Free hardening: server.cfg settings that stop cheaters in their tracks

An anticheat is an extra lock on the door, but plenty of servers leave the door itself wide open. FiveM ships with a set of built-in convars and commands that shut down the best-known abuse routes: explosions, ped spam, flying cars and siren spam.

Forum user wjuton collected them in 2023 in a guide that has since been viewed more than 17,000 times. We walk through them, with the caveats you need to know.

1. Turn off networked sounds

sv_enableNetworkedSounds false

Stops sound spam that gets broadcast to everyone over the network. Most legitimate scripts use NUI for audio, so the impact is small.

2. Filter control requests

# -1 default (behaves like 2), 0 off … 4 = never route REQUEST_CONTROL_EVENT
sv_filterRequestControl 4

This stops a client from simply taking over other players’ entities: the classic trick where every car flies off or vanishes.

3. Entity lockdown

sv_entityLockdown relaxed   # block only entities created by client scripts
# sv_entityLockdown strict  # block all client-side entities

Powerful, but also the setting most likely to break scripts. Start with relaxed and see what falls over.

4. Networked script entity states

sv_enableNetworkedScriptEntityStates false

Blocks specific state changes, such as exclusive drivers, that cheaters set on other players’ entities.

5. Sanitisation convars

setr game_sanitizeRagdollEvents true
setr game_sanitizePlayerAttachment 2

Blocks forced ragdolls and vehicles or objects being attached to players.

6. Vehicle hijack fix (at a price)

setr game_enableVehicleHijackFix true

Prevents hijack cheats, but also disables stealing a car with a driver inside (F at the door). For some RP servers that’s a dealbreaker.

7. Block abused game events

block_net_game_event "GIVE_PICKUP_REWARDS_EVENT"
block_net_game_event "NETWORK_GIVE_PICKUP_REWARDS_EVENT"
block_net_game_event "REMOVE_ALL_WEAPONS_EVENT"
block_net_game_event "NETWORK_PICKUP_CARRIABLE_EVENT"
block_net_game_event "REQUEST_MAP_PICKUP_EVENT"
block_net_game_event "REQUEST_PICKUP_EVENT"
block_net_game_event "REMOVE_WEAPON_EVENT"

Several GTA V network events were never built with security in mind. Cheaters use them to hand out or strip weapons and pickups.

8. Pure level (optional)

sv_pureLevel 1   # block modified client files, except audio and known graphics mods
# sv_pureLevel 2 # block all modified client files

Effective against RPFs that crash other players’ games, but it may drive away players who use graphics mods. The guide’s author doesn’t recommend it for most servers.

What next?

These settings catch the ‘lazy’ cheaters. Beyond that, you need server-side validation of money, items and positions, events that check who’s calling them, logging, and possibly an anticheat. You’ll find our comparison of eight anticheats here.