How a FiveM clothing pack works, and how to make one

What is inside a clothing pack

Clothes on FiveM are drawables for the two freemode peds, mp_m_freemode_01 and mp_f_freemode_01. A pack brings three kinds of file for each gender:

• .ydd: the garment mesh, one per drawable.
• .ytd: its textures, one file per texture variant (_a, _b, _c...).
• .ymt: the collection, which tells the game how many drawables and textures each component has.

Plus a shop .meta per gender so clothing menus can list the items.

myclothes/
  fxmanifest.lua
  mp_m_freemode_01_myclothes.meta
  mp_f_freemode_01_myclothes.meta
  stream/
    mp_m_freemode_01_myclothes.ymt
    mp_m_freemode_01_myclothes^jbib_000_u.ydd
    mp_m_freemode_01_myclothes^jbib_diff_000_a_uni.ytd
    mp_m_freemode_01_myclothes^jbib_diff_000_b_uni.ytd
    mp_f_freemode_01_myclothes.ymt
    mp_f_freemode_01_myclothes^lowr_000_u.ydd
    mp_f_freemode_01_myclothes^lowr_diff_000_a_uni.ytd

fx_version 'cerulean'
game 'gta5'
files { ‘*.meta’ }
data_file ‘SHOP_PED_APPAREL_META_FILE’ ‘mp_m_freemode_01_myclothes.meta’
data_file ‘SHOP_PED_APPAREL_META_FILE’ ‘mp_f_freemode_01_myclothes.meta’

The naming rule

Most broken packs are broken by a name, and the game never tells you. It registers the drawable, cannot find the file, and the ped wears nothing in that slot.

• One collection name everywhere. myclothes has to be the same in every file name, inside the .ymt and in the shop .meta.
• Three digits, counted inside the collection. jbib_000, not jbib_0, and not the number your clothing menu shows. The menu number counts every pack the server loads; the file number starts at 000 in yours.
• The right component. The short name decides the slot:

berd  masks           uppr  arms / torso    lowr  legs
hand  bags            feet  shoes           teef  chains, ties
accs  undershirts     task  body armour     decl  decals
jbib  tops, jackets   p_head, p_eyes...     props (hats, glasses)

Props such as hats and glasses live in their own collection with an extra _p: mp_m_freemode_01_p_myclothes^p_head_000.ydd.

The limit that crashes servers

GTA loads only a handful of extra clothing collections per gender, and the number depends on the game build. Go one over and the client crashes while building the ped, and it is every ped of that gender, not just the one wearing the new item. The female side usually runs out first.

The fix is to merge: one collection holds up to 128 drawables per component, so ten small packs can become one collection and cost one slot instead of ten. The per-build slot table and the three ways around the limit are in the clothing YMT limit guide.

Making your own clothes

You do not need Blender or a 3D artist to put your own design on a garment. Clothing Editor V2 has 4193 base-game and DLC garments loaded: pick one, paint it or drop your logo on it while the 3D ped updates live, and export a complete add-on with the .ydd, .ytd, .ymt, .meta and fxmanifest already named correctly. A logo can be raised into a stitched patch through the normal map, and parts of a garment can glow.

The rest of the wardrobe has its own tools: custom chains, tattoos placed on the ped, and a whole custom ped from one picture when you want a character rather than an outfit.

Each export is one garment as its own small collection. To keep the slot count down on a big server, merge those into your main pack the way the section above describes.

Install

1. Put the folder in resources and add ensure myclothes to server.cfg.
2. Restart the whole server. Clothing metas are only read when the server starts.
3. Open your clothing menu and find the new drawables at the end of their component.

If an item is invisible, see EUP or clothing invisible. If every ped of one gender crashes, you are over the slot limit.