How to change car liveries (in ACC)

This is an old post. If you are looking for a tutorial on how to make full custom liveries, click here for my written tutorial.

If you are simply looking for the templates, click here.

UPDATE MAY 2020: as of v1.4-ish the templates have been unofficially released so we can make full custom liveries. People do need to have your files if they want to see it though.

UPDATE DEC 2019: as per v1.2, this tutorial has been made redundant – the in-game editor is now live. You are, however, now also able to customize your driver. Check here how to do it!

UPDATE NOV 2019: check out my new resource post with ALL LIVERIES here, so you can quickly pick a color-scheme.

UPDATE OCT 2019: as of v1.1.2, there is (limited) support for custom liveries (you can choose a main color, and two rim colors) for the new cars. I updated the ‘carModelType’-overview. You can also look for some examples of liveries on this very link.

UPDATE OCT 2019: as of v1.1, you can also put the ‘test_car.json’ file into your documents folder. This will allow you to look at the car in the showroom (like this), and best of all: select it for multiplayer to drive on any server you wish without having to send your json files to any server owners. To do this, just follow this path: C:\Users\[user]\Documents\Assetto Corsa Competizione\Customs\Cars

PS: YES, everybody can see your livery this way!

Original text:

With the public beta release late Tuesday (25th of June) Kunos allowed us to set custom liveries on servers. At the moment, however, there is no way to do this in-game. Instead, users need to adjust .json files without having direct feedback on what the changes mean in terms of looks. For some, changing the car liveries might prove too difficult. For those people, I’m writing down my experiences thereby trying to help walk you through this process. Also, as a preview, here’s what you can make with these steps:

Please bare in mind, even with this tutorial, finding the right livery for your car will still rely a lot on trial and error. If you don’t want to have any hassle, feel free to wait until Kunos release the fully functional UI. I have no idea when that will be.

Setting up a (private) server

In order to test your livery changes, it is easiest to set up a private server. There are multiple ways to go about this. You could, ofcourse, painstakingly copy the official server admin handbook. Another option is to copy my homework:

Click on this link to download my .zip file

Once you’ve downloaded it, you need to extract all files (including the folder) to the install location of Assetto Corsa Competizione. That would be the following path: \Steam\steamapps\common\Assetto Corsa Competizione\server\cfg

Once extracted, you need to find your SteamID. The fastest way to do so, is to use the website SteamID Finder (click). The number you need is the SteamID64 (3rd one from the top). Copy this number.

Next, you want to head back into the folder and open ‘entrylist.json’. If Windows doesn’t know how to open the file, tell it to use notepad. In the fourth line you find “S[INSERT STEAM ID HERE]”. Select the parts within the brackets (including the brackets themselves) and replace it with your ID (but leave the S there). Save the file, and close it. You don’t need it anymore.

EDIT: as per the new hotfix on the 2nd of July, you need to include “.json” after the car name. I changed it in the source file, redownloading should fix it or just add it yourself!

Next, you want to test whether the server works. In the folder above it (called “server”) you’ll find a file called “accServer.exe”. Double click it to run the application.

Next, boot up the game. Go to multiplayer. Open the server list. Go to the LAN-tab in the top bar and click it. It should find a server named “Livery Test”. Connect to the server. The car you should be greeted with, should resemble this savage orange beast:

Changing the livery

Now you need to open the “cars” folder you copied earlier. In it, you’ll find a file called “test_car.json”. Open it with Notepad again like you did with the other file. You’ll be greeted with a load of option, which I will explain below.

• raceNumber: the number you want your car to have. I chose 91, but you can chose anything from 0 to 999.
• auxLightKey: [I don’t know for sure what this does yet, but it does select an auxiliary lighting option. I don’t know how many options there are]
• auxLightColor: this selects the color of the light. Available colours range from 0 to 359. More about this below.
• skinTemplateKey: this selects the livery. Most cars have 3 options (100, 101, 102) except for the Lexus (none) and the Audi (which has five). A full list of all liveries can be seen HERE, thanks to Andreas Schuster.
• skinColor1/2/3Id: this is the main colour of the car. 2 is secondary, and 3 is the tertiary colour. In this case I chose orange (219), dark grey (345) and grey/white (355). Options range from 0 to 359.
• sponsorID: selects the sponsor for the car. There are 16 options which you can find HERE. You can enter “0” to have a sponsorless car (except for standard branding).
• skinMaterialType1/2/3: sets the type of paint used for the main, secondary and tertiary colours. There are five options: 0 (gloss), 1 (matte), 2 (metallic), 3 (satin shine), 4 (chrome-ish) and 5 (shiny chrome).
• rimColor1/2Id: this is the colour of the rim. I chose a very dark (345) with orange details (218)
• rimMaterialType1/2: sets the type of paint used for the main and secondary rim colours.
• teamName/displayName/competitorname: are only important if you enjoy a bit of roleplaying, because for now you can only see them on loading screens, showrooms and in the results file.
• carModelType: this decides the car model. There are 18 options ranging from 0 to 18, with 16 currently missing. Click HERE for the full list.
• cupCategory: Changes the associated class, i.e. Pro, Pro-AM, AM. This will be overridden once you take you car into multiplayer and it adapts to your personal rating.
• useEnduranceKit: basically decides whether to use the endurance lighting kit or not. 0 is none, 1 is endurance. There might be more options per car, but I haven’t checked that.

Finding the right color

Finding the right color is not so easy. While yes, the colors range from 0 to 359, they are not ordered by hue. There seem to be multiple brightness scales per hue. Below you can find excellent work by Andreas, who mapped out all the shades/hues.

Another problem is that with each material type, each color looks a bit different, further increasing the amount of options to choose from. Andreas created a nifty Imgur album with all the cars and material types, and what they look like. Check it out here.

Testing the livery

If you’ve selected your colours and want to see what it looks like, save the test_car.json file. Make sure the server is running. Enter the server.

Et voila!

In order to change the livery again, change and save the test_car.json file, exit the server and reconnect. It should be different now!

If you want to use this to race online you are a bit out of luck unless you send the entrylist.json file and the test_car.json to a server owner and hope he adds them until there is official support for custom liveries.

PS: here are some more pictures of my current livery.