Community Garage

Share and download Forza Horizon 2 liveries, tunes and group vinyls from the game's own menus, through a community server. The game's Share, Find, Suggested and download screens work again, as they did when the original servers were online, and so do the speed trap and speed zone leaderboards and Rivals.

Unofficial fan project for the PC version of Forza Horizon 2 running on Azimuth. Not affiliated with, endorsed by or connected to Microsoft, Turn 10 Studios or Playground Games. Forza and related names belong to their owners.

What it does

• Share your liveries, tunes and group vinyls with the Share option you already know.
• Find other players' designs through the game's search screens, and the Suggested / Recommended tabs for the car you're looking at.
• Download a livery, tune or group vinyl and use it straight away.
• Leaderboards: your best speed at every speed trap and speed zone is ranked against the community's, in the game and on the server's website.
• Rivals: race any route against another player's ghost, in any car class. Your best time and ghost go on the board for others to race.
• Community Drivatars: the AI drivers carry the names of Community Garage players, a new random pick each time you start the game. Your own name is never among them.
• Real error messages: when something goes wrong, the game's popup says why (for example "This livery is too big to share") instead of a generic server error.
• Works with the game as it is: no extra program to run. It's a mod for the FH2 Mod Platform.

Requirements

• Forza Horizon 2 for PC, run with Azimuth (tested with Azimuth 0.9.10-1.0.4).
• Windows 10 or 11, 64-bit.
• An internet connection (to reach the community server).
• The FH2 Mod Platform: it's DWrite.dll next to azimuth.exe, and the download below already includes it (version 2.8.0). If you use other FH2 mods you have it already; it's one shared file.
• Works alongside other platform mods (it has been used with Achievements, FnFNitro, ShowFPS, WheresMyBuddy and WreckingBall) and with Extra Options.
• Not used with FH2MP. FH2MP and Community Garage both connect the game's online features to their own servers, so they can't run together. When you start the game from the FH2MP launcher, Community Garage stays off by itself; started any other way, it works as usual. You don't need to uninstall anything to switch between them.

Install

1. Download CommunityGarage-<version>.zip from the latest release.

2. Close the game.

3. Extract the zip into your Azimuth folder, the one that contains azimuth.exe. You end up with:

   azimuth.exe
   DWrite.dll                          <- the FH2 Mod Platform (shared by all FH2 mods)
   fh2-mods\CommunityGarage.dll
   communitygarage\server.ini
   

   If Windows asks to replace DWrite.dll, say yes unless yours is newer than 2.8.0. Don't delete anything else that is already in fh2-mods.

4. Start the game. The first time, the mod makes your account key (see below). Nothing else to set up.

To check that it loaded, open fh2-mods\platform.log: lines tagged [CommunityGarage] should include HTTP bridge installed.

If Azimuth updates to a version this release doesn't know yet, Community Garage switches itself off and the title screen says so: the game then plays as it does offline until an update of the mod supports it.

Using it

• Share: open one of your designs or tunes and use the game's normal Share option. The game remembers what it has already uploaded, so to share something again, change it a little or save a copy first.
• Find and download: use the game's Find / Search results and the Suggested / Recommended tabs, open one and download it.
• Everything you share is public to all players on the server.
• Speed traps and speed zones: just drive. When you beat your best, it's sent to the server, and the trap's leaderboard shows the community's times. The game only sends a new best when you beat your best on that trap in any car, so a "personal best" in a slower car isn't always sent.
• Rivals: open Rivals from the pause menu, pick a route and a class, and race. The rival is the closest player faster than you on that route and class (or the fastest when you have no time yet); their ghost drives with you. Each new best is sent along with your own ghost, for others to race.
• Website: the server's website has a leaderboard tab (speed traps and speed zones) and a rivals tab (one board per route and class); click a board for its top 50.
• Settings: Pause > Settings > MODS > Installed mods > Community Garage has a description and switches for checking for updates, the server's economy values, Drivatar names from the server (off: the AI drivers keep the game's own names) and a troubleshooting log. The same settings are in communitygarage\server.ini.

Your account

The first start creates a random account key in communitygarage\account.ini (older versions kept it in server.ini; it's moved over automatically). It's your login: keep that file private and back it up (if you lose it you become a new player and lose control of what you uploaded). Updates don't touch it. Your creator name is the gamertag from azimuth.ini (a number is added if someone already has that name); put name= under [account] in account.ini to change it. To start a new account, delete account.ini.

Limits

• New accounts can share a few items a day at first; after that there's a daily and a total cap per account.
• Uploads are checked automatically. Broken files and offensive text are refused.
• Very large liveries can't be shared. The game refuses to open a downloaded livery bigger than about 337 KB (the popup says it's too big to load). The server therefore refuses uploads above that size instead of storing something nobody can open. Simplify the design (delete some layers) and share it again. This is a limit inside the game, not something the mod can change.
• Don't share designs made with a layer limit patch. Tools that raise the game's layer limits let you build designs far bigger than the game can load from the server, so nobody (including you) will be able to download them.
• Tune previews are only a placeholder picture, AI opponents don't wear community liveries (only names), and the game's Clubs tab is switched off (there are no club services).
• Monthly Rivals is empty: the server doesn't publish monthly events. Rivals on any route works.
• Leaderboards and Rivals need this version of the mod and the current server. Bests set before you installed it only reach the boards when you beat them.

Privacy

• To the community server: your account key (stored there only as a hash), your display name, what you choose to share, your speed trap, speed zone and Rivals bests (with the car, its class and the assists you used) and your Rivals ghosts, and the address you connect from.
• Your display name is public: it's shown with your times on the leaderboards (in the game and on the website), and other players' games can give it to their AI drivers.
• To GitHub: the FH2 Mod Platform looks for a newer release about every six hours and says so on the title screen. Nothing is installed for you. Turn it off with Check for updates on the MODS page, or check=0 under [updates] in server.ini.
• Nothing is sent to Microsoft or Xbox Live by this mod. The game's requests to Xbox Live are answered on your PC or refused, never forwarded.

The rules for the server are in docs/TERMS.md.

Uninstall

Close the game and delete:

• fh2-mods\CommunityGarage.dll
• the communitygarage folder (this holds your account key)

To remove the FH2 Mod Platform and every mod built on it, also delete DWrite.dll and the fh2-mods folder. Your game saves aren't touched. Designs you downloaded stay in your garage.

Troubleshooting

Problem	What to try
Nothing connects, or "server not available"	Check your internet connection and that communitygarage\server.ini still has the server address (host=) and scheme=https.
"The saved copy of this item is not on this server" when sharing	The game remembers it already uploaded this item somewhere else. Change it slightly, or save a copy, and share again.
"This livery is too big for the game to load" on one livery	That livery is over the game's download limit of about 337 KB (see Limits). Liveries uploaded before the server enforced the limit can still be on the server and can't be opened by anyone. Other liveries download normally.
A share is refused	The server checks every upload for broken files and offensive text; the game's popup says why. Check the title and keywords first.
The title screen says Community Garage doesn't support your Azimuth version	Azimuth was updated after this release. The mod is off and the game plays offline; look for a Community Garage update.
Rivals says "cannot connect to Xbox Live", or "SERVER ERROR" when the race starts	The server you use doesn't have Rivals yet (it needs the current server version), or you're on an older version of the mod.
Community Garage does nothing when started from FH2MP	That's on purpose: it stays off in FH2MP launches (see Requirements). Start the game without the FH2MP launcher to use it. Don't turn on Load when playing online for it on the MODS page; the two would collide.
No [CommunityGarage] lines in platform.log	The mod didn't load (or the game was started from FH2MP, where it stays off). Check that DWrite.dll is next to azimuth.exe and that fh2-mods\CommunityGarage.dll exists.
Creator name shows with #2	Someone already uses your gamertag on the server; a number keeps names unique.
The game crashes	Send the newest files in fh2-mods\crashes and data\logs.

For a detailed log, turn on Detailed log (troubleshooting) on the MODS page (or add [debug] with trace=1 to server.ini) and restart. It adds extra hooks and makes platform.log large, so turn it off afterwards.

For developers

Repositories

• This repository: the mod (CommunityGarage.dll), its packaging and the research notes.
• CommunityGarageServer: the community server (Node.js, MySQL optional), kept in its own repository.

Layout

Path	What
mod/src/	The mod: communitygarage.cpp (redirects, fixes, Mods page, Drivatar names, Rivals), xhr_bridge.cpp (real HTTP for the game's requests), notify.cpp (error messages in the game's popup and HUD)
platform/	The FH2 Mod Platform, a Git submodule (Trinculo54/fh2-mod-platform)
packaging/	Player zip scripts and templates (package-player.ps1 for Windows, package-player.sh for CI)
docs/	re-notes.md (how the game's protocol and share flow were worked out) and TERMS.md
.github/workflows/	CI: builds and packages on a release or by hand

Build

Clone with submodules: git clone --recurse-submodules <url> (or git submodule update --init afterwards).

With llvm-mingw, CMake and Ninja (the code uses MSVC-style SEH, which needs clang):

cmake -S . -B build -G Ninja -DCMAKE_C_COMPILER=x86_64-w64-mingw32-clang -DCMAKE_CXX_COMPILER=x86_64-w64-mingw32-clang++ -DCMAKE_RC_COMPILER=x86_64-w64-mingw32-windres
cmake --build build

This produces build/CommunityGarage.dll and build/platform/DWrite.dll. On Linux, cross-compile with -DCMAKE_TOOLCHAIN_FILE=platform/cmake/mingw-w64-x86_64.cmake.

Then packaging\package-player.ps1 (Windows) or packaging/package-player.sh <mod dll> <platform dll> <out.zip> makes the player zip.

Release

1. Raise VERSION in CMakeLists.txt (the mod reports it, and players' update check compares it with the release tag).
2. Create a GitHub release whose tag is that version, such as v1.0.1, and publish it.
3. The Build workflow builds it, checks that the tag matches VERSION, and attaches CommunityGarage-<tag>.zip to the release. You can also run it by hand from the Actions tab to get the zip as an artifact.

Updating the platform

git submodule update --remote platform, rebuild, and test. The mod is built against the platform's public header.

Credits and license

• FH2 Mod Platform by Trinculo54, MIT licensed (its license is included in the download under licenses\).
• Azimuth, which runs the PC version of the game.
• Community Garage is MIT licensed: see LICENSE.