How to clear FiveM cache on PC and server

On a player’s PC, close FiveM and delete the server-cache and server-cache-priv folders in %localappdata%\FiveM\FiveM.app\data, and keep game-storage, which holds the GTA V data FiveM downloaded. On the server, stop it and delete the cache folder in the server data folder. The steps are the same on ESX, QBCore and Qbox, because the cache belongs to FiveM, not to the framework.

Clear the server first. A player who clears their cache while the server still has old files downloads the old files again.

When a cache clear helps

• You replaced a script’s or an asset’s files and restarted the server, and players still see the old screen, texture or model.
• After a script update, the console prints Syntax error near '<\1>' or attempt to call a nil value (field 'x'). Our common problems page traces these to a wrong Config.Framework, missing files, or an update where some files changed and others did not. Once every file is in place, one of its fixes is to clear both the server cache and the client cache.
• A crash on launch or the Game data outdated message is not a cache problem. Cfx.re’s fixes for those are in “If it still fails”.

Before you start

• Every changed file is on the server. Replace the files the update changed and add the ones it added. An escrowed script also needs its .fxap file and its hidden files, or the server prints Failed to verify protected resource (what that error means). Replacing a script’s files step by step: installing FiveM scripts.
• Keybinds are safe. FiveM keeps keybinds in fivem.cfg, and data that scripts save with its key-value storage in the kvs folder. Both are in %appdata%\CitizenFX, which these steps never open.
• This is not an FXServer update. Updating the server build is its own job: update FiveM server artifacts.

Which folders to delete

Every folder here sits in %localappdata%\FiveM\FiveM.app\data, the default install. On a PC where FiveM was installed elsewhere, open the FiveM.app\data folder of that install.

Leave every folder outside data alone: citizen and bin are FiveM itself, and plugins and mods hold add-on files. FiveM’s client source stores game data in data\game-storage and moves an old cache\game folder there. Older installs may also have cache\game or server-cache\game; leave those two alone.

Clear the server cache

1. Stop the server: from the txAdmin dashboard, or on a plain install by closing FXServer.
2. Find the server data folder. In txAdmin, open Settings, then the FXServer tab: the “Server Data Folder” field holds the path of the folder that contains resources. A txAdmin recipe install puts it inside the txData folder, in a folder whose name ends in .base. On a plain install it is the folder you start FXServer from, server-data in Cfx.re’s setup guide.
3. In that folder, rename cache to cache-old. Leave resources, server.cfg, db and every other folder as they are. The cache\files folder holds packed copies of each started resource, such as cache\files\tk_policejob\resource.rpf.
4. Start the server. FXServer writes the cache again as each resource starts.
5. Once the server runs without errors, delete cache-old. If the server fails to start, stop it, delete the rebuilt cache and rename cache-old back to cache.

Clear the cache on a player’s PC

Server owners can post these steps in Discord after an update.

1. Close FiveM. In Task Manager, end FiveM.exe and every process whose name starts with FiveM_.
2. Press the Windows key and R, enter %localappdata%\FiveM\FiveM.app\data and select OK. The folder from the table opens.
3. Delete server-cache and server-cache-priv. Do not delete game-storage.
4. Start FiveM and join the server. The first join takes longer while FiveM downloads the server’s files again.
5. If a script screen still shows the old version, close FiveM again, delete nui-storage as well and start FiveM. This deletes everything FiveM’s in-game browser stored, including what script screens saved.

Check it works

• Server: cache\files holds a folder for each started resource again, and the console shows no error for the updated script.
• Player PC: server-cache-priv fills again during the first join, and the updated screen, texture or model shows in game.

If it still fails

• Windows says a folder is in use: FiveM is still running. End FiveM.exe and the FiveM_ processes in Task Manager, then delete the folders again.
• Opening database (privcache:/) failed: IO error: Could not lock file: Cfx.re’s article puts this on a stuck process or an antivirus holding a file. Restart the PC. If it repeats, open Resource Monitor (resmon), search the handles on the CPU tab for server-cache-priv, and end the process holding it unless it is named like FiveM_b[GameBuild]_GTAProcess.exe.
• Game data outdated: FiveM needs to update the local game data.: delete nothing. Cfx.re’s fix is to select “Yes”, let FiveM update its game data and restart it. If the message returns, the IVPATH= line in CitizenFX.ini, in %localappdata%\FiveM\FiveM.app, must point to the GTA V folder.
• GTA5_bXXXX.exe!_runReaderThreadTick crash: Cfx.re’s article says verifying the GTA V game files fixes most cases, not a cache clear.
• The old version shows after both clears: an old file is still on the server. Compare the resource folder with the download and copy every changed file again. Our docs suggest WinSCP instead of FileZilla for the upload.
• Furniture thumbnails or interior photos in our Housing System V3 & Shell Creator look old after a cache clear. The script keeps these images itself, on the server and in each player’s game, so a FiveM cache clear leaves the server’s copy in place. An admin runs /housing_clearthumbnails in game, or housing_clearthumbnails in the server console. The images clear for the server and every connected player and render again. Config.Commands.clearThumbnails in config/config.lua sets the command name.