How to Set Up a FiveM Server with MC-Node and LD Refunds (2026 Guide)

Starting a FiveM server involves two decisions that shape everything after: where the server runs, and which tools your staff use every day. This guide walks through both with our hosting partner MC-Node and LD Refunds. By the end you will have a server online on Dutch hardware, your framework installed, and a refund workflow that lives in Discord — without hosting a database, a bot, or a config file yourself.

Why MC-Node for FiveM hosting

MC-Node has hosted game servers from the Netherlands since 2019, and their FiveM hosting is built around the things new server owners usually spend a weekend assembling. The game panel ships with txAdmin, one-click ESX and QBCore installs, MariaDB databases for your framework and scripts, automatic backups, and player management. Every server sits behind PletX DDoS filtering, and support is available via ticket or Discord.

• Servers are deployed automatically and are typically online within about a minute of ordering
• txAdmin plus one-click ESX / QBCore, so the framework is running before you touch a config file
• MariaDB databases managed from the panel — no separate database host to rent
• PletX DDoS protection with automatic mitigation on game ports
• Netherlands datacenter, low latency for Benelux and Western European communities

That combination pairs naturally with LD Refunds, which is also designed to remove infrastructure from your plate: we host the dashboard, the API, and the Discord bot, and your server only runs a lightweight script.

Step 1: Order your FiveM server at MC-Node

Open the MC-Node FiveM hosting page and pick a plan. The package wizard on that page recommends a package based on your expected player count and script load. For a fresh roleplay server with a handful of scripts, a mid-tier plan is plenty; you can upgrade later from the client panel without reinstalling.

1. Choose your plan and complete checkout — the server is provisioned automatically
2. Log in to the MC-Node game panel with the credentials from your welcome email
3. Open txAdmin from the panel and run the setup wizard
4. Pick ESX or QBCore in the one-click installer, or deploy your own recipe
5. Create or note your MariaDB database credentials in the panel — your framework needs them

Step 2: Verify your framework before adding scripts

Before installing LD Refunds or anything else, join your new server once and confirm the basics: character creation works, inventory opens, and money shows correctly. LD Refunds detects ESX, QBCore, and QBox automatically and supports ox_inventory, but it can only refund items that your framework knows about. Fixing a broken framework install later is far more annoying with twenty scripts on top of it.

• ESX: confirm es_extended starts cleanly and ox_inventory (if used) loads its item list
• QBCore / QBox: confirm the core resource, inventory, and qb-core shared items are in place
• Check the txAdmin console for red errors — resolve those before continuing

Step 3: Get LD Refunds with your MC-Node discount

Head to the LD Refunds store through the partner link at ld-scripts.tebex.io/mcnode. Start with the free trial if you want to test the full feature set first — it needs no code. When you upgrade to a 1-month, 3-month, or lifetime license, enter MCNODE in the discount field at Tebex checkout to take 20% off.

After purchase, sign in to the LD Refunds dashboard with Discord and claim your license under Licenses. The dashboard is where everything else happens: Discord setup, staff roles, refund categories, templates, analytics, and the game server pairing you will do next.

Step 4: Install the script and pair your MC-Node server

Download the LD Refunds resource from your purchase (the documentation has the exact steps) and upload it to the resources folder of your MC-Node server using the panel's file manager or SFTP. Add it to your server.cfg after your framework resources so it starts once ESX or QBCore is ready, then restart the server from txAdmin.

Now pair the server with your cloud account. In the dashboard, run the setup wizard: invite the Discord bot to your server, pick the language for bot messages, and choose the channels for logs and claims. Step 5 of the wizard shows a pairing code (you can also find it later under Manage → Game Server).

refunds-pair YOUR_CODE

Paste that command into the txAdmin Live Console of your MC-Node server. No MySQL connection string, no token in config.lua, and no resource restart is required. Within about a minute the dashboard shows the server as Connected, and the health page starts reporting the script version and connection status.

Step 5: Configure staff roles and refund categories

With the server connected, spend ten minutes on policy so automation does not outrun your rules. Map Discord roles to permission levels, decide which categories need a manager approval, and create templates for the refunds you hand out most often — the classic "crash during heist" or "car deleted on restart" cases.

• Moderators: item and small cash refunds with standard evidence
• Senior staff: weapons, vehicles, and high-value black money with approval
• Managers: approve escalations and review analytics weekly
• Everyone: refunds are logged with player, staff member, reason, and claim time

Step 6: Send a test refund end to end

In Discord, run /refund give for your own account with a cheap item. Then join the server and open the claim menu with /refunds (the default NUI command). Claim the refund, check your inventory, and confirm the audit log entry in the dashboard. If those four things line up, your staff can start using it for real players.

Keep the interactive live demo handy when you onboard new staff — it shows the same Discord and in-game flow they will use, without touching your production server.

Ongoing: what MC-Node and LD Refunds each handle

A clear split of responsibilities keeps support fast. MC-Node runs the box: hardware, network, DDoS filtering, panel, backups, and database availability. LD Refunds runs the refund stack: dashboard, API, bot uptime, updates, and the audit trail. Your job is the server itself — scripts, economy, and staff.

• Hosting, panel, network, or database questions: MC-Node support
• LD Refunds setup, licenses, bot, or dashboard questions: LD Scripts via the dashboard or Discord
• Documentation for both the script and the dashboard: docs.ldscripts.com

Checklist

1. Order FiveM hosting at MC-Node and install ESX / QBCore via txAdmin
2. Join once, verify inventory and money work, enable backups
3. Get LD Refunds via ld-scripts.tebex.io/mcnode — code MCNODE for 20% off
4. Claim the license in the dashboard and run the Discord setup wizard
5. Upload the resource, run refunds-pair YOUR_CODE in the txAdmin Live Console
6. Set roles, approvals, and templates; send a test refund end to end