Tutorials

From zero to your first character — step by step, no filler.

Installing FiveM

What you need and how to get a working client in ten minutes.

Step 1: Buy GTA V and launch it at least once
You need a legal copy through Steam, Epic Games or the Rockstar Games Launcher. Run the game once up to the main menu — that creates the profile and files FiveM looks for.
Step 2: Download the client from fivem.net
Get FiveM only from the official site, fivem.net. Any other “installer” is a risk to your account.
Step 3: Install into a clean folder
Pick an empty folder outside Program Files (for example C:\FiveM). Installing into the game’s own folder causes problems on update.
Step 4: Allow it in your antivirus
FiveM downloads resources every time you join a server, which often looks suspicious to antivirus software. Add the folder as an exception if the install stops halfway.
Step 5: Sign in with a Cfx.re account
The account keeps your favourite servers and is needed for parts of the ecosystem. One account per person — a second one after a ban is evasion.

Three ways in — from the fastest to the manual one.

Step 1: Through a cfx.re/join link
The fastest: click the server’s link here in the directory and the client opens by itself. If it does not, copy the code after /join.
Step 2: Through the in-client list
In FiveM open “Play” and search for the server name. Star your favourites — the list is long and names repeat.
Step 3: Manually through the console
Press F8 and type connect <address>, for example connect 1.2.3.4:30120. This works even when the server is not in the public list.
Step 4: If loading gets stuck
The first join downloads all of the server’s resources and can take several minutes. If it always stops at the same point, clear the cache (FiveM Application Data\data\cache) and try again.

How not to get banned in your first hour.

Step 1: Read the rules before you join
Every server has its own version. The differences are in the details — the NLR timer, the safe zones, the robbery rules.
Step 2: Create a character, not an avatar
A name, an age, a job and one weakness. A character with no backstory has nothing to react with, and it shows immediately.
Step 3: Learn /me and /do
/me describes what your character does (“/me reaches into his pocket”). /do states a fact about the world or the character (“/do his hands are shaking”). Together they make possible everything the game cannot show.
Step 4: Talk before you shoot
Almost every first-hour punishment comes from RDM or VDM. If you are not sure you have a reason — you do not.
Step 5: Do not settle disputes in character
Think someone is breaking the rules? Finish the scene and open a Discord ticket with a recording. Arguing out loud mid-scene is a violation in itself.

What the player feels, not what the code says.

Step 1: ESX
The oldest and most widespread framework. A huge choice of scripts and jobs; the interface is often plainer and the economy looser.
Step 2: QBCore
More modern and better organised. The inventory, IDs and phone are usually more polished, and servers on it lean towards more serious roleplay.
Step 3: Qbox
A fork of QBCore focused on performance. For the player it mostly feels like fewer stutters when a lot of people are online.
Step 4: ox_core
A light modern framework from the team behind ox_lib and oxmysql. Less common, usually on servers that care about clean code and speed.
Step 5: Which one is better
Neither. The framework decides what the menus look like, not how good the roleplay is — that comes from the community and the moderation.

The five that stop most people.

Step 1: FiveM will not start
Run it as administrator, make sure GTA V launches on its own, and check that your antivirus has not quarantined the client.
Step 2: “Couldn’t load resource”
A resource on the server is broken or unreachable. Clear the cache and retry; if it always fails on the same resource, the problem is on the server, not on your machine.
Step 3: Kicked while loading
Usually a modified game folder or leftovers from another mod. FiveM wants a clean copy of GTA V — move manual mods aside.
Step 4: Low frame rate
Lower grass and shadow quality, turn off third-party overlays and close your browser. Script-heavy servers load the CPU, not the graphics card.
Step 5: You cannot hear other players
Check that the server’s voice module is allowed in Windows settings and that the microphone is selected inside FiveM, not only in Windows.