My FiveM server does not start anymore after I uploaded my server files

Moving a server over from another host, or from your own PC, and now nothing starts? Almost always the same cause: a complete server folder was uploaded over the root of your VibeGAMES server, which overwrote the FiveM installation itself.

Upload your own content only. Here is what belongs where.

What Your Server Root Should Look Like

• alpine: the FiveM server installation the panel set up for you. Never upload over it and never delete it. Your backup from another host does not contain a working copy of it.
• resources: your scripts. This is the folder you replace.
• server.cfg: your configuration.
• txData: txAdmin data, created on the first start.
• cache, logs, crashes, local-database: written by the server itself, leave them alone.

Drop a full server folder on top of this and alpine is the first thing that goes, which is why the server stops starting.

The Right Way to Move Your Files

1. Replace the contents of resources with your own resources folder.
2. Replace server.cfg with yours.
3. Upload the extra configuration files your scripts need, for example permissions.cfg.
4. Fix the database details: credentials from your old host do not work here. Connect your server to a database.
5. Check your FiveM license key, since a key belongs to one server at a time.

Use FileZilla or WinSCP for big uploads, or the file manager for a handful of files.

Already Overwritten Everything

You can repair this yourself, in this order:

• Open the Console page. When the FiveM installation is missing the panel notices and offers an artifact picker, where you pick a build and it installs itself.
• The Artifacts Updater page under GAME SERVER installs a build at any time. Take the one marked Recommended.
• As a last resort, Settings > Reinstall server runs the installation script again. Make a backup first, because files can be deleted or replaced.

Finished

With alpine back in place and only your own files on top, the server starts again. Installing a framework? The Framework Installer backs up what is already there into a backups folder before it writes anything, so you do not have to do that by hand. If the server still refuses to start, work through my FiveM server does not start.