How to use your Vehicle custom liveries in Project Cars

****** PC Only! ******

Sorry, custom liveries for consoles (PS4 and XBOX One) aren't available at this moment.

Install a custom livery

Just extract and overwrite files under "[your drive]:\[your system]\STEAM\SteamApps\common\pCars\Vehicles\Textures\CustomLiveries"

You can find amazing liveries in the Download Database Forum.


Livery Creation Guide


What do I need?

1. Photoshop CS (or higher) or any other software (e.g. GIMP) that can deal with PSD and DDS file types.

2. ????

3. A bit of knowledge how to use Photoshop, GIMP or whatever software you chose.

4. Official Paint Templates
By Fernando Pedace


FAQ
by Jan Frischkorn (SMS Vehicle Art Manager)

Can we just use 1 custom livery per car?
Yes. Only 1 custom livery per car at moment.

There is a 3D viewer?
No. But you can save the DDS while game is running. See the "3D Viewer Alternative" in the "Tip" section of this FAQ.

Where do I find the custom textures?
In your pCARS runtime under "[your drive]:\[your system]\STEAM\SteamApps\common\pCars\Vehicles\Textures\CustomLiveries" you will find default custom liveries for all cars.
They are all white and show a black wireframe.
Simply replace these textures with your own and choose the "Custom Livery" in the GUI selection.

Will my liveries be deleted when I uninstall the game or install a new version?
We've changed the installer to not replace the files if they're already present, or uninstall them if they've been modified from the defaults, so it should be fairly safe.
But if you blindly delete your whole pCARS folder say, you'll lose them.
So you better keep the PSD files of your liveries somewhere safe.

I have problems saving the DDS files. What can I do?
Save the livery as TGA.
Then open the TGA and save the DDS from there.
That will usually always work. Sometimes there are problems saving DDS files from layered PSD files.

What settings do the liveries need to be saved with?
You save them as simple "DXT1" DDS with all MIP maps.
Set the DDS plugin to "create new mip maps".
The DDS file should be saved as a square image, so if a PSD file is not square (e.g. 4096x6144 pixels), you first need to resize it to 4096x4096 before exporting it to DDS).

Are metallic effects possible?
No, only solid paint is possible at the moment.
The shaders for these effects are too complicated to be externally influenced.
However, chrome and matte effects are possible. See specular + fresnel maps at the bottom of these FAQ.