General
The General section holds the things that describe the vehicle rather than draw it: what it is called, what it costs, who is allowed to buy it, what it looks like on the shop tile, and how it appears at a distance.
01. Identity and price
| Field | What it does |
|---|---|
| Price | What the player pays. |
| Purchasable Level | Which maps it can be bought on. A vehicle only appears in the Dream Car app on a map listed here, or if the list contains All. |
| Required Skill Level | Only used to decide whether a Zoi may rent a boat. It does not gate buying a car or a motorcycle. |
There is no on/off switch for purchasability. To keep a vehicle out of the shop, leave Purchasable Level empty rather than looking for a toggle.
The display name and description are not edited here. They are localised
strings, so they live in the translation system rather than on the vehicle. A
Duplicate mod starts with a copy of the source vehicle's name, and you should
change it - otherwise the player sees two identical entries in the shop. Edit it
through a Language workspace, or with modkit_set_translation_entries.
02. Representative Colour and the thumbnail
The Representative Colour is the first entry in the vehicle's colour list, and it does two jobs at once.
- It is the colour the vehicle shows by default.
- Its icon is the vehicle's thumbnail - both in the Dream Car app in game and on the workspace tile in ModKit.
It lives in General rather than in Paint because of that second job, and it cannot be deleted. That is what guarantees a vehicle always has at least one colour to show.
⚠️ There is no separate "vehicle icon" field. Older data has an
Iconfield on the vehicle, but the game does not read it, so it is hidden in the workspace.
⚠️ Leaving the representative colour's icon empty does not give you a blank thumbnail. The game walks the colour list and uses the first icon it finds, so you get a later variant's picture instead. A thumbnail that shows the wrong colour is the same symptom as a missing one: check that the representative colour has its own icon.
Setting the thumbnail
- Open General.
- Find Representative Colour.
- Set its colour, then set its icon to a square image.
The remaining colours a player can choose from are added in the Paint section - see Appearance.
03. Two appearances, and why a reskin can look unfinished
This catches almost everyone once. A vehicle has two independent visual representations, and replacing one does not replace the other.
| Representation | Built from | When the player sees it |
|---|---|---|
| Full body | The mesh Slots - body, doors, wheels, one component each. | Up close: the vehicle you drive or park. |
| Simplified body | A single merged mesh set in General. | At a distance, and for the traffic that fills the city. |
The simplified body is one low-cost mesh, not something assembled from your slots. So if you swap the slots and leave the simplified mesh alone, your vehicle looks like your mod when the player walks up to it and like the original when it drives past in traffic.
To keep it consistent
- Merge your new body into a single static mesh.
- Import it into the plugin.
- Set it as the simplified mesh in General.
If you only care about the close-up look, leaving it alone is functionally fine - the vehicle still works. It is a visual consistency choice, not a correctness one, so it is worth a line in your mod description either way.
04. Common issues and fixes
| Issue | Cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Thumbnail missing, or showing the wrong colour | Representative colour has no icon, so the game fell through to a later variant | Set the icon on the representative colour in General |
| Vehicle reverts to the original shape at a distance | Simplified mesh still points at the original | Replace the simplified mesh too |
| Two identical entries in the shop | Duplicate mod with the source's display name | Change the display name |
| Vehicle never appears in the shop | Purchasable Level does not list the map you are on (or All), or a skill/level gate | Check the purchase fields |
05. Chapter summary
| Checklist | Done |
|---|---|
| Does the representative colour have a square icon? | ✅ |
| For a Duplicate, did I change the display name? | ✅ |
| Did I replace the simplified mesh, or decide not to on purpose? | ✅ |
| Is the price set to something deliberate? | ✅ |
06. What the MCP tools cover
| Tool | Use |
|---|---|
modkit_set_data with data="Vehicle" | Price, purchase conditions, the simplified mesh. |
modkit_set_vehicle_color | Colours, including the representative one. |
modkit_set_translation_entries | Display name and description. |
Colours are a structured list, so use modkit_set_vehicle_color rather
than writing the field directly.
07. Data reference
- Vehicle - every field in this section.
- FB1VehicleColorData - one colour entry, including its icon.