roblox starter gui service esp setups are the backbone of most player-tracking systems you see in competitive shooters or RPGs on the platform. If you've ever played a game where you could see your teammates' names floating above their heads through a brick wall, or maybe you've dabbled in making a "detective" mode for a mystery game, you've dealt with the intersection of UI and player location. It's one of those things that feels like magic when it works but can be a total headache to script if you don't understand how the client and server talk to each other.
The thing about using the StarterGui service for an ESP (Extra Sensory Perception) system is that it's actually more about the PlayerGui than the StarterGui itself. For those who are new to the scene, StarterGui is just the storage container. Everything you put in there gets cloned into the player's personal folder when they join or respawn. So, if we're talking about building an ESP, we're really talking about how we can leverage these GUI services to render information on the screen that tracks where other players are in the 3D space.
Why BillboardGuis are the Real MVPs
When you're trying to create an ESP, you have a couple of options, but the most common one involves BillboardGuis. Now, normally, a ScreenGui is just a flat overlay on your monitor. It stays there regardless of where your camera is pointing. But a BillboardGui is different—it exists in the 3D world but always faces the camera.
The magic happens when you set the AlwaysOnTop property to true. Without this, your ESP is basically useless because it'll just get hidden behind the first wall a player walks behind. By toggling that one little checkbox, you're telling the Roblox engine, "I don't care if there's a mountain in the way; show me this UI element." This is the core mechanic of any "roblox starter gui service esp" project.
But you can't just throw a BillboardGui into StarterGui and expect it to work. You need a script that actually places those GUIs onto the characters you want to track.
Setting Up the Scripting Logic
Most people think you need a massive, complex server-side script to handle ESP, but that's actually a recipe for a laggy game. You want your ESP to be smooth, and that means handling the visual side on the Client. Since the StarterGui service handles the replication of UI to the player, it's the perfect place to drop a LocalScript that manages the ESP logic.
Here's how a typical workflow looks: 1. The player joins, and their LocalScript starts running. 2. The script loops through every other player currently in the game. 3. For each player, the script creates (or clones) a BillboardGui from the StarterGui templates. 4. It parents that GUI to the target player's head or torso. 5. It adds a TextLabel or a Frame inside that GUI to show the name, health, or distance.
It sounds simple, right? Well, it is, until players start leaving or dying. You've got to make sure your script is smart enough to clean up those GUIs when they aren't needed anymore. Nobody likes a game that's cluttered with "Ghost ESP" tags from players who left ten minutes ago.
The LocalScript vs. ServerScript Debate
I've seen some developers try to run their ESP from a ServerScript, parenting GUIs to players' heads directly on the server. Honestly, don't do this. It's a bad habit. When the server handles UI, every single change has to be sent across the network to every player. If you have 30 players and you're updating their distance labels every frame from the server, you're going to destroy your game's performance.
By using a LocalScript and the "roblox starter gui service esp" approach, you're offloading all that work to the individual player's computer. Their computer knows where the other players are (since that data is already replicated for rendering), so it's much faster to just draw a box or a name tag locally. Plus, it gives you more control over customization. Maybe Player A wants their ESP to be blue, and Player B wants theirs to be red. You can only really do that if the logic is running on their specific machine.
Making it Look Professional
Let's be real: a plain white box around a player looks a bit amateur. If you're building this for a polished game, you want to use the features of the GUI service to make it look sleek.
One trick is using the ExtentsOffset property on the BillboardGui. This lets you hover the tag slightly above the player's head so it doesn't overlap with their actual character model. Another thing is using TextStroke or a semi-transparent background frame. Since the background of a game can change from a bright sky to a dark cave, your ESP needs to be readable in both. A little bit of UI design goes a long way here.
You can also get fancy with the information you display. Instead of just a name, why not calculate the distance? You can use the (Position1 - Position2).Magnitude formula to find out exactly how many studs away a player is. Showing "Enemy [50 studs]" is way more useful than just "Enemy."
Handling Team Colors and Visibility
In team-based games, you probably don't want to see your own teammates through walls—or maybe you only want to see your teammates. This is where your script needs a bit of conditional logic.
Inside your loop, you can check if otherPlayer.Team == localPlayer.Team then. Based on that, you can change the color of the BillboardGui or choose not to create it at all. It's these little details that turn a basic script into a functional game mechanic.
Another thing to consider is the "roblox starter gui service esp" toggle. Not everyone wants an ESP on their screen all the time. It can be distracting. Adding a simple button in your main ScreenGui that enables or disables the ESP LocalScript (or just hides the folder where the ESP tags are stored) is a huge quality-of-life win for your players.
Security and Fair Play
We have to talk about the elephant in the room: cheating. ESP is often associated with "hacks" or "exploits." However, as a developer, you're using these tools to create legitimate game features, like teammate highlights or power-ups.
The important thing is to make sure your ESP system doesn't accidentally leak information it shouldn't. For example, if you're making a hide-and-seek game, you definitely shouldn't have a client-side script that can just "turn on" ESP for the hiders whenever it wants. You'd want the server to validate who is allowed to have that information.
Even though the visual part of the "roblox starter gui service esp" happens on the client, you can still control when the client receives the signal to show those tags. You could have the server fire a RemoteEvent that says, "Okay, you just picked up the radar power-up, you're now allowed to run the ESP script for 10 seconds."
Optimizing the Loop
If you're running a while true do loop to update player positions for your ESP, you might notice a bit of a frame rate dip if you aren't careful. Instead of updating every single frame (which is what task.wait() or RenderStepped does), you could update it every 0.1 seconds. In a fast-paced game, players won't even notice the tiny delay, but your CPU will definitely thank you.
Also, consider using Players.PlayerAdded and Players.PlayerRemoving events. Instead of constantly checking "who is in the game?" every second, just react when someone joins or leaves. It's a much cleaner way to code and keeps your "roblox starter gui service esp" system running lean and mean.
Wrapping it Up
Building an ESP system using Roblox's GUI services is a fantastic way to learn how the engine handles 3D-to-2D projection. It forces you to think about the player's perspective, the difference between the client and the server, and how to optimize your code for performance.
Whether you're making a tactical shooter where communication is key, or a wacky simulator where you just want to see where your friends are, mastering the BillboardGui and its relationship with the StarterGui service is a essential skill. It's not just about seeing through walls; it's about giving your players the information they need to have the best experience possible. Just remember to keep it clean, keep it optimized, and most importantly, make sure it actually fits the vibe of your game. Happy scripting!