Dear ini,

I was happy to learn about a new EGLC being in development, but now that I see your product screenshots I'm hesitant to buy it. My main concern is your terrain/grass work.

Whatever you did with the grass around the runway does not look good at all. I see a blurry partially overexposed grass texture with crude grass 3D models placed on top, and that looks so much worse than default MSFS2024 terrain. That grass reminds me of old FSX times. Whereas default MSFS2024 looks rather amazing, a seamless transition between the terrain texture and the grass 3D models, and extends naturally into the distance.
Also, I see that the grass texture you chose is not only blurry and overexposed on one side (south), it is also different types of green on either side of the runway, which does not seem very realistic.

So I wonder, why was the terrain done that way? Why can't we have MSFS terrain tech with all its nice grass rendering and detail layer on top of the texture? Your competitor is doing THAT part quite well.
Could you improve the terrain in an update?

Thanks for listening.

50 minutes ago, mburkhard said:

Dear ini,

I was happy to learn about a new EGLC being in development, but now that I see your product screenshots I'm hesitant to buy it. My main concern is your terrain/grass work.

Whatever you did with the grass around the runway does not look good at all. I see a blurry partially overexposed grass texture with crude grass 3D models placed on top, and that looks so much worse than default MSFS2024 terrain. That grass reminds me of old FSX times. Whereas default MSFS2024 looks rather amazing, a seamless transition between the terrain texture and the grass 3D models, and extends naturally into the distance.
Also, I see that the grass texture you chose is not only blurry and overexposed on one side (south), it is also different types of green on either side of the runway, which does not seem very realistic.

So I wonder, why was the terrain done that way? Why can't we have MSFS terrain tech with all its nice grass rendering and detail layer on top of the texture? Your competitor is doing THAT part quite well.
Could you improve the terrain in an update?

Thanks for listening.

Hi, the different types of grass is actually accurate as some of the grass at EGLC is actually Astroturf - see the image here:

As for the "why" the grass is modelled the way it is, it's because we've modelled the entire airport, including the base terrain and taxiways as a 3d object. MSFS's default terrain editing tools leave a lot to be desired, especially in areas with photogrammetry like London. In order to get around this, we've essentially placed a 'cap' on top of the terrain via a 3d model which allows much more fine adjustment of the elevation of the airport, smooth taxiways and runways, etc. The only downside is that 3d objects cannot use the same grass rendering technique as the terrain, so we've had to work around this ourselves.

Thank you for your reply and explanations. I was not aware of this artificial turf, it has been quite a while since I last saw the airport from a pilot POV where one can see both sides at once to notice the colour difference. So that answers the shades of green then, thanks!

As for the non-default terrain, perhaps the visual deficiencies of this can be lessened a bit by 2 measures:

1. Increase the resolution of your grass textures?
   Close to the grass (say during taxiing) the blurry texture is very well visible beneath your custom grass models. If it were a bit more crisp, then it might blend better with your 3D grass. The stark contrast between blurred grass patches on the textures and the sharp edges of the grass models is what is throwing me off.

2. Match the colour of the grass texture with the colour of the 3D grass?
   Especially on the patches of turf, the colour/brightness does not match. So we see these very bright green patches covered with grass that has a very dark green colour, which then also enhances the visibility of the rough edges of your low-fidelity 3D grass. If the colours were the same, then the ground texture and the 3D models would blend so much better I think.
   And since you hand-place the grass, it should be possible to have that grass in two different shades of green depending on the texture below it?

Combine these two ideas and then the result might look a lot better? Would be wonderful if you could give your grass another go!

Thanks