FiveM databases, oxmysql, and SQL importing

The server is the game world. The database is its memory. Without a database, players lose everything - money, vehicles, characters, houses - every time the server restarts. This lesson connects FiveM to MariaDB using oxmysql, the modern standard for database access.

You'll do: Connect FiveM to MariaDB via oxmysql, import a script's SQL, and verify by booting the real script clean.
Time: ~30 minutes
You need: A local FiveM server, MariaDB installed (see the tools lesson), and HeidiSQL.
You'll learn: What a database is, why servers need them, the MariaDB → oxmysql → FiveM chain, the mysql_connection_string convar in both forms, importing SQL files, and the resource-install database workflow.

BEFORE YOU START

Build it

Create a database

An empty database is ready to receive tables.

Open HeidiSQL, connect to MariaDB (Host: 127.0.0.1, User: root, Port: 3306). Right-click the server → Create new → Database. Name it fivem_db.

A database is a container for tables. It starts empty. Scripts create tables inside it when you import their SQL files.

FiveM databases, oxmysql, and SQL importing

Build it

Create a database

Install oxmysql and connect

Understand SQL files

Import an SQL file

Verify by booting the real script

Keep reading the full lesson