· 6 min read
Building FiveM servers that don’t lag when they fill up
What I learned building 5M Market and Ruin Roleplay II Asia: keep the server loop light, send less data, and never trust the client.
Ather IftikharTechnical Director
Running Ruin Roleplay II Asia and building resources for 5M Market means thinking about performance all the time. A server that feels fine with 20 players can fall apart at 200.
Keep the server loop light
Loops that run constantly and database calls that wait for an answer will freeze the main thread. I profile every resource and move slow work to background tasks.
Send less, more often
Only send updates to the players who need them. Scoping events this way saves a lot of bandwidth when the server is full.
Never trust the client
Money, inventory and permissions are always checked on the server. If the client could change it, a cheater eventually will.
Need a server built or fixed? Tell me what you’re working on.
Written by Ather Iftikhar. I’m a Technical Director who builds and looks after servers, software, stores and live broadcasts for clients worldwide.