade is complete. 

Remember, there are no FSX scenery library entries with any GEX product. GEX simply overwrites the default textures and autogen notation. 

That's it!  GEX Europe v2.0 is now installed and ready in FSX. Enjoy the changes!

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NEW INTERFACE FEATURE: 

TREE TILE AUTOGEN SWITCH

As we pointed out in several posts here in the forum, the autogen tree tile performance fix GEX provides by default in all GEX products exposes a glitch in the FSX autogen exclusion code. The issue can be seen far more with UTX installed. Some users may be more effected by this glitch than others, some may not notice it at all. 

Please see this thread if you wish to review details about this issue...
http://www.simforums.com/forums/trees-in-water_topic34801.html

The glitch does not appear everywhere but can effect spot locations where autogen may appear out of place such as in lake coves, river forks and in some cases smaller airport runways, therefore we have added the option all GEX interfaces to allow users to easily enable or disable the fix as desired.

This feature is enabled by default in all GEX versions

Once the feature is disabled the sim will revert back to calling massive amounts of trees on the tree tiles. Performance may drop around forests and other large tree grove areas. We provided this fix for users who see performance drops around trees (as most do) and it works very well eliminating the need to use the FSX.cfg file to invoke autogen tree limits (which can actually cause strange stutters), however given the glitch it exposes in FSX some users may prefer this fix disabled at times so we included that feature in the interface.

On the GEX interface you will see a link as shown here:

A box will appear...

Simply select to enable or disable the feature then verify in the popup and click OK, the box will automatically close and the change is complete!

NOTE: FSX must be closed and then restarted in order for the change to take place 

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SPECIAL NOTE:

For those who use both GEX North America (any version) and GEX Europe v2.0

With the introduction of GEX Europe v2.0 it is no longer possible to 'sync' GEX North America and GEX Europe due to the age of the source data for the original GEX USA/Canada product without a 'bridge' between the two products. 

When released, our upcoming region Africa and the Middle East provides a texture bridge between North America and Europe in shared region texture matching.

If you have not already done so, you can review this post for details about the upcoming Africa and the Middle East release: http://www.simforums.com/forums/africa-and-the-middle-east-with-gex-eu-and-na_topic37275.html

This is a temporary measure for combined region GEX users...

If you currently use both GEX NA and EU v2.0 for the time being you will need to re-run the GEX selections in the interface for the region you intend to fly, be it NA or EU. If this switch is not performed you will see significant texture mismatches in Europe or North America. 
The switch can be performed 'in-game' with no need to restart the sim or restart a flight. The switch can also be performed before a flight is started. This switch can be performed at any time. There is no restriction as to when it must take place, usually one would do this if flying intercontinental mid-ocean so the region is loaded in advance of arrival.

The in-game switch is performed by following 4 simple steps:

1. If you are in full screen mode, drop to the desktop using the keyboard WINDOW key (you may need to tap it more than once) If in window mode, simply minimize FSX.

2. Start the GEX interface for the region you wish to load (be it NA or EU). Select the GEX  MAIN option and, if applicable, the UTX options then click "Install Selected Options" Once the progress bar(s) complete you can close the GEX interface.

NOTE: When using the GEX Europe (only) interface while FSX is running it is possible to see the following error when installing the UTX option if the aircraft is near a open UTX Europe scenery.bgl file . If you see this error, ignore it and click OK. This is a non-issue and it will not cause any problems or visual issues. The install will continue and conclude successfully.

3. If you are in full screen mode, return to FSX by clicking the Microsoft Flight Simulator tab down in the desktop toolbar once, then hit ENTER on the keyboard. If you are using window mode there is no need to hit ENTER on the keyboard. Once back in FSX, tap the ALT key on the keyboard and the FSX menu will appear at the top of the screen, select WORLD then SCENERY LIBRARY from the dropdown. The scenery library list will appear.

4. Click the OK button as shown, that's it..   

After clicking OK, FSX will reload the scenery with the textures and autogen for the GEX region you loaded.

Continue the flight (you may need to un-pause the sim)

If you wish to switch regions before a flight is started, simply follow the directions in #2 above skipping the other steps, then start your flight. 

As mentioned, this is a temporary measure for combined GEX region users. Once installed GEX Africa and the Middle East provides updated shared textures for AF/ME and NA and the switch process will not be required.  All 3 products will work together in concert. 

AF/ME will be released sometime in the latter half of Q1 of this year (2011).

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Thank you from the GEX Team!