Sollumz has shipped five releases in the last 12 months, including one major (2.8.0) that fundamentally changed how the tool talks to GTA V's file formats. If you're building MLOs for FiveM, the version on your disk matters more than it used to. The 2.7-to-2.8 jump broke a number of older tutorials, and the 2.8.x series has been adding features fast enough that anything older than six months is arguably stale.

Here's what's actually changed, what it means for your workflow, and what hasn't moved at all. If you're trying to decide between Sollumz and the new in-game MLO builders (SB Studio and others), I covered that separately in Sollumz vs In-Game MLO Builders—this post focuses on what shipped and why.

What changed

The headline: 2.8.0 (November 2025)

2.8.0 was the biggest release in the project's history, and it was a direct result of collaboration between the Sollumz maintainers, Cfx.re, and Rockstar Games. The headline feature is native binary import/export. Before 2.8.0, exporting an asset meant Blender → Sollumz XML → CodeWalker → binary, with a real chance of something breaking on the way. After 2.8.0, you can import and export .ydr, .ydd, .ybn, .ytyp, .yft, and .yld files directly from Blender, on Windows, thanks to a new dependency called PyMateria that Sollumz installs for you.

The same project can now target both Legacy (Gen8) and Enhanced (Gen9) builds at export time. You select the format on the export dialog, and the tool generates the correct binary for the target. There are some important caveats:

  • PyMateria is Windows-only. macOS and Linux users fall back to the CodeWalker XML round-trip. That's the same workflow as pre-2.8.0, which is unfortunate but not a regression.
  • YMAP and YCD files still require CodeWalker XML. The native pipeline doesn't cover every file type yet. YMAP (placement) and YCD (clip dictionary) are still XML-only.
  • Auto vehicle window shattermap generation shipped in the same release. Manual shattermap authoring was the most tedious part of custom vehicle work—the new auto-generation produces shattermaps equivalent to vanilla vehicles, with a "Preview Windows" button so you can verify the result before going in-game. Requires PyMateria, the right window mesh shader, and the matching collision material.

Cloth support (2.7.0, May 2025)

2.7.0 added cloth support—both vehicle cloth embedded in fragments and character cloth (YLD). A new Cloth Tools panel handles configuration and diagnostics. For YLD work, the file imports and exports automatically with the corresponding YDD.

MLO authoring upgrades (2.7.2, June 2025)

2.7.2 added two-way selection sync between Blender objects and YTYP entities—click a room in the YTYP list, the corresponding Blender objects highlight, and vice versa. It also shipped gizmos for MLO timecycle modifiers, so you can configure per-room atmosphere visually instead of editing properties by hand.

Packed textures and entity sets (2.8.1, February 2026)

2.8.1 brought packed texture export and import—you can now bundle textures into the .blend file or extract them on import. It also added a "Import to Asset Library" mode for drawable dictionaries (YDD), an entity-set visibility toggle for MLOs, and a sz_perf_ie CLI command for benchmarking import and export times. The performance optimisations in this release were measurable—drawable export with single LOD plus many models got noticeably faster.

Bug fixes and stability (2.8.2, 2.8.3)

2.8.2 was a small hotfix for multi-select list UI errors. 2.8.3 fixed a Blender 5.1 archetypes UI breakage, vehicle shader handling on plain drawables, missing very-high LODs on YFT export, and bumped szio to 1.2.0. None of these are features, but cumulatively they make 2.8.3 noticeably more stable than 2.8.0. If you're on the 2.8.x line, you should be on 2.8.3.

Blender compatibility matrix

This is the part most people get wrong. Sollumz has specific compatibility constraints per Blender version, and the matrix has shifted in the last 12 months:

  • Blender 3.x and earlier: The add-on won't load. Unsupported.
  • Blender 4.0: Minimum supported version. Works with all 2.8.x releases.
  • Blender 4.4: Requires Sollumz 2.7.2 or later to avoid a known terrain painter regression.
  • Blender 4.5: Compatibility patches shipped in 2.7.2 (Beta) and were stabilised in 2.8.0.
  • Blender 5.0: Fully supported as of Sollumz 2.8.0. This is the recommended version.
  • Blender 5.1: Requires Sollumz 2.8.3 or later. The archetypes UI was broken in 2.8.0–2.8.2 and got fixed in 2.8.3.

If you're on anything older than 4.0, the add-on won't load. If you're on 4.x or 5.x, you should be on at least 2.8.0 to avoid known regressions, and on 2.8.3 if you're on 5.1.

What it means for your workflow

Concrete implications, organised by who you are:

If you're on Windows

Update to 2.8.3. The XML round-trip is no longer required, and the auto shattermap and vertex paint tools are only available on Windows. Your first gate to clear is the Blender version (4.0 minimum, 5.0+ recommended) and the PyMateria install. The PyMateria prompt appears automatically the first time you enable Sollumz—click yes, and you're done.

If you're on macOS or Linux

Your workflow is effectively unchanged at the binary layer. You still export CodeWalker XML. 2.8.0 didn't make your situation worse, but it didn't fix it either. If you're primarily building MLOs and you're on a Mac, this is a real limitation to factor in. The official Cfx.re / Rockstar collaboration is Windows-first; macOS and Linux support in PyMateria is on the roadmap but not yet shipped.

If you've been following older 2.7 tutorials

The export step in particular has changed. Anything showing File → Export → CodeWalker XML on Windows is now outdated for the file types 2.8.0 covers. The native binary path replaced it. YMAP and YCD still go through XML. Tutorials that haven't been updated since November 2025 are likely stale in some specific way—that's the exact gap the FiveM Developers community flagged on Facebook and cfx.re.

For custom vehicle work

Auto shattermap generation removes what was previously a separate manual authoring step. Setup still matters—window meshes need the VEHICLE VEHGLASS shader, collisions need the CAR GLASS material, and the blue channel of the Color 1 attribute on the mesh defines the exposed edges. If those are set up correctly, the shattermap is generated on export. If they're not, the "Preview Windows" button in the Fragment → Vehicle Tools panel tells you exactly what's wrong before you go in-game.

For MLO authoring

The 2.7.x selection sync and MLO timecycle gizmos carry forward and are now standard. If you've been avoiding Blender 4.4 because of terrain painter breakage, 2.7.2 or later clears that. If you're on 5.1, you must be on 2.8.3 or the archetypes UI breaks. The cloth support from 2.7.0 is also relevant if your MLOs use character cloth (YLD) for any drapery or fabric assets.

If you care about performance on big MLOs

2.8.1 and 2.8.3 added measurable drawable export optimisations. The sz_perf_ie CLI command from 2.8.1 is useful for benchmarking before and after a workflow change. If you've been experiencing slow exports on large YDRs, run that command to see whether 2.8.3's optimisations have already addressed it.

If you're selling MLOs

Packed texture export (2.8.1) changes the trade-off between embedded and external texture organisation—worth revisiting how you ship. Embedded textures are easier to deploy but increase the resource file size. External YTDs are smaller but require careful folder structure on the server. The right choice depends on your pricing and update cadence.

What hasn't changed

The reassuring bit. If you learned Sollumz on 2.7, you can read 2.8.x and recognise everything. The new features are additive, not replacements. Specifically:

  • The core object hierarchy is unchanged. Drawable, Drawable Model, Collision, Fragment, Archetype/MLO—all the same.
  • The shader library is unchanged. NORMAL, SPEC, NORMAL_SPEC, VEHICLE, VEHGLASS, DEFAULT—all the same.
  • The .blend file structure is unchanged. Your existing 2.7 projects open in 2.8.x without migration.
  • The Sollumz Tools panel and the conceptual asset pipeline are unchanged. If you knew where "Convert to Drawable" was in 2.7, you still know in 2.8.x.
  • Material setup, collision authoring, room and portal configuration, MLO teleports, and entity sets haven't changed conceptually. The new features add to these, they don't replace them.

Migrating from 2.7 to 2.8.x

If you're still on 2.7, here's the shortest path forward:

  1. Update Sollumz to 2.8.3 via the GitHub releases page. Your existing projects will open without changes.
  2. Verify your Blender version against the compatibility matrix above. If you're on 5.1, the 2.8.3 update is mandatory.
  3. Install PyMateria when prompted on first launch (Windows only). This unlocks the native binary export.
  4. Test a small export before re-running your full pipeline. Pick one YDR or YFT, run the native binary export, and verify it loads in-game. If it does, you're clear to switch over.
  5. Update your tutorials and notes. The export step in particular has changed—any internal documentation showing "File → Export → CodeWalker XML" needs updating for the file types 2.8.0 covers.

If you're on macOS or Linux, you don't need to migrate—the XML workflow you have still works, and 2.8.x is just a bugfix and feature update on top of it.

Where to go deeper

This post is the high-level view—what shipped, what it means, what to be aware of. The full operational workflow—the 10-section guide covering setup through to a streamed resource on a live server—is in my Sollumz 2.8.x Guide for FiveM MLO Creation. It tracks the 2.8.x line and gets updated for new patch releases, so you don't have to re-learn the workflow every time Sollumz ships a minor version.

If you're also weighing Sollumz against the in-game MLO builders (SB Studio, KUZ), I covered that comparison in Sollumz vs In-Game MLO Builders—different tools, different trade-offs, no false winner.