Content Manager is a free custom launcher for Assetto Corsa, made by x4fab, that replaces the original launcher for driving, installing mods and joining online servers; you download it from the author's page at acstuff.club/app. The free Lite version has all the key features on the author's list, and a donation of any amount (at least USD 2 on itch.io) gets you a key for the full version, which adds work in progress features such as server presets, plus pre-release builds.
Everything below was checked on 25 October 2026 against the author's pages, the Content Manager source code and releases on GitHub and the AssettoServer documentation.
What Content Manager does
The author's feature list for the free version includes:
- Quick Drive and career mode.
- Online mode with favourite and hidden servers, player tagging and missing content download.
- Management for cars, car skins, showrooms, fonts, weathers and other content, plus a repair tool for obsolete car mods and mods with common errors.
- Content installation, with a built-in browser to find and install new mods.
- Support for Custom Shaders Patch: install, update and a settings screen.
- A livery editor, a weather editor and the Custom Showroom.
It needs an installed copy of Assetto Corsa and runs on Windows Vista up to Windows 11, with .NET 4.5.2, the Visual C++ 2015 (x86) redistributable and the June 2010 DirectX runtime. Custom Shaders Patch (CSP) is a separate project: the author notes that CSP does not need Content Manager, although Content Manager makes it easier to set up.
Lite or Full
| Lite | Full | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | A donation of any amount; USD 2 minimum on itch.io |
| Key features: driving, online, content management, mod installs, CSP | Yes | Yes |
| Work in progress sections, including the Server tab with presets and Pack | No | Yes |
| Pre-release builds through Content Manager's own updater | No | Yes |
The author's own wording: Lite "is free and contains all features listed below as key features and more", and with a donation "you'll get an app key enabling new features". Subscribers to the author's Patreon get a key as a gift. Once you have the key, use the "switch to full version" link in Content Manager and paste it in.
For players, Lite is enough. The full version earns its price when you run a server: the Server tab builds server_cfg.ini and entry_list.ini from menus and packs the server files into one archive for upload. In the source code that menu item is marked as limited, and its Ctrl+F2 shortcut only exists in the full version.
Version numbers, if you need them: the stable build is 0.8.2782.39874 from 23 October 2025, the one both the author's direct download and itch.io serve. Pre-release builds have kept coming since; the newest on GitHub is 0.8.2902.40693 from 1 October 2026, listed in the author's changelog.
Download and first start
- Download the zip from acstuff.club/app or the GitHub releases. Those are the author's own channels; other download sites add nothing.
- Unzip it into a folder of its own and start
Content Manager.exe. - The first screen asks for the "Assetto Corsa root folder". On a default Steam install that is
C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\assettocorsa. It also asks for your name and "Your Steam ID for online", and offers to install recommended plugins. - You do not have to rename or replace any game files. Content Manager's own message explains that since Assetto Corsa 1.7 Kunos supports custom launchers officially, so Content Manager "doesn't have to replace AssettoCorsa.exe".
- Install CSP from Content Manager's settings, under Custom Shaders Patch. The CSP page lists v0.2.11 as the recommended version today and needs Assetto Corsa v1.16.3 or v1.16.4, 64-bit.
If you point Content Manager at the wrong folder, fix it in the general settings with "Change path to AC root folder"; Content Manager restarts after the change.
Join an online server
- Open Drive, then Online. The list can be sorted by name, drivers, capacity, number of cars or ping, and filtered on servers that are empty, full, password protected, use booking or have content you are missing.
- Click a server. Its details list the cars and mark what you do not have ("Car is missing", "Track is missing").
- Pick a car with a free slot. If you see "All cars are taken", every slot for that car is in use.
- Type the password if the server has one, then click Join.
A server that is not in the list can be added by hand. The add dialog asks for the "Server address (IP & HTTP or TCP port)", and if you leave the port out, Content Manager scans the usual ports itself. The Kunos manual sets the defaults as TCP and UDP 9600 for the game and 8081 for HTTP; a hosted server may use other numbers, so use the ones your host shows you.
Server owners can also share an invite link. It looks like https://acstuff.club/s/q:race/online/join?ip=SERVER_IP&httpPort=8081, opens a "Race Invite" page with a Join button and hands the server address straight to Content Manager. Servers on your own network show up under the LAN tab of the Online page.
Freeroam servers and CSP versions
If a server runs AssettoServer, the community server built for freeroam and AI traffic, it can ask more of your install:
- Servers with Steam authentication need CSP 0.1.75 or newer and Content Manager 0.8.2297.38573 or newer, according to the AssettoServer introduction.
- A server can demand a minimum CSP version. If you cannot join one of those, update CSP. Your installed version ID is under Settings, Custom Shaders Patch, About & Updates.
- Rain needs a CSP preview build. The AssettoServer guide says drivers "without a Custom Shaders Patch preview version installed will not see rain"; the previews come through x4fab's Patreon.
Common errors and how to fix them
"Race cancelled". Content Manager shows this when the game ends without a race result; players in the author's forum describe it right after a short loading screen. In the Content Manager forum the author's first answers to this error are to disable all Python apps and to send log.txt from Documents\Assetto Corsa\logs (thread), so start with those two: turn the apps off, try again, and read that log if it still fails.
Kicked for a car or track mismatch. Your version of a car or the track differs from the server's. The Kunos manual: "you need to update your game OR probably the server is not updated with the latest content". Install the version the server owner links to.
Car or track missing. Install it from the server owner's link. If the server shares download links, Content Manager can download the missing content from the server browser; the "Missing" filter lists the servers with content you do not have yet.
Stuck on "Initialising AI spline". The game is loading the single player AI file of the track, which a freeroam server does not use. AssettoServer's FAQ fix: rename the layout's ai folder in your game files to ai_off. That also turns off AI for that layout in single player, along with some client side penalties such as track cuts, until you rename it back.
Steam authentication fails. Update CSP and Content Manager to at least the versions above.
The car loads but will not accelerate. Some car mods only drive on servers their creator has whitelisted. Nothing on your side fixes that; the server owner has to sort it out with the creator.
Problems after moving from a pirated copy to the Steam version. AssettoServer does not support pirated copies. Its FAQ tells you to verify the game files in Steam and point Content Manager at the Steam installation in its general settings.
If you run the server
Your drivers will join through Content Manager, so test your server there and not in the original launcher; our post on the official dedicated server vs AssettoServer explains which of the two programs you want. Adding cars and tracks is its own job, covered step by step in Assetto Corsa mods on a server.
On our Assetto Corsa servers, from €1.99 a month for 1GB in Europe including VAT, Content Manager connects like it does to any dedicated server, and you get full file access over SFTP for the files a preset packs.
FAQ
Is Content Manager free?
The Lite version is free. The full version unlocks with a key you get for a donation of any amount, at least USD 2 on itch.io, or as a gift for the author's Patreon subscribers.
Where should I download Content Manager?
From the author's page, acstuff.club/app, or from the GitHub releases of gro-ove/actools. The direct download on acstuff.club is the same file as the latest stable GitHub release.
Do I need Content Manager to play online?
Not on every server. Servers that use AssettoServer's Steam authentication require CSP 0.1.75 and Content Manager 0.8.2297.38573 or newer.
Is Content Manager the same as Custom Shaders Patch?
No. CSP is a separate graphics and physics extension for the game. Content Manager installs, updates and configures it, but CSP works without it.