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, .ytd, .ycd or .yld 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.
• Managing texture dictionaries (.ytd):
  • Add Textures… (toolbar) picks one or more images (PNG/JPG/WebP/BMP/GIF/DDS). Name each one and choose its format (DXT1 for opaque images, DXT5 with transparency by default; a .dds can be kept exactly as it is), whether to resize to powers of two and whether to generate mipmaps. A new texture with an existing name replaces it.
  • Delete Textures… (toolbar) lets you tick textures and delete them together.
  • Rename… and Delete in the texture viewer act on a single texture. Models find textures by name, so update any model that uses a renamed texture.
  • Every change is confirmed first, the .ytd is rebuilt (entries sorted by name hash, as the game expects; new textures copy their structure from an existing texture in the file), and the original is kept as <file>.bak.
• 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.
• Animations (.ycd): pick a clip and play, pause, step frame by frame (or Space / ← →) and scrub; change the speed, loop, and toggle Root motion to see the character move through the scene.
  • Ped animations (emotes, scenarios, cutscene parts) play on a built-in GTA V ped skeleton drawn as a stick figure (body and fingers), so no ped model is needed.
  • Vehicle and prop animations (convertible roofs, doors, va_<vehicle>.ycd, prop clips) play on the model itself when it's next to the .ycd (or named by va_<model>.ycd): each part follows its bone.
  • The sidebar shows the clip's time range, frames, track types, events (tags with their times) and the animated bones by name.
• Cloth physics (.yld): clothing that moves in game (skirts, coats, bandanas, capes) has a cloth dictionary next to its model (…^accs_000_u.ydd + …^accs_000_u.yld). The preview shows the simulated cloth mesh with pinned vertices (attached to the body) and free ones (simulated) in different colours, its links, the clothing model with its first texture variation, and the body collision shapes the cloth reacts to, placed on a faint reference ped. The sidebar lists vertex/triangle/link counts, the bone the cloth is pinned to and the collision shapes per bone. In a .ymt, drawables with cloth are marked and have an Open cloth button.
• Vehicle liveries (.yft): vehicles whose paint shaders carry a livery get a Livery section in the sidebar.
  • Switch between the vehicle's liveries (<name>_sign_1, _sign_2, … in its .ytd) and see each on the model, drawn over the paint. Pick the colour of each paint shader (vehicle_paint1 is usually the primary colour, paint2 the secondary, paint3 the livery's base).
  • + Image… / + Text place a logo, picture, number or name on the bodywork: click where it goes, then drag it around on the model. Shift + scroll resizes and Alt + scroll rotates it, as do the sliders, along with opacity and depth. Both sides paints a mirrored copy on the other side that still reads the right way round. If a decal can't show (the part has no space on the livery texture), the editor says so.
  • Symmetry (on by default) gives every new decal Both sides; switching it changes all of the livery's decals. A mirrored decal dragged near the centreline snaps onto it, as one decal across the middle (hold Alt to stop it).
  • Faster ways in: drop an image file on the model to put it right there (in VS Code, hold Shift while dropping), or paste an image (Ctrl/Cmd + V) and click where it goes.
  • Keys: Ctrl/Cmd + Z / Ctrl/Cmd + Shift + Z undo and redo decal changes, Delete removes the selected decal, Ctrl/Cmd + D duplicates it, Esc cancels placing, Ctrl/Cmd + S saves.
  • View Left / Right / Front / Back / Top points the camera straight at a side, and Hold to compare shows the livery as saved while you hold it.
  • Design… opens the vector livery designer (see Mod-kit liveries below for what it can do) docked beside the model, over the livery's own UV layout: the model updates as you draw. Save with Save to <name>.ytd; the editable design is kept as designs/<texture>.livery.json in the resource (outside stream/) and reopens next time.
  • Edit in image app saves the livery (with its decals) as a PNG, opens it in your default image editor and follows it: every time you save it there, the model updates here. Follow image… does the same with an image you already have.
  • UV template… exports a PNG showing where each panel of the bodywork falls on the texture, over the current livery or on its own, to paint over.
  • + New livery adds the next numbered livery to the .ytd (blank or as a copy of the current one, at the size you choose). Delete removes one and renumbers the later ones so the game still finds them all. Either way, the per-colour livery lists in the vehicle's carvariations.meta are kept in step. Only the files the resource's fxmanifest.lua declares as VEHICLE_VARIATION_FILE are changed, so backups are left alone. A new livery isn't added to colour combinations that pick specific liveries, empty lists are left alone, and when other livery textures on the vehicle share the deleted number the file isn't touched.
  • Save to <name>.ytd writes the livery into its dictionary (DXT5 with a full mip chain unless it was already in another format with alpha), after confirmation, keeping a .bak. Liveries found in another vehicle's .ytd are flagged, since the game only looks in the vehicle's own dictionary (or its parents).
• Mod-kit liveries (GTA V: New Mod-Kit Livery…, also on .yft and carcols.meta files in the Explorer, and on the message shown when you open an escrow-protected vehicle): for vehicles whose liveries are separate models (VMT_LIVERY_MOD parts in a carcols.meta kit), including escrow-protected packs whose creators publish livery templates (for example ONX's blank livery .yft and per-vehicle UV template PNGs).
  • Pick the vehicle (its kit, from the workspace's carcols.meta / carvariations.meta) and the template livery model, then design the livery in the built-in vector designer, over (or under) the vehicle's UV template:
    • Tools: select, rectangle, ellipse, star/polygon, line, pen (Bézier curves, with point editing), brush (smoothed vector strokes) and text, plus images (logos, badges; or a file that updates each time you save it in your image app).
    • Text: any installed font (read from the system's font folders; the picker shows each in its own typeface, with search) or a .ttf/.otf/.woff you add (it's stored in the design); weight, italic, letter spacing, line height, alignment, stretch, text on an arc, and text along any path you draw (select the text and the path, Put text on path; reshape the path afterwards, set where the text starts, or flip it to the other side).
    • Fills: solid colours with opacity, linear and radial gradients, checker (Battenburg) and stripes; outlines (width, corners, ends, dashes, behind the fill) and drop shadows.
    • Layers: reorder by dragging, show/hide, lock, rename, opacity, blend modes, clipping to the layer below (stripes inside a shape), and groups (Ctrl/⌘ G; Ctrl/⌘ Shift G to ungroup). Several layers or a group can be resized and rotated together. Snapping to the canvas centre and other layers, align tools, flip and mirrored copies, undo/redo, copy/paste and keyboard shortcuts.
    • Mirrors (M): drag a box around one piece of the template (a side, half a bumper) and whatever you draw there is copied onto its matching piece. With a template, the matching piece is found for you; the mirror line can sit at any angle. Because UV layouts are rarely exact mirror images, a pink alignment ghost shows the piece's template lines where the copy lands (with how far off they are), Auto-fit lines it up, and pins fix the rest: click a point on the source piece and drag its pink ◆ onto the matching point (1–2 pins move, rotate and scale; 3 also stretch and skew; 4 or more bend the copy to fit every pin). Text and logos stay readable on the other side; each layer can be set to Mirrored, Kept readable or This side only.
    • The design is kept editable as designs/<name>.livery.json next to the livery (and as a draft while you work), so Edit reopens it as layers. Export PNG… and Save/Open design… are in the settings.
  • Create livery writes a copy of the template with your artwork as its texture (DXT5 with mipmaps, any size) to stream/<name>.yft in a resource of its own (with fxmanifest.lua and liveries.lua, which names it in game with AddTextEntry), and adds a VMT_LIVERY_MOD entry to the kit, copied from the vehicle's own liveries. Then it switches to Update, so further changes rewrite the same model (keeping a .bak).
  • Nothing escrow-protected is read or decrypted: only the creator's unencrypted templates and meta files.
• 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).

Clothing packs (addon clothing for FiveM)

Build addon clothing for the freemode peds (mp_m_freemode_01 / mp_f_freemode_01) from VS Code, in the same resource layout as grzyClothTool:

• GTA V: New Clothing Pack… (command palette or right-click a folder) creates a <name>.clothpack.json project and opens it in the pack editor. Import Clothing Resource as Pack… turns an existing addon resource (its .ymt files and stream folder) into a project that points at its files.
• + Male / + Female add models (.ydd). The slot (component or prop), gender, skin flag, texture variations (…_diff_000_a….ytd next to the model) and cloth physics (.yld) are detected from file names; anything can be changed afterwards. If a gender or slot can't be detected, or a model is already in the pack, a dialog asks before adding (set them per file or in bulk; duplicates are left out by default).
• The list groups drawables by gender and slot. Drag rows to reorder (the order is the drawable number); Ctrl/Cmd-click or Shift-click to select several and change their gender or slot, set/clear Has skin, sort them by name or remove them together. Delete removes the selection; edits are normal document edits, so Undo/Redo work.
• Selecting a drawable previews it in 3D with its texture variations, and shows its properties: name, gender, slot, order, Has skin, audio, flags (helmet, bulky, hide in first person…), the model, a first-person alternate model, the cloth file and the texture list (add, reorder, remove). Per slot:
  • Shoes: High heels with the heel amount (written to the .ymt and the creature metadata).
  • Hats: Hair scale (squashes the hair underneath), and for every prop a render flag (alpha, decal, cutout).
  • Masks: Hides hair: hairs switch to their alternate model while the mask is worn.
  • Hair: Hair alternate under masks (on by default), for base-game masks.
  • Reserved: a placeholder keeps a drawable number taken (with no selection, use Reserve in the pack summary to add one).
• Outfit preview: select several drawables (Ctrl/Cmd-click) to see them together on the ped; hats, glasses and other head props sit on the head (approximate placement). Add optional body models per gender in the pack summary (Preview body, e.g. base freemode head/torso/legs exported as .ydd + .ytd) to dress them. Shoes with high heels show an orange floor where the heel must reach (amount ÷ 10 m below the ground, as in grzyClothTool); hats with hair scale squash the hair underneath (approximate).
• Groups and tags: give drawables a group and tags; the list can be grouped By slot or By group, and the filter box matches names, tags and groups.
• Duplicates… lists identical models in the same slot (and texture files shared between drawables) with Show, Remove, Keep first, remove others and Remove all duplicate models.
• Embedded textures: a selected drawable lists the textures inside its model; Replace… swaps one for an image at build time (the replacement is saved as a .dds in <pack>_assets/).
• Check reports missing or encrypted files, high poly counts (over 20,000 triangles), textures over 2048 px, uncompressed or mipmap-less textures, files over FiveM's 16 MiB warning, more than 26 textures (a–z), duplicate models and slots that need splitting. Problems are marked in the list and shown on each drawable.
• Optimise textures… opens the texture optimiser for the pack's .ytd files.
• Build writes a ready-to-stream FiveM resource to the output folder: fxmanifest.lua, the shop meta per ped, the ped variation .ymt, creature metadata (heels / hair scale), pedalternativevariations (hair and masks), first_person_alternates, and every model/texture/cloth file renamed into stream/[male|female]/<slot>/. Slots with more drawables than the Split at size (default 256) are split into numbered collections (name_01, name_02…). With Optimise textures while building on, copies of the textures are resized, given mipmaps and compressed as they are written (your source files are not changed); Also textures inside models does the same for embedded textures, which makes the model file smaller but doesn't reduce its streaming memory (they're rewritten in place).
• Projects are plain JSON, so they diff and merge well in git. Import reads existing resources back, including audio, flags, heels, hair scale, render flags, first-person models and masks that hide hair.

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 be replaced at any size; if a model's data isn't laid out as expected the editor refuses rather than risk breaking it. 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 a flat colour (no metallic flakes or pearlescent), and shared vehicle textures (vehshare.ytd) are base-game files, so they're usually missing.
• Liveries: mod-kit liveries are designed flat (over the creator's UV template) and not previewed on the vehicle in 3D (escrow-protected vehicles can't be shown, and how the game maps a livery model's texture onto an unprotected vehicle isn't documented), and they aren't switched in the livery section. A new mod-kit livery keeps the template's internal name (the game finds streamed models by file name). Decals are baked into the texture when saved, so they can't be moved afterwards.
• 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.
• Animations: ped clips use a stick figure rather than a ped model; facial and helper bones aren't drawn. On models, rigid parts follow their bones but skinned meshes stay in their rest pose. Clips built from animation lists play the first animation; UV and other non-bone tracks are listed but not shown. Encrypted models can't be animated.
• Clothing packs build FiveM resources only (not alt:V or singleplayer DLC packs).
• Cloth: the preview shows the cloth at rest; it doesn't run the physics simulation. Collision shapes are placed on a standing reference pose, so their positions are approximate.
• 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, ycd, yld, 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.