Have you ever wanted to run your own custom livery in Assetto Corsa Competizione? Here is how you can not only apply livery files to the game, but have them seen by others as well!
Image credit: Kunos Simulazioni
With the news that Assetto Corsa Competizione was finally getting the Nordschleife, many players who may have long since stopped playing are most likely returning. Despite the follow-up to the original Assetto Corsa being initially set for full release next Spring, it will now have its early access release in the Summer.
This is so they can release the 2024 GT World Challenge pack in that time. It is immensely welcome news to the community, and you need not look too far to see the hype. Several communities are already planning events at the Green Hell - months ahead of its release.
Nürburgring Nordschleife Announced for Assetto Corsa Competizione
When the Nordschleife does release, many players will definitely be doing races there. Chances are that you probably want to do one of the many events that will be organised with your own custom liveries.
There are already plenty of tutorials on how to make your own custom ACC liveries. But in this article, we will teach you how to apply the livery files to the game. Plus, a service that essentially is to ACC as to what Trading Paints is to iRacing.
Applying Files
If you are curious to find some custom ACC liveries, check out the RaceDepartment page - over 3,000 paint schemes await! After downloading the files, you can open the zip folder and find two folders labelled 'Cars' and 'Liveries'. It is convenient to have your download folder pinned to one side with your 'Assetto Corsa Competizione' folder pinned to the other.
In the 'Assetto Corsa Competizione' folder, open up 'Customs' and then 'Cars'. Then open up the 'Cars' folder from the Downloads and drag the .JSON file from Downloads to the folder with all the other car files. Next is the livery itself.
Drag the folder from your download into the Liveries folder.
Go back to the Customs folder and open the 'Liveries' folder in there, and also open up the corresponding folder in Downloads. There will be a folder in there that you will have to drag to join all the other folders. Demonstrated in the image above.
Once you have done that, the livery should be in the game. Open up ACC and tab over to the car and see if the livery is available under the team name it should be saved as. If it is there, congratulations - everything worked as intended! It is now in the game, but other racers who do not have the same files installed will not see it.
Congratulations, your livery is now in the game, but you are far from finished. Image credit: Kunos Simulazioni
If you want to have your livery be on full display to your competitors, that will involve a service called Awesome Simracing. If you run Trading Paints on iRacing, Awesome Simracing essentially does the same thing. Only it is a bit more complex and requires one more step in-game.
Load up a practice session with your new livery, you do not even need to drive out on track. Doing this will become apparent in a minute. As you now need to make an account on Awesome Simracing and download the software needed for it.
Using Awesome Simracing
Once you have everything set up, go over to the Awesome Simracing site and click on 'My account' in the top right. Then on the right hand side of the screen is a tab saying 'My Liveries', then click 'Add ACC custom livery' and there you can begin the upload process.
On the page, title it however you want it to be named and pick the car it has been assigned to. The skin name needs to match the name of the folder that you put in the Liveries folder, but it will automatically tell you when you go to save it what it should be, so just copy and paste that.
Then below that, you now need to apply all the correct files. All of these files are found in the Liveries folder since you have just uploaded the livery to ACC.
The ‘Liveries’ folder you may remember from earlier. All the files for this section are in here.
There are eight files in there, but you only need six. Each tab where you can upload the files have precisely the file you need. If you did not load up a practice session in the game earlier, two of these files (decals_1 and sponsors_1) would be missing, which is why it is essential.
Make sure you hover over the file or have the details on display, so you do not accidentally upload the wrong file. There will be a .PNG, .DDS and .JSON file for the decals and sponsors. Then you can insert them and eventually come to the last file you need, which is the one in the Cars folder. If you cannot remember the exact name, just sort by most recent and it will be at least near the top.
Now you are almost done. All that is left is to credit the artist whether it be yourself, someone you commissioned or maybe even from a public forum (like RaceDepartment!). Then set the showcase tab to 'Show' and that is it! You have successfully uploaded the livery to Awesome Simracing.
Share with Communities!
A lot of ACC leagues do use Awesome Simracing so if you are in one, ask the league staff if they use it and how to utilise it. You will be able to join their community on the website, and you can then take the livery you just uploaded and put it into the collection they tell you to.
It is not as straightforward as iRacing with Trading Paints of course, but eventually you will be able to run your liveries in ACC with everyone else who is using Awesome Simracing being able to see it.
Select the community collections you want your livery to be seen in. Image credit: Awesome Simracing
Was this Assetto Corsa Competizione livery application tutorial helpful? Tell us on Twitter at @OverTake_gg or in the comments down below!
