Please correct textures around runways, taxiways, aprons, roads and fences/walls

[Northstar98]

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.

Edited Saturday at 09:48 PM by Northstar98

[swartbyron]

I think this is something almost everyone agrees on.

The dry areas look very out of place for this part of the world.

As you have shown, the airfields would have been green and in immaculate condition even back in the 1980s.

I really hope Urga reconsiders the airfield textures and ground clutter before they begin work on the other seasons.

 

Edited Saturday at 09:55 PM by swartbyron

[Northstar98]

And yeah, just for some Cold War shots.

This is Hahn circa 77, season unknown (again, the hardened aircraft shelters are the wrong type in DCS):

There's a slight smidge of sand-coloured mud/dirt around the taxiway in a few select areas - nothing like as extensive as what's seen in DCS.

In this shot though, there's fairly dark grass all the way up to the paved surfaces.

 

Ramstein, from mid August 1988:

It's essentially grass right up to the runways, taxiways, parking areas etc. Though again, I'd also like to point out that the smaller variety of hardened shelter is the wrong type in DCS.

 

Mid September 1982, again, grass is seen all the way up to paved surfaces, ditto with the shelter.

 

Weisbaden, September 1983:

Note how short the grass is as well, it looks very well kept and goes right up to the taxiway.

 

Airbases in the GDR are harder to come by there's very few images apart from much older monochrome satellite photos. Here's Finow taken in early June 1966:

Again, looks like the grass goes all the way to paved surfaces, exceptions are pretty rare.

 

For another example here's Groß Dölln/Templin taken in late July 1980:

The low resolution of these images makes it much harder, but if it was like DCS, I would expect to see light areas bordering the runway and taxiway - I don't. I see more-or-less the same shade right up to paved areas. The areas that are darker still are likely trees.

 

I could go on, but I think we get the message. Suffice to say, even modern day satellite imagery almost always show grass right up to paved surfaces and around fences/walls etc. The exceptions are rare and are only resemble what's seen in DCS around construction works.

I know some described these areas as being dried/sun-baked grass, but if that's the case, it should be far more uniform and not look like sand right next to bright green grass.

Edited Sunday at 10:03 AM by Northstar98
Added photos of Templin, corrected grammar

[Ghostrida9]

i fully agree, they should skip Phase II and III so far until the Airbases are fixed, lakes are missing around some bases, the Road map on bases is mostly inaccurate. Spangdahlem looks totally wrong, they even put a german village into the base almost, at a spot where the main gate is, and where storage buildings and military infrastructure should be. Also please add more parklng lots and more accurate detail according mostly to bing or google maps.. the detail we have right now is pretty inaccurate or unnecessary. 

I hope they give all Airbases a major overhaul. Radar Towers are missing and so much more... 

 

Edited Monday at 10:33 AM by Ghostrida9

[Duck21]

I've given up hope that Ugra will ever fix this massive error. We've told them ever since they showed the first previews that Germany does not look like this. They never acknowledged the issue even once. The topic has come up again and again, only to be met with silence. So thank you for your efforts with this new topic, appreciated! 

[flanker1]

Sorry, I can only hope that Ugra leaves it as it is. For the eastern German part of the country and the Soviet bases, it fits very well. After all, they were the complete opposite of clean and tidy. Okay, one could argue about the many small ground cover plants and the 1-meter killer grass, but sand, dirt, scars in the grass, and wild paths were absolutely omnipresent.

[Northstar98]

On 6/2/2025 at 11:30 AM, Ghostrida9 said:

i fully agree, they should skip Phase II and III so far until the Airbases are fixed, lakes are missing around some bases, the Road map on bases is mostly inaccurate. Spangdahlem looks totally wrong, they even put a german village into the base almost, at a spot where the main gate is, and where storage buildings and military infrastructure should be. Also please add more parklng lots and more accurate detail according mostly to bing or google maps.. the detail we have right now is pretty inaccurate or unnecessary. 

I hope they give all Airbases a major overhaul. Radar Towers are missing and so much more... 

I might not say skip, but personally, the accuracy problems around airbases is enough to put me off for the time being and it's far from just the textures - shelters are wrong, plenty of buildings are wrong etc. Your thread on improving Gütersloh is a perfect example/.

There's a lot of trivial details, and while such details are appreciated, I think we're kinda missing the forest for the trees if much more noticeable structures are inaccurate.

On 6/2/2025 at 1:40 PM, flanker1 said:

Sorry, I can only hope that Ugra leaves it as it is. For the eastern German part of the country and the Soviet bases, it fits very well. After all, they were the complete opposite of clean and tidy.

I'm sorry but this just isn't reflected in satellite imagery.

I'm seeing grass right up to paved surfaces in the vast majority of cases. The exceptions are usually concentrated around shelters and obvious tracks/paths etc. It certainly doesn't surround paved surfaces to the degree it does in DCS.

For the western airbases, it looks very wrong, to the point I would say that it fails to capture the look of the real airbases.

 

For some more examples, here's Haina (though post reunification):

Apart from the clear tracks it looks pretty damn tidy to me.

This a close-up of the western edge. The grass clearly goes all the way up to the runway and taxiway, the exception is a clear track.

 

Here's Damgarten:

Apart from where shelters are, what are obvious paths etc and at the south tip (which includes a SAM site that isn't present in DCS), I'm not really seeing it.

 

Again, looks like grass up to the runway and taxiways. The exception is the area around 2 (where shelters are) and 3 (where the SAM site that isn't present in DCS is).

I did find some shots of aircraft actually at Damgarten, here's a MiG-29, taken April 1994:

There is some brown grass, but it goes right up to the taxiway, it certainly doesn't look like the taxiway was recently constructed, with the immediate vicinity of paved surfaces looking dug up, as it does in DCS.

Here's some shots of MiG-21s, taken from here, not sure of the season, but the post has these as "early 80s":

I don't know about you, but this to me doesn't look like the opposite of untidy. It's grass up to paved surfaces with a tiny amount of mud/dirt in some cases. The grass isn't the best kept but it's not what I'd describe as untidy.

 

Here's Wittstock, though further into spring rather than summer:

Where exactly is all the sand/mud/dirt surrounding the runway, taxiways and other paved areas?  Most of the airbase showns nothing at all apart from the bottom of this image (east of the runway).

???

 

Here's Altes Lager/Jüteborg, this is one of the only exceptions I can find so far - it looks like the shelters and taxiways were recently constructed (which is backed up by the source):

Fast forward though to summer 1980 and:

Looks pretty tidy apart from the track off the western edge of the runway.

 

Neubrandenburg:

Where is the sand/mud/dirt surrounding paved surfaces? This isn't summer but it doesn't look particularly patchy. Where it does look patchy looks to be grass and the straightness of the lines suggest it's being maintained.

Edited Tuesday at 02:02 PM by Northstar98
Neubrandenburg imagery was not taken in the summer