Dirty/Used/lived in airfields with ground textures/elevation to match

[Mysticpuma]

One feature I find disappointing in most flight sims based around WW2 is the fact the textures are so clean/clinical that the airbase/airfield looks like it was put down the day you first get to fly from it. What I find very rare to see is uneven levels, vehicle tracks and routes embedded around the location, foot tracks, dust, dirt, grime scattered around, pools of water (off the airstrip), mud, grime......just any feeling that the airbase is or has been lived in.

Phillipines:

Tinian:

Rabaul:

Iwo Jima:

Midway:

Guadocanal:

Just putting it out there for the wish list, cheers, Mysticpuma

 

 

[Trooper117]

I'm sure we would all like it just like real life, but wouldn't having shed fulls of objects, probably hundreds, of objects to make it more 'real' have an impact on FPS?

What if many of them are active, working and moving around the airfield... could it be done?

[Mysticpuma]

1 hour ago, Trooper117 said:

I'm sure we would all like it just like real life, but wouldn't having shed fulls of objects, probably hundreds, of objects to make it more 'real' have an impact on FPS?

What if many of them are active, working and moving around the airfield... could it be done?

I guess we'll find out 🙂

[Boom]

Great pics Mystic. Really drives home that life for even the flyers was extremely harsh in the Pacific. 

Not like those pussies flying out of cushy Britain. 😉

[JFM]

I hope for more airfield life than a single truck driving around. 

[dburne]

35 minutes ago, JFM said:

I hope for more airfield life than a single truck driving around. 

Fully agree.

[Trooper117]

50 minutes ago, JFM said:

I hope for more airfield life than a single truck driving around. 

You forgot the odd human strangely wiggling about...

[Gambit21]

“Airfield junk” has always been sorely missing. Workstations, cranes, tractors, lifts, stripped aircraft, wreckers, etc etc.

[Mysticpuma]

5 hours ago, Gambit21 said:

“Airfield junk” has always been sorely missing. Workstations, cranes, tractors, lifts, stripped aircraft, wreckers, etc etc.

That's the thing, they are or have been so clinical. Airfields that are lived in give a much better sense of belonging and 'home'. 

Looking at a few stripped down aircraft, fuel trucks moving, jeeps driving around, old track marks across and to the runway, edges of runways not being in isometric perfection, crates scattered and piled, tents in multiple areas.... 

The thing is, this is what is needed as a beginning point for players who can't work in a QMB/FMB and spend hours creating this. This needs to be an auto generated /randomly generated feature each time the mission/game launches. 

The actual air strips would be untouched but the surrounding areas could be randomised to make each adventure different. 

Edited August 3, 2023 by Mysticpuma

[PikeStance]

When you played the campaigns, the atmosphere is much more livelier. I don't know why this is not replicated in SP career though. My guess is this would make the game files a huge monstrosity.

[Jade_Monkey]

I've been asking for this in GB for ages. I'd love this too!

[wheelsup_cavu]

On 7/26/2023 at 5:54 AM, JFM said:

I hope for more airfield life than a single truck driving around. 

 Let's not go crazy here. 😁🙃😇

 

Wheels

[Mysticpuma]

Found another picture showing 'lived in' airfield conditions. 

These are from Kalaywa in the Far East after heavy rain fall. 

 

[genXgamer]

I certainly agree with Mysticpuma on having "lived in" airfields, however even more important to me are airfields that are representative of those found at that period of the war, even if this means multiple versions of a map.
It's an immersion killer flying 1942 missions and having an airfield/s modelled on late war aerial photographs obtained from Pacific Wrecks.
The following screenshots will probably look primitive to those of you playing current generation sims, but I think I've given players (1946) something that's at least half captures the look of that time.

 

[Necrobaron]

I too would like to see grungy, dirty, lived in frontline airfields, maybe some bustling with activity. My guess is, historically it was difficult to devote that kind of attention and resources to ground based assets in a flight sim, where presumably you spend most of your time way up in the wild blue yonder. However, as technology has improved, maybe more and more attention can be dedicated to flesh out airfield details like this. Maybe even modelling personnel moving about their business although airfield raids could result in more violence than we typically see in flight sims, if they really decided to go all in.

[CPT Crunch]

Water pools and splash effects would be peachy when it's raining.

[Feldgrün]

Bomb/torpedo stacks would be a great addition.

Guadalcanal, 1942: