Setting up a functional roblox conveyor belt script is one of those essential tasks that every tycoon or simulator developer eventually runs into. It seems simple on the surface—you just want an object to move from point A to point B—but if you've spent any time in Studio, you know that physics can sometimes be a bit of a headache. Whether you're building a massive factory or a simple moving walkway, getting the movement to feel "right" without causing lag or glitchy physics is the real goal here.
In the past, developers used to rely on a property called Velocity. If you look at older tutorials, you'll see people just plugging numbers into that box and calling it a day. However, Roblox has deprecated that property in favor of AssemblyLinearVelocity. It sounds a bit more technical, but it's actually much more reliable for modern physics. Using the right approach ensures that items don't just jitter around or fall through the floor when things get crowded on the belt.
Why the modern approach matters
When you're writing a roblox conveyor belt script, you have to think about how the engine handles parts sitting on top of other parts. If you just "teleport" an item forward every frame, it looks choppy. If you use the older velocity methods, you might find that your conveyor works fine for parts, but completely ignores players.
The modern AssemblyLinearVelocity method tells the physics engine, "Hey, this surface is moving at this specific speed, so anything touching it should inherit that momentum." This makes the movement look fluid. It's the difference between an item looking like it's sliding on ice and an item looking like it's actually being carried by a motorized belt.
Setting up the part in Studio
Before we even touch the code, you need a part to act as the belt. You can use a standard block, scale it out to be long and flat, and give it a nice industrial texture. One thing people often forget: make sure the part is anchored. If it isn't anchored, the velocity you apply to it might actually cause the conveyor belt itself to go flying off into the void the moment something touches it.
Once your part is placed and named something like "ConveyorPart," you're ready to add the logic. You don't need a massive, complex folder structure for this. A single script inside the part is usually more than enough for a basic setup.
Writing the basic conveyor script
Let's look at the most straightforward way to get this moving. You'll want to create a new Script (not a LocalScript) and parent it to your conveyor part.
```lua local belt = script.Parent local speed = 10
belt.AssemblyLinearVelocity = belt.CFrame.LookVector * speed ```
This is the simplest version of a roblox conveyor belt script. What's happening here is pretty cool: we're taking the LookVector of the part (which is the direction the "front" of the part is facing) and multiplying it by our speed variable. This is way better than hardcoding a direction like Vector3.new(10, 0, 0), because it means you can rotate the part in Studio and the conveyor will automatically move items in the new direction. You won't have to go back into the code every time you turn a corner in your factory layout.
Dealing with continuous updates
Now, the script above works great if the conveyor never changes. But what if you want to be able to turn the conveyor on and off, or change the speed mid-game? In that case, you might want to wrap it in a loop or a property signal.
Actually, for most tycoons, the conveyor is always running. But sometimes the physics engine "forgets" the velocity if the part is moved or if the server resets certain states. To be safe, a lot of developers like to set the velocity on a loop or whenever the game starts.
If you want to make it adjustable, you could do something like this:
```lua local belt = script.Parent local speedValue = 15 -- You could link this to an IntValue later
while true do belt.AssemblyLinearVelocity = belt.CFrame.LookVector * speedValue task.wait(1) -- We don't need to update this every frame end ```
By using task.wait(1), we aren't eating up CPU cycles, but we are ensuring that the belt stays "active" in the physics engine's eyes.
Handling players on conveyors
One thing you'll notice with a standard roblox conveyor belt script is how it interacts with player characters. Roblox physics can be a little weird when it comes to humanoids. Sometimes, a player standing still on a conveyor won't move, or they'll jitter.
To fix this, you generally don't need more code; you just need to make sure the Friction of the part is high enough. If the belt is too "slippery," the character's internal physics might fight against the conveyor's velocity. Go into the Part's properties, look for CustomPhysicalProperties, and try bumping the friction up to 2 or 3. It makes a world of difference for how "solid" the movement feels when you're standing on it.
Making the belt look like it's moving
A conveyor that moves items but looks like a static piece of plastic is kind of a mood killer for immersion. To match your roblox conveyor belt script, you should probably animate the texture.
You can do this by adding a Texture object to the top face of your part. Then, you can use a separate line of code to shift that texture over time. It creates the illusion that the belt is actually rolling.
```lua local texture = script.Parent:FindFirstChildOfClass("Texture") local scrollSpeed = 2
spawn(function() while true do texture.OffsetStudsU = texture.OffsetStudsU + (0.1 * scrollSpeed) task.wait(0.03) end end) ```
Using spawn() (or better yet, task.spawn()) allows the texture animation to run in the background without stopping the rest of your script. It's a small touch, but it makes the whole system feel way more professional.
Troubleshooting common issues
If you've set up your roblox conveyor belt script and things aren't moving, check a few things first. First, is the part anchored? It has to be. Second, is the AssemblyLinearVelocity being set on the right axis? If your part is rotated strangely, LookVector might be pointing up into the air instead of forward. You can check this by showing the "Front" face in the Studio selector.
Another common issue is "stuttering" items. This usually happens if there are too many unanchored parts touching each other. If your tycoon spawns 100 cubes a minute onto one belt, they're going to collide with each other and cause lag. To fix this, you might want to look into CollisionGroups so that the items on the belt don't collide with each other, only with the belt itself.
Advanced tweaks: Curved belts
Curved belts are the final boss of conveyor systems. A simple LookVector won't work there because the "forward" direction changes as the item moves along the curve.
For curves, many developers actually use a series of small, straight wedges or parts, each with its own roblox conveyor belt script pointing in a slightly different direction. It sounds tedious, but it's the most stable way to do it. Alternatively, you can use AngularVelocity if you're feeling brave, but that often leads to items being flung off the sides if the speed is too high.
Wrapping things up
Honestly, building a conveyor system is one of the most rewarding "logic" hurdles to jump over when you're starting out in Roblox development. It combines physics, scripting, and a bit of visual flair. Once you have a solid roblox conveyor belt script in your toolbox, you can reuse it across dozens of different projects.
Just remember to stick to AssemblyLinearVelocity, keep your parts anchored, and maybe add a little texture scrolling to sell the effect. It's the small details that make a game feel polished rather than just "put together." Happy building, and I hope your factory runs smoothly!