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32 vs 64 bit client

Both 32-bit and 64-bit client displayed in the Task Manager. Top is 32-bit; bottom is 64-bit. Hyperion is 64-bit only.

Hyperion (also referred to as the Byfron anti-cheat by the community) is anti-tamper software built into Roblox Player as part of countering exploiting on Roblox. Hyperion is developed by Byfron Technologies, a subsidiary of Roblox Corporation since October 2022. Hyperion was released as a part of the 64-bit client version production release on May 3, 2023. On September 15, 2023, A/B testing began on the Microsoft Store (UWP) client with some users receiving Hyperion and others not.

As an anti-cheat solution, Hyperion detects software interacting with the client and crashes the client if it identifies bad software, also known as "badware". Although the technology aims to counter cheating, Roblox ended compatibility support for 32-bit users, as well as blocked the use of Wine, essentially disallowing Linux users from playing Roblox, although it was later supported again. There were also crashes reported by users as bugs with Hyperion being the cause around the time of release.

Because Hyperion only works with the 64-bit client, methods of avoiding Hyperion were also found at the time, such as using a 32-bit client or the client from the Microsoft Store, or using a modified mobile client which is available on both iOS and Android. Since then, most of these issues were being mitigated by both Roblox pushing Hyperion to more platforms and developers taking action by banning or isolating users with 32-bit clients.

History[]

According to Pitchbook, Byfron Technologies, the company that develops Hyperion, was founded sometime during 2021.[1] In July 2022, Hyperion was added to Fortnite as an anti-cheat system, along with EasyAntiCheat and Battle Eye as the other two anti-cheats,[2] and was also added to Apex Legends.[3][4] On October 11, 2022, Roblox announced that they have acquired Byfron Technologies and introduced anti-cheat measures.[5]

Technology[]

Hyperion is anti-tamper software that detects software interacting with the client. Hyperion does not scan the system and instead looks for software known as "badware". Hyperion crashes the client if it detects badware directly interacting with it. Bitdancer, a Roblox staff member, listed cheat software, malicious software or badly written drivers as a form of badware,[6] as well as "any software, ranging from seemingly harmless ones like Process Monitor to malicious software or even virus scanners".[7] Bitdancer also articulated that bad drivers are "known to have bugs and are being used as a launchpad for exploits and other unwanted software".[8] Hyperion determines software to be potentially badware if a process is not digitally signed. Hyperion allows write access for digitally signed processes; however, writing to the client will most likely trigger Hyperion and cause it to crash the client.[9] Hyperion also crashes the client if it finds that the client is being executed on a virtual machine.[10][11]

Hyperion's telemetry is anonymized; core dumps from crashes are anonymously sent.[12]

Beta[]

On April 27, 2023, the 64-bit version beta client was released with Hyperion built in,[13] and was rolled out to users with the "zwinplayer64" channel, different from 32-bit clients that were in production release at the time ("LIVE" channel). As part of testing, the channel is specified for each user. Users can check if they have the 64-bit client by viewing their channel in the About page of the client, below the options.[14] Alternatively, users can visit https://clientsettings.roblox.com/v2/user-channel?binaryType=WindowsPlayer, or use Task Manager to determine if their client is 64-bit.[15]

Release[]

On May 3, 2023, the 64-bit client version was released on the "LIVE" channel, affecting all users on Roblox.[16][17] Because Hyperion is only built into the 64-bit client, the release would also mean the end of compatibility support for 32-bit users. Roblox also blocked the use of Wine, essentially disallowing Linux users from playing Roblox.[18][19] Roblox announced that there are plans to support Wine again.[20][21]

At the time of release, 32-bit clients or the "ZIntegration" channel would be used to avoid Hyperion. Roblox would eventually prevent those clients from playing on Roblox servers. Other methods of avoiding Hyperion were found such as using the client from the Microsoft Store[22], or using a modified mobile client (including iOS and Android) which may include a script injector[23].

On August 11, 2023, a staff member published a DevForum post with an attached screenshot of Roblox running on Manjaro as a shoutout to the Grapejuice community.[24][25] Later, "zintegration" and "zcanary" channels were supporting Wine as part of testing, allowing Linux users to play Roblox again,[26] and this would soon be moved to the production release.[27]

On September 8, 2023, it was announced at RDC 2023 that Hyperion was successful in stopping most exploiters,[28] and that Hyperion will be launched on the Microsoft Store client as well as exploit detections on Android.[29]

On September 15, 2023, A/B testing began on the Microsoft Store (UWP) client with some users receiving the 64-bit update with Hyperion and others not.[30][31][32] However, many users simply did not update and continued to use the older version. In response, some developers isolated or even banned users still on 32-bit clients by using a script that determines their bit architecture.[33] There are rumors that the client is a honeypot, with Roblox detecting exploiters, and eventually HWID banning them.⁠[citation needed]

On March 1, 2024, WINE support was removed. The exact reason for this sudden decision is unclear, but Bitdancer stated that WINE support had been abused by malicious actors to cheat & reverse engineer Hyperion.[34]

Bugs[]

Around the time of release, there are bugs often leading to crashes on the 64-bit client that were attributed to Hyperion and reported on the Developer Forum. Roblox staff recommended users encountering crashes related to Hyperion to post crash dumps for analyzing.

Crashes[]

Users reported that the client crashes after around 3 seconds to several minutes of launching.[35][36][37] The staff responded and linked crashes to "badware" detected by Hyperion, and recommended performing a clean boot.[6][38][39][40] At the time of release, similar crashes were widespread, with users complaining being unable to play Roblox.[41]

A user also reported that Wireshark and NetLimiter, both of which are monitoring software, are causing Hyperion to crash the client.[42] A staff member linked the software to a form of badware where the software opens a read/write handle to the client and responded with a question: "Why would seemingly harmless and innocent software need to require read/write access to another process, and what does it do once access is granted?".[43][9]

A user posted a workaround which is opening Disk Cleanup and selecting all files (except for system files) for deletion.[44]

Users have also reported a more long term, seemingly unfixable type of crash associated with Hyperion. After a period of between one to twenty minutes in-game, the client will always hard crash for the user.[45] This issue persists even when run in a safe boot environment, beyond any program or OS reinstall, leading some users to suggest an increasingly critical error with Hyperion's database.

RAM usage[]

Users reported that the 64-bit client is using more RAM than the 32-bit client.[46] A staff member stated that this is expected because of innate differences, such as "64-bit pointers being twice as large as 32-bit ones, struct alignment, etc...", as well as additional memory overhead due to Hyperion.[47]

Impact on exploiting[]

Majority of previously exploiting teams have discontinued their products, with one even joining Roblox to fight cheaters on their side. With the increased difficulty of process injection & reverse engineering, as well as the downfall of a major part of the leading cheat developers, the anti-tamper lasted about 221 days (April 27, 2023 - December 4, 2023) with no public, easily accessible & affordable bypasses being released, about 293 days (April 27, 2023 - February 14, 2024) without a reliable & undetected bypass being released.

There are currently no known public methods to bypass Hyperion which would allow for the easy creation of a cheat, with the only option being purchasing a product from cheat developers. Only a single exploit stands undetected, but is likely unaffordable for majority of the exploiting community. All but one attempts to launch a full-scale internal script executor to the public have gotten detected & their users banned.

So far, Hyperion had only been rolled out on Windows, with plans to roll out on Android[48].

Reference[]

  1. (n.d.) . "Byfron Technologies". From PitchBook. Accessed October 4, 2023. Archived from the original on December 23, 2022.
  2. (2022, July 7). "Fortnite gets Hyperion anti-cheat, Epic Games hopeful of reducing malpractices". From InsideSport. Accessed October 4, 2023. Archived from the original on September 29, 2022.
  3. (2022, July 27). "Apex Legends Adds NEW ANTI-CHEAT Hyperion!". From Apex Ranked. Accessed October 4, 2023. Archived from the original on May 17, 2023.
  4. Lele, Nutan (2022, August 3). "Apex Legends Adds Software to Stop Leaks". From AFK Gaming. Accessed October 4, 2023. Archived from the original on June 6, 2023.
  5. Roblox (2022, October 11). "Welcoming Byfron to Roblox". From DevForum. Accessed October 4, 2023. Archived from the original on September 30, 2023.
  6. 6.0 6.1 Bitdancer (2023, April 29). "Roblox games load for about 3 seconds then instantly crash". From DevForum. Accessed October 4, 2023. Archived from the original on May 6, 2023.
  7. Bitdancer (2023, May 6). "Roblox Windows Crashes". From DevForum. Archived from the original on October 4, 2023.
  8. Bitdancer (2023, April 30). "Roblox games load for about 3 seconds then instantly crash". From DevForum. Archived from the original on October 4, 2023.
  9. 9.0 9.1 Bitdancer (2023, May 2). "[64-bit client] Crashing after a couple minutes of play, every time". From DevForum. Archived from the original on October 4, 2023.
  10. Bitdancer (2023, April 21). "The new Roblox 64-bit Byfron client forbids Wine users from using it. (Most likely unintentional)". From DevForum. Archived from the original on October 4, 2023.
  11. Bitdancer (2023, April 29). "Roblox games load for about 3 seconds then instantly crash". From DevForum. Archived from the original on October 4, 2023.
  12. Bitdancer (2023, April 30). "Roblox games load for about 3 seconds then instantly crash". From DevForum. Archived from the original on October 4, 2023.
  13. Tan, Nicholas (2023, April 27). "Roblox Byfron Anti-Cheat: What Does the New Launch Window Mean?". From GameRevolution. Accessed October 4, 2023. Archived from the original on July 18, 2023.
  14. Bitdancer (2023, April 26). "Roblox games load for about 3 seconds then instantly crash". From DevForum. Archived from the original on October 4, 2023.
  15. TheYusufGamer (2023, April 27). "Roblox 64-bit player will not run on Windows 7". From DevForum. Accessed October 4, 2023. Archived from the original on May 6, 2023.
  16. (2023, May 3). "04/05/2023 00:48:40 [LIVE, ZFlag]". From GitHub. Archived from the original on October 4, 2023.
  17. crazy1755 (2023, May 3). "Roblox 64-bit player will not run on Windows 7". From DevForum. Archived from the original on October 4, 2023.
  18. MrEakar (2023, April 21). "The new Roblox 64-bit Byfron client forbids Wine users from using it. (Most likely unintentional)". From DevForum. Accessed October 4, 2023. Archived from the original on August 20, 2023.
  19. Dawe, Liam (2023, April 22). "Roblox intentionally blocking Linux with Wine in their new update". From GamingOnLinux. Archived from the original on October 4, 2023.
  20. AtomicOperation (2023, May 11). "Proper support for the Linux platform". From DevForum. Accessed October 4, 2023. Archived from the original on August 8, 2023.
  21. Dawe, Liam (2023, May 15). "Roblox still plan to make it work with Wine on Linux". From GamingOnLinux. Archived from the original on October 4, 2023.
  22. wilsontulus5 (2023, April 26). "The new Roblox 64-bit Byfron client forbids Wine users from using it. (Most likely unintentional)". From DevForum. Archived from the original on October 4, 2023.
  23. RTC [@Roblox_RTC] (2023, May 5). "With the introduction of Byfron into Roblox’s 64-bit client, an exploiting group has released a script injector to iOS devices" [Tweet]. Twitter.
  24. Rudra, Sourav (2023, August 23). "Roblox on Linux Returns With Wine Support: Rejoice, Gamers! ⚡". From It's FOSS News. Accessed October 4, 2023. Archived from the original on August 27, 2023.
  25. https://devforum.roblox.com/t/why-did-roblox-stop-supporting-linux-users/2444335/61
  26. https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2023/08/roblox-support-is-coming-back-to-wine-on-linux/
  27. https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2023/08/roblox-support-returns-to-linux-with-wine/
  28. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=emoTyQBBHdk&t=5221
  29. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=emoTyQBBHdk&t=5305
  30. Bitdancer (2023, October 6). "Seems that Byfron Hyperion has been bypassed". From DevForum. Archived from the original on October 8, 2023.
  31. https://www.reddit.com/r/robloxhackers/comments/16jni4e/hyperion_is_now_on_uwp_god_save_us_all/
  32. https://twitter.com/Bloxy_News/status/1702780882824679814
  33. https://devforum.roblox.com/t/a-way-to-block-hyperion-bypass/2592103
  34. Bitdancer (2024, February 18). "Why isn’t Hyperion an anti-cheat?". From DevForum. Archived from the original on April 11, 2024.
  35. https://devforum.roblox.com/t/roblox-games-load-for-about-3-seconds-then-instantly-crash/2309871
  36. https://devforum.roblox.com/t/64-bit-client-crashing-after-a-couple-minutes-of-play-every-time/2315314
  37. https://devforum.roblox.com/t/roblox-windows-crashes/2321961
  38. Bitdancer (2023, May 1). "[64-bit client] Crashing after a couple minutes of play, every time". From DevForum. Archived from the original on October 4, 2023.
  39. Bitdancer (2023, April 30). "Roblox Player crashing (only in my login)". From DevForum. Archived from the original on October 4, 2023.
  40. Bitdancer (2023, May 6). "Roblox Windows Crashes". From DevForum. Archived from the original on October 4, 2023.
  41. https://www.reddit.com/r/roblox/comments/136byt8/cant_even_join_a_game/
  42. GoodNameOnly (2023, May 4). "Roblox games load for about 3 seconds then instantly crash". From DevForum. Archived from the original on October 4, 2023.
  43. Bitdancer (2023, May 4). "Roblox games load for about 3 seconds then instantly crash". From DevForum. Archived from the original on October 4, 2023.
  44. x_maks441 (2023, May 13). "[Resolved] ROBLOX instantly crashes on launch!". From DevForum. Archived from the original on October 4, 2023.
  45. MouseyCherie (2024, April 1). "Constant crashing in any game I go into". From DevForum. Accessed July 31, 2024. Archived from the original on July 31, 2024.
  46. walshy400_7 (2023, May 4). "Hyperion Client Memory usage". From DevForum. Archived from the original on October 4, 2023.
  47. ScipioAfrikanos (2023, May 4). "Hyperion Client Memory usage". From DevForum. Archived from the original on October 4, 2023.
  48. Bitdancer (2023, December 1). "Seems that Byfron Hyperion has been bypassed". From DevForum. Archived from the original on April 11, 2024.
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