Isn’t there a difference when they type of detail is a texture vs a physical feature of the model?
BIG differences. Textures are FAR easier to create compared to adding geometries. Before 3D paint programs like Substance painter, its hard, but now it is easy & the results are 10x better & faster.
Here is a video showing how fast you can make metallic edge wear in substance painter.
Basically, what happened is you import your base mesh(es), & often a high res one(s) for maps transfer.
Then the software will generate multiple maps, like cavity maps, edge maps height map, normal maps, position maps etc.
Position map (Actual name maybe be different, I wrote from memory) allows the program to detect where is top, where is the underside. Good to generating realistic dust (more on dust top side, less bottom side), or water stain (more on underside)
edge map. detect edges-good for making edge wear.
cavity map detecting cavities, good for generating dirt since dirt acumulate more at cavities .
You can create a smart material say "painted steel" that generates dust, rust dirt, edge wear & drop it on the model, & 70% of twh work is done.
Then you can play with the sliders to adjust for level of wear, rust, size of object.
The only extra work is if you need more than a simple paint on an object, say a radioactive sign of a container, or gafittis on wall, differnt caolors on different area, illuminated areas or anything you need to manually paint.
Video on smart material, as well as map generation.