Blender to GTA V

Making GTA V (PC) props, vehicles and interiors in Blender 5.x with the Sollumz add-on and CodeWalker, and loading them in single-player or on a FiveM (multiplayer mod platform) server. Covers the rules, Legacy vs Enhanced editions, the RAGE file formats, the Sollumz workflow, budgets, and step lists for the common mod types. Modeling itself is in Blender; scene-building ideas are in Buildings & scenes and Open-world design.

Rules at a glance

Editions & tools

GTA V on PC now comes in two editions. Legacy is the 2015 PC version. Enhanced (March 4, 2025) is the PS5/Xbox Series port with a new renderer (DirectX 12, ray tracing). Their asset formats differ (Gen8 vs Gen9), so tools and mods are edition-specific.

Pick one edition per project and export for it. Converting later is possible (CodeWalker's Asset Converter, Alchemist) but vehicles with many materials can need rework.

Loaders & script hooks

Map files (models, textures, placements) need a loader, not ScriptHookV; scripts need ScriptHookV. Always work on copies in mods/, never on the original archives.

File formats

GTA V runs on RAGE (Rockstar Advanced Game Engine). Its files are named .y?? on PC and packed in .rpf archives.

Units, axes & names

• Model props at the world origin with the origin at the base; placement happens in the .ymap.
• World collision (.ybn) and interiors are modeled in world coordinates at their real map location (import the surrounding map from CodeWalker as a reference).
• Names are hashed by the game: keep them lowercase, unique, ASCII, with a personal prefix (zs_crate01) so they don't collide with vanilla or other mods. The drawable, archetype and file name should match.
• Vertex counts rise after export (a game vertex is position plus normal, UV and color, like Blender's face corners); judge cost by triangle count.

Sollumz setup

1. Blender 4.2 or newer (Sollumz 2.9 supports up to 5.2): Edit > Preferences > Get Extensions > Repositories > + > Add Remote Repository https://repo.sollumz.org/, then search "Sollumz" and Install. Updates arrive in the same panel.
2. Accept the optional pyMateria install: it enables direct native (binary) import and export, not just CodeWalker XML.
3. Install CodeWalker (dev48 or newer), point it at the game folder, enable Options > Start in Edit Mode, and add the community nametables.rpf (from the CodeWalker Discord) so file names resolve.
4. Create your own .rpf in CodeWalker's RPF Explorer for test files (single-player), or a FiveM resource folder.
5. To edit vanilla assets: CodeWalker RPF Explorer > export XML (or open the native file directly in Sollumz); save the textures to a folder named after the model so Sollumz finds them on import.

Everything lives in the 3D viewport's N-panel under Sollumz Tools; V opens the Sollumz pie menu (convert, import, export), Shift V switches the visible LOD.

Shaders & textures

GTA materials are Sollumz shader materials, not the Principled BSDF: each one mirrors a game shader (.sps) with fixed texture slots and parameters.

Watch for how the vertex color channels are painted and why an unpainted prop glows at night.

LODs & collision

Primitive bounds (box, sphere, capsule) are cheaper and more robust than poly meshes: build collision from them where the shape allows. The classic mistake is a Bound GeometryBVH with no Flag Preset: nothing collides.

Budgets & limits

Community rules of thumb, not official numbers, except where a source is named.

Common problems

Tools

Recipes

A custom prop in the world

Use for a static object (crate, sign, bench) placed on the map: .ydr + .ytyp + .ymap.

1. Model it at the origin, base on the ground plane, apply transforms; UV map UVMap 0, color attribute Color 1 painted red.
2. Select it, V > Convert to Drawable; rename the Drawable empty to your prefixed name (zs_crate01).
3. Shader Tools: create normal_spec; set DiffuseSampler, BumpSampler (Non-Color) and SpecSampler DDS textures; Set all Materials Embedded.
4. LODs: assign or generate Medium and Low meshes; add embedded collision (Create Bounds, Flag Preset, a Bound Poly Box).
5. Sollumz Tools > Archetype Definition: + a new .ytyp, select the drawable, Auto-Create From Selected; set LOD Distance (for example 100).
6. V > Export RAGE Assets: Native, Gen8 (Legacy and FiveM) or Gen9 (Enhanced); export the .ytyp.
7. CodeWalker: add the files to your RPF (or open them in a project), New Ymap > New Entity, Archetype zs_crate01, move it into place, Calculate Extents and Calculate All Flags, save the .ymap. Sollumz 2.9's Maps panel can also place entities in Blender.
8. CodeWalker project > Tools > Manifest Generator > Generate, save _manifest.ymf.
9. Ship zs_crate01.ydr, .ytyp, .ymap and _manifest.ymf in a FiveM stream/ folder (below) or your single-player RPF.

Replace or add a vehicle (outline)

Use to put your own car model in the game. Start from a vanilla car of the same type; building a vehicle rig from scratch is much harder.

1. Import a vanilla name.yft with its name_hi.yft (Sollumz, native or via CodeWalker XML) and its textures.
2. Fit your body parts to the vanilla skeleton; keep the vanilla bone names (chassis, wheel_lf, wheel_rf, door_dside_f, door_pside_f, bonnet, boot…) and weight each part to its bone.
3. Use vehicle shaders (vehicle_paint1 for body paint, vehicle_tire, vehicle_lightsemissive with light IDs for lamps); windows are special glass children.
4. Very High LOD goes into _hi.yft, High to Very Low into the base .yft (the Fragment export's Toggle LODs option writes both).
5. Changed collision shapes: tick Auto Calculate Inertia and Auto Calculate Volume on export. New bones: Auto Calculate Bonetags.
6. Replace: same file names as the vanilla car. Add-on: a new name plus vehicles.meta, carvariations.meta, carcols.meta and handling.meta copied from the vanilla car and renamed.
7. Details: the Sollumz vehicle tutorial and Fragment > Vehicle Setup pages.

An interior (MLO, outline)

Use for an enterable building interior (MLO: "Milo", the game's interior system with rooms and portals).

1. Pick a building; import its exterior from CodeWalker into Blender as a reference, in world coordinates.
2. Plan the rooms and the portals (openings) between them and to the outside.
3. Model the interior shell, props and decals; texture; vertex-color green inside.
4. Build the collision .ybn with the right Room ID on each floor's collision material.
5. In Sollumz Tools > Archetype Definition, create an MLO archetype: rooms and portals (from selected vertices), entities, entity sets.
6. Export; create a .ymap with the MLO instance at the building's position; generate _manifest.ymf.
7. Details: the Sollumz Creating Interiors tutorial.

Stream it on FiveM

Use to load map or model files on a FiveM server: everything in stream/ is streamed to players.

resources/[maps]/zs_crate/
├─ fxmanifest.lua
└─ stream/
   ├─ zs_crate01.ydr
   ├─ zs_crate01.ytyp
   ├─ zs_crate01.ymap
   └─ _manifest.ymf

fx_version 'cerulean'
game 'gta5'
lua54 'yes'
 
-- reloads map storage so .ymap placements appear
this_is_a_map 'yes'

For an add-on vehicle, the .yft, _hi.yft and .ytd go in stream/ and the meta files are registered:

fx_version 'cerulean'
game 'gta5'
 
files { 'data/*.meta' }
 
data_file 'HANDLING_FILE' 'data/handling.meta'
data_file 'VEHICLE_METADATA_FILE' 'data/vehicles.meta'
data_file 'CARCOLS_FILE' 'data/carcols.meta'
data_file 'VEHICLE_VARIATION_FILE' 'data/carvariations.meta'

Add ensure zs_crate to server.cfg and restart. The server console lists assets that are too large.

Port a Legacy asset to Enhanced

Use when a mod made for Legacy should run on the Enhanced edition.

1. CodeWalker dev48 or newer > RPF Explorer > Asset Converter.
2. Pick the folder of Legacy .ydr, .yft, .ytd, .ydd files and an output folder; Process.
3. Load the result with OpenRPF (single-player) or on a FiveM for GTAV Enhanced server (which uses Cfx.re's Alchemist for whole resources).
4. For your own Blender sources, simply re-export from Sollumz as Gen9.

References

• Rockstar Games: Mod Guidelines (opens in a new tab): the 2026 rules; read them in full
• Rockstar Support: PC Single-Player Mods (opens in a new tab): Take-Two's 2017 single-player statement
• Cfx.re Creator Platform License Agreement (opens in a new tab): the terms for FiveM servers and content
• Press coverage of the 2026 guidelines: Game Developer (opens in a new tab), Kotaku (opens in a new tab)
• Sollumz docs (opens in a new tab): installation, tutorials (static meshes, collisions, props, vehicles, interiors, Enhanced conversion), per-format docs, FAQ
• Sollumz on GitHub (opens in a new tab): releases and changelog (2.9: YMAP rework, texture dictionaries, Blender 5.2)
• CodeWalker (opens in a new tab): source and usage; current builds on its Discord
• FiveM docs: Guides for 3D assets (opens in a new tab): an eight-part beginner series with Blender, Sollumz and CodeWalker
• FiveM docs: Introduction to resources (opens in a new tab) and resource manifest (opens in a new tab): fxmanifest.lua, this_is_a_map, data_file
• FiveM docs: What's changed in FiveM for GTAV Enhanced (opens in a new tab): migration and limits
• Script Hook V (opens in a new tab): current builds and supported game patches