Easily Fix FiveM Fatal Error Could not Load citizengame.dll [Complete Guide]

If you have been getting the “Fatal Error: Could not Load CitizenGame.dll” error while trying to launch into GTA 5 with mods. FiveM is the main application used for modifications for GTA 5 and without it, you won’t be able to use many mods with your game. Therefore, in this article, we have listed the solutions, workarounds and steps that you can employ to fix the error.

Before You Start:

Find out if your PC matches “FiveM” requirements, hence, to run “FiveM”, your PC should meet the system requirements mentioned below:

Minimum Requirements:

• OS: Windows 8.1
• CPU: Intel Core 2 Q6600 @ 2.40GHz / AMD Phenom 9850 @ 2.5GHz
• GPU: NVIDIA 9800 GT 1GB / AMD HD 4870 1GB / Intel HD GT2
• RAM: 8GB (4 will also work)
• HDD: 72GB + ~4GB

Recommended Requirements:

• OS: Windows 10
• CPU: Intel Core i5 3470 @ 3.2GHz / AMD X8 FX-8350 @ 4GHz
• GPU: NVIDIA GTX 660 2GB / AMD HD 7870 2GB
• RAM: 16GB
• HDD: 72GB + 8GB

How to fix citizengame.dll problem completely:

Fix 1: Bypass GTA V and FiveM through Firewall

If there is a firewall or a third-party antivirus installed on your PC, then they are the source of this issue, so you’ll have to allow both “GTAV” and “FiveM” through the firewall, therefore, follow the guide below:

1. Firstly, click on the “Start” icon and access “Settings”, then navigate to “Update & Security”.
   

   

2. Now, access the “Windows Security” option located on the left pane.

   

3. After accessing the “Windows Security” option, click on the “Firewall & network protection” option that is located under the Account protection option.

   

4. Finally, click the “Allow an app through firewall” option that will open a new window containing all the “Allowed apps”, then choose the “Allow Another App” option below. Now, look for both “GTA V” and “FiveM” through Public and Private networks and select them.

   

Fix 2: Temporarily Disable Third-Party Antivirus 

If the firewall or antivirus installed on your PC has detected the “FiveM” files to be suspicious, then they will block their execution, so in this situation, disable your antivirus and firewall to solve the problem, therefore, follow the instructions below:

1. Initially, disable the antivirus and firewall in your PC temporarily, after that, see if FiveM is working without errors.

   

2. If that doesn’t work, uninstall any 3^rd party antivirus or firewall you have installed, and don’t forget to disable Windows Defender with its firewall.

NOTE: Disabling the antivirus or firewall and altering their settings can expose your PC to threats, so proceed at your own risk, but don’t forget to exclude the “EXE file” of “FiveM” and its relevant folders in the antivirus or firewall.

Fix 3: Delete FiveM Application Cache

If the cache file of “FiveM” is corrupt then it will show this error, hence, follow the guide below to delete cache:

1. Initially, use “Task Manager” to close “FiveM” and its associated processes, therefore, click on the processes then hit the “End task” button.

   

2. Now, press the “Windows + R” keys to open “Run”, then copy and paste the following path to proceed to the “FiveM Application Data” directory:

“%localappdata%/FiveM/FiveM Application Data”

3. After accessing the directory, delete “Cache” or “XML” files located in the “FiveM Application Data” folder.
   

   

4. Start the game and observe if the issue has gone away, if not, then you will have to delete the other files as well.
5. Finally, close FiveM and its associated processes using “Task Manager”, after this, access the FiveM directory by pasting the same path in “Run” and delete all the subfolders including files in the cache folder located in the FiveM Directory except of course the “Game” folder.

   

Fix 4: Verify Game Files of GTA

You will face this issue if the main files of “GTA” have corrupted, therefore, verify the integrity of GTA files by following the steps below:

1. Firstly, launch “Steam” and access the library, then right-click on the GTA icon and select the “Properties” option, after that, navigate to “Local files”.

   

2. Now, select “Verify Integrity of Game Files” and wait patiently until this process is complete as it will take some data and time, then, start “FiveM” and check to see if the Could not Load citizengame.dll error has been solved.

   

Fix 5: Reinstall Visual C++ Redistributable

FiveM will also give an error if the installation of  Visual C++ Redistributable for “Visual Studio 2015” is incomplete or corrupt as it is necessary to run FiveM, therefore follow the guide below to reinstall Visual C++ Redistributable:

1. Initially, access “Settings” and navigate to “Apps and features”, then, click to expand Visual C++ Redistributable for Visual Studio 2015 and press the “Uninstall” option.

   

2. Now, follow the on-screen instructions to uninstall Visual C++, then restart your PC and after the restart, open the following link in your browser:

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=48145

3. After opening the link, download the Visual C++ installer and when the download is complete, launch it as “Administrator”.

   

4. Follow the on-screen instructions to install the Visual C++ Redistributable and after that’s done, start FiveM to check if could not load citizengame.dll error still persists.

Fix 6: Edit CitizenFX.INI File

FiveM installation will generate a “CitizenFX.INI” error if it detects that the operating system of your PC is not compatible or supported with it, if so, then you will have to disable the OS version verification check, therefore, follow these instructions:

1. Firstly, quit the game and all its related processes in the “Task Manager”, then press the “Windows + R” button to open “RUN” and paste the following address in the Navigation bar:

 %localappdata%/FiveM/FiveM Application Data

2. After accessing the folder, press right-click and select the “Edit” option to open the “INI” file in “Notepad”.

   

3. Now, you will have to add the following line at the end:

DisableOSVersionCheck=1

4. Finally, press the “Save” option for the file and close it, then start FiveM to see if it’s working.

Fix 7: Update GTA V

1. Firstly, locate the “Executable file” of GTA V and right-click on it to access its properties, then, click on the “Details” tab and mark the “Product version”.
   

   

2. Now, search “Google” for the latest version of GTA V and if the version you find on the internet matches your game version, then you have an updated game, but If that’s not the case, download an update from their official website, “Steam”, or “Epic games”.

   

NOTE: It will be wise to reinstall the Mod after updating the game as it will cause its own issues.

Fix 8: Manually Create CitizenGame.dll File

This error originates from the FiveM’s failure to load the “CitizenGame.dll” file, so, we will have to manually create a custom “CitizenGame.dll” file, then correct its contents, and place it in the “FiveM Application Data” folder, therefore, follow the guide below:

NOTE: Antivirus will interfere with this file again so, you will have to disable your antivirus.

1. Firstly, click on the “Start” icon on the bottom left of the Taskbar and type “Notepad” in the search box, then launch “Notepad”.

   

2. Now, paste the following text in “Notepad”:

   [Game]
   
   IVPath=D:\Grand Theft Auto V

   NOTE: Replace “D:\Grand Theft Auto V” with the path where you have installed GTA V.
   

   

3. After pasting the path, hit “Ctrl + S” to save the file, also, remember to rename the file as “CitizenGame.dll” and save it as a “.dll” file, then switch “Save as type” to the “All Files” option.

   

4. Now, hit the “Save” button and right-click on the FiveM application, then select the “Open file location” option.
5. Navigate to the “FiveM Application Data” folder, then copy and paste the previously created “CitizenGame.dll” file in this folder.
6. Finally, after you have pasted the file in the folder, right-click on the FiveM application and select the “Run as administrator” option.
7. Check to see if doing so has fixed the “Could not Load citizengame.dll” error.

Fix 9: Update Windows Version

This error will sometimes be caused by outdated Windows that can be fixed with no effort by simply updating your Windows, hence, follow the guide below:

1. Initially, press the “Windows” button and access “Settings”, then navigate to the “Update & Security” option.

   

2. Now, click on “Windows Update” and hit the “Check for Updates” button.

   

3. If the latest updates are available, click on the “Install Updates option” and then reboot your PC after the updates have been installed.

Fix 10: Re-install GTA and FiveM

If a few of the important files of “FiveM” are removed by antivirus, then an error will be shown by an incomplete installation, so, a quick solution to this problem will be to reinstall “GTA” and “FiveM”, therefore, follow the guide below:

1. Firstly, access “Settings” and navigate to the “Apps and Features” option.

   

2. Now, expand “FiveM” and hit the “Uninstall” option, after that click on “confirm” to uninstall “FiveM” and follow the on-screen instructions to complete the process.

   

3. After uninstalling FiveM, restart your system, and after reboot press “Windows + R” to open “Run”, then access the installation directory of FiveM using this path:

  %localappdata%/

3. Now, remove all FiveM related folders and disable the antivirus.

   

4. Finally, download and install FiveM as administrator, after that, add FiveM to the exceptions list of antivirus, then launch FiveM to check if the error is gone but if that didn’t do the trick, try to reinstall both FiveM and GTA and observe if that solves the Could not Load citizengame.dll issue. If the error doesn’t go away, then you will have to do a clean reinstall of the operating system on your PC.

If you are still unable to resolve this problem, Contact Us for further assistance.