Ghostrida9

Thanks you all. A small update and test concerning a lesser-important area in the southern region of Tel Nof Air Base. Such areas exist in abundance across all airbases, regardless of the map. I believe it is possible to enhance these areas with more details to deepen the immersion and realism in DCS, without compromising performance. This could involve removing all the stones, bushes, and grass from these areas and instead add concrete, roads, or parking spots for vehicles. These additions would also benefit Combined Arms but also showcase the potential for achieving authentic levels of detail in airbases, airfields, and airports—key locations within DCS. Sadly I don't have access to the Terrain editing tool, i would do it myself with joy. One example: Reality and DCS:

Since i'm looking into some israeli Airbases on Bing maps and gathering some info, i figured that there's a golf ball type radar dome on almost every base, maybe a Meteo radar, not sure but it looks important. It's yet also completely missing in DCS. So i worked on a model and add some first textures...

F-15 located at Tel-Nof are visible on Bing Maps. Shelters need o be fixed, cause when the KI F-15's try to taxi out the shelter they crash there tail.

Thanks alot, and Thx to @OnReTech for chiming in, i wanted to ask you some questions anyway. So far this is all work in progress. Later we could think about some ideas. I think we could make a "lets try" it project out of TelNof Airbase to see whats possible with DCS. Regarding Aircraft I think DCS is allready oversaturated so I think looking at the Maps is much more important now. I hope we get a Nevada 2.0, Syria 2.0.. and so on in the future. Anyway back to topic. There's a lot that could be erased from TelNof Airbase and replaced by stuff that is actually there. but i gone ask you about it in a privat message or following messages of this thread here @OnReTech. Next: Many of the Shelters are protected on at least one side. I checked in on youtube and Bing maps and kinda found it. I think that's important because it will protect the Aircraft much more. The Problem is i cannot create a damage model because the KI is pretty "scared" and will not taxi out of the shelter because the object is too close. it would need to be part of the official map to make it fully work, otherwise it's only nice eye candy but will miss it's effect of protection. Without a collision shell it works as a placeable object..

Shape for the Main Gate Building is finished..

There're Bunkers at Tel Nof that are missing... I've created a model with the correct size. The Textures are not final, some placeholder for now. Hope the developers can fix the area around the tower, which is placed wrong at this time in DCS.. more about that later The Bunker model is only 35kb. with collsion shell probably 40kb..

First off, a big thanks to the developers of the Sinai map. I posted nothing for a long long time.. but I'm kinda back i guess. Thanks to the Sinai map, and thanks to the incredible mission editor, the realistic sounds that we have now (love the distance sounds so damn much), and all those nice camera settings. The feeling is just "there". Honestly, this seems to be the first map that i'll keep. I've erased all other maps since I got the Sinai map. I bought all the other maps excluding the WW2 map (always hated WW2 stuff) so i skipped it. The Problem with almost every DCS map is that the Ground looks too simple, mostly no good Satelitte images, missing acsess ways to the building, missing or wrong buildings on every Airfield. A lot of "copy/pasted Buildings and many missing Parking lots for Vehicles, no main Gates, missing roads and so on. I've created tons of building after gathering hours and hours of informations from Nellis AFB, Falklands, and so on you name it, but i never finished one Model because the lack of ground detail in DCS was always frustrating. I started to use the scenery removal tool but this is also extremely limited and too much time consuming, more about this later. Looking on Bing maps/google, then back in DCS.. and the frustration was there and it was overhelming. I always wish that DCS will oneday use real Satelitte images to "create" buildings kinda like MSFS2020, but i don't wanne go into this topic right now. Another wish is that we (the community) will oneday be given the option to edit Airfields, add Landmarks etc much easier (MS2020 is a prime example here). Now we got DCS 2.8xx, and the Graphics have improved. Let me say that i can only play games or any Simulation in VR, looking on a screen no matter how big it is is too boring for me. There's still my room, and nothing is life size, the depth is missing etc. But in VR..one word, thrilling, insanely amazing. I've not yet made it to fly in DCS because i just "sit" outside the base with my VR Headset and big headphones on watchig everything like a spotter in real life.. simply astonished. Now... Tel Nof Airbase... again, a lot is missing, and i hope the Developers will hear me cause i really wanne push this Base to get more and more realistic. There's some stuff that could be erased from the map, and some simple stuff that the Developers could add. I would try to get as many buildings and stuff done as possible. Sure i need time, and time is rare cause i'm a full time artist and maybe i would need some support in the long run. Lets start with the Main Gate where i found a pretty good image on google, then i checked the spot in DCS... and sadly there's almost nothing at this place. Just the parking lot..and one lamp Pole...i was like.. anyway lets try it. I started with the Base guard "F-15", which is placed on some stands.. i played around with the Collision Shell and i was suprised to see that it finally worked out.. after that i was thrilled to create the 2 Spotlights on the ground which should illuminate part of the Bottom of the Eagle... and that also worked out pretty well..Call me nuts but to be honest, checking this location in VR is so damn nice, i played some chill out music and i was sitting for an hour on the fence watching the F-15 in VR from every angle.. incredible. Thanks to ED again, you bring a feeling back that i had the last time a very very long time ago. Next step would be to create the Main Gate buildings in the background As some of you may has noticed, the fence was from @Massun92, the palm tree and additional trees was done by myself, also the Light Poles on the Parking spot, you'll see much more later. The F-15 is the original Static Model from ED. Sorry for making this post so long but there's so much on my mind right now... Next post in a minute...

let me post a basic lua script here for a basic building, static object. About fire and duration i don't know much. Collision model, you need to create a simple second mesh (3DS Max) and type in a simple line "Collision Shell" if you use 3DS max, i can show you what you need to do. Check the attachment for a simple lua script Lightpole_5M_white_2.lua

very nice idea, the ground graphics of dcs are pretty "pizza" looking, most buildings are wrong also on Airports or Airfields/bases. I whish they would do it like MSFS2020 where we can edit the scenery, and 3rd party developers could also sell airports, airbases and all that, only wishfull thinking I guess.. keep it up peaze

looks very nice, i'm working on more airbase buildings, also Main Gates and all that since they're missing, also looking at Airbases like Andersen, a lot is missing or totally wrong buildings. Question: Do you exported those models from google maps and did some fine tunning? Would safe alot of time... probably, of course close up is a bit of a different story

Thanks, my reply comes a bit late but i figured it out. I had to unwrap the "baked" AO map again after importing it, simply unwrap UVW and "flatten" and voila, the texture covers the object perfectly. Now it's a bit about finding out if textures should be 8bit, 24bit.. and how to render them, my normal maps still getting those ugly pixels. Anyway I should figure that out sooner or later, seems like DXTbmp and "extended Bitmap" is doing a good job here. One

Thanks alot @SVKSniper, this helped and explained alot... I still have a lot of trouble with the Ambient Occlusion (AO) map, texture whatever you wanne call it. I've done everything according to this video but still, the mapping is wrong, no matter what i do, the mapping is not correct after reimporting the bmp AO texture into 3DS Max 2020 also the mapping on the faces is changing when i switch between High Quality and Standard on top of the main editing window. Way more strange is that after a few tests and different renders with the AO map rendered and placed into layer 4 (in all available composite layers, window, wall, roof) (also all set to Map Channel 4) the AO map was not visible at all inside DCS after rendering my simple test model to edm. All textures are set to "default" (edm tools). I could see my wall textures placed to the faces that i've choosen, also my roof texture on the right faces, bit no sign of the AO texture. To figure out where the culprit is can be easy for someone with experience but to me it's difficult and i can't find it. I tryed "Reset UVW's" on the Unwrap UVW tab before entering the UV editor and baking the texture afterwards, one time i tryed it without clicking "Reset UVW's". Inside the UV Editor i go to "Mapping->flattening... then render texture (Baking). I added some screenshots of the stuff i've done. I attached Box1 to Box2 to make 1 object out of my "testobject" before i started to add textures. Otherwise without attaching, 3DS is baking 2 different AO textures, one for each object

Thanks @freebirddz , that helped. but still some questions left about Composite layers. DCS don't seem to accept the "Opacity", the Bitmap is always fully visible, no matter if i change the value to 20.0 or 90.0 in 3ds MAX (Is there a different way to change the Opacity or do i need to change the Alpha channel of my "Decal" texture (Bitmap) ? which would be much much more work Am I corrent when I say that DCS only accept "Bitmaps" (3ds MAX) ? Am I corrent when I say that DCS only accept "Normal" (3ds MAX) ?, not any other value like "Darken" or something else? I keep it all as "Default" (EDM Tools), since i don't work with glass or something else, hope this is correct Thanks

Hey Folks, i figured that ED is doing Building textures way way different then me so i started to think about how i can improve my texturing and came quickly to my limits. I checked how ED's textures look, and figured they are way different- They have textures that i've never seen before but I'm also not sure if i need to do it the same way. (splatmaps etc.) I know how: - Lights works (so that they illuminate too) - self illuminating textures - the correct color on my Specular maps so windows for example reflect the enviroment - how to create bump maps (normal) and i slighty understand the AO (Ambient Occlusion) textures. - Collision sheels but what i don't understant is, how can i create layer textures in 3ds, like in photoshop? Do i need mental ray? Is it even possible to create a color layer above all my textures, so bump and everything will work correctly? For example i have my maps (textures) for lets say 2 or 3 different type of walls (Diffuse, AO, normal and spec) and i want to create a dirt type layer, I'm sure it needs alpha channel since this one should not go to one face but rather cover my whole object, same goes for a color map, so i can stay with one wall texture but just need a small lets say 128 x 128 texture (map) with a color to change the whole wall into a different color without creating a whole new detailed wall texture that might have 1024 x 1024 I got a few nice materials from this page https://freepbr.com/ Is there a step by step tutorial somewhere how ED is doing textures? It also seems like that they render textures out of 3ds max, which i've never done and not understand since i can't find much about it. This in-game shot should explain it better, it's from an ED building. The light part seems to be the main texture (cement, wall..whatever) the darker spots seem to cover the whole object, not only placed on one face. This is what i try to achieve. Sorry, alot of questions but hope someone can help, or maybe someone from ed can shed some light how it's done.. most important is the layering textures All the best

Hey Folks, hey ED. I checked Andersen Air force base on google maps and then inside DCS and found out that many buildings are wrong, or missing at all. I got a lot of questions on my mind since i'm getting more and more back into 3D modeling. To me, a more realistic looking "ground" and Airbases/Airports are most important, i would easily sacrifice all the flyables and stick to 2 or 3 aircrafts. Sure the biggest dream would be that ED give some people the chance to only edit the Airbases or Airports, kinda like MS2020, but i think that remains a dream since this would come with an access to the terrain editing software. Still hope that some get a chance !!!. Anyway back to topic, there's a lot but i start with the north part of the Base. Some people that got pictures or first hand expirience with Andersen Airbase are welcome. The Main weapon Bunker or Weapon assembly building is missing. Check the pictures, the size is in meters, seems to be about 130meters long and about 35meters wide. I cannot find any pictures about this building only the satellite shot from google maps, bing maps. I don't know how it looks from the side. And, are those light poles around?, I don't know if i'm on the right path here Any help is appreciated, will continue to update with more info and models. Finished the Main Gate building so far and some Light Pole models with working lights that do illuminate, and yes, as static objects.

Thx, soon, working on something bigger here. But yes 3 different Light Poles are finished (orange and white lights) plus a fix for ED's High Mast light poles so every Light Pole does illluminate Aircrafts.. which is a must an. DCS need to fix more ground stuff, add new static objects (buidings) and much more.. randomly driving fuel trunks, service vehicles on Airbases/Airports.. way much important then another flyable aircraft cause we have enough allready. Another Shot

uhm.. nope. Lights on Static Objects WORKS !! I've created those Light poles lately and as you can see, light is working (static object)

You're the man Dolfo, that does the trick, and even much much more. The Object is now a static object and voila, the light is working too. Incredible !!!! Can't be thankfull enough. In case someone is interested, this is how my lua file looks like: mount_vfs_model_path (current_mod_path.."/Shapes/") mount_vfs_texture_path (current_mod_path.."/Textures/HendersonAirbase.zip") local function add_structure(f) if(f) then f.shape_table_data = { { file = f.ShapeName, life = f.Life, username = f.Name, desrt = f.ShapeNameDestr or "self", classname = f.classname or "lLandVehicle", positioning = f.positioning or "ONLYHEIGTH" -- {"BYNORMAL", "ONLYHEIGTH", "BY_XZ", "ADD_HEIGTH"} } } if f.ShapeNameDestr then f.shape_table_data[#f.shape_table_data + 1] = { name = f.ShapeNameDestr, file = f.ShapeNameDestr, } end f.mapclasskey = MapClassKey or "P0091000076"; f.attribute = {wsType_Static, wsType_Standing} add_surface_unit(f) GT = nil; else error("Can't add structure") end; end add_structure({ Name = "Lightpole P-lot Orange", DisplayName = _("Lightpole P-lot Orange"), ShapeName = "Lightpole_5M_orange", ShapeNameDestr = "Lightpole_5M_orange", Life = 10, Rate = 10, category = 'Fortification', SeaObject = false, isPutToWater = false, numParking = 1, })

Got my hands back on 3DS thanks to a good friend so i can hopefully finish what i've once started. Figured that lights only work when you use your object as ground/fortification. What bothers me so far is that all my objects are not even with the ground when the ground is not even.. ehh.. just take a look It allready has a working collision shell Any Ideas?

Hey Folks, newbie to blender here. It's been a while (at least 2 years) since i've worked with 3DS and now i've started to work with blender 2.93. So far i managed to create a cube, exported it and created a lua file so it's visible in DCS 2.7...so far so good. What i don't understand is how to create lights, for example a few spotlights for a flood light tower or a simple street lamp. I've checked some tutorials also of Grajo but i quiet don't get it. Is there a simple step by step to create a light out of a simple object. A Sphere, a cube.. Inside the edm export tool readme there's this sentence that i also don't understand "To place a light in the edm model, you have to place an empty-object and choose Light as Emptytype." How can i create an "empty-object"... Any help is appreciated, will bother you with more question if things work out.. Thx folks

I hear you, maybe, just maybe some of us can get a pack together... but it's a hell of work to create those objects, and even more painfull since the models do allready exist in DCS. What i wonder about is, did you guys from ED created those objects with 3D Studio? and if yes, do you still have the 3D max files.. that would at least make it all a bit easier so not everything need to be done from scratch! Maybe it's also possible for ED to ask 3rd party developers if they can render some buildings for the ME, since the syria map also include alot of nice office and airbase buildings. Just an idea that i want to throw in the room.. All the best and thanks for every answer.. DCS is the best sim and does have the most potential to feel and look very realistic.. it can only get better and better

right, for now i mostly talk about buildings, we need new buildings for the ME, offices from nevada map, shelters, Airbase housings.. small buildings, light poles and stuff. They all pretty good.. we got enough vehicles, i only talk about buildings.

I hear you, but the objects are there allready.. should not be to hard to render a few as edm, somehow they must be edm allready or something similar since its all working inside DCS, i know that each terrain contains of a very big file.. "surface" file.. All we got is hope,and i think creating another aircraft from scratch is really harder to do, plus in my opinion there're way to many available aircrafts allready.. it's just to much.. and the rest get left behind..

Thanks, i would love too, the problem is i need to update everything and this will take time and work to do it.. all this don't work with the latest version of DCS anymore.. if we all could push ED a bit more we would get a lot that we need allready...

I got plenty more, but due to the latest version some objects have trouble with the light, fixing this should not be the biggest problem. I created some invicible object that can be placed on all the light tower on every Airbase, so the jets and all objects will illuminate, it's also something ED has yet not done. Here's a example..