If you're tired of your game logic breaking because the client and server aren't talking, you need to get comfortable with roblox replicated storage remote events. It's one of those foundational things that every developer hits a wall with early on. You try to change a player's gold from a local script, and nothing happens on the server. Or you try to trigger a sound for everyone, but only the player who clicked the button hears it. This is where RemoteEvents come in to save the day, and putting them in ReplicatedStorage is essentially the standard way to keep your project organized and functional.
Why ReplicatedStorage is the Perfect Home
Before we dive into the events themselves, let's talk about where we put them. ReplicatedStorage is exactly what it sounds like: a storage folder that is "replicated" to every single person playing the game, as well as the server.
When you put something in ServerStorage, the players' computers (the clients) have no idea it exists. If you put something in a player's StarterGui, the server can see it, but other players can't. ReplicatedStorage is that sweet spot—the common ground. It's the perfect place for roblox replicated storage remote events because both the server and the client need to see the event object to use it. If the server is trying to listen for a signal that the client can't find, or vice versa, the whole thing just falls apart.
The Handshake Between Client and Server
Think of a RemoteEvent like a one-way walkie-talkie. It's a way to send a signal across the "invisible fence" that Roblox builds between the user's computer and the actual game server. This fence exists for a very good reason: security. Back in the day, players could change almost anything in the game using exploits. Now, thanks to FilteringEnabled, the client is restricted. If a client wants the server to do something—like dealing damage to an enemy or buying an item—it has to "ask" the server via a RemoteEvent.
There are two main ways these signals travel. You've got FireServer(), which is the client shouting to the server, and FireClient() (or FireAllClients()), which is the server shouting back. It sounds simple, but getting the logic right is where most people get tripped up.
Sending Data from the Player to the Server
Let's say you have a "Buy" button in your shop UI. That UI exists on the client's screen. When they click it, a LocalScript detects the click. But that LocalScript can't just subtract 50 gold from the player's data, because the "real" data lives on the server.
Instead, the LocalScript finds the event in ReplicatedStorage and calls RemoteEvent:FireServer(). On the server side, a regular Script is waiting with an OnServerEvent listener. When the signal arrives, the server checks: "Does this player actually have enough money?" If the answer is yes, the server updates the database. Using roblox replicated storage remote events this way ensures that a hacker can't just fire a script to give themselves a billion coins—they can only send the "request," and the server decides if it's valid.
The Server Talking Back
Sometimes the server needs to tell the client to do something. Maybe a round has ended, and you want to show a "Game Over" screen to everyone. In this case, the server uses FireAllClients(). Every player's computer receives that signal and runs their own local code to show the UI.
If you only want to talk to one specific person—maybe to tell them they don't have enough health—you'd use FireClient(player). The server has to know exactly which player it's talking to, which brings us to one of the most important rules of using remotes.
The "First Argument" Rule
This is the part that confuses almost every beginner. When you use FireServer() from a LocalScript, you don't need to pass the player's name as an argument. Roblox is smart enough to know who sent the signal.
However, on the server-side script, the player who fired the event is always automatically passed as the first argument. So, if you're sending a message like "Hello Server," your server script function should look something like function(player, message). If you forget to include player in those parentheses, your "message" variable will actually contain the player object, and your code will start acting very weird.
Security and the "Don't Trust the Client" Rule
If there is one thing you should take away from learning about roblox replicated storage remote events, it's this: never trust the client.
Imagine you're making a sword game. You might be tempted to have the client send a RemoteEvent saying "I hit PlayerB and did 50 damage." This is a recipe for disaster. An exploiter could just spam that event and kill everyone in the server instantly.
Instead, the client should just say "I swung my sword." The server then checks the distance between the players, checks if the sword was actually swinging, and then the server calculates the damage. You use RemoteEvents to pass intentions, not results. The server should always be the final judge of what actually happened.
Organizing Your Events
As your game grows, your ReplicatedStorage can get messy fast. If you have fifty different roblox replicated storage remote events just sitting in the root folder, you're going to have a bad time.
A good habit is to create a folder inside ReplicatedStorage specifically named "Remotes" or "Events." You can even categorize them further, like "CombatEvents," "ShopEvents," and "DataEvents." It makes your code much cleaner when you can call game.ReplicatedStorage.Remotes.Combat.Attack:FireServer(). It might seem like extra work now, but your future self will thank you when you're trying to debug a complex system six months from now.
Avoiding Common Pitfalls
One big mistake people make is firing RemoteEvents too often. If you're firing an event every single frame (60 times a second) to update a player's position or something similar, you're going to cause some serious lag. Roblox is pretty good at handling traffic, but every network request takes a bit of bandwidth.
Another issue is naming conflicts. If you name an event "Update," and you have five different scripts trying to use it for five different things, you're going to run into chaos. Be specific with your names. "UpdateHealthUI" is much better than "Update."
Also, keep an eye on RemoteFunctions. People often mix them up with RemoteEvents. While a RemoteEvent is a "fire and forget" signal, a RemoteFunction waits for a response. For 90% of what you do, a RemoteEvent is the faster and safer choice. Only use RemoteFunctions if you absolutely need a piece of data sent back immediately, and even then, be careful—if the other side doesn't respond, your script will hang forever.
Practical Example: A Simple Healing Station
Let's visualize a quick scenario. You have a part in your game that heals a player when they press "E".
- The Setup: You put a RemoteEvent called
HealRequestin a folder in ReplicatedStorage. - The Client: A LocalScript detects the "E" key press. It checks if the player is close to the part. If they are, it calls
HealRequest:FireServer(). - The Server: A Script listens for
HealRequest.OnServerEvent. It checks the distance again (remember: don't trust the client!) and checks if the player's health is already full. If everything looks good, it setsplayer.Character.Humanoid.Health += 20.
This loop is the heartbeat of almost every interactive Roblox game. Once you get the hang of roblox replicated storage remote events, you stop thinking about "making things happen" and start thinking about "communicating between the parts of your game." It's a bit of a mental shift, but it's what separates a hobbyist from someone who can actually build a scalable, secure game.
Keep experimenting, don't be afraid to break things, and always double-check your arguments on the server side!