Vehicle model files (yft, _hi.yft, ytd) and the oversized asset warning

The three files have fixed jobs, and their names must follow the model name from vehicles.meta.

stream/
  mycar.yft        model: lower LODs, skeleton, collision
  mycar_hi.yft     model: high detail version shown up close
  mycar.ytd        textures (name matches <txdName>)
  mycar+hi.ytd     optional: high resolution versions of the same textures

File	Content	When the game uses it
<model>.yft	The vehicle as a fragment: the lower-detail meshes, the bones (doors, wheels, seats) and the collision.	Always, while the vehicle exists.
<model>_hi.yft	The high-detail mesh.	Only near the camera, inside the first lodDistances value of vehicles.meta.
<txdName>.ytd	All textures of the vehicle.	Always.
<txdName>+hi.ytd	Optional higher-resolution copies of textures.	Near the camera.

The game builds the high-detail model name itself by adding _hi to the model name whenever the first LOD distance is above zero, so the file must be named exactly that. Tuning parts are separate small model files in the same folder, named as listed in carcols.meta.

When a resource starts, FXServer reads the header of every streamed file and works out how much memory it will take once loaded. If that is too much, it prints a line like this in the server console:

Asset mycar/mycar.ytd uses 62.5 MiB of physical memory. Oversized assets can and WILL lead to streaming issues (such as models not loading/rendering).

The number is not the file size on disk. Streamed files are compressed, and the header records the size of the unpacked data in two parts: virtual memory (structure data) and physical memory (mostly texture pixels and mesh geometry). Each part is checked on its own.

Memory of one file	Console line
16 MiB or less	Nothing is printed.
Over 16 MiB	Printed in blue.
Over 32 MiB	Printed in yellow.
Over 48 MiB	The sentence "Oversized assets can and WILL lead to streaming issues (such as models not loading/rendering)" is added.
Over 64 MiB	Printed in red.

These steps are the ones in the FXServer source code (ResourceStreamComponent.cpp). The warning is about players' computers, not the server: every player near the vehicle has to hold that file in memory. Keep every file at or under 16 MiB and the console stays quiet.

To see this number for a file before starting the server, drop it into the YTD texture memory calculator. It also lists every texture with its memory.

Texture memory depends on resolution and format, not on what the image looks like. Halving the width and height cuts memory to a quarter. Compressed formats store 4 or 8 bits per pixel instead of 32. Mipmaps add about one third.

Resolution	DXT1 / BC1 (no alpha)	DXT5 / BC3 (alpha)	Uncompressed 32-bit
512 x 512	0.17 MiB	0.33 MiB	1.33 MiB
1024 x 1024	0.67 MiB	1.33 MiB	5.33 MiB
2048 x 2048	2.67 MiB	5.33 MiB	21.3 MiB
4096 x 4096	10.7 MiB	21.3 MiB	85.3 MiB

Values include mipmaps. One uncompressed 4096 texture is already past every step of the warning, and a single 4096 DXT5 texture is over 16 MiB by itself. A .ytd with a handful of 4K textures is the most common source of the warning.

1. Find the file. The console line names the resource and the file. Fix the largest one first.
2. Resize the big textures. Body and interior textures at 2048 or 1024 are enough for a vehicle seen from normal play distance. Small parts, badges and lights rarely need more than 512.
3. Compress them. Use DXT1 (BC1) for textures without transparency and DXT5 (BC3) for textures with it. Avoid uncompressed formats.
4. Delete unused textures. Converted models often carry textures no material uses.
5. Do not duplicate shared textures. Textures that several vehicles use can live in one dictionary set as the parent in txdRelationships of vehicles.meta.
6. Reduce the mesh. If a .yft is the file in the warning, the model has too many polygons, or the main .yft contains the full-detail mesh instead of lower LODs.
7. Restart the resource and read the console again. No line means every file is at or under 16 MiB.

LOD settings, lodDistances and texture sizes by role are in how to optimise a FiveM vehicle.

The main .yft is meant to hold the lighter versions of the model, and _hi.yft the detailed one. That split is what lets the game keep only a light model in memory for vehicles that are far away. A conversion that puts the same heavy mesh in both files doubles the memory and makes every distant vehicle as expensive as a close one.

The levels and their distances are explained in what are LODs in FiveM vehicles. From our own catalog, the Coil S-Cooter and the three hoverboards ship with four LODs, High to Very Low.