Don't want to see articles from a certain category? When logged in, go to your User Settings and adjust your feed in the Content Preferences section where you can block tags!
We do often include affiliate links to earn us some pennies. See more here.

After Roblox recently introduced Hyperion anti-tamper, there were some issues running it on Linux, but there's been workarounds and some of the Roblox staff made it to work on Linux with Wine again, but it seems not for much longer.

This ongoing saga of Roblox working, then not working, then working again and so on looks like it's about to end and not in a good way for people playing it on Linux with Wine. The info comes from the Roblox developer forum (login required), spread across a few posts in the topic "Why isn’t Hyperion an anti-cheat?".

Roblox staff member Bitdancer once again answering lots of questions, and then this was noted:

We have a similar issue with our unofficial Wine support. We see it being used for cheating, which is heartbreaking, to be honest, as this was a personal effort of our developers under the assumption that folks out there would understand and not misuse it.

In reply to a user asking if "Roblox on Linux is likely not gonna last much longer?", Bitdancer replied:

I am very sorry, but you are correct. Unfortunately, we have exhausted our options.

Further expanding on the why:

Wine is an excellent tool for reverse engineering. Additionally, we had to disable many antitamper checks to make Hyperion run on Wine. This has allowed interested parties to learn a lot about the internal workings of Hyperion, relevant to both Win32 and UWP. As the initial shock of Hyperion’s release started wearing off, many people have begun discovering the various angles through which one can learn more about the inner workings of Hyperion. Apparently, many have done just that, necessitating us to become more strict.

Continuing across another post:

The reason I gave above is one, rather significant, reason but not the only one. There have been many contributing factors. For example, the increased detection of cheating on Wine, the floundering of Wine-based Roblox exploits on different Discord servers, and the question of maintainability. Hyperion is a complex piece of software; we introduced more than one bug in Hyperion because we wanted to make something work on Wine. Ultimately, every responsible company must ask whether it is worth the effort. Who is responsible when things go wrong? What does unofficial support really mean? How many users of other platforms will be inconvenienced by our decision to support Wine? How can we make features such as kernel components work, and so much more.

As they explained in the quotes above, it doesn't necessarily mean Linux players specifically are the ones actually cheating, but the way they enabled it to work has allowed cheat makers to look a bit more behind the scenes to enable cheats even on Windows.

So, if you are playing it on Linux, or you were wanting to, it certainly sounds like it will be entirely blocked at some point. A shame, considering how massive a platform Roblox is. It's good to see their team be so clear and open about the issues though, rather than just blocking it and not giving an answer like plenty of other games do.

Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
Tags: Anti-Cheat, Misc, Wine
16 Likes
About the author -
author picture
I am the owner of GamingOnLinux. After discovering Linux back in the days of Mandrake in 2003, I constantly came back to check on the progress of Linux until Ubuntu appeared on the scene and it helped me to really love it. You can reach me easily by emailing GamingOnLinux directly.
See more from me
33 comments
Page: «2/4»
  Go to:

elmapul Feb 26
Quoting: psycho_driverMy daughters were both addicted to Roblox when they initially released their AC and I refused to set up anything windows based in my home so they had to go cold turkey. They've been able to play again since September or so but the old one seems mostly weened off and the younger one isn't as susceptible to hardcore addiction as the older, so she'll be fine. Adios, Roblox.
i hope they dont grow up hating linux because you enforced it...
LoudTechie Feb 26
This not really that shocking, but I appreciate the honesty.
"Wine is not supported"
Was what you got with their last anti-cheat than some smart guy hacked around it.
They clearly really really don't want to support Linux.
It's just that it's really hard not to support Linux(especially as a browser based game), so they've failed multiple times.
This is by the way a two sided sword, because they have such shit Linux support Linux players will start trying hacking around their restrictions and sharing what they find, enabling cheaters.
A good example is Roblox itself.
At first they had "Wine isn't supported"(and cheats). Than someone made a complete open source and custom alternative client.
Than someone merged a patch in Wine. Than they dropped this.
Now they once again believe they've got a tool that can stop Linux users.
Lets see.
hardpenguin Feb 26
Quoting: Liam DaweI suggest reading their previous statement on it.
Thanks! You are destroying me in the comments with all those well-documented facts 🥲
Liam Dawe Feb 26
Quoting: hardpenguin
Quoting: Liam DaweI suggest reading their previous statement on it.
Thanks! You are destroying me in the comments with all those well-documented facts 🥲
I am basically a human-book of Linux gaming history at this point.
hardpenguin Feb 26
Quoting: Liam DaweI am basically a human-book of Linux gaming history at this point.
Perhaps you should write and (self-)publish a book 😎
elmapul Feb 26
Quoting: Pengling
Quoting: psycho_driverMy daughters were both addicted to Roblox when they initially released their AC and I refused to set up anything windows based in my home so they had to go cold turkey. They've been able to play again since September or so but the old one seems mostly weened off and the younger one isn't as susceptible to hardcore addiction as the older, so she'll be fine. Adios, Roblox.
Hopefully they were unaffected by the many problems affecting it!

Roblox Has a "Cannibal Cult"...
Roblox: The children's game with a sex problem
Investigation: How Roblox Is Exploiting Young Game Developers
Roblox Pressured Us to Delete Our Video. So We Dug Deeper.
A 12-Year-Old Sued Roblox and WON

And so on, and so on...

the sex offenders is the biggest issue, but this is a problem in any online experience , i dont know about an solution that dont require parents monitoring what their kids are doing and only allowing then to play online when they are arround.
as for the exploiting young developers, the easy solution is introducing an proper game engine that wont take 80% of your profits, and give up on making anything commercial in easy to use tools like roblox, use then just to have fun instead.

i never heard about the cannibal one, dont know what its about and dont have time to read /watch it.
elmapul Feb 26
Quoting: LoudTechieNow they once again believe they've got a tool that can stop Linux users.
Lets see.
they have, ban account from people who insist in playing on wine.

maybe we can make custom servers for linux users, but that is liking forking facebook and ignoring that people are there to interact with other people and their content...
its like playing an MMO with only 1% of the players...
Pengling Feb 26
Quoting: elmapulthe sex offenders is the biggest issue, but this is a problem in any online experience , i dont know about an solution that dont require parents monitoring what their kids are doing and only allowing then to play online when they are arround.
Supervision and education really are the only things that can be done here.

Quoting: elmapulas for the exploiting young developers, the easy solution is introducing an proper game engine that wont take 80% of your profits, and give up on making anything commercial in easy to use tools like roblox, use then just to have fun instead.
You're quite right. The issue, though, is that they promote to children (who tend to want quick results and won't have an easy start with most game-engines) that they can make money making games in Roblox, and basically shuffle them into sticking with company scrip but for kids, and then that also sometimes ends up overlapping with the above, according to the stories covered in the videos.

Quoting: elmapuli never heard about the cannibal one, dont know what its about and dont have time to read /watch it.
That one is utterly bizarre, and definitely worth the watch to get an up-close look at exactly the sort of freaky stuff that's going on in Roblox.
doragasu Feb 26
I have two addicted kids, and the interval it was not playable on Linux I had to resign and dual boot Windows just for them to play. So for me this is really a problem and when it happens, it will unfortunately force me to boot Windows again.
They made $2.8 BILLION last year… they're insincere at best, more likely full of shit and lying through their teeth about their options.
While you're here, please consider supporting GamingOnLinux on:

Reward Tiers: Patreon. Plain Donations: PayPal.

This ensures all of our main content remains totally free for everyone! Patreon supporters can also remove all adverts and sponsors! Supporting us helps bring good, fresh content. Without your continued support, we simply could not continue!

You can find even more ways to support us on this dedicated page any time. If you already are, thank you!
Login / Register


Or login with...
Sign in with Steam Sign in with Google
Social logins require cookies to stay logged in.