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

• Check the XSD schema for valid attributes and structure

• Search dataS/scripts/vehicles/specializations/ for the relevant specialization source

• Check how base game vehicles configure that specialization in their XML

• Base game vehicle XMLs are in dataS/data/vehicles/

• Mirror the same XML structure in your mod