Troubleshooting

FiveM Livery Not Showing? 8 Fixes for Add-on Car Liveries

When a FiveM livery does not show, the cause is almost always in the car files, not in your server: a missing flag, a texture with the wrong name, a UV map that was never made for a livery, or a detail level that was skipped. Find your symptom below, then the fix.

By FiveMRides. Updated October 19, 2026.

Fix 1: the livery menu is empty (No Liveries Available)

The game found no livery slots for the car. Check, in this order:

1. vehicles.meta: the car <flags> contain FLAG_HAS_LIVERY.
2. carvariations.meta: every colour <Item> has a <liveries> block right after </indices>, with one <Item value="true" /> per livery.
3. The <modelName> in carvariations.meta is exactly the one in vehicles.meta. A renamed car often keeps the old name there, and then it gets nothing from that file: no liveries, no colours, no tuning kit.
4. The .ytd holds <txd>_sign_1, where <txd> is the car txdName. Open the .ytd in CodeWalker to see the texture names.

Fix 2: the menu lists liveries but the car does not change

The slots exist but nothing on the body draws them. The livery is drawn by the vehicle_paint3 shader through its second diffuse texture (DiffuseSampler2), which must point at <txd>_sign_1 and read a second UV map. If the panels use another paint shader, or have no second UV map, switching liveries changes nothing you can see. Fix the panels in Blender with Sollumz (see how to add a livery to any FiveM car), or rebuild the slots with the Livery Studio.

Fix 3: livery stuck on “error” after a rename

GTA finds liveries by name: it looks for <txdName>_sign_<n> in the car texture dictionary. When a car is renamed, for example to give it a new spawn code, the txdName changes but the livery texture often keeps the old name (oldname_sign_1). The game then counts no livery while the menu still shows the slot, and the entry stays on “error”.

• Do not rename the texture: the model may still use the old name.
• Add a copy of the texture under the new name (newname_sign_1) and keep the original.
• Compare the texture names in the .ytd with the txdName in vehicles.meta, and fix carvariations.meta too (Fix 1).

Fix 4: the livery repeats or lands in the wrong place

The livery shader reads the second UV channel. On many add-on cars that channel holds a small repeating layout made for another texture, or pieces that overlap, so one livery image repeats across the panels or lands upside down. The fix is a clean second UV layout where nothing overlaps, on every panel that carries the livery and on every LOD. The Livery Studio writes a new one with six views, so a side stripe lands on the side.

Fix 5: the livery vanishes at a distance

GTA draws simpler models (LODs) as the car moves away. Each LOD has its own UVs and materials. If only the high detail model was given the livery UV and shader, the livery disappears or smears past the first switch. Apply the same layout and shader to every LOD of the .yft and the _hi.yft. The Livery Studio writes the same projection on every LOD, and in our in-game test the livery stayed visible at a distance.

Fix 6: car textures missing after adding a 4K livery

FiveM cannot load a single texture over 16 MiB. A 4096 x 4096 texture in DXT5 or BC7 with mipmaps is about 21 MiB, so a 4K livery can make the car textures fail. Use 2048 x 2048 for liveries. The size of the .ytd file on disk is not what counts: the largest single texture is.

Fix 7: works on Windows, not on a Linux server

File and folder names are case sensitive on Linux: Stream and stream are different folders, and Car_sign_1 is not car_sign_1. Use a lower case stream folder and keep the names in the metas exactly as the files are named.

Fix 8: livery, colours or tuning ignored

Liveries, colours, tuning kits and sirens reach the car through carvariations.meta. In fxmanifest.lua, list it after vehicles.meta and carcols.meta:

files {
  'vehicles.meta',
  'carcols.meta',
  'carvariations.meta',
}

data_file 'VEHICLE_METADATA_FILE' 'vehicles.meta'
data_file 'CARCOLS_FILE' 'carcols.meta'
data_file 'VEHICLE_VARIATION_FILE' 'carvariations.meta'

Test after every change

• Restart the resource and watch the server console for errors.
• Spawn the car, open the livery menu and switch through every livery, including the “No livery” slot if there is one.
• Drive away and look back: the livery should stay on at a distance.
• Try a few paint colours, since the slots are declared per colour.

Skip the manual fixes: FiveMRides Livery Studio BETA

If the car has no working livery slot, the Livery Studio gives it new ones: click the panels in 3D, paint your design or import your livery image as a layer, and download a resource with the second UV map on every LOD, the vehicle_paint3 shader, the _sign_N textures and both metas set up. Uploading a car and the 3D preview are free with a FiveMRides account. An export costs 2 credits, charged only after the resource is built and verified; a failed export is not charged, re-exporting the same car is free for 7 days, and it is free with Studio Unlimited.

Livery not showing FAQ

Why is my FiveM livery not showing?

The cause is almost always in the car files: FLAG_HAS_LIVERY or the carvariations liveries block is missing, the livery texture does not have the name GTA looks for (<txd>_sign_1), the panels are not on the livery shader or have no second UV map, or the lower detail models were never given the livery.

Why does vMenu say No Liveries Available?

vMenu lists the liveries the game counts for that car. When it says No Liveries Available, add FLAG_HAS_LIVERY to vehicles.meta, add a liveries block to every colour in carvariations.meta, check that the carvariations modelName matches vehicles.meta, and check that the .ytd holds <txd>_sign_1.

Why is my FiveM livery stuck on error?

Usually the car was renamed: the txdName changed but the livery texture kept the old name, so the game finds no livery while the menu still shows the slot. Add a copy of the texture under the new name (<new txd>_sign_1) and keep the original, because the model may still use the old name.

Why does my livery disappear at a distance?

GTA switches to simpler models (LODs) as the car moves away. If only the high detail model got the livery UV and shader, the livery vanishes. Every LOD of the .yft and _hi.yft needs the same livery layout.

Can the Livery Studio fix a car whose livery does not work?

It can give the car new working livery slots: you paint your design or import your livery image as a layer, and the export sets up the UVs on every LOD, the shader, the textures and the metas. It does not convert an existing livery made for the old UV layout. It is a BETA, so test the result on your server.