Roblox (Windows, Mac OS X)/Removed Features
This is a sub-page of Roblox (Windows, Mac OS X).
 | To do: Add the following features:
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Contents
Decommisioned/Altered Services
DHTML
DHTML, as the name suggests, was a service which allowed players to display HTML documents within ROBLOX. Unlike GUIs, DHTML windows were completely new windows that would open on a player's computer.
A sample code of the above would look like:
local w = game:service("HtmlService"):NewWindow()
w.DocumentComplete:connect(function ()
w:SetBody([==[
<table width="420" height="190" border="0">
<tr>
<td width="490" bgcolor="#FFFFFF"><font color="#000000">
</font><div align="center">
<p><font color="#000000"><b>Hello, World!</b></font></p>
<p><font color="#000000">I am a DHTML window!</font></p>
</div>
</td>
</tr>
</table>
]==])
w:Show()
end)
w:Navigate()
The main reason for its removal was because it was easily exploitable, mainly for place stealing. Its very short life span (being removed in January of 2008) suggests that Roblox was very aware of the security issues it created. A year and a half later, in 2009, Roblox would release a replacement for DHTML, known as PlayerGUIs, a built-in GUI display system which could do nearly everything DHTML could.
InsertService
Like DHTML, this service was also unfortunately very exploitable and was changed by Roblox in mid 2011. While the service still exists, it can no longer insert any instance not made by the game's creator or the Roblox account in any way. This service was famously used to power the insert tool, introduced by Roblox in 2009.
The Insert Tool would allow the player to insert all models owned by the player into any game with gears enabled, until 2014 when the service got limited to only allow for models made by Roblox and the games creator. The player could also insert Sets and Decals.
PointsService
PointsService was a service released in September 2014. The PointsService was removed on the 30th of June 2023. The PointsService was a service used for giving players points when they completed certain tasks in games. These points didn't do anything and were completely pointless aside from showing them off on leaderboards.
Leaderboards could be made in-game by the game creator using :GetGamePointBalance(). There was also one that would display on the games details page. The leaderboards showed the amount of points accumulated over a certain period of time. The options were "Today", "Past week" (standard selection), "Past Month" and "All Time" These leaderboards ended up being removed in 2018.
There was also a global leaderboard page displaying the ranking of players and clans with the most player points. This feature was removed with the official release of player points.
Giving the LocalPlayer points on joining was done with the following code.
--Gives the player 10 points when they join the game.
local PointsService = game:GetService("PointsService")
game:GetService("Players").PlayerAdded:Connect(function(player)
PointsService:AwardPoints(player.userId, 10) --This part gives the Player points
end)
Reading how many points a player had was done with the following code.
--Prints into the console the amount of points a player has when they join the game.
local PointsService = game:GetService("PointsService")
game:GetService("Players").PlayerAdded:Connect(function(player)
local points = PointsService:GetGamePointBalance(player.userId)
print(points)
end)
Events and methods from PointsService.
| Type | Name | Security | Parameters |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tuple (function) | AwardPoints() | None | userId (int64), amount (int) |
| int (function) | GetAwardablePoints() | None | None |
| int (function) | GetGamePointBalance() | None | userId (int64) |
| int (function) | GetPointBalance() | None | userId (int64) |
| null (Event) | PointsAwarded | None | userId (int64), pointsAwarded (int), userBalanceInGame (int), userTotalBalance (int) |
AdService
AdService was a service added to Roblox on the 21st of May 2014. AdService was used for showing video ads on the mobile version of Roblox. Ads could not be played more than 5 times within an hour and it was recommended to clarify to the player that they were watching an ad. The service was decommisioned on the 23th of may 2017.
The adservice was used by developers to earn money. With a payout rate of 1 Robux per 20 Impressions it was a good way to earn money on the platform. The adservice worked well in games were Players had to wait between rounds.
Events and methods from AdService.
| Type | Name | Security | Parameters |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tuple (function) | GetAdTeleportInfo() | RobloxScriptSecurity | None |
| Array (function) | GetReportAdInfo() | RobloxScriptSecurity | None |
| null (function) | ReturnToPublisherExperience() | RobloxScriptSecurity | AdTeleportMethod |
| null (function) | ShowVideoAd() | None | None |
| null (Event) | AdTeleportEnded | RobloxScriptSecurity | None |
| null (Event) | AdTeleportInitiated | RobloxScriptSecurity | None |
| null (Event) | PortalPrompt | RobloxScriptSecurity | destinationId (int64), portal (Instance), requiresNoButton (bool) |
| null (Event) | VideoAdClosed | RobloxScriptSecurity | adShown (bool) |
Events and methods from AdTeleportMethod.
| Type | Name | Security |
|---|---|---|
| Enum (EnumItem) | PortalForward | RobloxScriptSecurity |
| Enum (EnumItem) | InGameMenuBackButton | RobloxScriptSecurity |
| Enum (EnumItem) | UIBackButton | RobloxScriptSecurity |
| Enum (EnumItem) | PortalReturn | RobloxScriptSecurity |
Decommisioned/Altered Engine Features
"Controller" Variable
This variable was in almost all physical objects, and when it was set to a Player, the player set to it would be able to control whatever the instance was, provided that the model had the correct parts for doing so. This variable was to control many old models, one example being The Hammer.
There is KeyboardLeft, which controls the model with WASD, KeyboardRight, which controls it with HUJK, Joypad1 and Joypad2, which don't do anything, Chase, which has it chase the player, and Flee, where it runs away from you. However, the model needs wheels to move around on, so it will not work without them. The surface that connects has to be SteppingMotor or Motor, and the ring on it changes color depending on what controller type you chose. There was a variable called "ControllerFlagShown" where if you checked it on models with a controller set, a 3D flag would appear ontop of them, with the same color as the rings. When set to KeyboardRight it appears solid blue, KeyboardLeft it appears solid red, when set to Chase it appears pitch black, and when set to Flee it appears solid yellow. Around mid 2007 the 3D flag would not show and ControllerFlagShown was removed in April 2009 in favor of a easier to use class called VehicleSeat. Barely anyone knew about this until recently, where some people rediscovered it.
SafeChat
This was a feature that allowed users with custom chat disabled in their game to still to talk with others. This was also used by guests and under-13s to talk in chat. This was a feature around since 2007 from 2013 when they added a new white list system. Safechat was able to be edited by going to contents/fonts/ and opening safechat.xml on a notepad.
This is not to be confused with under 13 limitations in chat, which is occasionally called SafeChat.
Bevels
This was a detail on parts that was implemented in October 2007[1] to early 2013. This was able to be turned off through Roblox studio or back on if turned off. The only thing that would hide bevels without turning them off was using decals. In early 2013, Roblox released a blog post stating they are removing bevels to reduce lag.
Stencil shadows
The stencil shadows technique was used to render shadows cast by objects during 2006 to early 2014. It was slowly replaced by the less resource intensive shadow mapping technique during 2012 to mid 2018.
Ambient Shadows
Ambient shadows also known as Screen Space Ambient Occlusion and SSAO was added on January 28 2011. This shadow system was meant to be an improved system with better looking shadows then what could be achieved with stencil shadows.
This shadow system would automatically be turned off if a user got under 30fps on Roblox. It could also manually be turned off by setting the quality level to 21 or lower, turning off anti-aliasing and by not using the OpenGL renderer.
Ambient shadows seem to have been removed somewhere in 2013.
LDraw
LDraw is a standard for Lego CAD programs, essentially letting you create 3D scenes using virtual Legos. Roblox Studio originally had the ability to insert LDraw files, which was silently removed in 2010. It only really worked for builds featuring basic parts, otherwise builds would not contain the parts it couldn't import, or even crash Studio. Here is an LDraw file of a small pyramid imported into the Roblox 2007 client's studio.
0 Example Pyramid for Demonstration of LDRAW Library 0 Name: pyramid.ldr 0 Author: James Jessiman 1 1 -40 -24 60 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 3001.dat 1 1 40 -24 60 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 3001.dat 1 1 60 -24 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 -1 0 0 3001.dat 1 1 40 -24 -60 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 3001.dat 1 1 -40 -24 -60 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 3001.dat 1 1 -60 -24 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 -1 0 0 3001.dat 0 STEP 1 4 -20 -48 40 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 3001.dat 1 4 40 -48 20 0 0 1 0 1 0 -1 0 0 3001.dat 1 4 20 -48 -40 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 3001.dat 1 4 -40 -48 -20 0 0 1 0 1 0 -1 0 0 3001.dat 0 STEP 1 14 0 -72 20 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 3001.dat 1 14 0 -72 -20 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 3001.dat 0 STEP 1 0 0 -96 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 3003.dat 0 STEP
Glue surface (depricated)
Glue is a depricated surface that when applied allow parts to be "glued" together on the applied side. The surface can be used to glue together parts, constraints, seats and models. Whilst the surface is still available, it is depricated, and it is recommended to not use the glue surface and to instead use welds and weldcontraints.
Glue joints can be broken. The amount of force needed can be specified in the properties tab.
Sets
Sets were groups of models and decals that worked somewhat similarly to models released on Januari 14, 2010. Players could subscribe to these sets on the Roblox assets library, which had pretty much the same function as "buying" free models on the current asset library.
Sets were removed on the 15th of October 2018.
Roblox sets viewed through the website back in 2010.
Roblox sets viewed through the Insert Tool.
Upload to Youtube
Using the Upload to Youtube feature added in 2010, players could automatically upload their in-game video recordings to Youtube. The name of the video would automatically be set to [Your username]'s ROBLOX video and the video description would automatically be set to the description of the game.
The feature got removed somewhere in 2014.
Decommisioned/Altered Site Features
User Advertisements
User advertisements was a feature that allowed players to host ads for their groups, games and classic clothing items. These ads would appear on the left and right side of the Roblox website with a size of 160x600 pixels and at the top of the website with a size of 300x250 pixels.
User advertisements were removed on June 17 2024, the reason for this likely being a spam of bypassed nsfw ads that happened some time in 2023. Before the features removal Roblox did try limiting ads to only be visible to users with a 13+ account. This change was hated by the community and led to the features downfall.
160x600 ad template
300x250 ad template
Play Solo
| To do: Find out when this got removed. |
Play Solo (not to be confused with the Roblox studio version that still exists) was a button on the website that allowed players to enter any game in an one player server. This button existed when other buttons like the Build button still existed.
Build Mode
Build Mode was a feature that allowed players to make games whilst they were playing using the Stamper tool. This feature allowed players to easily make Roblox games without scripting or using free models.
In late December 2016 the feature got removed without any announcements being made by Roblox.
RoblEX
RoblEX was a trading section released on the 21st of November 2008. The system was used to trade Robux and Tickets with different rates. The rate was decided by taking the highest rate for Tickets and dividing it by the lowest rate of Robux.
RoblEX got removed on the 14th of April 2016, due to the removal of Tickets.
Features
Pair lists what is being exchanged through the Trade Currency. The Pair section always has "BUX/TIX", which indicates that Robux and Tickets are being exchanged constantly.
Rate would state what rate your Tickets and Robux will be transferred through if you chose to use a market trade. The rate was created by taking the highest rate for Tickets and dividing it by the lowest rate for Robux.
Spread was the distance between the highest Tickets rate and the lowest Robux rate. The larger the spread was, the larger the difference between the two rates. With a large spread, one could gain larger profits from their transaction, only by using limit order.
Negative spreads meant that the Tickets rate was higher than the Robux rate, meaning one can make profit using market order.
High/Low rate would show the lowest rate for Robux, and the highest rate for Tickets out of all outstanding transactions within the last 24 hours.
Available Charts was located on the right side of the page. It showed the current trade amounts and rates for both currencies. The chart on the left side was for Tickets, and the chart on the right side was for Robux. The charts showed all of the top 20 lowest outstanding ROBUX trades and top 20 highest outstanding Tickets trades.
Trade Window was located in the middle of the page. The trade window is where you would perform transactions by entering how many Robux or Tickets you wish to enter and hitting "Submit Trade". One could choose between Market Order, which transferred your trade according to the current default rate, or Limit Order, which allowed the user to choose the exact amount of Tickets or Robux they want in exchange for their trade. Checking "Allow split trades" before submitting would allow the user's trade to go through in separate parts, unchecking it would try to put the trade through in one lump sum.
Positions/History was located on the left side of the page below the trade button are the user's current positions and history, set up in four different tabs. You can access any current Robux or Tickets trades here and cancel any transactions in progress. You can also access your history of previous trades here.
Clans
Added on the 22th of April 2014, clans were groups of people that could compete on game leaderboards to try and get the most points. For the "low" price of 500 Robux and having a Builders Club subscription, anybody that happened to be the proud owner of a group could make one.
Clans had a limit of 100 people. To join you had to be invited. To get invited in the first place you had to be a part of the group the clan was made in.
On the 12th of December 2018 the removal of clans was privately announced. Clans were removed due to the removal of leaderboards for Player Points. Clans ended up getting removed on the 23th of January 2019.
Roblox Points (RP)
Roblox points, added somewhere in 2004, was the original currency that would have worked in the same way that Robux does today with a mix of the old Tickets (Tix) feature. Roblox points could be earned by being a developer who made a popular game, getting a top score in a minigame or by winning a contest.
Winning a contest would give the player 1000 points, getting a top score for a game would give 25 points and breaking your own record would also give you 25 points.
Points were removed during a time period somewhere in 2005-2006 when the site was unavailable to the public.
Knockouts
Knockouts, also known as K.O. and KO's was a user statistic added somewhere before Roblox's public release.[2]On everyones profile page you could see the amount of kills they got last week under the Statistics section.
There were three badges that have since been discontinued. These are known as "Combat Initiation", "Warrior", and "Bloxxer".
Knockouts got removed on the 8th of July 2015, due to how easily it could be exploited to get an absurd amount of kills and for it being an pointless statistic that bloated profile pages.
Combat Initiation badge icon. (75x75)
Warrior badge icon. (75x75)
Bloxxer badge icon. (75x75)
References
- ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20190420024834/https://blog.roblox.com/2007/10/getting-better-all-the-time/
- ↑ I couldn't find when it was released.
