GTA V Vehicle Shaders: The Documented Reference

GTA V vehicles use a fixed catalog of materials/shaders. Each shader has a specific purpose - paint, glass, tire, interior, etc. Assigning the wrong shader is one of the most common reasons "the car looks weird in-game" - the engine renders against the wrong rules. This post is the documented shader reference, sourced from the Sollumz project documentation.

Paint shaders

The paint shaders are what handle the customizable color slots on a vehicle. Players paint a car using these.

• vehicle_paint1 - "Typical vehicle paint shader, used on most vehicles in GTA V." Primary paint color, the main body color the player picks first.
• vehicle_paint2 - "A very similar shader to vehicle_paint1, with dirt mapping moved to first UV map." Secondary paint color, used for areas like accent panels or two-tone lower bodies.
• vehicle_paint3 - "Used for liveries on a car."
• vehicle_paint4 - "Used for metal worn effect and/or livery on a car."
• vehicle_paint5_enveff - "Used for metal worn effect and liveries on a car."
• vehicle_paint6 - "Used for metal bolts on planes, applying liveries, metal worn effect."
• vehicle_paint7, vehicle_paint8, vehicle_paint9 - all documented as "Used for metal worn effect and liveries on a car."

The _enveff variants

Several paint shaders have _enveff variants: vehicle_paint1_enveff, vehicle_paint2_enveff, vehicle_paint3_enveff, vehicle_paint4_enveff, vehicle_paint7_enveff. Per the Sollumz docs, these "enable snow application with vertex alpha control" - they are how snow accumulates on body panels in winter weather.

Glass

• vehicle_vehglass - "Shader specifically tailored to work with windows and other glasses."
• vehicle_vehglass_inner - "Identical shader to vehicle_vehglass, used for inner side of windows/glasses." Used when modeling double-sided glass with separate inner and outer faces.

Lights

• vehicle_lightsmeissive - "Allows the light to be lit." Note the spelling in the official Sollumz docs is vehicle_lightsmeissive, not vehicle_lightsemissive. This is the shader for the visible glow of headlights and taillights.

Interior

• vehicle_interior - "Simple interior shader with normal map support."
• vehicle_interior2 - "Simple interior shader without normal map support."

Mesh and metal

• vehicle_mesh - "Extensively used for metallic vehicle parts, like exhausts, engines, chassis parts." This is the catch-all for non-paint metal surfaces.

Tires

• vehicle_tire - "A shader for wheels, cannot be used on any other vehicle parts." Note the explicit restriction in the Sollumz docs.
• vehicle_tire_emissive - tire shader with emissive support capability.

How shaders show up at LS Customs

The paint slot a panel responds to in the in-game customization menu is determined by which shader is assigned. A panel with vehicle_paint1 changes when the player picks a primary color. A panel with vehicle_paint2 changes when they pick a secondary color. A panel with vehicle_generic or vehicle_mesh does not change at all - it stays its modeled material.

Common mistakes

• Body trim assigned to vehicle_paint1. The chrome trim recolors with the body. Reassign to vehicle_mesh if it should stay metallic.
• Headlights with no vehicle_lightsmeissive. The headlight mesh exists but does not glow at night.
• Glass with the wrong shader. Window mesh assigned to vehicle_paint1 means the glass changes with body color (and breaks transparency).
• Tires with vehicle_mesh. The tire visually renders but loses the rubber-specific shader properties documented to be specific to vehicle_tire.

Sources

• Sollumz Documentation: Vehicle Shaders