fs25-vehicle-mod

FS25 Vehicle Modding

Overview

Guide for creating and configuring FS25 vehicle mods via vehicle.xml and associated specializations.

When to Use

• Creating a new vehicle mod
• Configuring vehicle XML (wheels, joints, animations, lights, sounds)
• Understanding specialization configuration
• Debugging vehicle behavior

Vehicle XML Structure

<vehicle type="myVehicleType">
    <annotation />
    <base>
        <typeDesc>l10n_typeDesc_car</typeDesc>
        <speedLimit value="50" />
    </base>

    <components>
        <component node="0>" mass="2000" centerOfMass="0 0.8 0" />
        <component node="0>1" mass="500" />
        <joint component1="0" component2="1" node="jointNode"
               rotLimit="0 0 0" transLimit="0 0 0" />
    </components>

    <i3dMappings>
        <i3dMapping id="myNode" node="0>0|1" />
    </i3dMappings>

    <motorized>
        <motor torqueCurve="..." />
    </motorized>

    <wheels>
        <wheel node="wheelNode" driveNode="wheelDriveNode"
               radius="0.55" width="0.4" mass="50"
               isLeft="true" hasTireTracks="true"
               repr="wheelRepr" />
    </wheels>

    <attacherJoints>
        <attacherJoint node="attacherNode" jointType="implement"
                       upperTransLimit="0 0.1 0" lowerTransLimit="0 -0.1 0" />
    </attacherJoints>

    <attachable>
        <inputAttacherJoint node="inputNode" jointType="implement" />
    </attachable>
</vehicle>

Key Specializations

Movement & Physics

Specialization	Purpose
Motorized	Engine, transmission, fuel
Drivable	Steering, brakes, cruise control
Wheels	Wheel configuration, physics
ArticulatedAxis	Articulated steering
CCTDrivable	Character controller movement

Attachments

Specialization	Purpose
AttacherJoints	Defines where implements attach TO this vehicle
Attachable	Defines how this implement attaches to vehicles
ConnectionHoses	Hydraulic/electric hose connections
PowerConsumer	PTO power requirements

Animation & Visuals

Specialization	Purpose
AnimatedVehicle	Animation clips and sequences
Cylindered	movingTools (user-controlled) and movingParts (IK-driven)
Lights	Light configuration and states
Dashboard	Dashboard gauges and indicators
Wipers	Windshield wipers

Work Functions

Specialization	Purpose
FillUnit	Fill volumes (fuel, grain, etc.)
Dischargeable	Unloading/discharge
Combine	Harvesting
Plow	Plowing
SowingMachine	Seeding
Sprayer	Spraying/fertilizing
FrontLoaderAttacher	Front loader arm

Components & Joints

Components are rigid bodies connected by joints:

• component1 / component2: 0-based indices into root-level <component> nodes
• rotLimit: rotation limits in radians (x y z)
• transLimit: translation limits in meters (x y z)
• rotMinLimit / rotMaxLimit: asymmetric rotation limits

movingTools vs movingParts

	movingTool	movingPart
Control	Player-controlled (input)	Automatic (IK-driven)
Config	rotationAxis, rotSpeed, rotMin/rotMax	referencePoint, limitedAxis
Use case	Boom arm, bucket tilt	Hydraulic pistons, linkage arms

i3dMappings

Maps friendly names to I3D node paths:

<i3dMappings>
    <i3dMapping id="boom" node="0>0|2|0" />
</i3dMappings>

Path format: rootIndex>child|child|child (pipe-separated child indices)

XSD Schemas

The game ships XML Schema files (in the game's shared/xml/schema/ directory) that define every valid attribute and element. Use these as the authoritative reference:

Schema	Covers
shared/xml/schema/vehicle.xsd	Full vehicle XML structure
shared/xml/schema/wheel.xsd	Wheel configuration
shared/xml/schema/connectionHoses.xsd	Hose connections
shared/xml/schema/attacherJointTopArm.xsd	Top arm setup
shared/xml/schema/vehicle_sounds.xsd	Sound configuration
shared/xml/schema/conditionalAnimation.xsd	Conditional animations
shared/xml/schema/crawler.xsd	Tracked vehicle crawlers
shared/xml/schema/powerTakeOff.xsd	PTO connections
shared/xml/schema/dashboardCompounds.xsd	Dashboard elements

When unsure about valid attributes or value ranges, read the XSD — it's more reliable than guessing from examples.

Common Workflow

1. Check the XSD schema for valid attributes and structure
2. Search dataS/scripts/vehicles/specializations/ for the relevant specialization source
3. Check how base game vehicles configure that specialization in their XML
4. Base game vehicle XMLs are in dataS/data/vehicles/
5. Mirror the same XML structure in your mod