I haven't modded for rFactor 1 or 2 texture assignments yet. But in previous ISI games the wildcard textures were coded into the executable file so that only certain textures could be assigned a wildcard textures.
It could very well be the case that ISI has expanded the wildcard texture feature to allow for the assigning of wildcard textures in the VEH file. But in any case, here's an extract from a VEH file for a mod I'd worked on in the past, and how the wildcard material assignments could be used to assign different liveries/textures for each track/race. This was intended to assign, for example, 20 alternate and race specific liveries without physically assigning new material names to different meshes for each different race... mainly to reflect different track (race) specific sponsors, uniforms, helmets, etc. The liveries/textures were used depending on the name of the track/race.
DefaultLivery="Alboreto90A"
PitCrewLivery="Arrows90A"
TrackLivery="Phoenix Street, Alboreto90c" //Round One uses texture Alboreto90CCARBODY.bmp
TrackLivery="Interlagos, Alboreto90c" //Round Two uses texture Alboreto90CCARBODY.bmp
//TrackLivery="Imola, Alboreto90a" //Round Three uses texture Alboreto90ACARBODY.bmp
TrackLivery="Monte Carlo, Alboreto90b" //Round Four uses texture Alboreto90BCARBODY.bmp... and so on
TrackLivery="Gilles Villeneuve, Alboreto90a" //Round Five
TrackLivery="Hermanos Rodriguez, Alboreto90a" //Round Six
TrackLivery="Paul Ricard, Alboreto90a" //Round Seven
TrackLivery="Silverstone, Alboreto90b" //Round Eight
TrackLivery="Hockenheim, Alboreto90b" //Round Nine
//TrackLivery="Hungaroring, Alboreto90a" //Round Ten
TrackLivery="Spa Francorchamps, Alboreto90a" //Round Eleven
TrackLivery="Monza, Alboreto90b" //Round Twelve
TrackLivery="Estoril, Alboreto90a" //Round Thirteen
TrackLivery="Jerez, Alboreto90a" //Round Fourteen
TrackLivery="Suzuka, Alboreto90b" //Round Fifteen
//TrackLivery="Adelaide Street, Alboreto90b" //Round Sixteen
The only wildcard assignments that the pre-rFactor series game I worked with used were:
WCREFUELER (refueler's uniform),
WCLOLLIPOP (lollipop holder's uniform),
WCPITHELMET (pit crew's helmets),
WCHELMET (driver's helmet),
WCWING (front & rear wing texture/livery),
WCARMS (driver's animated arms),
WCDRIVER (driver's uniform),
WCCARBODY (car's livery).
A default livery would normally be named for the WCCARBODY texture alone, as shown above. The other wildcard materials would usually default to what ever texture was in the team's directory; however, you could specify track/race specific textures for each of the wildcard materials.
I believe these are wildcard materials in rFactor 2:
WCSPINNER, WCRIMS, WCWINDOWSOUT, WCWINDOWSIN, WCWINDSHIELDOUT, WCWING, WCARMS, WCDRIVER, WCSWHEEL, WCLOLLIPOP, WCPITHELMET, WCPITBODY, WCHELMET, WCREFUELER, WCEXTRA0, WCEXTRA1, WCEXTRA2, WCEXTRA3, WCEXTRA4, WCEXTRA5, WCEXTRA6, WCEXTRA7, WCEXTRA8, WCEXTRA9.
The VEH file just tells rFactor which track specific texture to use for which race. Also, you'll notice that at the beginning of the VEH file posted by lordpantsington it names a default livery. So, in lordpantsington's example, rFactor will automatically look for all the textures beginning with 996GT3_w12_49... such as: 996GT3_w12_49helmet.dds, 996GT3_w12_49lollipop.dds, 996GT3_w12_49arms.dds, 996GT3_w12_49extra0.dds and so on. Provided you haven't specified any track specific textures for the wildcard materials to use for a specific race.
In my example I used a driver's name "Alboreto", the year he raced "90" and the track specific livery "A', "B", "C" etc. Thus the ALBORETO90A. And the same would hold true for any wildcard texture file that has the ALBORETO90A, or ALBORETO90B, or ALBORETO90C in place of the material's WC (wildcard) placeholder. It's really helpful that they've added the WCEXTRA# wildcard materials in addition to the old ones.
This is just speculation... but since, in the lardpantsington's sample VEH, that the extra0, extra1, extra3 and extra4 materials were assigned their own textures, I don't know how this would effect their use as wildcard materials, or if this would even effect them??? Because, without those specific texture assignments, that particular VEH file would have otherwise instructed rFactor to look for 996GT3_w12_49extra0.dds, 996GT3_w12_49extra1.dds, 996GT3_w12_49extra3.dds and 996GT3_w12_49extra4.dds for the respective WCEXTRA material assignments.
I hope that isn't too confusing.
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