Optimising FiveM Lua scripts

Most slow FiveM scripts are not slow because Lua is slow. They are slow because they do work every frame that only needed doing once a second — or never. A handful of patterns fixes the majority of resmon numbers you will see.

-- before: 0.10+ ms, runs every frame everywhere
CreateThread(function()
    while true do
        Wait(0)
        if #(GetEntityCoords(PlayerPedId()) - SHOP) < 2.0 then
            DrawText3D(SHOP, '[E] Shop')
        end
    end
end)

-- after: ~0.00 ms away from the shop
CreateThread(function()
    while true do
        local sleep = 1000
        local dist = #(GetEntityCoords(cache.ped) - SHOP)
        if dist < 20.0 then sleep = 250 end
        if dist < 2.0 then
            sleep = 0
            DrawText3D(SHOP, '[E] Shop')
        end
        Wait(sleep)
    end
end)

Better still, use ox_lib points or zones, which do this bookkeeping for you — see zones. Thread basics: threads and Wait.

• React to gameEventTriggered, framework job updates or state bag changes instead of checking every second.
• Push data from the server when it changes instead of asking for it in a loop.
• Use state bag change handlers for synced values — see state bags.

• Loops over all players every tick → every few seconds, spread across ticks.
• Await database queries without blocking other work; add indexes — see database design.
• Avoid huge JSON encodes on every save.
• Hitches in the console point to long ticks — see profiler.

Open resmon 1 on the client and watch your resource while idle and while active. Aim for 0.00–0.02 ms idle. For server-side and deeper analysis, record with the profiler. Details: resmon explained.