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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
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33 comments
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elmapul Feb 26
Quoting: StalePopcornThey made $2.8 BILLION last year… they're insincere at best, more likely full of shit and lying through their teeth about their options.

those 2 billions include how much they pay their creators?
Quoting: elmapulthose 2 billions include how much they pay their creators?

Enough to not support Linux? You really think they keep that little?
chr Feb 26
Quoting: Pengling
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.

I disagree here. I think the service provider (Roblox) is best equipped to to supervise what happens in the communal spaces they built and they have an obligation (not legally though 🤬) to spend more of their precious profits on platform safety.
Pyretic Feb 26
Quoting: Liam DaweI am basically a human-book of Linux gaming history at this point.

You should write that book. Seriously, post another editorial/article on how Linux gaming has changed over the years, I'd love to read it.
Not joking when I say this will hurt Linux's future. Kids will still need Windows to play things like this and Fortnight.
Hamish Feb 26
Quoting: PyreticYou should write that book. Seriously, post another editorial/article on how Linux gaming has changed over the years, I'd love to read it.
The period I am covering right now might be considered ancient history, but that is already kind of what I am doing...
sarmad Feb 26
When will companies realize that the only way to create proper anti-cheat is to do server side AI based anticheat?
const 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...
Thanks for posting these links. More people should watch them and more people should care.
Pengling Feb 27
Quoting: elmapulthose 2 billions include how much they pay their creators?
They pay them in the same virtual currency for which you can purchase microtransaction cards in supermarkets and toy-shops, which have an exchange-rate of a fraction of a penny each.

Quoting: chrI disagree here. I think the service provider (Roblox) is best equipped to to supervise what happens in the communal spaces they built and they have an obligation (not legally though 🤬) to spend more of their precious profits on platform safety.
Oh, don't get me wrong, I totally agree with you, and I wish it was that way! I'm just already resigned to not expecting companies like that to actually take responsibility for what matters. But on the family/community side, all anyone can do is supervise and educate - that's all I mean.

Quoting: constThanks for posting these links. More people should watch them and more people should care.
Thankyou, and, again, totally agreed. I think it's telling that we see crackdowns on services not aimed at children, whilst nothing is being done about stuff like Roblox.
chaussettes Feb 27
Kind of lame because I legitimately did used to play it with some friends. There's some good party games on there to waste time. It's basically just GMOD.

Not a huge loss though as if I ever seriously want to play again there is an official android version
Quoting: sprocketPosted this before, and I'm posting it again.

Still won't allow my kids to play this.

https://www.theguardian.com/games/2022/jan/09/the-trouble-with-roblox-the-video-game-empire-built-on-child-labour

Wow, that's f nasty.
ChiKin Mar 1
at the risk of sounding old, why do people want to cheat at this game? Also I know nothing about the game either :D
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