How to add looting and searchable trash bins to a RedM server

A RedM looting script lets players search objects in the world, most often trash bins in town, for random items. To add one you need three things: a list of bins players can search, a loot list made only of items that exist on your server, and a cooldown so the same bin cannot be emptied over and over. Done well, it gives poorer characters something to do between jobs and gives criminals a place to leave things for each other. This guide covers how searchable bins work, what the odds really give, and how to keep loot from flooding your economy.

What looting adds to a roleplay server

• A start for new characters. A drifter with no money can still find a bottle of water or a cigarette. That is a story, and a reason to walk into town.
• Something to do between jobs. Searching takes a few seconds and needs no staff, no job and no tools.
• A place to meet. Two characters rummaging through the same alley bin will talk, argue or trade.
• Dead drops. A bin anyone can open is a way to pass a note or a package without being seen handing it over.

It is a small system, not a job. Treat bin loot as scraps and pocket change in item form, and leave real income to jobs.

How a RedM trash bin loot script works

Poggy Trash Bins ($8.99) is a typical example of the design. A player walks up to a bin and sees two prompts: Search the Trash Bin and Take a look inside the Trash Bin.

1. Search. The character rummages with an animation and a progress bar for 5 to 10 seconds.
2. Roll. Every item on the loot list is rolled on its own against its chance. Each item found gets an amount between its fewest and most.
3. Cap. If more items were found than Config.MaxItemsPerSearch allows (2 by default), a random few are kept.
4. Cooldown. The bin is then empty for a random time between Config.RefillTimeMin and Config.RefillTimeMax: 1800 to 7200 seconds, so 30 minutes to 2 hours. This happens even when nothing was found.

The second prompt opens the bin's own storage, 20 slots by default, which any player can open.

Where the bins come from

• Listed bins. 33 ship ready, across Valentine, Annesburg, Strawberry, Blackwater, Saint Denis, Tumbleweed, Armadillo, Wallace Station and Flatneck Station. Each can spawn its own bin prop and have a map blip.
• Found bins. With Config.AutoDetect on, the street bins already standing in the game world become searchable as players come near them. Which models count is set in Config.AutoDetectModels. No coordinates to type in.

Setting the loot without breaking your economy

Every item in the loot list must exist in your items table. On VORP that is the items table in the database; on RSG Core and QBCore RedM it is the framework's items.lua. How to add items to a RedM server covers both. An item that does not exist is the most common reason a search gives nothing.

Because each item is rolled on its own, the chances add up faster than they look. The default list has 19 items, from glass bottles (40) and old paper (30) down to medicine (4). Rolled together:

So with the defaults a bin almost always pays out. That is fine for junk and food. It matters if you add anything that sells for money.

• Keep sellable items rare. A chance of 2 or 3 is still found by someone every day on a busy server.
• Count the ceiling. 33 listed bins, each searched at most about once every 75 minutes on average, two items a time, is roughly 50 items an hour if every bin is worked. Found bins add more on top.
• Leave weapons and ammunition out. The default list does, on purpose.
• Give one bin its own table. A bin behind the doctor's office can turn up bandages more often than the rest. Add a loot = { ... } list to that bin in the same shape as Config.CommonLoot, or fill its Own loot tab in /poggy.

The default list also carries commented-out examples, such as drugs, for servers that have those items. Turn them on only if they exist on your server and fit the economy you want. RedM server economy has more on keeping money and items in balance.

Dead drops and stash spots

A shared bin is a different tool from player storage. Anyone can open it, which is the point.

• Emptied at every restart by default. Config.WipeStorageOnScriptStart is on, so a bin is a drop, not a home. Turn it off if you want things left in bins to survive a restart.
• No weapons by default. Config.AllowWeaponsInStorages is off, because a public box full of rifles is an arms shop nobody runs.
• Each bin has a storage id. Two bins with the same id share one storage, and changing an id loses whatever is inside. Never rename one players have used.

For storage that belongs to one character, see how to set up player storage. For bins as part of a staff-run treasure hunt, RedM server event ideas uses them to hide the next clue.

How to stop players farming bins

• A random cooldown per bin. Nobody can stand at one bin and press the key all evening. A random time is harder to camp than a fixed one.
• Nobody close by. Searching is blocked while another player stands within 3 metres (Config.BlockTrashIfPlayerIsNearRange). The player sees "Someone is standing too close to you!".
• Checked on the server. Distance and cooldown are checked again by the server on every search, so a modified client cannot skip them.
• A log. With Config.EnableLogs and a webhook in Config.LogsWebhook, every find is posted to a Discord channel.
• A reset. /emptytrash empties every bin's storage and resets every cooldown. It works for the groups in Config.StaffGroups (superadmin, admin and moderator by default) and from the server console.

Free options and building your own

Free looting and scavenging scripts exist; search the Cfx.re forum and GitHub for your framework. Before you install one, check three things: does it check the cooldown on the server or only on the client, does it read its loot list from a config you can edit, and does it still work on the current version of your framework.

If you write your own, the parts are the ones above: a prompt at each bin, a server event that rolls the loot and gives the items, a cooldown stored on the server, and a container per bin through your inventory. Using Poggy Core in your own scripts shows how to do the inventory and storage calls once for all three frameworks.

Installing it

• Poggy Trash Bins ($8.99) needs Poggy Core (Free) 0.13.0 or newer. The Poggy look on its progress bar needs 0.23.0 or newer.
• It runs on VORP Core, RSG Core and QBCore RedM. A bin's storage uses your framework's own inventory: a custom inventory on VORP, a stash on RSG Core and QBCore RedM.
• It has no database tables of its own and no SQL to import.
• config.lua and translations.lua are open, and every setting, bin and loot item can be edited in game in /poggy → Trash Bins.
• Add ensure poggy_trashbins after ensure poggy_core in server.cfg, check the loot items exist, and restart.

Step by step for any script: how to install a RedM script. poggy_core also installs new versions for you and keeps your config values.