If you've been looking for a way to set up a basic roblox starter gui esp, you're probably realizing it's one of those things that sounds way more complicated than it actually is. Most people hear "ESP" and immediately think of complex exploits or high-level math, but in the context of Roblox development, it's really just about making specific UI elements appear over players or objects so you can see them through walls. Whether you're making a tactical shooter where teammates need to see each other or a horror game where the monster's location is briefly revealed, getting this system running in the StarterGui is a solid way to start.
Why put your ESP in the StarterGui?
You might wonder why we're focusing on the StarterGui instead of just sticking a script into the character model itself. Honestly, keeping your roblox starter gui esp logic centralized in the UI folder makes life a lot easier for management. When you put a BillboardGui into the StarterGui, you can control everything from a single LocalScript. It's cleaner, it's easier to debug, and it doesn't clutter up the workspace with a bunch of individual scripts inside every single player model.
Plus, by using the StarterGui, you're ensuring that the UI is strictly client-side. This is important because you don't want the server trying to render hundreds of labels for everyone at once. By handling it locally, the player's own computer does the heavy lifting, which keeps the game running smoothly for everyone else.
Setting up the visual components
Before we even touch a line of code, we need something to actually show up on the screen. This is where the BillboardGui comes in. If you haven't used one before, it's basically a 2D UI element that exists in 3D space.
Start by going into your StarterGui and adding a folder. Let's just call it "ESP_Storage" for now. Inside that folder, create a BillboardGui. This is going to be our template. You'll want to set the AlwaysOnTop property to true—this is the "secret sauce" that makes it an ESP. Without that checked, the UI will just disappear behind walls, which defeats the whole purpose.
Designing the label
Inside that BillboardGui, add a TextLabel or a Frame. If you just want to see names, a TextLabel is fine. Set the size to something like {1, 0}, {1, 0} so it fills the Gui, and maybe give it a bright color like neon green or red so it stands out. I usually clear out the background transparency so you just see the text floating there. It looks a lot more professional that way.
One little tip: set the ExtentsOffset or the StudsOffset on the BillboardGui. If you don't, the label will sit right in the middle of the player's torso, which looks a bit messy. Moving it up by 2 or 3 studs makes it float nicely above their head.
Writing the actual script
Now for the part that usually trips people up: the scripting. We need a LocalScript inside the StarterGui to handle the logic of finding players and sticking our template onto them.
We're going to use a loop, but not just any loop. Using a while true do loop can be a bit heavy if you aren't careful, so most developers prefer using RunService.RenderStepped. This fires every single frame, making the ESP look smooth as the players move around.
The logic goes something like this: 1. Look at all the players currently in the game. 2. Check if they have a character in the Workspace. 3. Check if we've already given them an ESP tag. 4. If not, clone our template from the folder we made earlier. 5. Set the Adornee of that clone to the player's head or humanoid root part. 6. Parent the clone to the player's screen.
It sounds like a lot, but it's really just a handful of lines. The Adornee property is the most important part here. It tells the BillboardGui, "Hey, even though you live in the StarterGui folder, I want you to render yourself on top of this specific part in the world."
Adding extra details like health and distance
Once you've got the basic name tags working, you'll probably want to make your roblox starter gui esp a bit more useful. Just seeing a name is cool, but seeing how far away someone is or how much health they have is much better.
To add a distance tracker, you can use a simple magnitude calculation. Inside your RenderStepped loop, you can update the TextLabel's text to show the distance between the local player's head and the target player's head. Just use something like (Pos1 - Pos2).Magnitude and round it off to the nearest whole number.
Health bars are another common addition. Instead of just a TextLabel, you could put a small Frame inside the BillboardGui with a green "inner" frame. As the player's health changes, you just tweak the width of that inner frame. It's a classic look and gives players a lot of information at a glance.
Keeping things smooth and lag-free
If you're playing a game with 30 or 40 people, having a roblox starter gui esp running for every single person can eventually start to tank the frame rate, especially on older phones or laptops. You've got to be a bit smart about how you handle the updates.
One way to optimize is to only update the distance text every few frames instead of every single frame. The distance doesn't change that much in 1/60th of a second. Another trick is to check the distance and just disable the ESP if the player is too far away. If they're 500 studs away and you can barely see them anyway, do you really need a high-res health bar rendering over them? Probably not.
Also, make sure you're cleaning up after yourself. When a player leaves the game, you need to make sure their ESP tag gets destroyed. Roblox is usually pretty good about cleaning up UI when the parent object is gone, but it's always better to be explicit in your code to avoid memory leaks.
When should you actually use this?
It's worth mentioning that while building a roblox starter gui esp is a great coding exercise, you should think about how it affects your game's balance. In a competitive shooter, giving everyone wallhacks by default might ruin the fun.
However, there are plenty of legitimate uses: * Teammate Identification: In large-scale games, it's vital to know who's on your side. * NPC Tracking: If you're making a quest-based game, having an ESP on the quest giver makes it way easier for new players to find their way. * Spectator Modes: When a player dies, giving them an ESP view of the remaining players is a standard feature in many round-based games. * Admin Tools: If you're moderating your game, being able to see where everyone is hiding can help you spot rule-breakers.
Final thoughts on the setup
Building a roblox starter gui esp is really a right of passage for a lot of scripters. It touches on UI, 3D space, loops, and player management all at once. The beauty of the StarterGui method is that it's very modular. Once you have the basic script working, you can swap out the BillboardGui for something completely different—like a highlight effect or a custom 3D arrow—without having to rewrite your entire logic.
Don't be afraid to experiment with the UI side of things either. Add some UIStroke for a nice outline, play with different fonts, or even use images instead of text. The more you play around with it, the more you'll understand how Roblox handles the bridge between the 2D interface and the 3D world. Just remember to keep an eye on performance, keep your code clean, and make sure it actually adds something valuable to your gameplay experience. Happy building!