How to post a Bug Report

Roblox · March 29, 2021, 11:24pm

Reports without the following information will NOT be investigated

Replies to bug reports must also follow these guidelines where possible. This means “Me too!” replies are not acceptable.

Basics

Your bug report must have:

An accurate title - Engineers should know what the bug is before opening the thread. Be specific!
A detailed description - Explain what you expect, and what happens instead.

Where it happens - Include links if it happens with specific places / users / groups / etc.
When it happens - Include the date and time (including timezone) when it started happening.
Videos and images - Include visuals to demonstrate the problem.
Reproduction instructions and files - See below
Required information - See below

See some examples.

Reproduction Steps

Provide step-by-step instructions that cause the bug to happen.
These steps must be:

Minimal - Simplify complicated steps or conditions as much as possible.
Specific - Steps must be clear and detailed. Don’t assume engineers know what you mean.
Consistent - Ideally, your steps reproduce the issue 100% of the time. Specifically mention how often your steps reproduce the bug (100% / 50% / Rarely?)

Reproduction Files

If your bug is with Studio or the Roblox engine, upload a very simple place file to your thread that can be used to reproduce the bug. This file should contain the bare minimum to cause the bug to happen.

Always include reproduction (repro) files for bugs that only happen with specific scripts / place setups / instances / etc!

If your repro file contains private content, you should DM it to the Logs / Crash Dumps / Other Bug Files group. Include a link to the DM in your thread. This link is only viewable by Roblox employees

Required Information

You must include this extra supporting information:

If your bug is happening on the website:

Make sure the bug still happens if you disable all of your browser extensions.
Include what browser version you are using.

If your bug only happens to a specific game / user / group / etc:

Make a repro file as simple as possible that causes the bug. Otherwise, include direct links to the affected game / user / group; engineers will not know what “my group” or “game-name” means.

If your bug is happening in Studio:

Make sure it only happens in Studio and post in #bug-reports:studio-bugs. If it happens at all in games joined from the website, post in #bug-reports:engine-bugs!
Check that it still happens when your plugins are disabled

If you are crashing / freezing / disconnecting / having problems running Roblox or Studio:
(Review the difference between crashes, freezes, and disconnects, make sure you use the right word!)

If you have a crash or freeze, include a program dump, reproduction information and your log files.
If you have disconnection / backend server problems (e.g. game or Team Create disconnects), provide information to help Roblox find the issue, and your log files.

If Roblox is lagging or running slowly:

Include a microprofiler dump, and your system information.

If you have graphics problems or Roblox looks wrong:

Include your system information.

Roblox · April 10, 2020, 5:20pm

Example Bug Reports

Click to expand

Studio Bugs: Studio crashes when resizing any 5x5x5 part

Roblox Studio will always crash when you try to resize a 5x5x5 size part using the resize tool, the properties widget, or command bar. Parts of any other size do not crash.

This happens only in Studio.
This started happening on December 20.

Repro

With Resize tool or Properties widget:

Create a part and set its size to 5,5,5 using the properties widget.
Select the part and choose the resize tool, or select the size field in the properties widget.
Try to resize the part, Studio will crash.

With script run from command bar:

local p = Instance.new("Part", workspace)
p.Size = Vector3.new(5,5,5)
p.Size = Vector3.new(10,10,10) -- Crashes

Both methods will crash 100% of the time.

Crash Dump

https://devforum.roblox.com/t/link-to-dm-to-studio-bug-files/######

Engine Bugs: Character spawns with green head in live games

When your character spawns in-game, your head will always be green.
This does not happen in Studio, it only happens in a real game.

This started happening today.
As far as I can tell, this happens 100% of the time with both R6 and R15 characters.

Repro

Join any game, this default baseplate for example: https://www.roblox.com/games/testing-game-id-here.
Notice your head is green when you spawn.

Engine Bugs: Glass material renders completely black

In-game and in Studio the glass material renders completely black.

This happens 100% of the time for me, but other people I’ve asked don’t have this problem.
This has been happening since I got my new GPU on December 20.

Specs

OS: Windows 10 Home
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070

This is what a default part inserted in Studio and changed to the glass material looks like for me.

Engine Bugs: Lag when creating ParticleEmitters

Sometimes when a ParticleEmitter is created by either the server or the client, Roblox will have a brief lag spike. Parenting the ParticleEmitter is not required, simply creating it with a script will cause the problem.

This started happening today.
This happens in-game, and in Studio about 50% of the time a ParticleEmitter is created.
This only happens with ParticleEmitters.

Repro

Run the below code.
Roblox will freeze briefly about 50% of the time after “Creating” is printed.

while wait(1) do
	print("Creating")
	local p = Instance.new("ParticleEmitter")
	print("Created")
end

ParticleEmitterLagExample.rbxl (17.2 KB)

Demonstration

If you look closely, you can see Roblox freezing briefly.

https://gfycat.com/InsignificantPolishedAsiantrumpetfish

Microprofiler Dump

You can clearly see one of the lag spikes in this dump.
microprofile-20191220-022927.html (1.1 MB)

Roblox · November 21, 2020, 2:19am

How to Find Log Files

NOTE:

These log files may contain sensitive information, so it’s important they’re NOT posted publicly, send them to Logs / Crash Dumps / Other Bug Files.
It is important you identify the correct log files! Make sure you are sorting by last modified or finding the most recent logs by timestamp.

Roblox / Studio successfully opens

Windows

Go to %localappdata%/Roblox/logs.
Sort the directory you opened by Last Modified.
Take the latest log_xxxxx_x.txt file.

Mac

Go to ~Library/Logs/Roblox.
Library can be found under Go > Library (you may need to hold down Option if it isn’t there).
Sort the directory you opened by Last Modified.
Take the latest log_xxxxx_x.txt file.

Roblox / Studio does not open properly

Include the logs from the above section if they exist.

Windows

Go to %localappdata%\Temp and sort the folder by Last Modified
Take the latest two RBX-xxxxxxxx.log files

Mac

Go to ~Library/Logs/Roblox and sort the folder by Last Modified
Library can be found under Go > Library (you may need to hold down Option if it isn’t there).
Take the latest bootstrapper_xxxxxx_x.txt file.

If the issue is freezing, loading forever, or similar, wait a few minutes before following these instructions to copy the log files so that there is enough time for long operations to get logged.

DM the log files to the Logs / Crash Dumps / Other Bug Files group. Include a link to the DM in your thread. This link is only viewable by Roblox employees.

Roblox · November 21, 2020, 2:20am

How to Get Dump Files

NOTE:

These dump files may contain sensitive information, so it’s important they’re NOT posted publicly, send them to Logs / Crash Dumps / Other Bug Files.

How to find dumps automatically generated on crash

Crashes are when you get a crash dialog/popup or the program closes on its own. If you get a white screen / spinning beachball cursor, this is NOT a crash! See the freezes/hangs section below.

Windows

Go to %localappdata%/Roblox/logs and sort the folder by Last Modified.
Take the first .DMP file (if you don’t see one, it may be in /archive).

Mac

Open the terminal and run open $TMPDIR
Sort the folder by Last Modified.
Take the first .DMP file.

How to generate dump files for freezes/hangs

If your problem is with Studio, FIRST, make sure all plugins are disabled from File > Advanced > Manage Plugins to verify the cause is Studio. Include in your bug report that you tested with all plugins disabled.

Windows

Open the Task Manager with Ctrl+Shift+Escape.
Find RobloxStudio in either the Details (Windows 10) or Processes tab.
Right click and select “Create dump file”.
Take the .DMP file shown in the resulting popup dialog.

Mac

Open the Activity Monitor from within Applications > Utilities.
Select Roblox / Roblox Studio.
Click the action menu in the toolbar (Gear Dropdown) > Sample Process.
Take the .txt file saved in the proceeding dialog.

Generate 3 or more dump files like this, each a few minutes apart.

Once you have the dumps/samples from either of the above steps, they are too large to share on the forum. You will need to upload them to a file hosting service (e.g. Google Drive, Dropbox). Zipping and compressing these first will often make them a manageable size.

DM the dump files to the Logs / Crash Dumps / Other Bug Files group. Include a link to the DM in your thread. This link is only viewable by Roblox employees.

Roblox · November 18, 2020, 8:53pm

How to Get Microprofiler Dumps

If Roblox or Studio is stuttering or running slowly, but not completely frozen, you can provide a microprofiler dump to help engineers find the problem.

Open the microprofiler with Ctrl+F6.
Once the stuttering / slowness happens, press Ctrl+P to pause the microprofiler.
From the top menu bar, click Dump > 32 frames.
On Windows, go to %USERPROFILE%.
- Server profiles will be in %localappdata%\Roblox\logs
On Mac, go to Go > Home.
Sort the folder by Last Modified.
Find the latest microprofile-yyyymmdd-xxxxxx.html file.
Open the file in your browser and make sure that it captured the performance problem (there should be a spike near the right side of the timeline at the top).

You can directly upload this HTML file to your bug report.

Roblox · May 28, 2020, 8:17am

Providing System Information

Minimal Information

This information is usually enough for a bug report unless asked for by an engineer.

If you’re on Mac, engineers prefer if you follow the steps below, even if you already know your system information. If you’re on Windows and know your system information, you can just include your OS, CPU & GPU models, and RAM amount in your bug report (otherwise, follow the steps below).

Mac

Click the Apple icon in the top left of the screen and select About This Mac.
Include a screenshot of the dialog that appears.

Windows 10

Open Task Manager with Ctrl + Shift + Escape.
Go to the Performance tab.
Click the CPU, Memory, and GPU tabs and include the information in the top-right in your bug report.
- e.g. Intel® … @ 3.0 GHz, 16 GB, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970

Older versions of Windows

Type dxdiag in the start menu (or in the Run dialog) and press enter.
If a popup appears about “digitally signed drivers”, click “Yes”.
Include the values from Operating System, Processor, and Memory on the System page, and the Name from the Display 1 page in your bug report.

Advanced Information

Engineers will ask you for this information if needed.

Mac

Click the Apple icon in the top left of the screen and select About This Mac.
Include a screenshot of the dialog that appears.
Click System Report....
Click File > Save.
This full system report contains sensitive information, so it’s important it’s NOT posted publicly.
- DM the saved file to the Logs / Crash Dumps / Other Bug Files group, and include a link to the DM in your thread. Only Roblox employees can access these DMs.

Windows

Type dxdiag in the start menu (or in the Run dialog) and press enter.
If a popup appears about “digitally signed drivers”, click “Yes”.
Click “Save All Information” and upload the generated DxDiag.txt file to your bug report thread.

Roblox · May 12, 2020, 4:28pm

Helping Correlate Backend Logs

If there is a problem on the backend / server (Roblox’s side), engineers will need to investigate their own logs. To find them (since they have too many to look through manually), they need:

The user ID of the account you were using when you had the issue.
The place ID / game ID of the game you were using when you had the issue.
If the issue is in Team Create, does it happen in a live game as well?
The date and time (including timezone) you had the issue. Be as precise as possible.
Your log files.
As much information that was shown to you as possible.
- e.g. screenshots of errors and popups, HTTP status codes displayed in the UI, log files, etc.

Roblox · June 1, 2020, 4:55pm

What is the difference between crashes / hangs / disconnects?

It’s important to know which kind of bug you are reporting in order to be able to provide the right information in the bug report.

Crashes

The entire application closes unexpectedly, usually with a dialog like

If the entire application doesn’t close (e.g. it just goes back to the start page) or an “Updating Roblox…” dialog appears shortly after, then it isn’t a crash. When a crash occurs, please include the crash dump and log files.

Freezes / Hangs

The application stops responding and is unable to be used, but is still open. On Mac, you will generally get the infinite spinning beachball cursor, while on Windows, the application will usually be marked with “(Not Responding)” and become slightly whiter like

Please include manually generated dumps for freezes / hangs.

Disconnects

The current session to the open place disconnects, but the application can otherwise be interacted with. In the game client, you will get a dialog like

while in Studio it will look like

Please include information to help us correlate backend logs for disconnects.

Roblox · March 29, 2021, 11:27pm

How to launch Studio without plugins enabled

User-installed plugins can change the behavior of Roblox Studio. If you have problems with crashing, freezing, strange behavior, etc. you should attempt to reproduce your bug with all of your plugins disabled before reporting it.

If the issue is caused by plugins, try to include a link to the plugin causing the problem, and try to check that your bug is not caused by faulty plugin programming, but instead is caused by faulty engine/Studio API that the plugin is using.

Windows 10

Shift + right click on your Roblox Studio shortcut, and choose “Open file location”.
Backspace the file path in the address bar in the explorer, and type “cmd”. Press enter.
In the black window that appears, type RobloxStudioBeta.exe -disableLoadUserPlugins. Press Enter.

cmd_2021-03-26_20-35-35713×29 1.57 KB
Roblox Studio will start with all user plugins temporarily disabled.

MacOS

Open Spotlight with Command + Space.
Search for and open “Terminal”.
Type open /Applications/RobloxStudio.app --args -disableLoadUserPlugins and press Enter.
Roblox Studio will start with all user plugins temporarily disabled.