FiveM Add-On Car Name Shows NULL: How to Fix It with AddTextEntry

The car spawns, drives and looks right, but the name in the corner of the screen, in the garage or at the mod shop reads NULL. This guide fixes that with one small client script. You need access to the car's resource folder and a text editor; nothing is recompiled or re-converted.

Why the name is NULL

The game never shows a vehicle's name directly. vehicles.meta holds a short key in <gameName>, and the HUD looks that key up in the game's text table to get the name players read. Scripts do the same thing: they take the key from GetDisplayNameFromVehicleModel and pass it to GetLabelText, which returns the string NULL when the key has no text.

For stock cars the text is in the game's language files. A single-player add-on brings its own language file inside the dlc.rpf. That file does not survive the move to FiveM: resources have no usable data file type for the DLC text files, so even when a converted resource still contains dlctext.meta and a manifest line for it, no text is loaded. The key exists, the text does not, and you get NULL. This affects converted resources from our converter too: the output has the meta files and the manifest but no display-name script.

The fix

Step 1: Find the gameName

Open the car's vehicles.meta (in a converted resource it is in the common/ folder) and find these two lines:

<gameName>tiguan</gameName>
<vehicleMakeName>VOLKSWAGEN</vehicleMakeName>

The <gameName> value is the key you have to give a text to. Note it exactly as written. A resource with several cars has one <Item> block, and one <gameName>, per car.

Step 2: Create vehicle_names.lua

In the root of the resource, next to fxmanifest.lua, create a file called vehicle_names.lua:

-- vehicle_names.lua
-- AddTextEntry(key, text): key = <gameName> or <vehicleMakeName> from vehicles.meta
AddTextEntry('tiguan', 'Tiguan R-Line')
AddTextEntry('VOLKSWAGEN', 'Volkswagen')

AddTextEntry is a FiveM client native that takes two strings: the text key and the text to show for it. The first line names the car. The second names the manufacturer, which newer HUDs and dealership scripts show separately; you only need it when <vehicleMakeName> is a key the base game does not already know. For a car pack, add one line per car.

Step 3: Load it from the manifest

Add this line to fxmanifest.lua:

client_script 'vehicle_names.lua'

The file name is free, but it must match the manifest line exactly, and it must be a client script: a text entry added on the server side does nothing for players. A complete manifest for a converted add-on then looks like this:

fx_version 'cerulean'
game 'gta5'

files {
    'common/*.meta'
}

data_file 'HANDLING_FILE' 'common/handling.meta'
data_file 'VEHICLE_METADATA_FILE' 'common/vehicles.meta'
data_file 'CARCOLS_FILE' 'common/carcols.meta'
data_file 'VEHICLE_VARIATION_FILE' 'common/carvariations.meta'

client_script 'vehicle_names.lua'

Keep the data_file lines your manifest already has; only the last line is new.

Step 4: Restart the resource and check

Run ensure resourcename in the server console (or restart the server), spawn the car and get in. The name should now appear where NULL was.

Matching gameName and make labels

Most failed fixes come down to a key that does not match.

• The first argument of AddTextEntry must be the <gameName> value, not the spawn name, not the folder name and not the mod's title. They are often the same word, which hides the difference until one day they are not. The wiki entry on spawn names separates the three.
• Keep <gameName> short: 11 characters at most. A longer value can be cut off, and a cut-off key no longer matches your text entry.
• Use the same key spelling in the meta and in the script.
• Two cars with the same <gameName> share one name. Give each car its own key.
• Do not reuse a base game key such as ADDER unless you want to rename that car as well.

When the garage or dealership still shows the wrong name

A text entry fixes every place that asks the game for the name. Many frameworks do not ask the game. Garage, dealership and key scripts often read the name from their own vehicle list: a shared Lua table in some frameworks, a database table in others. If the HUD is right and the garage is not, the add-on is missing from that list, or is listed under a different name.

Add the car to your framework's vehicle list with the spawn name as the model and the display name you want; the exact file or table depends on the framework and version, so follow its own documentation. The formats current at the time of writing are in our guides for QBCore, ESX and Qbox. Scripts that show the raw spawn name, or a placeholder for unknown vehicles, are behaving the same way: they did not find the model in their list.

Checklist

1. <gameName> in vehicles.meta is 11 characters or fewer.
2. vehicle_names.lua exists in the resource and calls AddTextEntry with that exact key.
3. fxmanifest.lua has client_script 'vehicle_names.lua' with the same file name and path.
4. The resource was restarted after the change.
5. The F8 console shows no script error for the file (a missing quote or bracket stops the whole file).
6. If only a garage or shop is wrong, the car is in the framework's own vehicle list.

For anything beyond the name, drop the resource into the Resource Inspector, or paste console errors into the Error Analyzer.

FAQ

Does NULL mean the conversion failed?

No. The car's model, textures and data loaded; only the text for its name is missing. It is expected for a converted add-on until you add the text entry.

Where does vehicle_names.lua go?

Anywhere inside the resource, as long as the client_script line points at it. The resource root is the usual place. Do not put it in stream/.

Do I need one script per car?

No. One file can hold the entries for every car in a resource. When you merge cars with the Car Pack Builder, keep all their entries in the pack.

Can I put all names in a separate resource?

Yes. Text entries are global on the client, so a small resource containing only the script and a manifest works. Keeping the script with the car is easier to maintain, because the name disappears and returns together with the car.

Do I have to restart the whole server?

No. ensure resourcename in the server console restarts that one resource, and its client script runs again for connected players. A full restart is only needed if your host gives you no console access.

Sources

• FiveM natives reference: ADD_TEXT_ENTRY
• FiveM natives reference: GET_DISPLAY_NAME_FROM_VEHICLE_MODEL (returns the gameName text label) and GET_MAKE_NAME_FROM_VEHICLE_MODEL
• FiveM docs: resource manifest (client_script)
• FiveM docs: data files
• vehicles.meta and manifest of a real converted add-on resource, inspected on 2026-10-10