Create a Location

What it isCopy Anchor Link

The mechanic creator is an in-game menu for admins. With it you make a new mechanic shop (or change one) without typing coordinates: you give the shop a name and a job, set the prices, and then walk around and place every point (customer bays, car lifts, parts counters, stashes) where you look.

Everything is kept in a working copy until you press Save. Then the server checks it, writes it to creator/data/locations.json and builds the shop file the mechanic script reads. After a save you restart mvx_mechanic and the shop is live.

Before you startCopy Anchor Link

You need three things:

1. Admin rights. Only the ESX groups owner and admin can open and save the creator. The server checks this again on every load and every save.
2. A job for the shop (owned shops only). Every owned shop is run by one ESX job. GearHead Customs uses the job mechanic. For a second shop with its own staff and money, make a new job first (step 2 below).
3. A place. The building should already exist in the map. If the shop has doors you want to lock, see Doorlock System.

1. Open the creatorCopy Anchor Link

Type /mechaniccreator in chat. The Mechanic creator menu opens with:

While a shop's menus are open, its points are drawn in the world so you can see what you already placed.

2. Make the job (owned shops)Copy Anchor Link

An owned shop needs an ESX job that already exists on the server. The creator lists every job it finds, and it refuses to save a job name that does not exist. /setjob also only works for jobs that exist.

On this server the mechanic job is mechanic with five ranks: 0 Recruit, 1 Novice, 2 Experienced, 3 Leader, 4 Boss. You can give a new shop the same mechanic job: then the same staff and the same company account work at both shops.

For a shop with its own staff and its own money, add a new job to the database. Jobs are not made in game for mechanic shops; you add them with SQL (for example in HeidiSQL or phpMyAdmin, database mavix). Example for a shop called Paleto Customs with the job name paletomech:

INSERT INTO jobs (name, label, whitelisted) VALUES ('paletomech', 'Paleto Customs', 1);

INSERT INTO job_grades (job_name, grade, name, label, salary, skin_male, skin_female) VALUES
  ('paletomech', 0, 'recruit', 'Recruit',       180, '{}', '{}'),
  ('paletomech', 1, 'mechanic', 'Mechanic',     200, '{}', '{}'),
  ('paletomech', 2, 'lead',    'Lead Mechanic', 230, '{}', '{}'),
  ('paletomech', 3, 'boss',    'Boss',          280, '{}', '{}');

INSERT INTO addon_account (name, label, shared) VALUES ('society_paletomech', 'Paleto Customs', 1);

• jobs: the job itself. The name (here paletomech) is what you pick in the creator. Use only small letters, numbers and _. whitelisted = 1 means only a boss or staff can give it, and it leaves a fired player's F3 job list.
• job_grades: one row per rank, starting at 0. The top rank should be named boss. salary is the pay every paycheck; mechanic ranks on this server pay $180–$280.
• addon_account: the shop's company account, always society_ + the job name. Customer payments go in here, and counter parts are paid from it.

Then restart the server at a quiet time, so ESX loads the new job and the new company account. (Admins can type /refreshjobs to load new jobs without a restart, but the company account only appears after a restart.)

3. Create the shopCopy Anchor Link

Pick New shop and fill in the form:

The shop opens. Its menu has these rows:

4. Place the pointsCopy Anchor Link

There are five kinds of point. Open a list (for example Car lifts (0)) and pick Add …:

There is no separate duty, boss or garage point: staff go on duty, manage the shop and connect cars on the tablet (see Mechanics & Tablet).

The placement toolCopy Anchor Link

When you add or move a point, a see-through ghost of it follows where you look (up to 40 m away). For a lift it is a lift with a car on it. A prompt shows the keys:

Everything is put on the floor for you, so you only aim at the ground where it should go.

Settings of each pointCopy Anchor Link

After placing, open the point in its list. Every point has Teleport to, Move (place it again) and Remove. Bays, zones, shops and stashes also have Settings; shops have Items.

Add a row of lifts places several lifts side by side in one go: choose How many lifts (2–10, default 5) and the Gap between lifts (3–12 m, default 5.5 m, centre to centre). 5.5 m keeps each lift's work area clear of the next.

5. Sizes and turningCopy Anchor Link

A bay is a square box of that size around its point, as high as it is wide. Make it big enough for a whole car, but keep bays apart: two bays must not overlap.

6. Prices and self-serviceCopy Anchor Link

Open Mod prices. There is one row per category: Repair, Performance, Cosmetics, Stance, Respray, Wheels, Neon lights, Headlights, Tyre smoke, Bulletproof tyres and Extras.

Example: a $100,000 car with Performance at 0.01 and multiplier 0.1: a level 1 part costs $1,000 × 1.1 = $1,100, a level 3 part $1,000 × 1.3 = $1,300.

Who gets the money:

• Owned shop: the customer pays by cash or bank when placing the order, and the money goes into the company account (society_<job>). A mechanic then installs it.
• Self-service shop: the customer pays by cash or bank and gets the mods at once. The money does not go to anyone.

7. Staff and the ownerCopy Anchor Link

There is no separate "owner" field. The shop belongs to its job:

• Everyone with the shop's job is staff (mechanic role): lifts, counters, stashes, tablet and work orders.
• Ranks you tick in Management ranks are managers: on the tablet they also see Management (balance, deposit, withdraw), hire, change roles and fire. For GearHead this is rank 4 (Boss). New shops start with rank 4 ticked, so for a job whose top rank is 3, change it to 3.
• To make someone the owner, give them the top rank: /setjob <id> paletomech 3.

Managers hire on the tablet (Management → Employees): the new person must stand within 5 m and accept within a minute. They get the shop's job.

8. SaveCopy Anchor Link

Back in the main menu, press Save. The server then:

1. checks every field again (ids, job exists, logo file exists, sizes, prices, max 50 shops),
2. writes the data to mvx_mechanic/creator/data/locations.json,
3. builds mvx_mechanic/shared/zz-creator-locations.lua from it and test-runs that file. If it does not work, nothing is saved and the reason is shown.
4. writes the shop name into the mechanic_data table (unless the boss already renamed the shop on the tablet).

If a field is wrong you see a message naming it, for example Shop "paleto_customs" job: "paletomech" is not a job. Nothing is saved until every shop is valid.

Never edit shared/zz-creator-locations.lua by hand: the creator rewrites it on every save.

9. Edit, move or deleteCopy Anchor Link

• Change settings: open the shop and change any row, then Save and restart mvx_mechanic.
• Move a point: open it, pick Move and place it again. Teleport to takes you to it first.
• Remove a point: open it, pick Remove and confirm.
• Delete a shop: open it, pick Delete shop and confirm. Its balance stays in the database under its id.
• Changed your mind? Discard unsaved changes goes back to the last save.

GearHead Customs was laid out by the owner. Only change it on purpose.

10. Test itCopy Anchor Link

After restart mvx_mechanic:

• The map blip shows at every bay with Show the map blip here on.
• Driving into a customer bay shows [E] Customise vehicle.
• Staff of the job can use the lifts, open the counters and stashes, and log in to the shop on the tablet.

11. Common mistakesCopy Anchor Link

Keys & commandsCopy Anchor Link

Config optionsCopy Anchor Link

Creator settings: [esx]/[jobs]/[mechanic]/mvx_mechanic/creator/config.lua.

Admin Quick TestCopy Anchor Link

This builds a test shop called Paleto Customs from zero in the open car park at the trucker base, then removes it.

Setup

1. Add the job: run the SQL from step 2 (job paletomech, ranks 0–3, account society_paletomech), then restart the server.
2. Check it loaded: /setjob me paletomech 3. You see your job change to Paleto Customs, Boss. (If you see an error, the job is not in the database.)
3. Give yourself money and a tablet: /giveaccountmoney me bank 50000, /giveitem me mechanic_tablet 1.

Build the shop

4. Teleport to an open car park: /tp -1161.38 -2163.77 13.38 (trucker base).
5. Type /mechaniccreator. The Mechanic creator menu opens.
6. New shop: Id paleto_customs, Name Paleto Customs, Type Owned, Job Paleto Customs (paletomech). Confirm. The shop menu opens.
7. Management ranks: tick rank 3, untick 4. The row shows "Grades 3".
8. Customer bays (0) → Add customer bay. Aim at the ground, scroll to about 6.5 m, press E. Add a second bay a few metres away. The list shows 2 bays.
9. Car lifts (0) → Add a row of lifts → 2 lifts, gap 5.5 m. Aim, turn with the wheel, press E.
10. Shops (0) → Add shop → Start from Servicing Supplies, tick Use a ped. Place it. Open it → Items: the stock items are listed (engine oil $45 …).
11. Stashes (0) → Add stash → name Parts Bin, 10 slots, 50,000 g. Place it.
12. Mod prices → Performance: check the share is 0.01 and the multiplier 0.1.
13. Back to the main menu → Save. You see a success message; the main menu now says "Nothing changed since the last save".

Make it live

14. In the server console type restart mvx_mechanic. Wait for it to start.
15. A Paleto Customs blip shows at the bays.

Test it

16. Spawn a car /car sultan, drive into a bay: [E] Customise vehicle shows. Press E, pick a respray, Place Order, pay by bank. "Your Order Has Been Placed".
17. Third eye on the counter clerk: the Servicing Supplies counter opens. Open the stash: the Parts Bin opens.
18. Drive onto a lift and press E: the lift goes up.
19. Type /tablet, pick Paleto Customs, log in. Management shows the order money in the balance. Work Orders shows your order.
20. /setjob me unemployed 0 and walk to the counter: it no longer opens (staff only).

Clean up

21. /mechaniccreator → Paleto Customs → Delete shop → confirm → Save, then restart mvx_mechanic. The blip is gone. (Remove the paletomech job rows from the database if you don't need them.)

If it doesn't work: "is not a job" means the SQL was not run or the server was not restarted. No prompt in the bay means mvx_mechanic was not restarted after Save, or the bay is too small. Only ESX groups owner and admin can open the creator.