# Building

When your project is ready, click **Build project** in the top bar. The build turns the project into a complete, drop-in pack: renamed stream files, the `.ymt`, the shop meta, the creature metadata and `fxmanifest.lua`.

## Before you build

The build window checks the project first and shows the number of errors and warnings above the footer. Expand it to see each finding; clicking one that names an item takes you to that item.

- **The build does not start while errors stand.** Fix them, or ignore an error you accept in the item's **Findings** tab or in the Problems panel. Ignoring an error needs confirming.
- When errors are ignored, the button reads **Build anyway (N ignored errors)**, so nobody ships them by accident.
- Many findings can be fixed in one go with **Auto fix…** in the Problems panel.

See [Validation](/cloth-tool/about-the-tool/validation) and [Logs and Problems](/cloth-tool/about-the-tool/logs-and-problems).

## The build window

:::frame{caption="The Build project window."}
![The Build project window with Output, GTA V edition, Build type, Output folder, Collection name, Tattoos and Shop export](https://pub-57d6558d0e204696b4cdeee5d172e561.r2.dev/cloth-tool/features/fivem-build.b71532bd28.webp)
:::

:::steps
### Output

Choose what the pack is for:

- **FiveM** — a streamable resource for a server.
- **dlc.rpf** — a singleplayer add-on you install into the game.
- **Both** — the resource and the `dlc.rpf`.

The build window remembers your choice. After a successful build, it opens on the same output next time, so a second singleplayer build stays a singleplayer build.

### GTA V EDITION

For FiveM builds, choose **Legacy**, **Enhanced** or **Legacy + Enhanced**. It starts on the project's own setting. See [GTA V Enhanced](/cloth-tool/about-the-tool/gta-v-enhanced).

### BUILD TYPE

For FiveM builds, choose **Add-on** or **Replace** (see below).

### Output folder and COLLECTION NAME

The **Output folder** defaults to a folder next to your project, not inside it. Point it at your server's `resources` folder and the build is live after a restart. **COLLECTION NAME** is the name your add-on collection registers under; it appears in every built file name and is what a clothing script asks for. Lowercase letters and digits only. Left empty, it is taken from the project name.

### Build

The preview line shows the file name the build will write. Click **Build and package**. The build reports progress and can be cancelled. When it finishes, a summary lists what was written and any warnings. A `dlc.rpf` build says it packed a singleplayer `dlc.rpf`.
:::

The build window also has sections for **Tattoos** ([Tattoo Creator](/cloth-tool/about-the-tool/tattoo-creator)), **Clothes for peds** (see below), saved peds ([Ped Creator](/cloth-tool/about-the-tool/ped-creator)), **Escrowed resources** ([Escrowed Resources](/cloth-tool/about-the-tool/escrowed-resources)) and **Shop export** ([Shop Metadata](/cloth-tool/about-the-tool/shop-metadata)). Each appears only for FiveM builds, and only when it has something to show.

## Clothes for peds

New in 2.0.8. Items built for a ped from the [Ped Library](/cloth-tool/about-the-tool/ped-library) are listed under **Clothes for peds**: one row per ped, with its garment count, the resource its clothes go into and anything that blocks it. Each ped's clothes go into a streamed ped resource of their own, together with the ped.

- Untick **Build *ped*'s clothes with this pack** to leave that ped's clothes out of this build only.
- **Build as ped pack…** opens [Build Ped Pack](/cloth-tool/about-the-tool/build-ped-pack), which builds peds on their own: several at once, with or without their clothes, in one resource or one per ped.
- Ped resources are built for GTA V Legacy only. A build that targets only `dlc.rpf` leaves them out and says so.
- Shop entries, hair hiding, high-heel raise and props work on the freemode peds only. For other peds the build leaves them out.

:::hint{type="info" title="On the free plan"}
Clothes for library peds need Premium. Without it they no longer block the build: they are left out with a notice, and the FiveM resource has your freemode items only.
:::

## Add-on or Replace

:::frame{caption="Replace: pick the DLC collection to overwrite."}
![The Build project window with Replace selected, the collection to overwrite and the list of what it replaces per slot](https://pub-57d6558d0e204696b4cdeee5d172e561.r2.dev/cloth-tool/features/replace-mode.ffe8026bf9.webp)
:::

| | **Add-on** | **Replace** |
| --- | --- | --- |
| What it does | Adds a new collection alongside the game's own. | Overwrites a real Rockstar DLC clothing collection that you pick by name. |
| Vanilla clothing | Untouched. | Every garment in that collection is replaced by yours, for every player. |
| Clothing scripts | Needs an add-on-aware clothing script. | Works with every clothing script; no add-on support needed. |
| Size | Up to 255 garments per slot per collection; bigger packs split automatically. | Room for a large pack. |
| Targets | FiveM, dlc.rpf or both. | FiveM only. |

### Replace options

With **Replace** selected:

- **Collection to overwrite** — pick the Rockstar collection. The male and female collection names shown beside it are what ends up in every file name and in any clothing script.
- **WHAT THIS REPLACES** — a table of the slots your pack fills, with how many garments Rockstar shipped there. That column is not an allowance: it is how many vanilla garments disappear. You may go past it, but doing so shifts the drawable numbers of every collection loaded after this one, which breaks players' saved outfits.
- **Spread across collections automatically** — overflow moves into the next collection when this one fills up.
- **Stay within the vanilla slot count** — caps each slot at what Rockstar shipped, so no later collection's numbers move, at the cost of needing more collections.
- **Write shop metadata** — also writes a shop meta file.

A project imported from a resource that replaced a Rockstar collection keeps building as a replace. You can switch it back in **Project settings** → **Output**.

## Automatic split

FiveM syncs at most 256 drawables per component in one collection, and a collection with exactly 256 is reported to read as empty. So an add-on build puts at most **255 garments per slot** in one collection. A pack with more is split automatically into extra resources: `my_pack`, `my_pack2`, `my_pack3`…, each with its own collection named the same way. The checks warn you before the build.

:::hint{type="warning" title="Install every resource"}
A split pack only works when **every** resource it writes is installed and started. One that is missed is a set of garments that does not exist in game.
:::

There is no limit on texture variations per slot in total; only 26 per garment (a to z). See [Limits](/cloth-tool/information-and-errors/limits).

## Texture variants with their own texture names

A texture variant's `.ytd` sometimes names its texture differently from what the model asks for, for example `diffuse_main_green` in a variant of a model that asks for `diffuse_main`. The game would ignore that texture and show the model's default instead. Since 2.0.9 the build writes the variant's texture under the model's name, so the game shows the variant you picked. The build report lists each texture it renamed this way.

If the model itself stores a texture under the shader's name, that one wins, in the build and in game, as it always has.

## What gets generated

A FiveM add-on build of a pack called `koja`:

```
koja/
├─ stream/
│  ├─ mp_m_freemode_01_koja/
│  │  └─ jbib/
│  │     ├─ mp_m_freemode_01_koja^jbib_000_u.ydd
│  │     ├─ mp_m_freemode_01_koja^jbib_diff_000_a_uni.ytd
│  │     └─ mp_m_freemode_01_koja^jbib_diff_000_b_uni.ytd
│  ├─ mp_m_freemode_01_koja.ymt
│  ├─ mp_creaturemetadata_koja.ymt
│  └─ ...
├─ mp_m_freemode_01_koja_shop.meta
├─ mp_f_freemode_01_koja_shop.meta
├─ pedalternatevariations.meta
├─ first_person_alternates.meta
└─ fxmanifest.lua
```

- **`stream/`** — every model and texture, renamed to the exact GTA naming (ped and collection name, slot, drawable number, texture letter). You never rename anything by hand. See [Naming](/cloth-tool/information-and-errors/naming). Loose `.png` and `.dds` textures are converted into real `.ytd` files.
- **`.ymt`** — registers each drawable and its textures. Without it the files stream but nothing shows in the clothing menu.
- **`*_shop.meta`** — one per gender; lists the items for shops and menus.
- **`mp_creaturemetadata_<collection>.ymt`** — the creature metadata (see below).
- **`pedalternatevariations.meta`** — swaps hair to its cut-down version under masks.
- **`first_person_alternates.meta`** — written empty.
- **`fxmanifest.lua`** — ready, with every meta registered and your project's author and version.

With **Advanced** opened in the build window:

- **Stream layout** — **Segregated** (a folder per component, as above) or **Flat** (everything in one `stream` folder). The game reads both the same way.
- **Skip the extra .ymt** — leaves `first_person_alternates.meta` out. Nothing changes in game.
- **Skip alternate variations** — leaves `pedalternatevariations.meta` out. Hair will poke through masks.
- **Write an info dump** — also writes `clothes_info.json` (see below).

A **dlc.rpf** build writes a `<name>_sp` folder with `dlc.rpf` (containing `content.xml` and `setup2.xml`) and a `README.txt` with install steps for a mods folder. It is Legacy only.

## Heels and hoodie hairs

**New in 2.0.8.** Every build includes the collection's creature metadata file. It is what makes an item's **High-heel offset** and **Hoodie hairs** settings, and hair squash under hats, actually work in game; before 2.0.8 these settings were written but nothing in the game read them. The build says when it adds the file. It counts as one more `.ymt` against the number a server can load, so on a server with many clothing packs it may be the one that does not fit.

:::frame{caption="Hoodie hairs and High-heel offset in the item editor."}
![The item editor with the Hoodie hairs and High-heel offset switches](https://pub-57d6558d0e204696b4cdeee5d172e561.r2.dev/cloth-tool/features/heels-and-hoodie-hairs.9ea425007a.webp)
:::

In a **Replace** build, heels and hair squash come from Rockstar's own creature metadata for that collection, which only covers as many items per slot as Rockstar shipped. An item past that point gets a warning: the effect will not apply to it. A build without shop meta also warns, because the shop meta is what points the game at the creature metadata.

## clothes_info.json

Tick **Write an info dump** to get `clothes_info.json`: every packed item with its collection, slot, **local index** inside that collection, authored drawable number and texture sources.

It lists the collection and local index, not a global index, on purpose. When the server's game build changes, Rockstar's new DLC collections load first and every add-on garment's global number shifts; the collection and local index stay the same. Scripts that store outfits as (collection, local index) and use FiveM's collection-based natives keep working across game build changes.

## Gender handling

Items are per gender: a male item builds under `mp_m_freemode_01` and a female item under `mp_f_freemode_01`. Right-click an item and choose **Create copy for other gender** to have it on both peds.

## Installing the result

1. Copy every built folder into your server's `resources` folder.
2. Add `ensure your_pack` to `server.cfg` (and `ensure your_pack2` and so on if the pack was split).
3. Restart the server.

## Free and Premium

Building is part of the free plan, including Enhanced, Replace, dlc.rpf and automatic splitting. The free plan includes **8 builds in total**; only successful builds count, and free builds need a linked Discord account (sign in from the profile menu). Premium builds without limit. When the free builds are used up, the build window says so. Builds started by an [AI assistant](/cloth-tool/about-the-tool/ai-assistants) count the same way.

Clothes for Ped Library peds, Build Ped Pack and the paid tools need Premium. On the free plan, clothes made for library peds are left out of the build with a notice instead of blocking it.

## Related pages

- [GTA V Enhanced](/cloth-tool/about-the-tool/gta-v-enhanced)
- [Build Ped Pack](/cloth-tool/about-the-tool/build-ped-pack)
- [Ped Library](/cloth-tool/about-the-tool/ped-library)
- [Validation](/cloth-tool/about-the-tool/validation)
- [Logs and Problems](/cloth-tool/about-the-tool/logs-and-problems)
- [Escrowed Resources](/cloth-tool/about-the-tool/escrowed-resources)
- [Shop Metadata](/cloth-tool/about-the-tool/shop-metadata)
- [Server Check](/cloth-tool/about-the-tool/server-check)
- [AI Assistants (MCP)](/cloth-tool/about-the-tool/ai-assistants)
- [Limits](/cloth-tool/information-and-errors/limits)
- [Naming](/cloth-tool/information-and-errors/naming)