Paint job and skin mods for ETS2 and ATS: how they work, why one skin fits one truck, and what makes a good one

24 Oct 2026 · 3 min read · ModsDrop

Pictured: F1 Alpine Skin – Renault T and Aerodynamic Trailer Team Livery, from the ModsDrop library.

Paint job mods are the easiest truck-sim mods to make and the most downloaded after trucks themselves: a company livery, a national flag, a tribute to a real haulier, a plain colour the stock palette does not have. They are also the mods people most often install for the wrong truck. Here is how paint jobs work in Euro Truck Simulator 2 and American Truck Simulator, why a skin shows on one truck only, and what makes a good one.

How a paint job works

Each truck model has a UV layout: the way its 3D surface is flattened onto a square image. A paint job is an image painted to that layout, plus a definition file that registers it in the paint shop for that truck. Because every truck’s layout is different, a paint job made for the Scania S fits the Scania S and nothing else. The same design for five trucks is five images and five definitions, which is why a “pack” of one livery is as big as it is.

Many paint jobs also carry a metallic flake or a matte setting, and some include a matching trailer skin for the owned trailers introduced in 1.32.

Where it appears

In the paint shop of the truck it was made for, as a new entry in the paint job list, usually with its own preview. Not in the dealer, not in the colour picker. If you cannot find it, the first question is whether you are in the right truck; the second is whether the mod is for that truck’s current model version, since SCS has released new models of several trucks (the Scania and the Volvo FH among them) and a paint job for the older model does not show on the newer one.

Standalone versus replacement

A standalone paint job adds a new entry and leaves the stock ones alone; two standalone paint jobs for the same truck coexist without any conflict. A replacement overwrites one of the stock paint jobs, which older mods did when adding entries was harder. Two replacements of the same stock entry conflict; the higher one in the Mod Manager wins. Nearly everything released in recent years is standalone.

Modded trucks

A paint job for a modded truck requires that truck mod and its exact UV layout. When the truck’s author releases a remastered version with a changed layout, paint jobs made for the old one come out scrambled: text mirrored, logos on the wrong panel. That needs the paint job’s author to redo the image; nothing on your side fixes it. The description of a paint job for a modded truck should say which version of the truck it was made for.

Load order

Paint jobs sit near the bottom of the list, below trucks and trailers. Their only conflict is with other paint jobs replacing the same stock entry, and with “all trucks” packs that redefine the paint shop for several trucks at once; keep the pack above the single paint jobs so the singles win, or below so the pack wins, whichever you prefer.

Quality and size

Resolution: 4096×4096 is the practical maximum for a truck skin and shows its benefit only in close-up screenshots; 2048 is plenty while driving. File size follows: a 4K skin in DDS is 20 to 40 MB per truck, so a pack for ten trucks approaches 400 MB. Compression artefacts on gradients and halos around logos are the sign of a quick job; crisp edges and consistent brightness on both sides of the cab are the sign of a careful one. Screenshots on the mod page show the first; only driving shows the second.

Real company liveries

Liveries of real hauliers and brands are the most popular paint jobs and the most exposed to takedown requests, because logos are trademarks. Most companies ignore fan liveries in a game; some do not. If a paint job of a real brand disappears from a site, that is usually why, and it is not something a host can argue with.

Making your own

SCS publishes paint job templates for each truck in the modding wiki, and the game can be put into developer mode to reload a skin without restarting. Paint over the template, export to DDS with mipmaps, write the short definition the wiki shows, zip with the right folder structure, test on the truck. A first paint job is an afternoon’s work, which is why there are so many, and why the ones made with care stand out.