Introduction.

ETS2 Dashboard Editor is a visual desktop application for designing custom digital dashboard mods for Euro Truck Simulator 2 and American Truck Simulator. Built with Tauri and React, it gives you a professional-grade editor — no coding required.

What is a dashboard mod?

A dashboard mod replaces the in-game instrument cluster with a custom design. You can reposition gauges, add indicator lights, show live telemetry data, and completely change the look of the cockpit.

Installation

1

Download the Installer

Go to the GitHub Releases page and download the latest .msi installer for Windows.

2

Install the Telemetry Plugin

For live data, install the SCS Telemetry SDK plugin. Copy the plugin DLL into your game's bin/win_x64/plugins/ folder. Alternatively, use View → Settings → Install Plugin inside the editor.

3

Set Game Root Path

Open View → Settings and set the Game Root Path to your ETS2/ATS installation folder (e.g., C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Euro Truck Simulator 2). This lets the editor find game textures and fonts.

4

Launch & Create a Project

Run the editor, then choose File → New to start a blank project, or File → Open to load an existing .ets2dash project file.

Windows Only

Version 0.1.0 supports Windows only. macOS and Linux builds are planned for a future release.

First Launch

When you first open the editor you will see three main panels: the Left Sidebar, the Canvas in the centre, and the Inspector on the right. The top bar contains all file and edit commands.

Tip: drag any element from the Library tab in the left sidebar and drop it onto the canvas to quickly add a preset dashboard element.

UI Overview

The editor is divided into five zones:

Zone	Description
Header Bar	File operations, Edit history (Undo/Redo with 10-entry tooltip), screen selector, and grid controls.
Canvas Toolbar	Zoom controls, layer ordering, alignment / distribution tools, wireframe/collision toggles, view mode switcher (2D / 3D / Split).
Left Sidebar	Five tabs: Screens, Library, Templates, Files, Telemetry. Below the tabs sits the Layers panel showing the element hierarchy.
Canvas	The interactive editing area. Supports pan, zoom, multi-select, drag-and-drop, and live telemetry preview.
Inspector	Context-sensitive panel showing identity, layout, data binding, appearance, and element-specific settings for the selected element.

Canvas Editor

The canvas is your main design surface. It renders the dashboard in real time using Pixi.js.

Navigation

Action	How
Pan	Hold middle mouse button and drag, or hold Space + left drag
Zoom	Mouse wheel, or use the zoom slider / buttons in the Canvas Toolbar
Fit to window	Click the Fit button in the Canvas Toolbar
100% zoom	Click the zoom percentage display in the Canvas Toolbar

Selection

Action	How
Select single element	Left-click on element
Add to selection	Ctrl + click
Box select	Click and drag on empty canvas area
Select all	Ctrl+A
Deselect	Escape or click empty area

Grid & Snap

Enable Show Grid and Snap to Grid from the Header Bar. Grid size is configurable from 2 to 100 units. When snap is on, every move and resize locks to the nearest grid line.

Alignment & Distribution

Select 2 or more elements and use the alignment buttons in the Canvas Toolbar to align edges or centres. Select 3 or more to distribute them with equal spacing.

Left Sidebar Tabs

layers Screens

Lists all dashboard screens in the project (e.g. Screen 100, Shared 950, Warning 900). Click a screen to switch to it. Use the + button to add a new screen with a unique ID.

widgets Library

Contains 50+ ready-made element presets organised into categories: Backgrounds, Text Indicators, Bars, Gauges, and Icons. Drag any preset onto the canvas to add it instantly. Each preset already has the correct dashboard ID and default value set.

text_fields Templates

Manages SII text templates used by textCommon elements. Templates define the display format with %0, %1 placeholders. You can import additional templates from an existing .sii file via File → Import templates…

folder Files

Shows the project files tree — textures, materials, and fonts referenced by the project. Useful for checking which assets are included in the mod export.

sensors Telemetry

Shows the live connection status to the SCS SDK. When the game is not running, switch to Simulation Mode to test your dashboard with adjustable sliders and toggles for each telemetry channel.

stacks Layers Panel

Located below the tab list. Displays the full element hierarchy as a tree. Click an item to select it, click the eye icon to toggle visibility, and drag items to reorder layers.

Inspector Panel

The Inspector on the right side of the screen shows all editable properties of the currently selected element. It is divided into sections:

Section	Contents
Identity	Unit name, element type, parent name, visibility toggle.
Layout	Position (Left, Right, Top, Bottom in SCS units), layer number for draw order.
Data Binding	Dashboard ID selector, default value field (pipe-separated, e.g. `88\|km/h`), and telemetry preset shortcuts.
Appearance	Look template selector, SCS colour picker, text content editor with markup support. (text / textCommon only)
Bar Settings	Min/max value, min/max fill size, vertical orientation toggle, live test slider. (textBar only)
Gauge Settings	Min/max angle, value range (input min/max), pivot offset, reference point, material path, smooth move toggle. (gauge only)
Group Settings	Suppress fitting flag, group text content. (group only)

Element Types

The editor supports 6 core element types. Every preset in the Library is built from one of these types:

window

The root container element of a screen. Usually a full-screen background or invisible bounding element. Every screen has at least one window.

folder_open

group

Organises related elements. Moving or hiding a group affects all its children. Used to build indicator clusters or gauge assemblies.

text_fields

text

A static or dynamic text label. Supports SCS markup for inline colour, images, and sprite icons. Used for labels and unit annotations.

data_object

textCommon

A telemetry-driven text display bound to a dashboard ID. Uses look templates (SII text_template definitions) to format values — e.g., displaying speed with a unit suffix.

show_chart

textBar

A fill-bar gauge. Its length scales linearly between a min and max value. Can be horizontal or vertical. Commonly used for fuel, air pressure, turbo boost, and similar gauges.

speed

gauge

A rotating pointer gauge. You define the start/end angles and the corresponding value range. The needle rotates smoothly (with optional smooth-move interpolation) to reflect the live value.

Adding Elements

Method 1 — Drag from Library

Open the Library tab in the left sidebar.
Browse the categories (Backgrounds, Text Indicators, Bars, Gauges, Icons).
Drag the desired preset onto the canvas. It is placed at the drop position with default values pre-filled.

Method 2 — Copy & Paste

Select any element, press Ctrl+C to copy, then Ctrl+V to paste. The copy is offset by +10 SCS units from the original. Use Ctrl+D to duplicate in a single action.

After adding an element, select it and use the Inspector → Layout section to enter precise coordinates. Position values are in SCS screen units (the default canvas is 800 × 800 units).

Telemetry Binding

Each element is connected to the game through a Dashboard ID — a numeric identifier that maps to a specific telemetry channel (speed, RPM, fuel, indicator lights, etc.).

How to Bind

Select an element on the canvas.
In the Inspector, find the Data Binding section.
Choose a Dashboard ID from the dropdown, or type the ID directly. Use the preset shortcuts to quickly assign common channels.
Set a Default Value — this is what the element displays when no live data is available. For text elements use the pipe format: 88|km/h (value | suffix).

Common Telemetry IDs

ID	Channel	Type
1020	Speed	Number (km/h)
1040	Gear	String
1060	Fuel Amount	Number (L)
1070	Fuel Bar	0–1 (normalised)
1090	Water Temp	Number (°C)
1100	Cruise Speed	Number (km/h)
1430	Speed Gauge	Number (km/h)
1440	RPM Gauge	Number (rpm)
1200	Parking Brake	Boolean (0/1)
1190	Cruise Control Active	Boolean (0/1)
1610	Speed Limit	Number (km/h)
1050	Clock	String (HH:MM)

Simulation Mode

When the game is not running, open the Telemetry tab in the left sidebar and switch to Simulation Mode. Each bound channel gets a slider or toggle that you can move to test how your dashboard responds to different values — without opening the game.

3D Viewer

The 3D Viewer lets you preview how your dashboard will look on the actual truck model inside the game. It uses Three.js to render a GLTF/OBJ model with your dashboard design projected onto it via UV mapping.

Accessing the 3D Viewer

Use the view-mode buttons in the Canvas Toolbar:

Mode	Description
2D	Canvas-only view (default).
3D	Full-screen 3D model viewer with your dashboard applied as a texture.
2D \| 3D	Split view — edit in 2D on the left, see live 3D result on the right simultaneously.

Loading a Model

Switch to 3D or Split view.
Click Load Model in the 3D panel and select a .gltf or .obj file.
The UV wireframe is extracted automatically and overlaid on the 3D mesh. Your current dashboard snapshot is rendered behind the wireframe.
Orbit the camera with left-drag, pan with right-drag, zoom with the scroll wheel.
Click Download to export the UV + dashboard composite as a PNG image.

If the UV coordinates extend beyond [0, 1] (tiled UV), the editor will suggest resizing your canvas to match the UV aspect ratio for the best fit.

Screens

A dashboard mod can contain multiple named screens. Each screen has a unique numeric ID that ETS2/ATS uses to switch between them.

Screen ID	Purpose
100	Main dashboard (electricity on).
800	Standard dashboard variant.
900	Warning / alert overlay displayed on top of the main screen.
950	Shared screen — elements here appear on all other screens simultaneously.

Switch between screens using the dropdown in the Header Bar or by clicking a screen in the Screens tab. When Screen 950 (Shared) is shown, its elements appear as a translucent overlay on whichever screen is active.

Exporting Your Mod

Export as Mod ZIP

This is the primary export — it produces a ZIP file that can be dropped straight into your game's mod/ folder.

Choose File → Export mod…
The editor runs a validation check first. Errors (shown in red) must be resolved before exporting. Warnings (yellow) can be skipped.
Choose a save location and file name for the ZIP.
Click Export. The backend generates dashboard.sii, dashboard_text.{mod_id}.sii, all referenced .mat, .dds, and .font files inside the ZIP.
Copy the ZIP into %USERPROFILE%\Documents\Euro Truck Simulator 2\mod\ and enable it in the game's Mod Manager.

Export as PNG

Click the Export PNG button in the Canvas Toolbar to render the current screen to a high-resolution PNG using the actual game materials and fonts (requires Game Root Path to be set in Settings).

Make sure all asset paths in your project are reachable (either via Game Root Path or Mod Root Paths in Settings) before exporting, otherwise the validation step will report missing file errors.

Importing an Existing SII Dashboard

You can load any existing dashboard.sii file to edit it in the visual editor.

Go to File → Import SII…
Select your dashboard.sii file.
Enter the Mod ID — this is used to find the matching dashboard_text.{mod_id}.sii template file in the same directory.
Click Import. The Rust backend parses the SII file, resolves all referenced materials and fonts, and opens the result as a new project.

To import text templates only (without replacing the whole project), use File → Import templates…

Keyboard Shortcuts

Shortcut	Action
Ctrl+N	New project
Ctrl+O	Open project
Ctrl+S	Save project
Ctrl+Shift+S	Save as…
Ctrl+Z	Undo
Ctrl+Y	Redo
Ctrl+X	Cut selected
Ctrl+C	Copy selected
Ctrl+V	Paste (offset +10 units)
Ctrl+D	Duplicate selected
Ctrl+A	Select all elements
Delete / Backspace	Delete selected
Escape	Deselect all

Settings

Open View → Settings… to configure the editor.

Setting	Description
Game Root Path	Path to your ETS2 or ATS installation. Required for texture/font lookup and PNG export.
Mod Root Paths	Additional folders searched for assets before falling back to the game root. Add your mod workspace here.
Install Plugin	Copies the SCS Telemetry SDK DLL into the game's plugins folder so live data works.
Theme	Dark, Light, or System default.
Language	English or Turkish.
Grid Size	Default grid spacing in SCS units (2–100).
Snap to Grid	Toggle default snap behaviour for new projects.
Auto-save Interval	Seconds between automatic saves to a temp file.