The weapon does not load at all

#1. The resource is not actually started

Check the server console at boot rather than trusting server.cfg. A resource that is listed but failed to start says so on the way up, and that message scrolls past quickly. If the folder name contains a character the resource loader dislikes — a space, a capital in the wrong place, a bracket that is not part of a category folder — it will be skipped quietly.

ensure my_weapon_pack

#2. The manifest does not declare the files

Streaming is opt-in. A .ydr sitting in a folder does nothing until the manifest says it is a stream asset. The usual mistake is declaring the folder but not the weapon metadata, so the model streams but the game has no weapon to attach it to.

fx_version 'cerulean'
game 'gta5'

files {
    'weapons.meta',
    'weaponarchetypes.meta',
}

data_file 'WEAPONINFO_FILE' 'weapons.meta'
data_file 'WEAPON_METADATA_FILE' 'weaponarchetypes.meta'

this_is_a_map 'yes'

#3. Something else already owns that name

Two resources cannot stream two different files with the same asset name. If another pack already streams w_pi_pistol.ydr, whichever loads last wins and the other silently does nothing. This is the cause behind most reports of a weapon that worked yesterday and stopped when an unrelated resource was added.

Rename the asset and the entries that point at it, or remove the pack that collides. There is no way to have both under one name.

#4. Load order

Weapon metadata has to be in place before the framework tries to register items against it. If your inventory starts before the weapon resource, the item exists but points at nothing. Starting the weapon pack earlier in server.cfg fixes it, and a category folder makes that ordering explicit rather than accidental.