Is there a way to select skins for the AI you want to race?

[bgil66]

for example I would like to race a yellow c7r instead of a white one the sim selects. thanks

 

[KarlHelm]

yes, there is. go to Options -> General and select "serial opponent livery selection". In Windows, open the skinfolder of the car and add a "01_" in front of the name of the skinfolder you want to race so that this skin is on top in the folder.

 

[ScuderiaVeloce]

yes, there is. go to Options -> General and select "serial opponent livery selection". In Windows, open the skinfolder of the car and add a "01_" in front of the name of the skinfolder you want to race so that this skin is on top in the folder.

Thanks for this great tip! I never understood why AC wouldnt let us choose in the race menu. But this is a great solution.

 

[Dirk Steffen]

I can leave all fantasy skins intact in the skin folders for each car and simply add a "01_" ahead of each skins name I want the AI to select from instead of doing a random selection?

This way I could enforce the AI to select a certain type of skin (say only BES or only Le Mans 2014 skins).

Do I understand this correctly?

 

[bgil66]

yes, there is. go to Options -> General and select "serial opponent livery selection". In Windows, open the skinfolder of the car and add a "01_" in front of the name of the skinfolder you want to race so that this skin is on top in the folder.

thanks!

 

[AlleyViper]

If you do that for kunos content, it's better to copy instead of renaming the original folder. This is to avoid missing it online and have a blank car if the server uses that skin on a car slot.

 

[After_Midnight]

If you do that for kunos content, it's better to copy instead of renaming the original folder. This is to avoid missing it online and have a blank car if the server uses that skin on a car slot.

So there is no way to force the game to use costum skins for online gaming?

 

[KarlHelm]

I can leave all fantasy skins intact in the skin folders for each car and simply add a "01_" ahead of each skins name I want the AI to select from instead of doing a random selection?

This way I could enforce the AI to select a certain type of skin (say only BES or only Le Mans 2014 skins).

Do I understand this correctly?

the skins will be used by AC in the same order as they appear in your car's skin folder. There is no way to skip a skin.

This is my Huracan GT3-skinfolder for example. My AC will use the skin named "0_ARC_Bratislava_BES2016_69" for the first huracan GT3 and the skin "0_Attempto_Racing" for the second huracan in a race and so on .

But as AlleyViper said, do not rename the official kunos skins, if you don't want white cars while racing online! There is no need to rename them, as they are behind the custom-/downloaded skins, which you want the AI to use. For example the skin "C_Racing_green" is an official skin by kunos if I remember correctly. It would be used for the 13th huracan in your race. So just don't race 13 huracans ;-)

But don't forget to select "serial livery selection" in Ac's General Options! Otherwise AC will select the skins randomly, no matter how you changed the names of your skinfolders!

 

[KarlHelm]

So there is no way to force the game to use costum skins for online gaming?

I don't think there is for online gaming.

 

[AlleyViper]

So there is no way to force the game to use costum skins for online gaming?

When a server is set up, cars slots have a specific car/skin pair. So the skins you see have been pre-selected by the server admin. I don't know if it'll work, but maybe you can backup original kunos skins with some prefix, like a certain "Black91" to "Black91_bak" and then rename the desired custom mod skin to replace it with the same old "Black91" name. I presume you'll see it then used online instead of the original skin (shouldn't fail checksum) if set for on the server side. But unless you know exactly which skins will be used on a certain server, it's not really practical unless in a more controled/restricted situation like a particular race series/single make cup.

For mods such as URD DTM cars, directly replacing fake sponsor liveries with realist ones in the same folder should be more viable for online use. Because, well, it's a smaller set than the 98 cars and thousands of skin combinations the game has.

 

[Dirk Steffen]

Thanks a lot for this guide - I have to go through my car collection then and re-order.

 

[After_Midnight]

When a server is set up, cars slots have a specific car/skin pair. So the skins you see have been pre-selected by the server admin. I don't know if it'll work, but maybe you can backup original kunos skins with some prefix, like a certain "Black91" to "Black91_bak" and then rename the desired custom mod skin to replace it with the same old "Black91" name. I presume you'll see it then used online instead of the original skin (shouldn't fail checksum) if set for on the server side. But unless you know exactly which skins will be used on a certain server, it's not really practical unless in a more controled/restricted situation like a particular race series/single make cup.

I've already tried this. What I've done: delete the content of the original skin folders of the 488GT3 expect the json files and paste the new skins into the folders.
The result of this test all 488GT3 used the normal red skin. Maybe the one of the kn5 file.

 

[AlleyViper]

Good catch, I forgot about keeping the original .json files as the pre-selected skin name depends on them. Could you please try at first only to replace the main livery file on a stock folder to see if you get it online or just a red car?

 

[After_Midnight]

Done.
Ferrari488GT3:
The standart red skin don't have a Skin_00.dds file. Also adding this file from an other skin don't chance anything online. The car is still red. Thats the reason for my assumption if you don't have the right skin (set by server) AC will give you the one out of the kn5 file for the car.

HuracanGT3:
Every original skin have a Skin_00.dds file. So I jump on a Kunos server with only one Huracan slot. The skin was Racing_green. Leave the server and change this skin file with an other one. And it works.
Next test: I replace all skin file including the json file with custom ones. Works!
Last test: join a server with 3 slots for the HuracanGT3 and had a look which skins are used. This skins I've replaced with custom onces and joined again. Works great.

So now I think the skin not json file related. Just skin folder name. So you can replaced all original skin with a seperate skin file with the custom ones you like. All what you have to do is keep the original skin folder name and replace the files in this folder. Of course you can't known which one is used on the server but if you replace all original skins you can use the custom onces.

Hope it helps and I'll do some more testing....

Edit: Don't forget to create new previews for this cars by using the Kunos preview builder.

 

[AlleyViper]

For your Ferrari 488 GT3 issue, I presume there's another issue preventing you to see it online.
I've just pasted a Skin_00.dds on the 00_rosso_scuderia folder, and it's loaded successfully on the showroom, so there's no reason it shouldn't also online for the same car/skin combo.

So, if you're getting a plain red car, it's possible that the server on that particular car (or other 488's ) hasn't the 00_rosso_scuderia folder selected, but an assortment of other custom skins you are missing (I guess it's possible to check on your log.txt), and then the plain red texture on the kn5 will be loaded (not the 00_rosso_scuderia folder you are modifying). An easy to check is looking at the rear wing: if whole a skin folder isn't loaded for a red car, it'll read "WINGSPONSOR".

 

[After_Midnight]

online test McLaren 650S GT3 (works for all skins)

The skins for the Ferrari works great offline and in showroom. Online only the 00_rosso_scuderia don't work. And no errors in the logs.

 

[AlleyViper]

Mind to point me at a server where you get a red car now? I can't seem to find any at the moment to test.
On the other hand, I've created a private server with a 488 in Rosso Scuderia, and after that, placed a custom Skin_00.dds on its folder and joined. The car successfully loads the custom dds.

 

[After_Midnight]

Mind to point me at a server where you get a red car now? I can't seem to find any at the moment to test.
On the other hand, I've created a private server with a 488 in Rosso Scuderia, and after that, placed a custom Skin_00.dds on its folder and joined. The car successfully loads the custom dds.

Please try this server: NetracingEurope.org Two of three 488 have the standart red skin.
On my own server the skins also work.

 

[AlleyViper]

Thanks! I've just checked it and on both red cars present on the rear spoiler there was "WINGSPONSOR" (sign of empty/non-existent skin folder, because that appears on a dry kn5 file), so AC wasn't even pulling the skin from 00_rosso_scuderia. Looking at the log, only "01_racing_483" was being pre-loaded, so it's possible that that particular server is running 2 custom skins for the 488 we don't have.

Edit: Looking at the remote car entries on log.txt, other than 01_racing_483, server is trying to load "01_racing_500" and "01_racing_487" which are invalid folders in v1.7.5. The red cars are now explained

 

[After_Midnight]

Thanks for testing