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Debugging Resources

Techniques and tools for debugging FiveM resources.

Console Output​

Use print() for basic debugging:

print('Debug message')
print('Player health: ' .. GetEntityHealth(PlayerPedId()))

View console output:

  • Client: Press ~ in-game (backtick key)
  • Server: Look at the server console window

Debug Convars​

Enable debug logging:

-- In server.cfg
set debug_mode true

-- Access in Lua
if GetConvar('debug_mode', 'false') == 'true' then
    print('Debug mode enabled!')
end

Common Debugging Methods​

Checking Conditions​

local playerPed = PlayerPedId()
if playerPed == 0 then
    print("Error: Invalid player ped!")
    return
end

Logging Table Data​

local function logTable(t, indent)
    indent = indent or 0
    for key, value in pairs(t) do
        local formatting = string.rep("  ", indent) .. key .. ": "
        if type(value) == 'table' then
            print(formatting)
            logTable(value, indent + 1)
        else
            print(formatting .. tostring(value))
        end
    end
end

logTable(Config)

Event Debugging​

-- Debug all events
AddEventHandler('__cfx_internal:serverErrorEvent', function(data)
    print('Server Error:', data)
end)

Performance Profiling​

Check resource performance:

# In console
profiler record my-resource 10000  -- Profile for 10 seconds
profiler dump

Error Handling​

Wrap code in error handlers:

local function safeCall(func, ...)
    local success, result = pcall(func, ...)
    if not success then
        print('Error: ' .. result)
        return nil
    end
    return result
end

safeCall(function()
    -- Your code here
end)

Testing Resource​

Always test your resource:

  1. Use a local development server
  2. Test with multiple players if possible
  3. Check console for errors
  4. Monitor performance
  5. Test edge cases and error conditions

VSCode Debugging​

Install the FiveM extension for VSCode to get better debugging support and syntax highlighting.