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[CzechTexan]

I'm talking about the stock green grass/ground runway plates.
It looks like I have a mod that makes them better looking BUT...

I DO NOT want runways that look like green grass.  It is just not realistic to me to have an airfield texture looking like dirt and then have grass where planes constantly taxi on.

So, how can I change my green grass runway plates to look more like brown dirt?
I know there's got to be a mod out there somewhere 

++++++++++++++++++++++
EDIT:
See reply #14 on page 2 for a combination of vpmedia's plates and my new airfield texture.

[Uzin]

I'm talking about the stock green grass/ground runway plates.
It looks like I have a mod that makes them better looking BUT...

I DO NOT want runways that look like green grass.  It is just not realistic to me to have an airfield texture looking like dirt and then have grass where planes constantly taxi on.

So, how can I change my green grass runway plates to look more like brown dirt?
I know there's got to be a mod out there somewhere 

Excuse me for delayed response.
I dislike green narrow stripes as well. So I replaced them formerly by dirtied textuires of the grass around AF, but this gives too wide AF. Much better solution is, to make an object, which can be placed anywhere, with any orientation. So I made semitransparent PlateS object, of diffused  shape . It was used in Poland 1945w map, as "myDirtSnow" object.
It can be d/l here :

https://www.mediafire.com/download/u86hew6ex9c8zfk/myDirtSnow.7z

Unpack it, and place into MODS/STD/3do/airfield/ folder.
You can modify it as you can,  I think it can be used also for summer maps after slight modification (replace white with dirt green, e.g. in GIMP).

EDIT: How it looks:



N.B.: AF are "smoothed" by BlankField Plates by Canonuk, as somewhere at SAS rewoked ...

Ohhh... I suppose that all the above operations are made in MapBuilder aka unlocked FMB, LOL.

[CzechTexan]

Uzin, thank you for the reply.  But shouldn't there be a more simple way to just replace the stock green grass runway plates with  brown dirt plates?

[vpmedia]

But shouldn't there be a more simple way to just replace the stock green grass runway plates with  brown dirt plates?

There is a way but it would change all the grass runways on almost all maps since the grass runway texture is widely used. You need to develop a grass texture which works with the map repaints youre using. Here's what I made: http://ulozto.net/xUif4mkX/runway-textures-7z

Another way is to edit the map with unlocked FMB and change the grass plates to something different, you can even create you own set of runway plates.

One of my future goals is to develop a set of large hi-res runway plates based on the object (buildings.Plate$AirfieldS) Uzin mentioned. They would be useful because in 4.12 you can place all the plates via FMB, no need for map editing.

[CzechTexan]

I see what both of you are saying.  To replace it with a large plate as it shows above is one way to do it.  It is not a bad idea because those large plates from the BoM and Donbass maps are very nice.  But you would need to place it manually for every airfield on every map you use.  It would also cover up the existing taxi and parking plates.

I could, like you say, edit existing runway, taxi, parking plates to the color of my desire.  I have never done that before but I guess it's possible. 
Maybe I was just hoping there was already a mod already made to replace those plates.

I'll have to look at the 3do's more closely to see what I can do.

Thanks for the tips!

[Uzin]

I could, like you say, edit existing runway, taxi, parking plates to the color of my desire.  I have never done that before but I guess it's possible. 
Maybe I was just hoping there was already a mod already made to replace those plates.

Wisdom at stairs , LOL. 
You can use Zuti's Actors Management tool, open Buildings.txt and Rename the runways etc. to your choice, then re-assemble actors.static file. This way you can change all the grass or other airfields on a single map at once.

[CzechTexan]

Zoran, good to see you jumping in the conversation.  I like what you have done and thanks for showing the pics.  The bad thing about using large plates, especially for rivers/canals, is that the ground must all be flat.  You can get away with slight elevations but it doesn't look good with a close eye on it.

Uzin, I'll give the actors tool a try too.  thanks.
VPmedia, also thanks to you too.  your work is inspiring.

[Uzin]

What about this grassfield ?


If you like it, d/l the file 4.tga here and replace that in "myDirtSnow" both in 3do and in static.ini, rename  to your choice:

https://www.mediafire.com/download/ajdpcwl7a2zbgka/4.tga

[vpmedia]

Try these semi-transparent ground plates: http://ulozto.net/xqGUhvs9/ground-7z

[Bobbo]

Try these semi-transparent ground plates: http://ulozto.net/xqGUhvs9/ground-7z

Oh that's much better than the stock runway.

So basically the runway texture is an overlay of the ground, sort of a transparent noise texture?

[CzechTexan]

Try these semi-transparent ground plates: http://ulozto.net/xqGUhvs9/ground-7z

That is the idea of what I am looking for, except that I already have those particular mod plates already installed (cannot remember which d/l map  I got them from).  I could alter the colors though.

EDIT:  Actually, your plates are different than the ones I had.  Yours are more transparent and work much better.

Uzin, I also like your large plate that covers everything but it's not really the thing I'm looking for because it will cover all the taxi ways and parking on IL2 stock maps (also pilot cannot see where he needs to go, as vpmedia referred to).

Edit:  I think the big problem is the underlying texture color.  VPmedia's download above is the best solution for the green grass plates IF the underlying airfield texture is grass darker than the plates (like on Kuban RRR). 

It is, however, out of place if the underlying airfield texture is dirt (like on Smolensk RRR)...does not make sense to me that grass is growing better on the runway than on the adjacent ground which does not get as much traffic.

On the Stalingrad_Summer RRR it is OK but could probably be better. 

On Kursk & Prokhorovka it does not look right because the airfield's texture is a lighter color grass that gets less traffic than a runway - so same problem as with a dirt texture.  Runway/taxi grass should be a lighter color because it gets worn out and has more dead/damaged grass than adjacent areas.
See pics below...

Kuban:


Caucasus looks good only on this particular texture.  The problem is that all airfields do not use the same texture.


Smolensk:


Stalingrad:


Kursk and Prokhorovka:


In conclusion, VPmedia gave a link above to the best alternative for the green grass plates IMO.
However, they only look good on top of particular airfield textures.
It would be good if all map repaints used a uniform/similar airfield texture when using the green grass runway/taxi plates.  I realize that it would be difficult to match airfield texture colors with the adjacent texture colors but it might be possible.

The input on this topic has been very helpful, thanks!

[Uzin]

Hi, CzechTexan and Istvan,
you are right that grass runway must be  made in accordance with background AF texture.
But looking at yours and many others AF, I see that your grass runways have sharp edges, what , I am sure, is not realistic on grass AF of WWII : the edges must be diffuse, otherways they help to demask the AF ! The same applies to taxiways: pilots were directed by the ground personnel to go according to their signs.   Compare some AF on default Bessarabia, or Oknevas AF, as an example. In our game, human pilot can follow AI planes to find parking places.
Trying to mask war grass AF, the false country roads going over the area were drawn , as I met on german photos of Minsk airfield.
Enemy pilot should not identify the AF easily !
My long dirtGrass object is only proposal  of the solution, development continues...