DrawMarker, help text and lib.showTextUI without lag in FiveM

You draw a marker, walk up to it and it flickers, or it never shows, or your script sits at 0.30 ms in resmon doing nothing. Markers and "Press E" prompts look simple, but they are the classic source of heavy loops. This article shows how to draw a marker correctly, how to show a prompt, and how to stop paying for it when the player is far away.

#DrawMarker has to run every frame

A marker is drawn for one frame each time you call DrawMarker. To keep it on screen you call it again every frame, in a loop with Wait(0):

local coords = vec3(441.2, -981.9, 30.7)

CreateThread(function()
    while true do
        DrawMarker(
            1,                                  -- type: cylinder
            coords.x, coords.y, coords.z - 1.0, -- position (on the ground)
            0.0, 0.0, 0.0,                      -- direction
            0.0, 0.0, 0.0,                      -- rotation
            1.5, 1.5, 0.5,                      -- scale
            50, 150, 255, 120,                  -- red, green, blue, alpha
            false, false, 2, false, nil, nil, false
        )
        Wait(0)
    end
end)

That works, but it runs every frame for the whole session, even when the player is across the map. Fix that next.

#Only draw when the player is near

Measure the distance and sleep longer when the player is far. Only the near state needs Wait(0):

local coords = vec3(441.2, -981.9, 30.7)

CreateThread(function()
    while true do
        local sleep = 1000
        local pedCoords = GetEntityCoords(PlayerPedId())
        local distance = #(pedCoords - coords)

        if distance < 15.0 then
            sleep = 0
            DrawMarker(1, coords.x, coords.y, coords.z - 1.0,
                0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 1.5, 1.5, 0.5,
                50, 150, 255, 120, false, false, 2, false, nil, nil, false)

            if distance < 1.5 then
                -- show the prompt here (next section)
            end
        end

        Wait(sleep)
    end
end)

Far away, the loop wakes once a second and does one subtraction. Near the marker it runs per frame, only while it needs to. Why this matters, and how to read it in resmon, is in resmon high ms: how to optimize.

Tip: #(a - b) is the length of a vector difference, the distance. It needs vec3 values, which GetEntityCoords already returns.

#Marker types

The first argument is the marker type, a number. A few that servers use a lot:

The complete list of types is on the FiveM documentation site, under game references, markers. The scale arguments change the size, and the last colour value is the alpha (transparency). Place a ground marker at z - 1.0 so it sits on the floor, not floating at the player's waist.

#Help text: the built-in prompt

The game has a help message at the top left of the screen. You define a label, then display it every frame while the player is in range:

AddTextEntry('MY_SCRIPT_HELP', 'Press ~INPUT_CONTEXT~ to open the garage')

local function showHelp()
    BeginTextCommandDisplayHelp('MY_SCRIPT_HELP')
    EndTextCommandDisplayHelp(0, false, true, -1)
end

~INPUT_CONTEXT~ is replaced by the key the player uses for the context action, which is E by default. Call showHelp() inside the distance < 1.5 branch above, then check the key:

if distance < 1.5 then
    showHelp()
    if IsControlJustReleased(0, 38) then
        print('opened')
    end
end

Register the label once at the top of the file, not inside the loop.

#lib.showTextUI and lib.hideTextUI

With ox_lib you can show a styled prompt, and you call it once when the player enters, not every frame:

lib.showTextUI('[E] Open the garage', {
    position = 'right-center',
    icon = 'warehouse',
})

-- when the player leaves:
lib.hideTextUI()

lib.isTextUIOpen() tells you if one is already on screen. It needs shared_script '@ox_lib/init.lua' in your manifest (see the ox_lib menu guide). The text is not bound to a key: you still check the key yourself, or use a keybind.

#ox_lib points: no distance loop at all

Writing the distance loop by hand for each zone adds up. lib.points does it for you: ox_lib checks the player's distance to all points together, and only runs your code near them:

local point = lib.points.new({
    coords = vec3(441.2, -981.9, 30.7),
    distance = 15.0,
})

function point:onEnter()
    lib.showTextUI('[E] Open the garage')
end

function point:onExit()
    lib.hideTextUI()
end

function point:nearby()
    DrawMarker(1, self.coords.x, self.coords.y, self.coords.z - 1.0,
        0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 1.5, 1.5, 0.5,
        50, 150, 255, 120, false, false, 2, false, nil, nil, false)

    if self.currentDistance < 1.5 and IsControlJustReleased(0, 38) then
        print('opened')
    end
end

How it works:

• onEnter runs once when the player comes within distance.
• onExit runs once when they leave.
• nearby runs every frame while they are inside distance, and not at all otherwise. That is where DrawMarker goes.
• self.currentDistance is the current distance to the point.

You can create hundreds of points and only the ones the player is near cost anything. Remove a point you no longer need with point:remove().

#Which to use

• One or two zones: the distance loop with a sleep is fine.
• Many zones, or a script that creates zones from config: use lib.points.
• Interactions on objects and peds: a target is better than a marker. See ox_target: how to add targets.

#Checklist