FiveM peds: how outfits, male and female models and clothing work

What is a ped in FiveM?

Ped is short for pedestrian: any character model in the game. Your player is a ped, and so is every passer-by. FiveM sets a player's ped by its model name. The full list of models is in the FiveM ped models reference (opens in a new tab).

# Story and NPC peds: a fixed look, a small wardrobeplayer_zero            # Michael, one of the story characterss_m_y_cop_01           # a police officer
# Freemode peds: the GTA Online characters, with the big wardrobemp_m_freemode_01       # malemp_f_freemode_01       # female

The male and female freemode peds

The two freemode peds are separate models. Their clothing is separate too: every item exists for one of them. A top for the male ped is not in the female ped's files, and the number of items is different on each.

You can browse the clothing for each ped on the FiveM male clothing and FiveM female clothing pages. Each update's clothing also arrives under its own ped name, one for components and one for props. These are real names from the Alive catalogue:

# Clothing of the male freemode pedmp_m_freemode_01                              # the base gamemp_m_freemode_01_male_freemode_beach          # an older update's packmp_m_freemode_01_mp_m_executive_01            # a newer update's pack
# Props (hats, glasses, watches) live in their own pedmp_m_freemode_01_p                            # the base game's propsmp_m_freemode_01_p_male_freemode_beach        # an older update's props
# The female ped has its own set, with mp_f in place of mp_mmp_f_freemode_01mp_f_freemode_01_p

Because the counts change from one ped to the next, you never hardcode a maximum. You ask the game how many items a slot has, as in the How to add custom clothing to your FiveM server guide.

How an outfit is built: components, props, drawables and textures

An outfit is a list of choices, one per slot. A component is a slot on the body, a drawable is the item in it, a texture is its color and a palette is a tint. Props are the slots for hats, glasses and the like, with their own numbers.

local ped = PlayerPedId()
-- component = the slot, drawable = the item, texture = the color, palette = a tintSetPedComponentVariation(ped, 11, 12, 2, 0)   -- slot 11 (top): item 12, color 2
-- props use their own numbers, and -1 takes the prop offSetPedPropIndex(ped, 1, 5, 0, true)           -- slot 1 (glasses): item 5, color 0ClearPedProp(ped, 0)                          -- take the hat off

Servers save an outfit as exactly those numbers. This is what one looks like, with example values. Because they are only numbers, changing the order of packs can change what a saved outfit shows.

-- 1. The model first: changing it resets the whole look-- 2. The face: head blend, features, overlays (not clothing)-- 3. The clothes, with the top before its torso-- 4. The props

How the body parts stack

The game doesn't dress one body. It draws a set of pieces, one per slot, each made by an artist for a purpose. This is how they sit, from the body outward. It is a simplified map, to show who sits on whom.

from the body outward (roughly)
 8   undershirt          ← under the top 3   torso and arms      ← pairs with the top 11  top or jacket 9   body armor          ← over the top 7   neck items          ← around the collar 5   bag or parachute    ← on the back 10  decals              ← printed on the top
 and apart from those: 4   legs     6   shoes     2   hair     1   mask props: hats, glasses, ears, watches, bracelets

Why some clothing and body parts clip

Clothing clips when pieces that weren't made together overlap. Skin pokes through a sleeve, a vest sinks into a jacket, or a hat drives hair out of the top. These are the pairs that cause most of it, and each has a fix you can test.

These are common causes, not hard rules. Whether a pair clips depends on the exact items, so test the real combination.

Pick the matching torso for a top

To pick the matching torso for a top, set the torso that was made for that top. The v-besttorso (opens in a new tab) resource is a data set of exactly that: for a top's drawable and texture, it holds the best torso drawable and texture, and a value of -1 means the top has no data.

It is for freemode peds only, and it doesn't cover gloves or undershirts.

-- Example values only. Real data comes from a data set like v-besttorso.-- It is indexed by the top's drawable, then by its texture.local BEST_TORSO = {  [12] = { [0] = { drawable = 4, texture = 0 }, [2] = { drawable = 4, texture = 0 } },  [21] = { [0] = { drawable = 14, texture = 0 } },}
function SetTop(ped, drawable, texture)  SetPedComponentVariation(ped, 11, drawable, texture, 0)   -- the top first
  local best = BEST_TORSO[drawable] and BEST_TORSO[drawable][texture]  if best then                                              -- no data: leave the torso alone    SetPedComponentVariation(ped, 3, best.drawable, best.texture, 0)  endend

Always set the top first, then its torso. If a top has no data, leave the torso alone and test it by hand.

What this means when you make custom clothing

When you make custom clothing for FiveM, your item will be worn with pieces you didn't make. Before you ship a pack, run through the combinations players will pick: other torsos, undershirts, armor, bags, hair, hats and masks, on both the male and the female ped.

Need to make the clothes first? Read How to make custom clothing for FiveM.

Questions about FiveM peds and outfits

These answers cover why arms disappear with a new top, whether a male ped can wear female clothing, whether the game fixes clipping for you, why props live in a separate ped, and what the Wardrobe does in Alive Studio. Each answer is short and gives the fix or the rule.