Beginner Scenery Developer Seeking Recommended Workflow for Realistic Custom Hangar Aprons

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Hello everyone,

I’m a beginner scenery developer who recently got into the hobby. I’ve already completed a few airport projects and I’m trying to improve my skills by learning the proper workflows used by more experienced MSFS scenery developers.

One area I’m currently struggling with is creating realistic custom apron surfaces around hangars and other detailed airport areas.

My current project includes a hangar apron approximately 73.5m x 21m, and I’m trying to create a realistic appearance with:

  • Oil stains

  • Crack repairs

  • Tire marks

  • General wear and weathering

  • Sharp detail up close

  • Minimal repetition

  • No blurry textures

Over the past few days I’ve spent a lot of time researching different approaches and experimenting with various workflows, including:

  • Large custom texture sheets

  • AI-generated asphalt textures

  • Overlay textures

  • Transparency-based methods

  • Extracting cracks and stains from generated textures

  • Applying textures directly to large planes in Blender

Unfortunately, most of these attempts have resulted in issues such as:

  • Texture stretching

  • Blurry results

  • Poor color matching with existing MSFS asphalt materials

  • Obvious tiling

  • Difficulty creating convincing transparency for fine cracks and oil stains

  • Uncertainty about whether I’m even using the correct workflow

While researching, I’ve come across discussions involving:

  • ProjectedMesh objects

  • Decal materials

  • Custom ground polygons

  • Vertex painting

  • Layered materials

  • Tiled detail textures combined with unique weathering overlays

However, as someone still learning, I’m having a difficult time determining which of these methods are actually used in production-quality scenery projects and which are simply community experiments or workarounds.

I would greatly appreciate advice from developers who have experience creating detailed airport surfaces.

My questions are:

  1. What workflow would you personally recommend today for creating detailed custom hangar aprons in MSFS 2024?

  2. Would you use:

    • Standard aprons

    • ProjectedMesh objects

    • Decal materials

    • Custom ground polygons

    • Some combination of these?

  3. How do you typically add:

    • Oil stains

    • Crack repairs

    • Tire marks

    • Localized weathering

  4. How do you maintain sharp detail without relying on extremely large texture sheets?

  5. Are there any SDK samples, tutorials, forum discussions, presentations, or documentation resources that you consider essential reading for this type of work?

My goal is not necessarily to find a shortcut, but rather to learn the workflow that experienced scenery developers consider the most effective and maintainable.

Thank you for your time and any guidance you can provide.

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