Better Auto Vehicle Renamer

Better Auto Vehicle Renamer gives every vehicle a permanent fleet number, its model name and the year it was bought, like a real operator's fleet register: B-0067 | Postbus ET 13 (1916), S-0040 | Dunara Castle (1918), A-0014 | Douglas DC-3 (1936).

New vehicles are named within a few seconds of buying them, sold vehicles retire their number for good, and names you typed yourself are left alone.

Features

• Fleet numbers per type: buses B, trucks T, trams R, trains L, ships S, aircraft A and helicopters H each count on their own, across all your lines (B-0205 | Daimler Deck Seat Car (1934)).
• Numbers are never reused: they only go up. A sold vehicle's number stays retired, so a gap in the list is a vehicle you sold.
• Model names: the model of the vehicle, or of a train's locomotive or power car. Replace Vehicles keeps the number and puts in the new model's name.
• Your names stay: a name you typed yourself is never changed. Clear it and the vehicle gets its fleet name back.
• Existing fleets: on the first load of a save with vehicles, a window offers to number them all, oldest first. Apply numbers them; Not now leaves them as they are and numbers only vehicles bought from then on. The setting "Number existing vehicles on next load" brings the window back later.
• Plenty of naming options: seven name formats (with the line name too), short or full model names, type letters or words, separators, digits, a start number, the purchase year, and counting per type, for all vehicles, per model or per line.
• Three extras, Off by default: Per line counting (Bus 12 #03 | Citaro: each line counts 1, 2, 3 and closes up when a vehicle leaves; the fleet numbers stay in the background), a mark on vehicles past their model's lifespan, and the train length (Class 101 +8 wagons, or ×9 for all units).

Settings

The defaults together give B-0205 | Daimler Deck Seat Car (1934).

• Name format (default Number + model: B-0412 Citaro): also Model + number, Number only, Model (number), Line + number, Number + line, and Model + line + number. A line format uses the model for a vehicle without a line. Names are cut to 50 characters by shortening the model, then the line, never the number.
• Model name (default Full): Short drops the first word (often the maker), First word keeps only that, or Up to 12 characters.
• Type prefix (default Letter): B, T, R, L, S, A, H; a short word (Bus, Trk, Trm, Trn, Shp, Air, Hel); the full word in your game language; or None.
• Between prefix and number (default Dash: B-0412): also None, Space, Dot or Slash.
• Between name parts (default Bar: B-0412 | Citaro): also Automatic (a space after the model, a middle dot around a line name), Middle dot, Dash or Comma.
• Number digits (default 4: 0007): 1 to 5 digits with leading zeros.
• First number (default 1): also 100 or 1000.
• Counting (default Per type): One for all counts every vehicle together; Per model counts each model on its own, and a replaced vehicle takes the next number of its new model; Per line (Bus 12 #03 | Citaro) numbers the vehicles of each line 1, 2, 3 in the order they joined it, after the line name, and the ones behind move up when a vehicle leaves. A vehicle without a line keeps its type number (B-0205). Every vehicle keeps all its numbers, so switching Counting never mixes them up.
• Purchase year (default After the name: B-0412 | Citaro (1925)): also Off, or Before the number (Citaro 1925-0412; with Per line counting the year goes after the name).
• Mark vehicles past their lifespan (default Off): an hourglass (⌛), a star (*) or the word (old) in your game language at the end of the name of a vehicle older than its model's lifespan. The hourglass may show as a question mark in some game fonts; then pick the star or the word.
• Train length (default Off): for trains only, Wagons adds the number of parts without power after the model (Class 101 +8; locomotives and power cars are not counted), All units the number of every part (Class 101 ×9).
• Line name in names (default Full): Up to 12 characters, or Line number only (the first number in the line name).
• Hand-typed names (default Keep them): Rename them too replaces typed names as well.
• Number existing vehicles on next load (default No): for a save where you chose Not now, Yes shows the welcome window again so you can number the existing vehicles. On a save where you chose Apply it does nothing: every vehicle is numbered already.
• Renaming speed (default Normal: 10 every 2 s): also Slow (5) or Fast (25).
• Buses, Trucks, Trams, Trains, Ships, Airplanes, Helicopters (default On): Off leaves that type's names as they are.
• Debug: performance log (default Off): writes timing lines to the game's log file, for tracking down slowdowns.

Performance

• All the work runs in the game script, off the main thread, a few vehicles at a time. Names are only rebuilt when a line, model or setting changed.
• A settled fleet costs almost nothing: the mod compares the list of vehicles and checks a small slice of them now and then, instead of reading every vehicle every few seconds.
• New vehicles are named within about 2 seconds of game time (up to 10 on a fleet that has been quiet for a while). A replaced model, a new train consist or a cleared name shows within about a minute (80 seconds of game time with 2000 vehicles). A big first numbering runs over a few minutes (Renaming speed).

Compatibility

• Works next to line namers and Line Manager Plus: it renames vehicles, never lines.
• Gameburrow's Destination Displays also writes into vehicle names. While it is active, this mod stands down and renames nothing, and says so once in a window.

Notes

• No impact on saves: safe to add to an existing save, and nothing is renamed until you answer the welcome window. Save your game first if you want to be able to go back.
• Safe to remove: the names stay as ordinary vehicle names, and the small record the mod keeps in the save is ignored.

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Changelog

Revision 1 (2026-10-20)

• New: first release. Fleet number, model and purchase year for every vehicle (B-0205 | Daimler Deck Seat Car (1934)), one counter per type, numbers never reused, hand-typed names kept, welcome window for existing fleets.
• New: options for Per line counting, an old-vehicle mark and the train length (all Off by default).