Module 04 · Bonus

CreateThread, Wait, and the tick budget

Every FiveM script runs inside one Lua VM per resource. The VM has a strict per-tick budget. CreateThread spawns a coroutine; Wait(ms) yields it back to the engine. Forget the Wait and you freeze the game. Use the wrong Wait value and your script either hogs the frame or feels laggy. This bonus is the deep dive that turns "I copied the boilerplate" into "I know exactly why it's there."

You'll learn: What CreateThread actually creates, why Wait is mandatory inside loops, and how to pick the right wait time per use case
Time: ~15 minutes
Prereqs: Lesson 04 (loops), Lesson 11 (natives), Lesson 15 (callbacks)
Outcome: You can split work across draw threads, state threads, and polling threads, and you stop your resource from eating the server frame

BEFORE YOU START

Build it

Make the resource folder

The server has one folder for this lesson.

Inside your server's resources folder, create this folder:

code

resources/qu_createthread_and_wait

Create the files

Every file named in the manifest exists.

Create this exact file layout:

code

resources/qu_createthread_and_wait/
fxmanifest.lua
client.lua

CreateThread, Wait, and the tick budget

Build it

Make the resource folder

Create the files

Write fxmanifest.lua

Write the lesson code

Start and test it

Keep reading the full lesson