Formula Truck 2013 skinning & user customisation notes

To add a new truck: Firstly, decide which truck brand you wish to race. Create a new folder in GameData\Vehicles\FTruck\<ChosenBrand>_Teams\, and name it after your custom team. Now copy a veh file from any of the existing chosen brand team folders and place it in the folder you just created. For example if you want to add a custom Iveco, copy one of the vehs from the "Marinelli Competicoes" or "Scuderia Iveco" folders under Iveco_Teams. At this point you should decide on which specification of truck you'd like to duplicate, as there are six brands but 21 different specs! The best way to do this is make a note of the brand/team/number of a truck you like after looking at them in the game menu, and duplicate the appropriate veh file. This will ensure no errors occur upon loading, and make it obvious which set of templates should be used.

Rename it <YourName>.veh (where <YourName> is.. your name. JohnSmith, JSmith, whatever. No spaces or special characters). Open <YourName>.veh and replace whatever driver name is currently in the DefaultLivery="DriverName.DDS" line with <YourName> This defines the filenames, refer to the existing files and file name list below for examples.

For the example Iveco, the following parts of the duplicated veh should be edited with your custom information:

DefaultLivery=<YourName.DDS>

Number=<YourNumber> (not one listed below)
Team="<Your Team Name>"

Driver="<Your Name>" (used for AI only)          
Description="Iveco: <Your Name> <Your Number>"

FullTeamName="<Your Team Name>"

Category="Formula Truck, Iveco"

For all custom trucks please ensure that the brand stated in the Description and Category lines exactly matches the brand of an existing default truck.

The following numbers are reserved for the real trucks featured in Formula Truck and MUST NOT be used for custom vehicles, at least in the vehs. You can put any number you like on the skins but the numbers in the vehs cannot be duplicated - otherwise your shiny new truck won't load :)

0
2
3
4
6
7
8
10
11
12
14
15
20
30
32
43
44
51
55
72
73
77
80
83
88
99

Distinct Truck Variants

Each line is a separate truck specification, created by unique genstrings. Differences may be small (just wheelrim colour) or very large (entirely distinct bodywork).

FC - 43, 72
FC - 44

Iveco - 02, 88
Iveco - 21
Iveco - 99

Mannheim - 3
Mannheim - 6
Mannheim - 55
Mannheim - 80 
Mannheim - 83 (boxnose/bicudo)

Volvo - 0, 30
Volvo - 11
Volvo - 14

Skane - 12, 51
Skane - 10
Skane - 15 (boxnose/bicudo)
Skane - 20
 
MAN - 4 
Vw - 7, 77
Vw - 8
VW - 73

Skinning/Template notes

The actual skinning should be fairly self-explanatory (as long as you keep a clear track of which truck variant you're editing), the PSDs include generic alpha layers so when you've finished creating your skin simply save the  file as a DXT5 dds (helmets and driver suits should be DXT1), named as you've defined in your custom car's veh file.

The "glass" textures of course do not include generic alpha layers, so you'll have to create custom alphas for those textures using the ALPHA_ layers provided in the glass templates. Please refer to the myriad of alpha layer tutorials available via a simple Google search for information on how to do this if you're unfamiliar.

If you customise every texture, the files in your new team folder should look something like this:

<YourName>.dds (main skin, DXT5) - <brand>_body.psd
<YourName>.veh (vehicle definition file)
<YourName>Cockpit.dds (INTERIOR cockpit metal + rollcage, DXT5) - <brand>_int_cockpit.psd
<YourName>Driver.dds (driver suit, DXT1) - trk_driver.psd
<YourName>Helmet.dds (driver helmet, DXT1) - trk_helmet.psd
<YourName>Window.dds (EXTERIOR windows, DXT5) - <brand>_ext_glass.psd
<YourName>Windshield.dds (INTERIOR windows - only used in cockpit view, DXT5) - <brand>_int_glass.psd

Window numbers are entirely custom team to team, so go nuts!

Genstring information:

It is strongly advised that you duplicate a default genstring, they are not really designed for user customisation in Formula Truck, rather being used to ensure the loading of a specific team/driver truck config. There are certain exceptions to this, but editing genstrings in Formula Truck 2013 is done at your own risk.



Nick Ovey

Lead Vehicle Artist