How to Make Custom Props in FiveM (2026 Guide)

Custom props are one of those things that look simple from the outside. You want a burger with your restaurant’s branding, a sign with a business’s logo, a set of bags that don’t all look identical. How hard can it be to get an object into a game?

Harder than it should be, it turns out — because a FiveM prop isn’t one file, and the game doesn’t tell you when you’ve got one of them wrong. After enough nights of props that installed cleanly and then refused to spawn, I’ve come to think of “custom prop” as three very different amounts of work, depending on what you actually need.

So here’s an honest look at the three ways to get custom props onto your server, ordered from least effort to most control. What works, what’s tedious, and where each one falls apart.

Quick definitions first, because they matter for everything below. A prop needs a .ydr (the 3D model itself) and a .ytyp (the file that registers the model’s name, so CreateObject can find it). Placing props permanently in the world uses a .ymap. If any of that is new, FiveM prop files explained breaks each one down.

Option 1: Install a Prop Pack (Fastest)

If the props you need are common — food, drinks, bags, tools, furniture — someone has very likely already made them. Installing a pack is a ten-minute job, and it’s the right call for a lot of servers.

What to look for:

• Free prop resources on GitHub and the Cfx.re forums. Quality varies, so check the collision and whether the pack includes its .ytyp.
• Paid packs on Tebex. Big food and drink packs are common, sometimes bundled with eating and drinking animations. You’re paying for the modelling and the fact that someone already did the fiddly file work.

The standard install

Whether it’s free or paid, the flow is the same as any streamed resource — I cover the basics in how to install FiveM scripts if you’re new:

1. Download the resource and extract it into a single named folder.
2. Check the structure. The model files should be inside a folder literally named stream, next to an fxmanifest.lua.
3. Drop the folder into resources/ — I keep props in a [props] or [maps] category folder.
4. Add ensure your_pack_name to server.cfg, spelled exactly like the folder.
5. Do a full server restart. Not a resource restart. Props register their names when the server starts.

Then spawn one with its model name to check it works.

The honest downside: you get someone else’s props, the same ones every server using that pack has. The first time you need one specific thing it doesn’t include, you’re on to option two or three.

Option 2: Build It Yourself in Blender (The Manual Way)

This is the route every tutorial points you towards, and it’s the one that gives you complete control.

The short version:

1. Get a model. Model it in Blender, or download one — Sketchfab is the usual source. Check the licence; some forbid commercial use or modification, which matters if your server sells anything.
2. Import it into Blender and fix the scale, orientation and origin. GTA works in metres.
3. Set it up with the Sollumz add-on so Blender understands GTA’s formats, apply GTA-compatible shaders and textures, and keep the polygon count sensible.
4. Build collision, or players will walk straight through it.
5. Export the .ydr.
6. Create the .ytyp archetype (in CodeWalker or Sollumz), with a name that matches the model exactly.
7. Package it in a stream/ folder with an fxmanifest.lua that registers the .ytyp.
8. Restart the server and check it in-game.

That last step is where the hours go. Iteration is blind. You change something in Blender, export, repackage, restart, fly to the spot, look, and go round again. And the failures don’t announce themselves: a name that doesn’t match between the .ydr and the .ytyp, and the prop simply isn’t there.

I’m not going to cram the full process into this post, because it deserves its own walkthrough. The complete manual pipeline — every step and every silent failure — is in making FiveM props the hard way.

Manual is genuinely the right choice when you want a detailed, hand-built asset, or you enjoy the craft. But if what you actually need is a restaurant’s menu as props or a business’s logo on a wall, Blender is the slow way to get there.

Option 3: Make It In-Game From a Photo (Least Pain)

Full disclosure up front: this next tool is our own script. Weigh what I say accordingly — but it exists because option two burned me more times than I’d like to admit.

The LMX Prop Creator is a $34.99 one-time in-game editor. Instead of starting in Blender, you start with a picture:

1. Type /propcreator in-game and drop in a photo — drag it onto the editor, paste it with Ctrl+V, or pick it from the resource’s import/ folder.
2. The background comes off automatically. A segmentation model ships inside the resource and runs offline in about a second, so a white bowl on a white table still cuts out properly.
3. Read the “Looks like…” card. It names the shape it detected, gives a confidence figure and explains why — and you choose one of five shape modes: Flat, Extrude, Relief, Box or Turned.
4. Spawn Live. The real generated model stands in front of you in seconds, with no export and no server restart.
5. Place it or hold it. Stand it in the world with FiveM’s own gizmo, or put it in your character’s hand against a real eating or holding animation.
6. Build Pack. One click writes the .ydr, .ytyp, a .ymap for anything you placed, and the fxmanifest.lua, as a finished resource.

The point is that option two’s feedback problem disappears. You see the prop at its real size, in real light, in the actual world, while you’re still building it.

What it doesn’t pretend to be: a prop built from one photo has an assumed back. The optional Make it 3D button fixes that by sending the photo to an image-to-3D model and getting the full object back — but it runs on your own fal.ai account at about $0.02 per generation, and it’s off until you add your key. Installing the finished pack still needs a full server restart, like every prop resource.

The fair comparison: Apex, Zoovdev and the rest

I’m not going to pretend we’re the only way to do this.

Apex Prop Creator also works in-game, and it’s cheaper — €18.75 escrowed at the time of writing. It starts from a .glb 3D model rather than a photo, and it has things we don’t: a texture layer editor, AI textures, and a mesh-detail slider for heavy models. If you already download models, it’s a legitimately good pick.

Zoovdev starts from an image like we do, but it’s a browser tool on a subscription, so you build in a tab and install to check. fivem-tools.com, Easy FiveM and SwisserDev’s free converter all turn existing 3D models into props without Blender.

So I won’t claim “no Blender” or even “in-game” as something only LMX does — neither is true. Where LMX is different: it starts from a photo, and it’s built around making props people use — hold and eating poses, a /hold runtime, and ready-to-paste config for six inventories. If that’s not what you need, one of the others may fit better.

For the full head-to-head, see the best ways to make custom FiveM props, compared.

Troubleshooting: My Prop Won’t Spawn

This is the section everyone actually needs. If you installed a prop and CreateObject gives you nothing, work down this list — it applies to any prop resource, however it was made.

You didn’t do a full server restart. ensure on its own isn’t enough, and neither is restarting the resource. The .ytyp registers the model name when the server starts; until then, the name resolves to nothing.

The .ytyp isn’t registered. The fxmanifest.lua needs both a data_file 'DLC_ITYP_REQUEST' line pointing at your .ytyp and this_is_a_map 'yes'. Drop either one and the model still streams — so nothing looks wrong — but its name never becomes spawnable.

The names don’t match. The .ydr file name, the archetype name inside the .ytyp, and the name you spawn must all be the same. Renaming a file after it was built is the classic way to break this.

The folder structure is wrong. The files must be inside a folder named exactly stream, inside the resource — not flattened, and not double-nested from a zip.

You’re spawning the wrong name. Spawn the model name, not the resource name.

Players walk through it. The prop has no collision. Collision lives inside the model, so it has to be rebuilt.

There’s an invisible wall in front of it. The opposite: a flat sign or poster was given solid box collision the size of the whole image. Rebuild it with no collision.

It’s floating or half-buried. The model’s pivot is in the wrong place — centred when it should sit on its base, or the other way round.

It pops out of view too early. The draw distance in the .ytyp is too low.

FAQ

Do I need Blender to make FiveM props? Only for the manual route. Converters, browser tools and in-game prop creators all skip it.

Can I make custom props for free? Yes. Blender, Sollumz and CodeWalker are free, and SwisserDev’s converter turns a .glb into a prop for free. Free prop resources exist too — browse our free FiveM scripts list for no-cost resources.

Do custom props hurt performance? A sensible prop costs very little. Problems come from very high polygon counts, huge textures, and draw distances set far higher than they need to be. Our resmon performance guide covers how to spot what’s actually costing you.

Does it matter if I’m on ESX, QBCore or Qbox? Not for the prop — a streamed prop works on any framework. It matters once the prop becomes a usable inventory item. For that, see how to add custom food items to FiveM.

What’s the difference between a prop creator and a map editor? A map editor places props that already exist. A prop creator makes a new model. Many servers use both.

Which One Should You Pick?

If the props you need already exist, install a pack — it’s the fastest route by far. If you want a detailed, hand-built asset and don’t mind the learning curve, build it in Blender with the full manual walkthrough. And if you’re starting from photos and logos and want props your players can actually hold and use, built and checked without leaving the game, the LMX Prop Creator is what I reach for — with Apex as a fair, cheaper alternative if you already work from 3D models.

Pick the smallest amount of effort that gets you the props you actually need.