# Keeping weapon packs light

> How weapon packs affect a FiveM server: first-join download size, texture memory per gun, _hi models, LODs, how many add-on weapons are reasonable.

Source: https://fam-tools.com/guides/fivem-weapon-pack-performance · FAM Tools · published 2026-09-11 · updated 2026-09-11 · about 9 min

**Short answer.** Each weapon costs download size once and memory whenever it is near the camera. Most of that is textures: keep main textures at 1K–2K in BC1/BC7 with mipmaps, make sure `+hi` dictionaries and `_hi` models are reasonable, give models LODs and sensible polycounts, and remove variants nobody uses. Audit by listing each weapon’s texture sizes and fixing the heaviest first.

## Key points

- Textures are most of a weapon’s cost.
- 1K–2K compressed textures are enough for weapons.
- `+hi` and `_hi` files count too.
- LODs matter when many players carry the same gun.
- Remove unused colour variants.

Weapon packs are small next to car packs, but they add up: fifty add-on guns with 4K textures can be hundreds of megabytes to download and a noticeable chunk of streaming memory in a firefight. A short audit usually halves the cost with no visible difference.

## Where the cost is

| Part | Typical weight | Fix |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 4K uncompressed textures | Tens of MB per weapon | Downscale and compress |
| `+hi.ytd` duplicates of the base textures | Doubles texture size | Keep `+hi` for real detail only |
| Heavy models without LODs | GPU cost in fights | Add LODs, reduce triangles |
| Colour variants of the same gun | Multiplies everything | Keep what you sell |

Memory numbers per texture size: [texture resolution](https://fam-tools.com/guides/fivem-weapon-texture-resolution).

## Auditing a pack

1. Sort the pack’s stream files by size.
2. Open the largest `.ytd` files in CodeWalker and note resolution and format.
3. Check oversized-asset warnings in the server console.
4. Fix the top ten weapons first — see [editing YTDs](https://fam-tools.com/guides/codewalker-ytd-editing) and [DDS formats](https://fam-tools.com/guides/fivem-dds-texture-formats-dxt-bc7).
5. Re-measure the pack size and warnings.

## How many add-on weapons?

The number matters less than their weight. Fifty well-optimised weapons can cost less than ten unoptimised ones. Keep the catalogue to what your economy uses, and prefer retextures of vanilla models (small, no new geometry) for variety — see [replace vs add-on](https://fam-tools.com/guides/fivem-replace-vs-addon-weapons).

## Models

Polycount and LODs: [polycount optimisation](https://fam-tools.com/guides/fivem-weapon-polycount-optimization) and [LOD models](https://fam-tools.com/guides/fivem-weapon-lod-models). Server-wide asset budgets: [texture loss explained](https://fam-tools.com/guides/fivem-texture-budget-streaming-memory).

## Questions

### Do weapon packs cause lag in FiveM?

Heavy ones can — mostly through large textures that fill streaming memory and slow first joins.

### What texture size should weapons use?

1K–2K, compressed with mipmaps. 4K is rarely visible on a weapon.

### What are +hi and _hi files?

High-detail textures and models used up close; they add size and should be reasonable too.

### How do I make a weapon pack smaller?

Downscale and compress textures, remove unused variants and add LODs.

## Related

- https://fam-tools.com/guides/fivem-weapon-texture-resolution
- https://fam-tools.com/guides/fivem-weapon-polycount-optimization
- https://fam-tools.com/guides/fivem-weapon-lod-models
- https://fam-tools.com/guides/codewalker-ytd-editing