On October 9, we will begin gradually updating newly generated private server links to make them more resilient and support deferred deep linking.
The link format will no longer include the game ID or private server link code.
Example:
Before: roblox.com/games/{{ ID }}?privateServerLinkCode={{ ID }}
After: roblox.com/share?code={{ ID }}&type=Server
All pre-existing links will continue to work. We don’t anticipate any disruption from this change, but please do let us know if this causes issues with any workflows, add-ons, or extensions.
My only question right now is whether or not this change could break the Discord embeds.
I don’t want to get into a random game that some random malicious actor decides to make to fall into those ‘haha get insta banned nerd join .gg/[whatever]’ which have been a threat before (and let’s admit it… could very well be one again).
If Roblox will no longer be using the Private Server Link Code nor the Game ID, how does this work? Do Private Server Links now generate a random ID specifically assigned to this server, which happens to be on that game?
EDIT: I’ve figured it out, it’d be something like: https://www.roblox.com/share?code=643f439fea345f4c83e27a6b3ff73f05&type=Server
This change will not break your Discord embeds. We will be maintaining the metadata that allows platforms like Discord to show you a preview of the experience that link leads to.
This doesn’t really explain this very well, was there previously a valid way to do something with the “private server link code” that this will impact?
Roblox is still using the Private Server Link Code and Game ID under the hood, so there’s no change to how private servers work. The ID you see in the new link helps us route users through a deferred deep linking flow if they do not have the app.
Just a little bit, but not anything major. I work on 2 extensions, one has a quick copy private server link feature which used data.linkCode from the VIP server endpoint before data.link was added a few months back, that’s an easy fix. Just need to add data.link ||
The other has a private server link list feature for importing/adding server links. It shouldn’t be too difficult to add support for Server share links though.
One problematic issue I see with this is how the game ID is no longer (normally) obtainable from the link, since private servers automatically launch the Roblox application for the attached experience, this could lead to unfortunate issues in where users are misdirected to experiences they may not wish to join without a way to cancel the launching of the application.
Not that we’re aware of. We don’t expect this change to have any negative impact. However, there are many creative extensions and add-ons maintained by the community which we might not be aware of. So we are providing notice early to try to surface any potential issues.
The type parameter is internally used to differentiate between the different types of share links that we’ll be continuing to add. For example, if you click Invite Friends To Join > Share Invite Link in the in-game menu you’ll get a link that ends in type=ExperienceInvite. I’d be glad to investigate adding studio links to our roadmap. Is your goal to be able to share a link to your location in studio with a collaborator? (Something like this new feature but in the format of a link)
Seeing a lot of confusion within the Roblox community (particularly on platforms like X) with people not quite understanding what any of this means. Could you provide a explanation of how these changes make them more resilient along with a quick explanation of deferred deep linking for those unaware of what that means.
Is your goal to be able to share a link to your location in studio with a collaborator?
My question was more focused on simply inviting anyone to be able to join a Team Create with the link, but I recognize what security issues that could imply. However, being able to share a link to a location in Studio with a collaborator would be really nice, too.
