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Hi everyone, It's been discussed (though has not yet been a topic of) several other threads but I thought this could really do with its own. Currently quite a number of runways, taxiways, aprons and a fair few roads have this prominent sand-like texture surrounding them like a border. For example, here's promotional material of Spangdahlem, taken from this post. There's a number of other errors clearly visible in these images also (for instance, all of the hardened aircraft shelters are the wrong type and the open parking spots are marked as helipads when they aren't, several other structures look like they were taken from Syria and aren't that accurate either). The layout however is broadly correct. By comparison, here's a satellite photo, taken summer 2018 (the lighter area is actually from March 2017): And here are a few close-up shots: It can clearly be seen that areas of mud/dirt/sand are few and far between and in the overwhelming majority of areas, the grass goes right up to taxiways, runways, aprons etc. This is further backed up by photos taken on the airbase (these from mid May 2023, sourced from here) These from the end of May 2020: This from May 2024 It should be very clear that the sand-coloured boundary surrounding the paved surfaces is incorrect - at the very least it should be made much more sparse, as IRL, nearly every image shows more-or-less uniform grass right up to them. With these you could also make the argument that the grass texture should be darker. You could make very similar analysis at the majority of airbases, not just Spangdahlem. Yes, you sometimes see brown/dry grass, but it'll be much more uniform and not patchy (it's not like the sun only illuminates certain areas of grass). Sometimes, there is mud/dirt/sand but unless significant construction work is going it's few and far between, not all over the place as it is currently. Personally, fixing this would fairly dramatically improve the realism of these airbases.

I'm going to preface this with a one-stop summary: This is a post arguing for already-made and available liveries for the Fw-190A8 to be added to DCS officially for broader usage to the playerbase in singleplayer and online, allowing other players to use and see them. Download options are available at the bottom of this post. Who: The skins are made by myself. I have been within the DCS community for a good number of years, since the Dogs of War server (when there was only the P51, Fw190D9, and Bf109K), and almost all of it was within the WWII side of DCS. Of mission makers and server runners today, like the 4YA Project Overlord server, one of the most reoccurring complaints from mission designers is that we do not have a historical livery selection for the Fw190. This has been noted by the player base of late. Having been around these complaints and criticisms for some time, within that context and that of the required time period and location, I've created a set of liveries for the Fw190A. What: We do not have a single historical and relevant livery for the Fw190A8 in DCS at this moment. Of all the chosen liveries from the Fw190A8's livery contest, none of them are historical, or relevant to France in 1944. Some of them do not have working bort numbers. A couple are Japanese Zero cosplays. And some are only relevant to earlier versions of the Anton. There is a big deficit in DCS for a historical livery set for the Anton 8. To attempt to remedy this, I have created liveries for JG26 and JG1 in their summer 1944 configuration. I'm proposing that Eagle Dynamics incorporate some of these liveries into DCS officially. This will give the simulator its first historical liveries for the Fw190A8. There are 6 liveries (different Staffeln) of the JG26 to choose from, and 4 from JG1. One may argue that an individual can install any liveries he may choose from the Userfiles and use those. However, this has some severe limitations: 1) Other players online cannot see your livery unless they, by pure coincidence, have that livery also installed. That is very rare. 2) Our most popular servers have the Liveries locked. They cannot be changed by the player, only the mission designer. So it benefits everyone more if these new liveries are added to the official DCS install. Then everyone has them as standard, and it can be used and seen by everyone. Historical Context: The Liveries: Here I have a livery for 2./JG26, 4./JG26 5./JG26, 6./JG26, 7./JG26, and 8./JG26, comprising of half of I./JG26, and all of II./JG26. For JG1, I have 1./JG1, 2./JG1, 3./JG1, and 6./JG1, consisting of most of I./JG1 and a Staffel from II./JG1. I made some special features for these liveries. 1) the camouflage tones, specifically RLM 70, were adjusted to be a more realistic darker color tone 2) each livery has a slightly different camouflage pattern on the fuselage. If you look closely you can see the differences between each livery 3) the bort numbers are custom drawn, and weathered to better suit the weather-worn nature of the aircraft First and second Gruppe, JG1. The JG1 identify themselves by their red tail band and unit emblem on the cowling. 1./JG1, which often included additional ID paint on the underside of the wing tips: 2./JG1: 3./JG1: 6./JG1: First and second Gruppe, JG26. The JG26 identify themselves by their yellow rudder, and the II./JG26 by the inclusion of a horizontal bar. The bar and ID numbers change depending on the Staffel within that Gruppe. 2./JG26: 4./JG26: 5./JG26: 6./JG26: 7./JG26: 8./JG26: Downloads: I have given these liveries a tiered choice to be included into DCS. A first top 5, and a second top 5. There are two options for how to download 1) Standard download. Each livery is individual, and individually includes all the textures it requires. This includes, due to the adjusted camouflage tones, the left and right wings. Disk space consumed for all 10 liveries: 666MB. Standard download HERE. 2) Reliant download. Each new livery is dependent on the 1./JG1 livery to acquire the left and right wing textures, instead of locally. This requires the 1./JG1 livery to be included, in order for other chosen liveries to work. However, this more smartly uses disk storage. Disk space consumed for all 10 liveries: 282MB. Reliant download HERE.