If you moved your server to FiveM Enhanced and your custom cars stopped spawning, nothing is wrong with your install. The Enhanced client runs on the GTA V Enhanced engine (gen9), and the vehicle files that work on Legacy are simply not readable by it. This guide explains what changed, how to convert a Legacy vehicle, how to bring up an Enhanced server, and what each failure in the console means. If you are new to vehicle resources in general, read the Legacy install guide first: folder structure, fxmanifest.lua and server.cfg work the same way on both clients.
1. What GTA V Enhanced and FiveM Enhanced Are
GTA V Enhanced is the PC release of the newer console version of the game: updated renderer, ray-traced options, new content and a different set of resource formats. Rockstar ships it as a separate title next to GTA V Legacy, and both can be installed at the same time.
FiveM Enhanced is the Cfx.re client for that version. It has been available in early access since July 2026. Three things matter for a server owner:
- It is a separate client. Players launch FiveM Enhanced against a GTA V Enhanced install. The Legacy client cannot join an Enhanced server and the other way around.
- There is no cross-play. Your server is either Legacy or Enhanced. If your community is split between the two, you run two servers.
- The server build is different. FXServer for Enhanced is its own artifact, with its own game build numbers, and reports itself as
gta5enhanced.
You will see "Enhanced", "gen9" and "next-gen" used interchangeably. In this guide, gen9 means the asset format and Enhanced means the client and server. A gen9 vehicle is one whose files are in the format the Enhanced client loads.
2. Why Legacy YFT/YTD Assets Do Not Load on gen9
A FiveM vehicle is a set of streamed resource files: the .yft fragment (3D model, doors, deformation), the .ytd texture dictionary, and the meta files that describe it. On Legacy those files carry the RSC7 resource header with a specific version number per type, and the client reads the data laid out the way the Legacy engine expects.
GTA V Enhanced changed the resource versions and part of the internal layout. Drawable and fragment data are packed differently, texture dictionaries carry new fields, and the client rejects resources that do not match. The result is predictable:
- vehicles.meta still loads. It is plain XML, so the model name gets registered and the game "knows" the car exists.
- The YFT and YTD never stream. The client asks for the model, cannot parse the file, and either waits forever or crashes trying.
- Handling, carcols and carvariations are fine. Those are XML too. They are not the problem, so do not waste time editing them.
Every Legacy model and texture file has to be converted to the gen9 format. There is no flag, no manifest line and no server setting that makes a Legacy asset load on Enhanced.
3. Converting a Legacy Vehicle: Refine, Then Convert
The tool used for this is Alchemist (the Cfx.re gen9 converter). It takes a Legacy resource and writes the gen9 versions of the stream files. The important part is the order of operations:
Refine the Legacy resource first
The refine step rebuilds the drawable and fragment data in a clean, canonical form before conversion. Many community cars have been through several editors over the years and carry odd bone tables, orphaned mod parts and duplicated shader entries. Those survive a plain convert and produce a gen9 file that looks valid but fails in-game. Refine is not optional.
Convert the refined resource
Run the conversion on the refined output, not on the original folder. Keep the same file names: spawnname.yft, spawnname_hi.yft, spawnname.ytd. The meta files and fxmanifest.lua come across unchanged.
Test it in-game, not just in the converter
A clean converter log is not a pass. In our own batches, a meaningful share of vehicles that converted without a single warning still failed to stream or crashed the client on load, with no property in the file that predicted it. The only reliable check is spawning the car on an Enhanced server and driving it.
Conversion is one-way. Store the original Legacy resource separately and convert from a copy. If you ever run a Legacy server again, or need to re-refine, you will want the untouched files.
4. Setting Up an Enhanced FXServer
An Enhanced server is a normal FXServer with a different artifact and a couple of config changes. This example uses a Linux host.
Get the Enhanced artifact
Download a Linux server artifact built for GTA V Enhanced from the Cfx.re artifact listing and extract it to your server folder. Open info.json next to the binaries: the gamename marker must read gta5enhanced. If it says gta5, you downloaded a Legacy build.
Update server.cfg
Two lines matter. sv_enforceGameBuild must point at an Enhanced build number (the artifact release notes list the supported values). And the Legacy-only lua54 line is no longer needed on the Enhanced build: Lua 5.4 is the default, so remove the setting to avoid a warning at boot.
Start the server the usual way (run.sh with your server.cfg), then connect with the FiveM Enhanced client. Connecting from the Legacy client will fail at the handshake, which is the expected behaviour and not a server bug.
5. Installing a Vehicle Resource
Once your server is on the Enhanced artifact, a gen9 vehicle installs exactly like a Legacy one:
- Extract the ZIP into
resources/(or a[vehicles]subfolder). You should seefxmanifest.lua,stream/anddata/at the root of the resource. - Ensure it in
server.cfg:ensure resource_name, matching the folder name exactly (case matters on Linux). - Restart the server, or run
refreshthenensure resource_namein the console for a hot load. - Spawn it in-game:
/car spawnnamewith vMenu or your admin menu. The spawn name is themodelNameinvehicles.meta.
If you merge several cars into one resource, every model in that pack has to be gen9. One Legacy YFT inside an Enhanced pack will not stop the other cars from loading, but that one car will hit the timeout described below, and players will report it as "the pack is broken".
6. Common Failures and What They Mean
The console and the client behaviour tell you which layer failed. Match the symptom before touching files.
| Symptom | What it means | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Model is known, spawn hangs, then "could not load" or a silent timeout | The name was registered from vehicles.meta, but the YFT/YTD never streamed. This is the classic Legacy-asset-on-gen9 case, or a conversion that skipped refine. |
Re-convert with refine, confirm the files in stream/ are the converted ones and match the modelName. |
| Client crashes when the resource loads or on first spawn | A bad asset: the file is in a format the client tried to parse and could not. Usually a corrupt or partially converted YFT, sometimes a YTD with an unsupported texture. | Isolate the resource (disable others), re-convert from the Legacy original, check textures are in standard DXT/BC formats. |
| Car spawns but bumpers, spoiler or wheels are missing | Mod parts. The tuning parts live in the YFT and their modkit is referenced from carvariations.meta / carcols.meta. Either the parts did not survive conversion or the modkit id collides with another resource. |
Re-refine (it rebuilds mod part data), then check the modkit id is unique across your server. Kit 0_default_modkit should stay at 0. |
| Car spawns and drives but the engine is silent | The audioNameHash in vehicles.meta points at a sound bank that does not exist on this server, or the custom sound resource is Legacy-only. |
Point audioNameHash at a vanilla vehicle sound (e.g. ADDER) to confirm, then install a gen9-compatible sound resource. |
| Spawns as a random vanilla car | Not a gen9 problem. vehicles.meta was not loaded: manifest typo, wrong data_file type, or the resource never started. |
Check the fxmanifest.lua and the console output for the resource. |
One pattern worth remembering: on Enhanced, a vehicle that fails almost never fails loudly. The server reports nothing, the client just waits. If a spawn takes more than a few seconds, assume the asset, not the network.
7. How FiveMRides Verifies Enhanced Vehicles
Because the converter log does not predict in-game behaviour, we do not list an Enhanced vehicle on the strength of a clean conversion. Every candidate goes through the same loop:
- The Legacy resource is refined, then converted to gen9.
- The converted resource is installed on our FiveM Enhanced test server (a real FXServer on the Enhanced artifact, not a file checker).
- A tester connects with the Enhanced client, spawns the vehicle, and drives it: doors, wheels, lights, tuning parts and engine sound are checked, and the spawn has to complete without a timeout.
- Only vehicles that pass are published as Enhanced products. Vehicles that fail go back to the queue, get re-refined or re-worked, and are re-tested.
This is why only part of the catalog is available on Enhanced today. The Legacy catalog has more than a thousand vehicles; each one has to be converted and driven individually, and a share of them need real repair work before they pass. We add vehicles as they clear the test, rather than publishing the whole catalog and letting customers discover which ones do not load.
The Legacy products are not affected by any of this. They keep their Legacy files, and an Enhanced vehicle is always a separate product with its own download.
8. Where to Get Enhanced-Ready Vehicles
If you would rather not run the refine, convert and test loop yourself:
- GTA V Enhanced vehicles - single vehicles already converted to gen9 and driven on our Enhanced test server. Singles start at $13.99.
- Enhanced vehicle packs - bundles of verified gen9 vehicles merged into one resource with unique modkit ids.
- The Enhanced overview page - the current list of what is available and what is in the queue.
If an Enhanced vehicle does not work on your server, send us the order number and the console output. We repair the resource or replace it. There are no refunds; the policy is repair or replace, and it applies to every Enhanced product.
Skip the Conversion Queue
Verified gen9 vehicles, loaded and driven on a FiveM Enhanced server before listing. Install, ensure, spawn.
9. Frequently Asked Questions
Not as they are. Legacy .yft and .ytd files use an older resource format that the Enhanced (gen9) client does not accept. The vehicle name is registered from vehicles.meta, but the model never streams and the spawn either times out or crashes the client. Every model and texture file has to be converted to gen9 first. See section 2.
No. FiveM Enhanced is a separate client with its own server build. A server is either Legacy or Enhanced, and a player has to run the matching client to connect. There is no cross-play between the two.
Use a gen9 converter such as Alchemist, and run the refine step on the Legacy resource before converting it. Refine cleans the drawable and fragment data so the conversion produces a valid gen9 asset. Skipping refine is the number one cause of vehicles that convert without errors and still fail in-game. Then test the result on an Enhanced server.
The client knows the model name but cannot load the YFT, so the spawn request waits until it times out. In almost every case the model file is still a Legacy asset, or a conversion that did not go through refine. Re-convert the vehicle and check the file names in stream/ match the modelName. The failure table covers the other cases.
No. Enhanced vehicles are separate products with separate files, converted to gen9 and then loaded and driven on a FiveM Enhanced test server before being listed. The Legacy products are unchanged and keep their Legacy files. Browse the Enhanced category for what is currently verified.
Send the order number, the server console output and a short description of what happens on spawn. We repair the resource or replace it with a working one. There are no refunds; the policy is repair or replace.
Running an Enhanced Server?
Start with vehicles that have already been through refine, convert and an in-game test. Check the overview page for the full list and the queue.