Unexpected Client Behavior Softban

Bug Reports Website Bugs
#1

Reproduction Steps

I’m using the latest version of Microsoft Edge, and OperaGX (simultaneously for different accounts) and I have no addons enabled for either.

Steps to recreate:
1:Open Roblox.com
2:Join and leave a game instance several times within the span of a few hours
3:Optionally, add a second connection to the IP to speed up the process
4:Congratulations - you are now softbanned from games and Team Create; Error code: 268 (“Unexpected Client Behavior”)

Systems Info: Windows 10, Nvidia RTX 3070, Intel Core i7-10700k 3.80ghz

Expected Behavior

I expect to click play on a game and be able to play the game - or launch team create.

Actual Behavior

Occasionally (yet with ever increasing frequency), roblox will decide that there have been too many connections from your IP address and subsequently prevent that IP from connecting to any game servers, or team create sessions. Launching the game from website yields Error code: 268 (“Unexpected Client Behavior”)

https://i.imgur.com/o3ESIRJ.png

Workaround

Using a VPN, but it causes ping spikes which ruins many of the games I play/test.

Issue Area: Roblox Website
Page URL: Deepwoken - Roblox
Impact: High
Frequency: Often
Date First Experienced: 2022-02-01 00:02:00 (-06:00)
Date Last Experienced: 2022-05-28 16:05:00 (-05:00)
A private message is associated with this bug report

9 Likes
#2

Roblox has started using the Unexpected Client Error for exploiters, many has called this a HWID ban, it only lasts around 1-2 hours.

2 Likes
#3

Roblox has an anti-serverhop system which temporarily bans you and gives this Unexpected Client Behavior message.

#4

Can’t play Roblox at all at random times when using Starlink internet, which is behind a CGNAT and multiple users are under the same singular public IP.

I’ve actually gotten this error numerous times, and kept on thinking it’s just a network issue, let me unplug my satellite dish and wait a few moments so that Starlink can give me a different network to connect through… A different public IP.

Roblox SERIOUSLY needs to make error messages be USER FRIENDLY.

Even I didn’t expect this to be a Roblox thing until this post occured. I kept on thinking it was an issue with my ‘beta’ internet provided by Starlink.

Children won’t understand what is going on with a ‘client unexpected behavior’ message and ask their parents.
Parents will have a less incentive to think Roblox is a good platform for their children to continue playing on if their children keeps nagging them about why they can’t play; making less profits due to parents not wanting to pay for something that seems to be not working.

Roblox really shouldn’t be softbanning like this. They’re forcing users that may not even have any other alternatives for an internet provider, to use a VPN to just play Roblox.

And as a result,

Even if you are a Roblox Premium member, you will get affected by this.
Even if you have ID verified your Roblox account, you will get affected by this.
Even if you attempt to make another Roblox account, you will get affected by this.
Even if you try to use a whole another computer thinking it’s the issue with that device, you will still get affected by this.

There could be so many different ways to go about this.

Give a error message saying that your ISP network is slightly overwhelming Roblox. This would be a more logical error for a parent to be able to ‘google’ how to fix. Nobody will understand what Unexpected Client Behavior means with how many times that ‘common’ error happens on Roblox.
Is it my computer? Is it my internet? Is it Roblox’s fault?

This is not a solution for innocent users trying to play. What if Parents just grew against Roblox because what their hard earned money isn’t letting their child be able to play Roblox anyway.

If it really was this as a ‘solution’ under Roblox. It should be per Roblox account for ‘anti-server hopping’, not an entire singular public IP address. Who knows how many users are indeed behind an IP. Is Roblox whitelisting CGNAT’s manually? Besides, the error message really needs to be changed. Simply searching unexpected client behavior roblox - Google Search returns results like reinstalling Roblox, which will NOT fix this issue.

3 Likes
#5

The soft ban was rumored to be intended to stop exploiters, however instead of being an anti-exploit measure it’s literally just an anti-serverhop measure which will activate on literally anyone who leaves and joins games a lot, regardless of account status (premium, age, verified, star creator/on the do not ban whitelist) or if the user has exploited at all ever.

It used to be easy to disable, as the way to get around it was go to %localappdata%\Roblox\GlobalBasicSettings_13.xml and remove all zeroes (0) from <Item class="UserGameSettings" referent="RBXlongstringhere">, and I believe it also was a per-computer basis so you could log in and play on any other device, but not use any account on that device until the soft ban was up - I believe it’s still a per computer basis however I haven’t got the soft ban in a while so I haven’t been able to test

Currently the only known ways to get around this are either use a VPN (as you said) or purchase an exploit which bypasses it automatically (and I’m sure almost nobody would want to support exploiters just because Roblox can’t code)

TL;DR: This is intentional and won’t be fixed/removed.

2 Likes
#6

It seems like this is a terrible band-aid fix for exploits on the platform and it’s very frustrating getting flagged every single day when I try to play or develop. It seems worsened by the fact that there are two people in my household both using roblox and studio at the same time.

2 Likes
#7

I joined Catalog Heaven several times to comparatively debug my custom character’s accessory attachments. Hours later, I briefly joined a tech demo once. I’m getting this error now.

This was stressful because I wasn’t sure if my FPS unlocker or development testing multiaccounter programs had gotten my flagged as a cheater, potentially limiting my DevEx eligibility. Please consider a less ominous error message.

2 Likes
#8

Following up on this!

The issue should be resolved now. We tracked down the problem, in the end it was a bug in our code where we weren’t applying the User Score Threshold properly.

Can you confirm that the issue is fixed @Chronomad ?

1 Like
#9

I think the fact that I’d forgotten I made this thread is pretty telling! I haven’t noticed the bug at all in the last few weeks or so. Thank you!! Case closed.

1 Like
#10