I encountered a problem and it have been annoying me for long time, the problem is that always when you use some attack and the animation of attack plays first time, it gets delayed and looks bad. What I want to do is to preload all the animations, I tried some scripting but im always getting a error.
this is the script im using [server script]:
local ContentProvider = game:GetService("ContentProvider")
local animations = {}
for _, v in ipairs(game:GetService("ServerStorage"):GetDescendants()) do
if v:IsA("Animation") then
animations[v.AnimationId] = true
end
end
ContentProvider:PreloadAsync(animations)
Preloading on the server won’t help, the usual solution is to put animations in ReplicatedStorage, preload it on the client. Using table.insert instead of using IDs as key of a dictionary.
This won’t help the animation to load for the first time so the way I usually do to get around this is by calling LoadAnimation on all animations, and :Play() it once, :Stop() right after several frames when the character first spawned.
If you want assets ready as soon as the player joins, use ReplicatedFirst. It runs before most of the client finishes loading. Do not utilize ServerScriptService nor ReplicatedStorage for preloading.
Setup
Insert a LocalScript into ReplicatedFirst
Name it something like assetPreloader
Inside the script, create a Folder named renderAssets
This folder is where you’ll store anything you want preloaded.
(as long as it is a relevant thing to preload)
The script itself
Paste this into the LocalScript:
--[[
TITLE: ReplicatedFirst Asset Preloader
DESCRIPTION: Preloads all relevant asset instances under renderAssets
AUTHOR: bytephoric
DATE: Sun 12 Oct 2025
--]]
-- SERVICES
local ReplicatedFirst = game:GetService("ReplicatedFirst")
local ContentProvider = game:GetService("ContentProvider")
-- VARIABLES
local renderAssets = script:WaitForChild("renderAssets") -- This is the assumed folder name
-- TABLES
local instanceFilter = { -- These are the "Relevant" instances to preload
"Decal", "Texture",
"MeshPart", "Part",
"ImageButton", "ImageLabel",
"Sound", "TextLabel", "Animation",
}
-- EXECUTION
local assetsToPreload = {}
for _, asset in ipairs(renderAssets:GetDescendants()) do
if table.find(instanceFilter, asset.ClassName) then -- IsA() is also something you could use.
table.insert(assetsToPreload, asset)
end
end
if #assetsToPreload > 0 then
ContentProvider:PreloadAsync(assetsToPreload)
end
Server-side “Preloading”
The server manages availability. It ensures the data exists and is ready to be sent. However, the server does not “render” or “load” the actual image or mesh into memory. It simply acts as the authoritative source of the data.
Client-side Preloading
The client manages presentation. This is the actual process of downloading assets. It ensures that when a player turns a corner, the assets are already in memory and ready to be displayed instantly.
Core Difference
Server: Controls if and when the client knows about an asset.
Client: Controls how fast the asset is ready to be seen.
preload async takes an array (not dictionary) of instances, also you should have this in a localscript in either replicatedfirst or starterplayerscripts so it starts asap as theres no need to preload on the server
if you move the animations into somewhere like replicatedstorage.Assets, then you can do something like this:
local contentProvider = game:GetService("ContentProvider") -- i lowercase stuff
local replicatedStorage = game:GetService("ReplicatedStorage")
local animations = {}
for _,v in pairs(replicatedStorage:WaitForChild("Assets")) do
if v:IsA("Animation") then table.insert(animations,v) end
end
contentProvider:PreloadAsync(animations)
The issue is that PreloadAsync() expects an array of content IDs, not a dictionary. You’re passing a table with animation IDs as keys, which is causing the error. Here’s the corrected approach:lualocal ContentProvider = game:GetService("ContentProvider")local animations = {}for _, v in ipairs(game:GetService("ServerStorage"):GetDescendants()) do if v:IsA("Animation") then table.insert(animations, v.AnimationId) endendContentProvider:PreloadAsync(animations)Key changes:- Use table.insert() to add animation IDs to an array instead of a dictionary- PreloadAsync() needs a sequential table (array format), not key-value pairs**Additional recommendations for better animation loading:**1. Load animations on the client — Since animations are viewed by clients, preload them in a LocalScript in StarterPlayer > StarterCharacterScripts or StarterPlayerScripts instead of on the server. This is more efficient and reduces server load.2. Add error handling:lualocal success, err = pcall(function() ContentProvider:PreloadAsync(animations)end)if not success then warn("Animation preload failed:", err)end3. Consider preloading only frequently-used animations — If you have 100+ animations, preloading everything can spike memory usage. Instead, preload attack animations on demand or in batches based on what the player actually uses.4. Use RemoteEvents for character-specific loading — When a player joins or respawns, fire a RemoteEvent to their client with only the animations their character needs, rather than preloading everything server-wide.The first-frame delay you’re experiencing should disappear once animations are properly preloaded. Test with just your most common animations first to ensure it’s working as expected.
