Userfolder

Basics

How to access the Userfolder

On Windows, the easiest way to access the folder is through BeamNG.drive Launcher → Manage User Folder → Open in Explorer

${XDG_DATA_HOME:-$HOME/.local/share}/BeamNG/BeamNG.drive/current

~/.local/share/BeamNG/BeamNG.drive/current

How it works

BeamNG.drive’s folder structure is composed by two main folder:

• Install Folder: where the program is installed
• User Folder: where the user’s custom files are located

It normally contains:

This separation allows for modifications without affecting the original installation, making it easier to return to the original state at any time.

Structure & Priority

The User Folder’s structure mimics the one of the Game Folder. If a file exists in the same relative location in both folders, the one in the User Folder will be loaded over the original.

User Folder changes (> 0.22)

With game version 0.22.0.0, there have been some important changes to the User Folder, including the new default location and the way it works.

Starting with game version 0.37, the default User Folder location has changed again.

On Windows, the default User Folder is now:

%LOCALAPPDATA%\BeamNG\BeamNG.drive\current

Usually this expands to:

C:\Users\%USERNAME%\AppData\Local\BeamNG\BeamNG.drive\current

The previous default location used by versions 0.22 to 0.36 was:

%LOCALAPPDATA%\BeamNG.drive\<version>

For example:

%LOCALAPPDATA%\BeamNG.drive\0.36

On Linux, the default User Folder is now:

${XDG_DATA_HOME:-$HOME/.local/share}/BeamNG/BeamNG.drive/current

In most cases, this expands to:

~/.local/share/BeamNG/BeamNG.drive/current

The previous default location used by versions 0.22 to 0.36 was also located in the XDG data directory, but used a versioned folder like Windows:

${XDG_DATA_HOME:-$HOME/.local/share}/BeamNG.drive/<version>

For example:

${XDG_DATA_HOME:-$HOME/.local/share}/BeamNG.drive/0.36

In most cases, this expands to:

~/.local/share/BeamNG.drive/0.36

XDG_DATA_HOME is the standard Linux location for per-user application data. If it is not set, the default is:

$HOME/.local/share

The BeamNG.drive INI file is located next to the BeamNG.drive folder.

On Windows:

%LOCALAPPDATA%\BeamNG\BeamNG.drive.ini

On Linux:

${XDG_DATA_HOME:-$HOME/.local/share}/BeamNG/BeamNG.drive.ini

Versioning & Data Migration

In versions prior to 0.22.0.0 the User Folder was shared across different versions of the program.

Reusing the same user folder for all program versions would introduce issues if the user has made any modifications. For example, if they have been using the easily-accessible World Editor. These modifications may create conflicts and break content if they are used as-is for a different version of the program.

To reduce the risk of such issues, from version 0.22.0.0 to 0.36, the data inside the User Folder was versioned.

On Windows:

%LOCALAPPDATA%\BeamNG.drive\<version>\<files>

For example:

%LOCALAPPDATA%\BeamNG.drive\0.36\<files>

On Linux:

${XDG_DATA_HOME:-$HOME/.local/share}/BeamNG.drive/<version>/<files>

For example:

${XDG_DATA_HOME:-$HOME/.local/share}/BeamNG.drive/0.36/<files>

Starting with version 0.37, the active User Folder uses the current folder instead.

On Windows:

%LOCALAPPDATA%\BeamNG\BeamNG.drive\current\<files>

On Linux:

${XDG_DATA_HOME:-$HOME/.local/share}/BeamNG/BeamNG.drive/current/<files>

When a new program version is detected, the game takes care of migrating some files from the previous version to the new one.

On Windows, older versions used the Game Launcher for this migration. Starting with the newer User Folder system, migration is handled by the game executable itself. This also allows migration to work on Linux, where BeamNG.drive does not have the Launcher.

Launcher message when a new version is detected

The data that is transferred automatically includes:

Other files from the previous version can be manually transferred, if needed.

Manual Data Migration

If for any reason, the data migration process was not successful, you can perform a manual data migration with the following steps:

1. Open the old user folder location

   • For versions prior to 0.22, the old default Windows path was:

     My Documents\BeamNG.drive
     

   • For versions 0.22 to 0.36, the default Windows path was:

     %LOCALAPPDATA%\BeamNG.drive\<version>
     

     For example:

     %LOCALAPPDATA%\BeamNG.drive\0.36
     

   • For versions 0.22 to 0.36, the default Linux path was:

     ${XDG_DATA_HOME:-$HOME/.local/share}/BeamNG.drive/<version>
     

     For example:

     ${XDG_DATA_HOME:-$HOME/.local/share}/BeamNG.drive/0.36
     

     In most cases:

     ~/.local/share/BeamNG.drive/0.36
     

2. Open the new user folder location

   • On Windows, use:

     Launcher → Manage User Folder → Open in Explorer
     

     Or open:

     %LOCALAPPDATA%\BeamNG\BeamNG.drive\current
     

   • On Linux, open:

     ${XDG_DATA_HOME:-$HOME/.local/share}/BeamNG/BeamNG.drive/current
     

     In most cases:

     ~/.local/share/BeamNG/BeamNG.drive/current
     

3. Transfer the files from the old folder to the new folder as needed