How to make a RedM server: artifacts, txAdmin, database, framework and launch

Making a RedM server takes an evening if you do it in the right order, and a week if you do not. This guide is how to make a RedM server on Windows in 2026: the server files, txAdmin, the licence key, the database, a framework, the lines in server.cfg that matter, the ports, the first scripts and the checks before you open the doors. Every config line below comes from the three test servers we run, one each on VORP Core, RSG Core and QBCore RedM.

What you need before you start

The server itself does not need Red Dead Redemption 2 installed. You do, on the PC you test from.

1. Download the server artifacts

The server program is FXServer, and it is the same download for FiveM and RedM. Get the Windows build from the Cfx.re server artifacts page, take the recommended build unless your framework asks for another, and unzip it into its own folder, such as D:\RedM\server. What makes it a RedM server is one line in server.cfg, set gamename rdr3, which the recipe in step 3 writes for you.

2. Start txAdmin and get a licence key

Run FXServer.exe with no arguments. txAdmin, the web panel that runs your server, opens on port 40120 and prints a PIN in the console. Enter it and sign in with your Cfx.re account to become its first admin. Its settings, admins and ban list live in its txData folder, which is one reason that folder belongs in your backups.

Next, create a server key on the Cfx.re portal. Two rules save a lot of grief later. Make it under the same Cfx.re account you will buy scripts with, because escrowed scripts only load on a server whose key belongs to the account that bought them. And treat it like a password: never paste your server.cfg into a Discord without removing the key line first.

3. Pick a framework and deploy it

The framework is the base every other script talks to: characters, money, jobs and inventory. Pick it now, because changing later means starting the database again. VORP vs RSG Core vs QBCore compares them properly; the short version is VORP for the widest choice of scripts, RSG Core if you know QBCore from FiveM, and QBCore RedM if you are moving a QBCore community.

txAdmin's setup deploys a server from a recipe: a file that downloads the framework's resources, writes a starting server.cfg and sets up the database. Some recipes are listed in the setup screen, and a framework can publish its own for you to paste in by URL. VORP has an official recipe, and all three of our test servers were deployed this way. Follow your framework's own install page for the current recipe rather than a video from two years ago. Recipes usually ask for your licence key and your database login, so install the database first.

4. Install MariaDB

Install MariaDB, set a root password during setup, and keep the port it listens on (3306 by default) closed to the internet. The Windows installer includes HeidiSQL, which is all you need to look at tables. Let the recipe create the database, or create an empty one yourself and give the recipe its name.

Scripts reach the database through oxmysql, which every recipe above installs. It reads one line in server.cfg:

set mysql_connection_string "mysql://USER:PASSWORD@localhost/DATABASE?charset=utf8mb4"

This line holds a password, so it is the second line to remove before sharing your config.

5. The server.cfg lines that matter

A recipe writes a working server.cfg. These are the lines worth understanding. Every one of them is in all three of our servers' configs; put your own values where the capitals are:

endpoint_add_tcp "0.0.0.0:30120"
endpoint_add_udp "0.0.0.0:30120"
sv_maxclients 48
set gamename rdr3
set sv_enforceGameBuild 1491
sv_hostname "YOUR SERVER NAME"
sets sv_projectName "YOUR SERVER NAME"
sets sv_projectDesc "ONE LINE ABOUT YOUR SERVER"
sets tags "roleplay, western"
sets locale "en-US"
load_server_icon myLogo.png
sv_licenseKey "YOUR_KEY_HERE"

endpoint_add_tcp / endpoint_add_udp

Where players connect. 30120 on both protocols is the standard.

set gamename rdr3

Makes this a RedM server. Without it, FXServer starts as FiveM.

sv_enforceGameBuild 1491

Which game build players must run. All three of our recipes set 1491; leave it unless a framework says otherwise.

sv_hostname, sv_projectName, sv_projectDesc, tags

What players see in the server list. Write them for a person choosing a server, not for search.

load_server_icon

A 96x96 PNG in the server folder.

OneSync is not in the list because it is not a server.cfg line: it is set when the server launches, so on a txAdmin server it lives in txAdmin's settings. Our three recipes left it out of server.cfg too.

Below those lines come the ensure lines, and their order matters. oxmysql first, then the framework, then shared libraries, then scripts. How to install a RedM script covers the order and the errors that come from getting it wrong.

6. Open the ports

If friends cannot connect but you can, it is nearly always UDP missing from the firewall rule.

7. Give your staff permissions

RedM has two layers of admin. txAdmin has its own admin accounts for the panel. In-game permissions are ACE lines in server.cfg: add_ace gives a group a permission and add_principal puts a player in a group.

add_ace group.admin command allow
add_principal identifier.fivem:YOUR_ID group.admin

Frameworks add their own layer on top. VORP keeps a player's staff group on their user record in the database. RSG Core and QBCore RedM use ACE levels, such as rsgcore.admin and qbcore.admin, granted in server.cfg; follow the recipe's comments for the exact lines. Keep the list short. RedM admin tools covers what staff need once they have access.

8. Add your first scripts

A fresh recipe already has the basics, such as characters and an inventory, and usually a good deal more. Add slowly, one or two scripts per restart, so a problem points at one thing. Our free scripts are a sensible first layer:

• Poggy Core (Free) first. It detects your framework at start and prints which one it found, and every Poggy script on the server then updates itself: it checks for updates at start and every hour, merges your config instead of overwriting it, and creates its own database tables. It needs two lines in server.cfg and prints them if they are missing.
• Poggy Util (Free): a set of small utilities, each with its own switch, including an area-of-play box, a duty count, a help menu and /unstuck. The government stipend in it is VORP-only today.
• Poggy Multijob (Free): several jobs per character, switched with /multijob or /mj 2, with an admin panel for online and offline characters.
• Poggy Storage (Free): player-owned containers kept in your framework's own inventory. MIT licensed.
• Admin Blips (Free): every player on the map for your admins, toggled with /ahb.

All of them run on VORP Core, RSG Core and QBCore RedM through poggy_core. RedEM:RP is not supported. Your framework's own GitHub has free resources for most other basics, and free RedM scripts covers ours in more depth. When you are ready for systems players build a session around, the best RedM scripts works through them by need.

9. Back up before anyone joins

The first backup should exist before the first player does. The database is the one thing you cannot download again. Server Controller (from $2.99/mo) is a Windows program that runs beside the server, not a resource: the free version backs up the database and server files when you click and restores in one click, and the paid version runs it on a schedule. It needs the MySQL client tools for database backups. How to back up a RedM server covers the free route with mysqldump and Task Scheduler.

Launch checklist

1. The server starts with no red errors in the console.
2. A friend on another network can connect, create a character, log out and back in, and still has their money and items.
3. The licence key and database password are in server.cfg only, and nobody has been sent a copy.
4. 30120 is open on TCP and UDP; 3306 is not open at all.
5. Your staff are in the right groups, and a non-staff test character cannot run admin commands.
6. A database backup exists, and you have restored it once to a test database.
7. Job names are decided and written down; how to set up jobs explains why that matters.
8. The server name, description and icon say what kind of roleplay you run.

Then open it to a few people before you advertise it. The first week finds the problems; better that happens with ten players than with fifty.