How to Install Custom Vehicles on Your FiveM Server

Custom vehicles are the first thing players notice on most FiveM servers. There are two types: replace mods that swap an existing GTA vehicle for a new model, and addon mods that add a new vehicle alongside the originals. Addon is the standard on RP servers because it keeps the original GTA vehicle available.

This guide covers addon vehicles from download to spawn. If you can upload files via SFTP and edit a config, you can do this.

What you need

• A vehicle mod downloaded from GTA5-Mods, the cfx.re Releases forum, or a paid resource site. Look for mods labeled "FiveM ready"; they come with the correct folder structure and a fxmanifest.lua.
• SFTP access to your server. The web file manager works, but SFTP is faster when uploading many files.

Folder structure of an addon vehicle

A properly structured FiveM vehicle resource looks like this:

resources/[vehicles]/my-car/
    fxmanifest.lua
    stream/
        my-car.yft         (the 3D model)
        my-car_hi.yft      (high-quality model)
        my-car.ytd          (textures)
        vehicles.meta       (vehicle properties)
        handling.meta       (driving behavior)
        carvariations.meta  (colors and parts)
        carcols.meta        (lights and sirens)

The square brackets in [vehicles] are a FiveM convention for organizing resource categories. They have no technical effect but keep your resources folder tidy.

The fxmanifest.lua file

This file tells FiveM what to load. A minimal manifest for a vehicle:

fx_version 'cerulean'
game 'gta5'
this_is_a_map 'yes'
files { 'stream/**/*.meta' }
data_file 'HANDLING_FILE' 'stream/handling.meta'
data_file 'VEHICLE_METADATA_FILE' 'stream/vehicles.meta'
data_file 'CARCOLS_FILE' 'stream/carcols.meta'
data_file 'VEHICLE_VARIATION_FILE' 'stream/carvariations.meta'

If your downloaded vehicle already includes a manifest, use that one. Only create your own if the mod was designed for single-player GTA V and needs to be converted.

Installation step by step

1. Stop the server.
2. Upload the vehicle folder to resources/[vehicles]/ via SFTP or the file manager.
3. Open server.cfg and add: ensure my-car (the folder name of the vehicle resource).
4. Start the server.
5. Join the server and spawn the vehicle with /car spawnname (the model name from vehicles.meta, not the folder name).

Spawning via vMenu or your framework

On a freeroam server with vMenu, the vehicle appears automatically in the vehicle spawner if installed correctly. On an RP server running ESX, QBCore or Qbox, you add the vehicle to the dealership database or garage config so players can purchase it through the economy system. The exact steps depend on your dealership script.

Optimizing textures for performance

Unoptimized YTD files are the biggest cause of FPS drops on FiveM servers. Many custom vehicles ship with 4096px textures, while FiveM internally caps at 1024px. The extra resolution is wasted but still costs bandwidth and loading time.

Compress YTDs to 1024px before uploading. Tools like OpenIV handle this. A server with 200 vehicles at 20 MB of textures each streams 4 GB to every connecting client. After optimization, that drops to roughly 800 MB. Your players load in faster and experience fewer stutters.

Common problems and fixes

• Vehicle does not spawn. Check that the folder name matches the ensure line in server.cfg exactly, and that fxmanifest.lua exists in the root of the resource folder.
• Vehicle is invisible. The YFT model file is missing or the name in vehicles.meta does not match the file name.
• Wrong textures. The YTD file name must match the model name exactly. A mismatch between my_car.yft and mycar.ytd causes texture errors.
• Server hitch on load. Too many vehicles at once, or uncompressed textures. Optimize your YTDs and consider loading vehicles in batches.
• Handling feels wrong. Open handling.meta and compare values against the original. Many mods ship with handling tuned for single-player physics, which can feel different in FiveM.

How many vehicles can my server handle?

With optimized textures, hundreds. Without optimization, each vehicle costs memory and bandwidth. A practical guideline: 100 optimized vehicles on an 8 GB server runs comfortably. If you notice loading times stretching past two minutes, start compressing textures or removing vehicles nobody uses.

Should I use replace or addon?

Addon for RP servers, so the original vehicle stays available and your total vehicle selection grows. Replace only if you want to swap out all GTA vehicles and maintain a tightly controlled vehicle roster. Replace mods also have a lower impact on loading times because they do not increase the total vehicle count; they simply swap the model files of existing vehicles.

Do players need to download the vehicles manually?

No. FiveM streams resource files to the client automatically when they connect. This costs bandwidth and loading time, but players never need to install anything by hand. The larger your vehicle pack, the longer the initial connection takes.

Custom vehicles run on all FiveM plans at HostValues. For servers with many custom assets, we recommend 8 GB or more.