If you're trying to build a roblox text service esp, you've probably realized that it's a bit more involved than just throwing a random label onto a player's character. Most people think of ESP as just "seeing through walls," but from a developer or scripter's perspective, it's really about managing how information is displayed on the 2D plane of your screen based on 3D world coordinates. Using the TextService alongside your ESP logic is a smart move because it helps you handle things like text filtering and size calculations, which keeps everything looking clean and running smoothly.
Why use TextService for your ESP?
You might wonder why we even bother with TextService when we could just use a simple BillboardGui. The thing is, when you're making a high-quality roblox text service esp, you want the UI to be dynamic. If a player has a long name or if you're displaying extra stats like health, distance, or current tools, you don't want the text to overlap or get cut off.
TextService has a really handy method called GetTextSize. This is a lifesaver because it lets you calculate exactly how much space a string of text will take up before you even render it. By knowing the dimensions beforehand, you can scale your background boxes or frames to perfectly fit the text. It avoids that awkward look where the text is spilling out of its container or the container is way too big for a three-letter name.
The basic logic behind the ESP
To get the "ESP" part working, you're mostly dealing with the Camera object and the RunService. You need the script to constantly check where players are in the 3D world and then translate those positions to your 2D screen. The most common way to do this is using Camera:WorldToViewportPoint().
When you call this function on a player's head or torso, it returns a Vector3. The first two numbers are the X and Y coordinates on your screen, and the third number is the distance from the camera. If that third number is positive, it means the player is actually on your screen and not behind you. This is where your roblox text service esp starts to take shape—you take those X and Y coordinates and move a ScreenGui element to that exact spot.
Integrating TextService for clean UI
Once you have the position, you need to decide what the text actually looks like. This is where TextService shines. Let's say you want to show the player's name and their distance from you. You'd combine those into a string, then use GetTextSize to figure out the height and width.
It's also worth mentioning that if you're ever displaying text that one player wrote (like a custom status or nickname), you must use TextService for filtering. Roblox is super strict about this. If you're making a tool for others to use and you bypass the filtering system, your game could get flagged. Always run user-generated strings through FilterStringAsync before displaying them in your ESP labels. It keeps your game safe and follows the rules.
Keeping performance in check
One mistake I see a lot of people make when messing with a roblox text service esp is putting way too much load on the RenderStepped loop. Remember, this loop runs every single frame. If you're doing heavy calculations or complex string manipulations sixty times a second for every player in a thirty-player server, you're going to feel the lag.
To keep things snappy, you should only update the text itself when it actually changes. You don't need to re-calculate the text size every frame if the player's name hasn't changed. Just update the position of the frame every frame, but keep the heavy TextService calls limited to when the data actually shifts. This keeps your frames per second (FPS) high, which is especially important in fast-paced games.
Handling visibility and occlusion
A good roblox text service esp shouldn't just be a mess of names on the screen. Sometimes, you only want to see names when the player is close, or maybe you want the text to get smaller as they move further away. You can use the distance value we got from WorldToViewportPoint to adjust the TextSize property.
You can also use Raycasting to check if a player is behind a wall. If the ray hits a part before it hits the player, you can make the ESP label semi-transparent or change its color. This adds a level of polish that makes the script feel like a professional tool rather than a basic placeholder. It helps the user distinguish between someone they can actually see and someone who is hiding behind a building.
Setting up the UI structure
For the actual display, I usually recommend using a single ScreenGui with a Folder inside it to hold all the individual player tags. Each tag can be a Frame with a TextLabel inside. By setting the Frame.AnchorPoint to (0.5, 0.5), it's much easier to center the text exactly on the player's position.
If you're feeling fancy, you can add a UIGradient or a UIStroke to make the text pop. Since ESP can often be hard to read against bright backgrounds (like the sky or neon parts), adding a thin black outline to your white text is a classic move. It ensures that the roblox text service esp is readable no matter where the player is looking.
Common pitfalls to avoid
One thing that trips up beginners is forgetting to check if the player's character actually exists. You'll get a lot of "attempt to index nil" errors if you don't check if player.Character and player.Character:FindFirstChild("HumanoidRootPart") then. Players die and respawn all the time, so your code needs to be resilient enough to handle those moments when a character is temporarily missing from the workspace.
Another tip: don't forget to clean up. When a player leaves the game, you need to destroy their corresponding ESP frame. If you don't, you'll end up with "ghost" labels stuck on your screen or a memory leak that slowly eats up performance. Using the Players.PlayerRemoving event is the best way to handle this.
Final thoughts on the setup
Building a custom roblox text service esp is a great way to learn about the relationship between 3D space and 2D interfaces. It pushes you to understand how the camera works, how to optimize loops, and how to use Roblox's built-in services for better UI management.
While it might seem easier to just find a free model script, writing it yourself gives you total control. You can decide exactly how the text scales, how the filtering works, and how much info is displayed. Plus, you'll know exactly how to fix it if something breaks after a Roblox update. Just keep it simple at first, get the positioning right, and then start layering in the TextService features to make it look professional. It's a fun project that really levels up your scripting skills once you get the hang of it.