Customization Guide (Updated 9 Aug)

Packs & Customization
Introduction | What's This All About?

If you've downloaded any of my major skin packs and still want to have the option of using the new in-game customization system (like me), you've probably noticed that the in-game colors & camouflages don't display properly on top of the recolored vehicles. This may not bother some of you all that much, but for those of you (like me) who want vehicles' customization, whether your own or someone else's, to show up correctly, this can get to be pretty annoying.

Fret not, however, as there is a relatively simple fix for this: changing the default color value for the nation(s) for which you have packs installed. Thankfully, Wargaming has set it up so that the default color values can be switched relatively easily; however, all of the default colors are controlled by one file, so simply including the file in a pack does not exactly work (as the file would get overwritten if you were to install more than one pack). As such, I have gathered the necessary components to making these work correctly together, and compiled a guide on how to install this yourself. Check it out below!

Important XML File Updates

🔴 UPDATE 6 (9. August, 2019): The way customization is handled by the game client has been changed slightly with Update 1.6. Take a look at the updated guide below, or download the new default.xml here.

Previous Updates:

UPDATE 4 (3. August, 2018): Addition of Polish nation (WoT 1.1). Update required.
UPDATE 3 (26 July, 2018): Addition of several default colors. Update required.
UPDATE 2 (21 June, 2018): Addition of Firefly VC and T26E3 "Eagle 7". Update required.
UPDATE 1 (3 May, 2018): File format change + addition of Italian nation (WoT 1.0.1). Update required.

Installation Guide
Updated 9. August, 2019

To get customization working properly with the pack(s) you have installed:

Download this file (updated 9. August 2019)* and place it in <your game install directory>\res_mods\<version>\scripts\item_defs\customization. (For example, C:\Games\World_of_Tanks\res_mods\1.6.0.0\scripts\item_defs\customization). You will likely need to create the folders past <version> if you have not done so already.
Open the above file in a text editor, such as Notepad++.
Look for the line which correspond to the nation(s) which you have installed packs for (the name of the nation(s) are listed in the <nation> tags.) Once you have located the one you wish to replace, select the line of text beginning in <c0> and ending in </c0> for that nation (located in between the <colors> tags). (This should only be one line of text.)
Have a look at the "Color Codes" section below. Look for the color code(s) corresponding to the nation pack(s) you have installed.
Select the text below the name of the pack (one line, going from <c0> to </c0>, like in step 3). Copy the text to your clipboard (either by right-clicking & selecting "copy" from the context menu, or by pressing ctrl+c on your keyboard).
Go back to the "default.xml" file open in your text editor, with the lines from earlier still selected. Paste the copied text from your clipboard (either by going to Edit > Paste, or by pressing Ctrl+V on your keyboard).
Save the file (either by going to File > Save, or by pressing Ctrl+S on your keyboard).
Bam! You are now done with the process, and can start your game as normally.

*More advanced users can alternatively grab the "default.xml" file directly from the game files, located in res\packages\scripts.pkg\scripts\item_defs\customization. You will need a tool such as WoTModTools to decode this before you can edit it, however, as the files are encoded by default.

In case you encounter any issues, check to make sure you have:

Placed the file in the correct location (see step 1),
Copied & pasted the code correctly (see steps 3-6),
Replaced the correct section(s) of text (and are not missing any),
Did not delete anything by mistake,
And so on.

Game files of this type can be pretty sensitive to mistakes, so even the slightest of errors (i.e. even one missing letter/character) can cause problems. Nothing that can't be fixed, though -- if necessary, you can always start over.