Map guide

Install a Custom Pause Map and Minimap in FiveM (Legacy and Enhanced)

To install a custom pause map and minimap in FiveM, put the exported resource folder in your server’s resources folder, add an ensure line for it, make sure no other resource replaces the same textures, then restart the server and reconnect. Restarting only the resource is not enough for map textures.

By FiveMRides. Updated October 29, 2026.

Install on FiveM Legacy

1. Export your map from the Map Studio with the game set to FiveM Legacy and unzip it. You get a folder such as fmr_map_yourname. If you ticked the postal script, there is a second folder ending in _postals.
2. Copy the folders into your server’s resources folder (or into a category folder written in square brackets, for example [maps]). The fxmanifest.lua must sit directly inside the resource folder, not one level deeper. A ZIP that unpacks into a folder inside a folder is the classic mistake.
3. Open server.cfg and add one line per folder, with the exact names:

   ensure fmr_map_yourname
   ensure fmr_map_yourname_postals

4. Remove or stop any other resource that replaces the same map files (minimap_sea_*, minimap_lod_128, the minimap_*.ydd files). Two map resources fight and the last one loaded wins, which gives a half-old, half-new map.
5. Restart the server, connect, open the pause menu and walk around to check the radar.

Install on GTA V Enhanced

The steps are the same, but the files are not: Enhanced uses a newer file format, so a Legacy export does not work on an Enhanced client and the other way around. In the Map Studio choose GTA V Enhanced as the game before you export. We exported and checked an Enhanced map in game (pause map, radar, frame, icons and the postal command) on our own Enhanced test setup. If your community has both Legacy and Enhanced players, check which client each of them runs before you choose.

Skip the copy: Live sync and live preview for a test server

The Map Studio can send each finished export to a small resource, fmr_mapstudio_live, that you install once on a test server. After that you change the map in the browser, export, and either preview it live or pull it with a command.

1. Copy the fmr_mapstudio_live and fmr_mapstudio_preview folders into resources and keep their empty stream folders.
2. In the Map Studio open Live sync and create a key. It is shown once, so treat it like a password.
3. Add the settings to server.cfg with set (never setr, so the key never reaches players), then ensure fmr_mapstudio_live, ensure fmr_mapstudio_preview and give your admins the ace for command.maplive.
4. In the server console, or as an admin in game, run /maplive check to compare, /maplive pull to download the changed files and /maplive verify to check them against the export.
5. After a pull, restart the server, not only the resource. In our test, files pulled while the server ran were not picked up by restarting the resource, and a full server restart showed the new map. A connected player keeps the old map until they reconnect.

Live preview in game: no restart

Live preview in game: see your new design on your server within seconds, no restart. Click Preview in game now in the Map Studio (on the export screen or in Live sync), or type /maplive preview in the server console. Every connected player gets the new pause map and radar while playing, and players who join later get it too. The Studio shows when your server has applied it and how many players were online. /maplive reset or Back to the installed map undoes it, and a server restart always brings back the installed map.

• The permanent install still needs a server restart: preview to try a design, pull and restart to keep it.
• One time only: the 65 empty minimap_*.ydd files of any Map Studio export must be installed (pull once and restart). Without them the normal GTA roads draw over the preview on the pause map.
• In our test on FiveM Legacy a full quality export (65 MB) reached the players in about 8 seconds on a local server.
• Map expansions (tiles outside the normal map) are not part of the live preview.
• The live preview works on FiveM Legacy servers. On GTA V Enhanced it is not available yet (in our test the game did not load preview files added during a session): there, use the pull and a server restart.

Live sync only writes the map file names it expects, checks each file’s size and checksum, and runs on the server side. Your key stays in server.cfg: players only receive the map pictures. Use it on a test server.

Postal script

If the export includes the postal companion resource, ensure it as well. It adds /postal (nearest postal), /postal hud (keep it on screen), waypoints by code and /postal clear. Details are in the postal map guide.

Expansion maps and Extra Map Tiles

Map expansions that add tiles outside the vanilla grid (Roxwood style packs are an example) need the third-party Extra Map Tiles resource on your server. The Map Studio does not ship it. The export includes a config file with the tile entries to paste into that resource’s config. Expansion tiles show on the pause map; on the radar they show only through Extra Map Tiles. You supply your own copy of any expansion pack and must have the right to use it.

The map did not change: what to check

1. Resource not running. Check the console at start for “Couldn’t find resource”. Folder name and ensure line must match exactly.
2. Another map resource. Stop other pause map, minimap or radar resources and try again.
3. No restart or reconnect. Restart the server and reconnect. Map textures are read when the player connects.
4. Wrong edition. A Legacy export on an Enhanced client (or the reverse) shows the vanilla map.
5. Cache. If you replaced files that keep their names, clear the FiveM cache on the client and reconnect.
6. Pause map new, radar old. The 65 minimap_*.ydd stub files are missing, or another resource restores them.

Questions about installing a custom FiveM map

How do I install a custom pause map in FiveM?

Copy the exported resource folder into your server’s resources folder, add an ensure line with the exact folder name to server.cfg, make sure no other resource replaces the same minimap files, restart the server and reconnect.

Why does my custom FiveM map not show after I restart the resource?

Map textures are read when a player connects, and in our test restarting only the resource did not make the client pick up changed map files. Restart the whole server and have players reconnect.

Can I run two custom map resources at the same time?

No. Resources that replace the same minimap_sea, minimap_lod_128 or minimap ydd files fight each other and the last one loaded wins. Keep one.

Does a Legacy export work on GTA V Enhanced?

No. The two editions use different file formats. Choose the game in the Map Studio before you export and install the matching version.

What is Live sync?

A resource called fmr_mapstudio_live that you install once on a test server. It pulls your latest Map Studio export with the /maplive pull command, checks each file, and then you restart the server to install the new map. It also runs the live preview.

Can I see my new map in game without restarting the server?

Yes, with the live preview. Install fmr_mapstudio_live and fmr_mapstudio_preview once, then click Preview in game now in the Map Studio: every connected player sees the new pause map and radar within seconds, no restart and no reconnect (FiveM Legacy servers, not yet GTA V Enhanced). It lasts until a server restart; the permanent install is still a pull and a restart.

Do expansion maps like Roxwood work?

You can restyle an expansion pack you supply so it matches your map. Tiles outside the vanilla grid need the third-party Extra Map Tiles resource, which is not included. Expansion tiles show on the radar only through that resource.