GTA V Asset Preview

Preview Grand Theft Auto V resource files directly in VS Code:

Everything is implemented in TypeScript (RSC7 decompression, drawable/meta parsing, DXT/BC texture decoding), so there are no native binaries or external tools like CodeWalker. It works the same on Windows, macOS, Linux, Remote/WSL, and in vscode.dev.

Install

• VS Code: search for "GTA V Asset Preview" in the Extensions view, or install ncss-ltd.gta-v-asset-preview from the Marketplace.
• Cursor, VSCodium, Windsurf and other forks: install it from Open VSX.
• Manually: download the .vsix from the releases page, then use Extensions → ··· → Install from VSIX….

Usage

Open any .ydr, .ydd, .yft, .ytyp, .ymap, .ymt, .ybn or .ytd file. The preview opens automatically.

• Orbit: left-drag. Pan: right-drag or shift-drag. Zoom: scroll.
• Cut slider: hides everything above a height, which helps when looking into interiors.
• External textures: models usually reference textures stored in a separate .ytd. The preview searches the workspace for them, starting with the dictionary named by the archetype, then the nearest .ytd files. In the sidebar, green means the texture was found, red means it wasn't.
• Interiors (MLO): every entity is placed using the .ydr/.ydd files found in the workspace. Base-game models that aren't in your workspace are shown as grey boxes. Click an entity (or pick one from the room list) to inspect it. You can toggle entity sets, portals and room bounds.
• Maps: .ymap entities are loaded the same way as interiors. Their archetype definitions (drawable dictionary, MLO layout) come from any .ytyp in the workspace, so interiors placed by a map are expanded in place. LOD entities are hidden by default; toggle LOD entities to see them.
• Collision: .ybn files and collision embedded in drawables (the Collision toggle) are coloured by material. Click a surface to see its material. Material names follow the standard materials.dat order; the numeric index is shown alongside for cross-checking.
• Ped clothing (.ymt): lists every component (masks, torsos, legs, tops, ...) and prop (hats, glasses, watches, ...) with its texture variations, using the files next to the .ymt (streamed ped^jbib_000_u.ydd or plain jbib_000_u.ydd names). Pick a drawable to see its model with the selected variation's texture applied; dots show whether each model file exists. Encrypted (escrow) models still show their texture variations.
• Replacing and exporting textures: click any texture (sidebar thumbnail, shader texture name, .ytd card, or a .ymt variation via double-click) to open the viewer:
  • Replace… picks a PNG/JPG/WebP/BMP/DDS and previews it on the model straight away. Nothing is written yet.
  • Size, Format and Mips pick the resolution, compression and number of mipmap levels to save with (they also work on their own, to rescale or convert the existing texture, or add/remove mipmaps). Formats: DXT1/3/5, BC4, BC5, A8R8G8B8, A8B8G8R8, X8R8G8B8, L8 and A8. The preview shows the real compression result, and the viewer shows the resulting data size.
    • In a .ytd, anything goes: when the new data doesn't fit, the .ytd is rebuilt with a fresh page layout.
    • Embedded in a .ydr/.ydd/.yft, the new data must fit in the texture's existing space (e.g. DXT5 → DXT1, or DXT1 → DXT5 at half size). Sizes that won't fit are greyed out.
    • Replacing with a .dds whose format and size match keeps its data as-is, including its own mipmaps (no re-encoding). This is also the way to store BC7: replace with a BC7 .dds.
    • BC7 textures can be converted to another format.
  • Save to file writes it into the file the texture actually lives in (the .ytd, or the .ydr/.ydd/.yft that embeds it), after confirmation. The image is re-encoded in the texture's current format (DXT1/3/5, BC4/5 or uncompressed) with a full mip chain. The first time a file is changed, the original is kept next to it as <file>.bak.
  • Revert discards an unsaved change. Export PNG / Export DDS save the texture: DDS exports the exact original data, or, when you've changed size/format/mips, a DDS encoded with those settings.
• Converting images to DDS: right-click one or more PNG/JPG/WebP/BMP/GIF/DDS files in the Explorer and choose Convert to DDS… (or run GTA V: Convert to DDS… from the command palette). Pick the format (DXT1, DXT5, ...), mipmaps (full chain, down to 4×4, or none) and size (original, nearest power of two, or a maximum), check the preview, and convert. Each .dds is written next to its source image.
• XML files: .ytyp/.ymap/.ymt files saved as XML show their text with an Open as text button.
• The preview reloads automatically when the file changes on disk (for example when you re-export from Sollumz).

Workspace tools (GTA V sidebar)

Open the GTA V view in the activity bar:

• Assets lists every resource's models, texture dictionaries, archetypes, maps, collisions and ped files, with memory use, expandable to their contents (textures, the textures a model uses and where each comes from, archetypes, placed props). Find Asset… (search icon) searches files, textures and archetypes by name. Find Usages (right-click, or the inline icon) answers "which models use this texture?", "which maps place this archetype?", "where is this texture defined?".
• Resource Health (Check Resources) scans the workspace and reports in the Problems panel:
  • oversized assets — files over 16 MiB of physical or virtual memory, with the same 16/32/48 MiB levels FiveM warns at, naming the biggest textures;
  • missing textures that aren't embedded or in any .ytd (info only, base-game textures are expected);
  • archetypes with no model file, and maps placing interiors that aren't defined anywhere;
  • streamed .ytyp files missing from data_file 'DLC_ITYP_REQUEST' in fxmanifest.lua (with the line to add), and map resources without this_is_a_map 'yes';
  • name clashes (the same file streamed by more than one resource), escrow-encrypted and unreadable files;
  • texture hints: no mipmaps, uncompressed or very large textures.
• Optimize Textures… (also on folders and .ytd files in the Explorer) caps texture sizes, adds missing mipmaps and compresses uncompressed textures across a resource or the whole workspace. It lists every change with the exact memory saving before you apply it; halving reuses existing mipmaps (lossless), and each .ytd is rebuilt so its streaming memory actually shrinks. Originals are kept as .bak.

Settings

Limitations

• FiveM escrow (FXAP) files are encrypted and can't be previewed. The editor says so when you open one.
• Gen9 / Enhanced-edition (RSC8) resources and PSO-format (binary PSIN) .ymt files aren't supported yet.
• Textures embedded in .ydr/.ydd/.yft can't grow beyond their current data size; move them to a .ytd for that. Encoding to BC7 or 16-bit formats isn't supported (BC7 can be stored from a BC7 .dds). Power-of-two sizes are the safest choice for the game.
• .yft: fragment physics (per-part collision, breakable children) isn't shown. Vehicle paint is drawn as neutral grey and shared vehicle textures (vehshare.ytd) are base-game files, so they're usually missing.
• Only the diffuse texture is used for shading. Normal and specular maps are listed and viewable but not rendered.
• Base-game names that aren't present as files nearby show as hash_XXXXXXXX, and base-game models show as boxes.
• .ymap grass instances, occluders and LOD lights are counted but not drawn.
• BC7 textures are decoded on the GPU, so they need a GPU/driver that supports EXT_texture_compression_bptc.

Development

npm install
npm run build        # or: npm run watch

Press F5 in VS Code to launch an Extension Development Host ("Run Extension").

Other tools:

• npm run inspect -- path/to/file.ydr [-v] prints what the parsers see (models, shaders, textures, archetypes).
• npm run harness -- <folder-with-assets> serves the real webview and extension-host code in a normal browser (with a stubbed vscode module) at http://localhost:5178. This makes UI work fast to iterate on.
• npm run hosttest -- path/to/file.ytyp runs the real extension-host code under Node (with a stubbed vscode module) and reports what it would send to the webview: texture search results, MLO models found, etc.
• npm run test:vscode -- <folder> [path-to-vscode-executable] runs an end-to-end check inside a real VS Code (activation, commands, health check diagnostics, editors and panels) against a folder of assets.
• npm run package builds a .vsix.

Releasing

Bump version in package.json, add a CHANGELOG.md entry, commit, then push a tag (git tag v1.2.3 && git push origin v1.2.3). The release workflow builds the .vsix, attaches it to a GitHub release, and publishes it to the Marketplace and Open VSX when the VSCE_PAT / OVSX_PAT repository secrets are set.

Layout

src/formats/    Pure parsers (no VS Code / DOM deps): rsc7, reader, drawable, textures, bounds, meta, ytyp, ymap, ytd, hash
src/host/       Extension host: custom editor provider, workspace asset index (texture/model lookup)
src/webview/    three.js viewer and UI (model panel, ytd gallery, ytyp/MLO views)
src/shared/     Message and data types shared by host and webview
tools/          CLI inspector and browser harness

License

Copyright (c) 2026 Martin J Nelson III.

This project is free and open-source software, licensed under the GNU General Public License v3.0 (GPL-3.0-only). In short: you can use, study, modify and share it. If you distribute it, or a modified version, you must make the full source code available under the same license and keep the copyright and license notices.

Bundled third-party libraries (three.js, fflate) keep their own MIT licenses, which are compatible with the GPL; see THIRD_PARTY_NOTICES.md.

Disclaimer

This is an unofficial, fan-made tool. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or associated with Rockstar Games or Take-Two Interactive. Grand Theft Auto and GTA are trademarks of Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. No game assets are included in this repository or the extension; it only reads files you already have.

The file-format knowledge used here comes from the modding community's public reverse-engineering work, notably CodeWalker and Sollumz. All code in this repository was written independently.