Client close/disconnect times can be very long

I’ve had a number of users complain about data loss in my game. I scratched my head a this for ages but recently found out the most likely cause if due to them being killed after they’ve closed their game, but are still connected to the game (their character and Player object still exists). The UWP Roblox app seems to consistently have the worst case for this.

https://streamable.com/3hqwi

The video above demonstrates the long disconnect times after the client closes. The window in the top left is the UWP app, the one in the bottom right is the standard install client you get from the Roblox website.

In my game when you attempt to leave while in combat the game drops a corpse and wipes your inventory to prevent people cheating combat engagements and robbing people of loot.

On display in the video is:

  1. the UWP app closes, we see this happen once the X is pressed
  2. the other client stabs the disconnecting user with a knife to put them in combat
  3. ~20 second later the UWP app client finally disconnects, prompting the combat log behaviour (spawns a corpse)

Not great behaviour in my game, I’m sure it’s the same in other games too.


Repro steps are as follows:

  1. On one account (Client A) join a game using the UWP app
  2. On another account (Client B) Join the same game and server using the normal player exe
  3. On the UWP app client close the game via the red X close button
  4. Observe the amount of time it takes for Client A to disconnect on the Client B window

I can repro this in my game* 10/10 times. I’m running the most upto date version of Roblox and Windows 10.

I cannot repicate the behavior by leaving the game(s) by using the escape menu. I am unaware if other accounts of this behavior were from the red close button, or through the escape menu.

This has been a bug report we get a few times a month for what feels like almost a year now. I am unaware when our first report of this might have been.


*My game:

The video and repro was done on the testing place, but the behaviour has also been observed on the production place. Please contact me if you’d like to set up access to the testing place.

2 Likes

Requested access to test game and waiting.