Roblox (partially found builds of online game; 2003-present): Difference between revisions

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{{InfoboxLost
{{InfoboxLost
|title=<center>Roblox/Dynablocks</center>
|title=<center>Roblox/Dynablocks</center>
|image=ROBLOX_2004.png
|image=RobloxLogo_v2.png
|imagecaption=An old logo that dated back to 2006. Dubbed the "second generation" logo.  
|imagecaption=An old logo that dates back to 2005. Dubbed the "second generation" logo.  
|status=<span style="color:orange;">'''Partially Found'''</span>
|status=<span style="color:orange;">'''Partially Found'''</span>
}}
}}
'''''Roblox''''' is a massively multiplayer online platform that allows users to create and design their own games and play a wide variety of different types of games created by other users <ref>[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roblox Official Wikipeida page for Roblox.] Retrieved 26 Oct '17</ref>. Before the game became open to the public, it was originally named "Dynablocks" up until early 2005 that David Baszucki and Eric Cassel ''(the founders of Roblox)'' decided to rename it to Roblox because of complications with the name of Dynablocks <ref>[http://roblox.wikia.com/wiki/DynaBlocks Page from the Roblox Wikia.] Retrieved 26 Oct '17</ref>.


Although the current version of the game is still up and playable, the clients from 2005 and 2006 have been lost in the sands of time. The only builds ''(from pre-2010)'' that have been uncovered so far are from 2007, 2008, and 2009. While there has been only a handful of pictures and information from 2005 that have been discovered by the community, there has been no gameplay footage featured from this time period ''(nor an archive from the Roblox servers)''.
''Roblox'' is a massive online multiplayer platform that allows users to create and design their own games and play a wide variety of other user-generated games. Back before Roblox became available to the public, its name was originally ''GoBlocks''. It was also changed to ''DynaBlocks'' for unverifiable reasons but it was ultimately changed to ''Roblox'' afterwards because of the name being too hard to remember.


==Development==
Although Roblox is still up and playable, '''older versions of the from 2003 to 2006 have completely disappeared,''' and most versions, spanning from December of 2012 to February 2020, were locked off of Roblox's website. The earliest build currently uncovered by the community is a late March 2007 version.
[[File:David_Bazsucki2007.png|thumb|300px|David Baszucki at Valley Rekindled, 2007.]]


In 2004, programmers and developers David Baszucki and Erik Cassel created a game called "Dynablocks". Dynablocks was an online building toy that was meant for the sole purpose of allowing users to create and design their own game. In 2005, David and Erik decided to rename Dynablocks to "Roblox". Roblox – a portmanteau of the words "robots" and "blocks", and launched a beta version that same year. In 2006, Roblox was officially released to the public.
==Background==
[[File:David_Bazsucki2007.png|thumb|300px|David Baszucki at Valley Rekindled, 2007.]]In 1989, David Baszucki founded the company "Knowledge Revolution". Around this time, he developed general-purpose software for physics and mechanical simulation, which were intended for educational purposes. According to an interview with David, he recalls creating three pieces of software that were all physics-based, these being Interactive Physics, Working Model, and The Incredible Machine.<ref>[Https://web.archive.org/web/20240227021602/https://blog.haydz6.com/2011/12/a-brief-history-of-physics-in-video-games-2 Roblox Blog page on a brief history of physics in video games.] Retrieved 17 Sept '19</ref> He also met Erik Cassel and Keith Lucas around this time.


==2005 Google Patent==
Around 1998, he stepped down as the CEO and became the Vice President. Later on, Knowledge Revolution was acquired by MSC Software for 20 million dollars followed by both David and Erik leaving the company. They were soon joined by other employees as well. Soon after, development for a brand new game began, though the year development began is not specified or known. In late September 2003, an entry named eBlocks with the description "Stealth mode video game company." is added to David Baszuckis website but it is unknown what it was about. By December 2003, the pair bought the domains for GoBlocks.com and soon after Dynablocks.com.
On May of 2017, a user named '''WIiPlay123''' uncovered a Google patent abstract titled "Online building toy" that was released in 2005 by David Baszucki and Eric Cassel<ref>[https://www.google.com/patents/US7874921 Online building toy abstract.] Retrieved 10 May '17</ref>. The patent contains information detailing the thought process behind the creation of Roblox. It also included screenshots that were taken from the game itself and flowcharts and diagrams detailing the functionality of certain methods.


[[File:RobloxPatent_1.png|thumb|300px|A screenshot of the old Roblox used from the patent.]]
Around March 29th of 2004, they renamed ''Dynablocks'' to ''Roblox''<ref>https://ia903407.us.archive.org/BookReader/BookReaderImages.php?zip=%2F32%2Fitems%2Fsim_official-gazette-us-patent-trademark-office-trademarks_2005-02-01_1291_1%2Fsim_official-gazette-us-patent-trademark-office-trademarks_2005-02-01_1291_1_jp2.zip&file=sim_official-gazette-us-patent-trademark-office-trademarks_2005-02-01_1291_1_jp2%2Fsim_official-gazette-us-patent-trademark-office-trademarks_2005-02-01_1291_1_0146.jp2&id=sim_official-gazette-us-patent-trademark-office-trademarks_2005-02-01_1291_1&scale=1&rotate=0</ref> – a portmanteau of the words "robots" and "blocks". It was changed due to ''Dynablocks'' being a hard name to recognize.


''"The present invention pertains to a method and apparatus for building online games. In one embodiment, the method may include providing a user interface that facilitates user selection of parts, and placing a set of parts selected by a user in a three-dimensional (3D) world. The method may also include joining parts within the set based on their proximity to each other in the 3D world to form one or more models for a game, and sending a model file for each of these models to a server via a network for use by various users."''
By mid-2004, David Baszucki and Erik Cassel opened the public beta version of the game. It was an online building toy that allowed users to create and design their own games with genres like minigames and puzzle games, driving games. In 2005 ''Roblox'' was officially released to the public.


''- David Baszucki, 2005''
==How Roblox Versions Became Lost==
Roblox installers from 2004 to January of 2008 were been hosted on http://roblox.com/Setup/<ref>https://web.archive.org/web/20070202170622/http://www.roblox.com/Setup/Roblox.msi</ref>, these installers were MSI files that would be downloaded by the user manually for each update of the game. The problem with these MSI files is even if we could locate all of them, they grab files from an online source that no longer exists, so they effectively serve no purpose. However, in 2008, they briefly switched to completely offline installation files. These would be released as executables that had the relevant files bundled inside of the installer, making them easier to find.


The patent abstract is still being updated to this day, but the information still remains the same as it was back when the patent was first published. Also, if one was to look closely at the client's icon, it matches the R from the old logo used from Mid 2004 till Mid 2005.
In August of 2008, Roblox switched to using a Deploy server, which automatically grabbed the new version and installed it for you. These deploys were hosted at [http://setup.roblox.com/ http://setup.roblox.com] (now [http://setup.rbxcdn.com/ http://setup.rbxcdn.com]). This is the installation process that is still in use today, however, as of February 2020, Roblox had marked their previous deploys as private, making them inaccessible.<ref>https://robloxopolis.com/the-clearing-of-deploys-in-2020/</ref> Meaning most versions before February 2020 are lost media. Only a small fraction was actually downloaded and archived by people, and the rest are probably collecting dust on somebody's old hard drive.


==Brief history of the discovery of older Roblox builds==
==History of the Search==
In 2012, a 2008 client installer was uncovered within Roblox's servers on "c5.roblox.com". The discovery of this installer started to spread on Roblox's forums like Roblox Talk and Off Topic. Thanks to this, many users began to speculate whether older clients could be found using the same method that was used to uncover the 2008 installer.
Roblox has content servers where they host their assets, [http://c0.roblox.com/ http://c0.roblox.com] to [http://c7.roblox.com/ http://c7.roblox.com]. These assets include everything from avatar items to games. However, in 2012 there were hints that there was something more stored on these, and on [http://c5.roblox.com/ http://c5.roblox.com] a Roblox version from June of 2008, version 0.3.809.0, was located.<ref>https://web.archive.org/web/20110520173356/http://c5.roblox.com/Setup_0.3.809.0.exe</ref>


In 2013, all old Roblox builds were removed from the c5.roblox.com link. Despite this unfortunate inconvenience, a mid-2010 client build was uncovered.
In 2017, a dedicated archival group known as the "Roblox Client Search" or "ClientSearch" for short, began a heavier search for more versions. It had been known for a while up to this point that http://setup.roblox.com/DeployHistory.txt (now http://setup.rbxcdn.com/DeployHistory.txt) existed, listing releases as far back as November of 2009. However, Very quickly after ClientSearch was founded, a Pastebin was located, containing version hashes, some of which predated the listing in DeployHistory.txt<ref>https://pastebin.com/0xkq30HQ</ref> This allowed for the download of versions Prior to November 2009, going all the way back to August of 2008.


In 2015, CloneTrooper1019 released a Github repository that contains a late-2009 client build<ref>[https://github.com/CloneTrooper1019/Roblox-2009-Client Roblox 2009 Client Github repository] Retrieved 26 Oct. 17</ref>.
In October of 2017, a user by the name of MusicalProgrammer who had played Roblox in 2007, had come in contact with ClientSearch, and was able to provide them with several versions of Roblox, several from 2008, and four from 2007.


==Discovery of Previously Lost Builds==
Around 2020, ClientSearch went on a long hiatus, a year-long stretch with absolutely nothing being found, and the effort was closed down. Then, in early 2021 ClientSearch came back, and a lead was contacted, who wished to remain anonymous. This lead had played Roblox in 2006 and was able to provide us a version from March of 2007, being the earliest version found, as of writing this.
On September of 2017, an installer from February 2nd, 2007 was uncovered<ref>[https://clientsearch.tumblr.com/post/163540178183/history-of-the-clientsearch History of the clientsearch blog.] Retrieved Sep '17</ref>. Although it isn't possible to download the actual client anymore ''(as the original 2007 files have since been deleted from the Roblox servers)'', a download of the file can be found on Wayback Machine using [http://web.archive.org/web/20070202170622/http://roblox.com/setup/roblox.msi this link].


[[File:Roblox2007Installer.png|thumb|300px|What the installation wizard looks like.]]
In February of 2020, Roblox marked several files from before that date private, on their deploy server. Making it impossible for a regular user to download all the versions. The ClientSearch community had stepped up in an effort to archive these too, with most versions between November 2009 to December 2012 being archived. However, clients between December of 2012 to February of 2020 are no longer downloadable and are currently lost media. It should be noted that, even with the hashes found for older 2008-2009 versions on setup.roblox.com, this archive is still not complete, as there are still versions missing. There is no exact list, and it's unknown how much is lost, but it is now impossible to know what does and doesn't exist.


On October 25th of 2017, user '''ReDZ''' found an unnamed user who played Roblox back in 2007 and was able to find a handful of clients<ref>[https://fi.nobelium.xyz/forum/post?id=6348 Better information on the clients that were found. Includes an almost complete list of what was found apart from January 2008 actually being February 8th, 2008.] Retrieved 26 Oct '17 on the forums</ref> on their hard drive with builds dating from mid-2007 to mid-2008. User '''Kallus''' later contacted the unnamed user for the August 31st, 2007 client and leaked it upon getting given it. Hours after the build got leaked, user '''CloneTrooper1019''' published the leaked vanilla build with permission from Finobe onto a Github repository<ref>[https://github.com/CloneTrooper1019/Roblox-2007-Client Github Repository] Retrieved 26 Oct '17</ref>. The repository contains all the files necessary for the build to run properly since some of it was originally missing ''(such as fonts, textures, sounds, music, and animations which were borrowed from the February 8th, 2008 build)''.
==The Problem==
[[File:DavidBaszuckiEmail.png|thumb|356x356px|David Baszucki's response following an inquiry about releasing old versions, among some other questions.]]
Despite ClientSearch being dedicated to finding lost versions, the problem arises that there is not enough awareness of the concept that Roblox can have lost media in this form. To put it in perspective, in 2005, there were barely over 100 players, in 2006, there were barely over 11,000. It was only in 2007 that the growth of Roblox began to speed up since it had been released. This small number of users, and the large amount of time that has passed, has made it become increasingly difficult to locate any user that might have a build. There have been several cases of hard drive failure, or the computers being discarded as a whole.<ref>https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1f0oWprnGXgQs2to4iszDa0OvxXWwVUOW5w0tTnWoILI</ref>


As of October 25th, 2017, there is absolutely no security within this particular build in its vanilla state. It is advised by CloneTrooper1019 himself that you should be safe when using this build. Finobe did however on October 29th, 2017 release their version of the client onto their site that has the security issues patched and has Finobe branding for the purpose of competition.
Even David Baszucki, the CEO and Founder of Roblox, had a contact email found, and when he was contacted asking about releasing old versions, he replied "Unfortunately. we don't keep old Roblox versions alive - it would be too complex to deploy them, etc.!"


==Other Information==
It doesn't help that ClientSearch tends to frequently get users who send in a fake version, and/or pretend to have a version from 2006. Not only is this just useless, but this wastes our searching resources.
If you are currently looking for any other builds from pre-2010, I'd highly suggest you check out the clientsearch blog on Tumblr. DirtPiper, the owner of the blog, has been searching for these clients since 2012 and he has made a complete download list of these builds<ref>[https://clientsearch.tumblr.com/Downloads Download page from the clientsearch blog.] Retrieved 26 Oct '17</ref>. CloneTrooper1019 has also made numerous Github repositories in the past that contains certain builds from Roblox.


If you've discovered a build that dates before 2007, please email the Finobe admins ''(at finobeofficial@gmail.com)'' or dirtpile ''(at dirtpiper@gmail.com)''.
Here is a general list of '''''fake 2006''''' versions, there are modified versions of the game that should not be handed into ClientSearch, as they are not what we are looking for. Again, these are fake. Let me say it one more time, they are fake. Don't send these to us. Thanks.


==Videos==
https://archive.org/details/roblox-clients-2006-2021
<div style="margin:0 auto; text-align: center;">


<div style="width:320px; display:inline-block; margin-right:25px; margin-bottom:0px;">
https://archive.org/details/old-roblox-2005-2015
{{#ev:youtube|https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTnMKjXEnMY|320x240|center|Original gameplay trailer from 2006.|frame}}</div>


<div style="width:320px; display:inline-block; margin-right:25px; margin-bottom:0px;">
https://archive.org/details/old-roblox-2005-2015
{{#ev:youtube|https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kqKtILIu6ak|320x240|center|Chaos canyon gameplay video from 2006.|frame}}</div>


<div style="width:320px; display:inline-block; margin-right:25px; margin-bottom:0px;">
https://archive.org/details/roblox-client-archive
{{#ev:youtube|https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4NQL1XK66cM|320x240|center|A reupload of an old "ROBLOX Blooper" from 2006.|frame}}</div>


<div style="width:320px; display:inline-block; margin-right:25px; margin-bottom:0px;">
https://archive.org/details/roblox-2006_202306
{{#ev:youtube|https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QL4pe3d3zoM|320x240|center|Footage from the August 2007 build.|frame}}</div>


<div style="width:320px; display:inline-block; margin-right:25px; margin-bottom:0px;">
https://gamebanana.com/mods/37230
{{#ev:youtube|https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwDNX_Cf6q0|320x240|center|A 2007 demo that introduced the explosion feature.|frame}}</div>


<div style="width:320px; display:inline-block; margin-right:25px; margin-bottom:0px;">
==The $500 bounty ==
{{#ev:youtube|https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=krUtgPwFXeo|320x240|center|A 2008 demo that introduced the sparkles feature.|frame}}</div>
ClientSearch currently holds a $500 bounty for the first 2006 version that can be brought forward. This bounty is only handed out once, and goes to the first person who initially sent over the files. The terms can be found on our website https://robloxopolis.com/2006-roblox-bounty/


<div style="width:320px; display:inline-block; margin-right:25px; margin-bottom:0px;">
==List of versions (Pre-August 2008)==
{{#ev:youtube|https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0JyCdk5ymo|320x240|center|A 2008 demo that introduced the shirts and pants feature.|frame}}</div>
The following is a table of missing versions, just so you can get an idea as to what is missing. This table is copied from the "Installer Clients" on [https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1_1tNBs6ieWOXZ5OTReMFQjR3RrC-BrSK20ZGu8Hs3sU this spreadsheet]


<div style="width:320px; display:inline-block; margin-right:25px; margin-bottom:0px;">
It should be noted that "Installer Found" refers to the MSI file being located, but is ultimately useless as the files downloaded are files that no longer exist.
{{#ev:youtube|https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OBUlpvyInzg|320x240|center|Original gameplay trailer from 2009.|frame}}</div>  
{| class="wikitable"
! style="background-color:black" |<span style="color:white;">'''Version'''
! style="background-color:black" |<span style="color:white;">'''Status'''
! style="background-color:black" |<span style="color:white;">'''Compilation Date (UTC)'''
|- style="background-color:black" !
|<nowiki>colspan="3"</nowiki>|<span style="color:white;">'''2004'''
|- style="background-color:#e06666" !
|
|Lost
| 2004-01
|- style="background-color:#e06666" !
|
|Lost
|2004-10-26
|- style="background-color:black" !
|<nowiki>colspan="3"</nowiki>|<span style="color:white;">'''2005'''
|- style="background-color:#e06666" !
|
|Lost
|2005-01-24
|- style="background-color:#e06666" !
|
|Lost
|2005-02-03
|- style="background-color:#e06666" !
|
|Lost
|2005-02-22
|- style="background-color:#e06666" !
|
| Lost
|2005-03
|- style="background-color:#ffd966" !
|
|Unconfirmed
|2005-06-17
|- style="background-color:#ffd966" !
|
|Unconfirmed
|2005-06-27
|- style="background-color:#e06666" !
|
| Lost
|2005-10
|-
! style="background-color:black"<nowiki>colspan="3"</nowiki>|<span style="color:white;">'''2006'''
|- style="background-color:#e06666" !
|0.2.123.0
|Lost
|2006-03-23. 20:28
|- style="background-color:#e06666" !
|0.2.135.0
| Lost
|2006-03-24. 22:39
|- style="background-color:#e06666" !
|0.2.144.0
|Lost
|2006-04-14
|- style="background-color:#e06666" !
|0.3.030.0
|Lost
|2006-06-05. 16:57
|- style="background-color:#e06666" !
|0.3.041.0
|Lost
|2006-06-10, 15:17
|- style="background-color:#e06666" !
| 0.3.046.0
|Lost
|2006-06-16. 22:06
|- style="background-color:#e06666" !
|0.3.070.0
|Lost
|2006-07-14, 15:52
|- style="background-color:#e06666" !
|
|Lost
|2006-07-22
|- style="background-color:#e06666" !
|
|Lost
|2006-07-28
|- style="background-color:#ffd966" !
|
|Unconfirmed
|2006-07-29
|- style="background-color:#e06666" !
|
|Lost
|2006-08-04
|- style="background-color:#e06666" !
|
|Lost
|2006-08-11
|- style="background-color:#e06666" !
|0.3.147.0
|Lost
|2006-08-16. 18:28
|- style="background-color:#e06666" !
|
|Lost
|2006-08-20
|- style="background-color:#ffd966" !
|
|Unconfirmed
|2006-09-1x
|- style="background-color:#e06666" !
|0.3.218.0
|Lost
|2006-09-29, 00:32
|- style="background-color:#e06666" !
|0.3.230.0
|Lost
|2006-10-25, 17:33
|- style="background-color:#e06666" !
|
|Lost
|2006-11-06
|- style="background-color:#e06666" !
|
|Lost
|2006-11-08
|- style="background-color:#e06666" !
|0.3.245.0
|Lost
|2006-11-12
|- style="background-color:#ffd966" !
|
|Unconfirmed
|2006-11-21
|- style="background-color:#e06666" !
|
|Lost
|2006-11-29, 05:00
|- style="background-color:#e06666" !
|0.3.253.0
|Lost
|2006-11-29, 09:00
|- style="background-color:#e06666" !
|
|Lost
|2006-12-08
|- style="background-color:#e06666" !
|0.3.264.0
|Lost
|2006-12-20
|- style="background-color:#e06666" !
|0.3.266.0
|Lost
|2006-12-28
|- style="background-color:black" !
|<nowiki>colspan="3"</nowiki>|<span style="color:white;">'''2007'''
|- style="background-color:#e06666" !
|
|Lost
|2007-01-09
|- style="background-color:#e06666" !
|0.3.290.0
|Lost
|2007-01-11
|- style="background-color:#e06666" !
|0.3.291.0
|Lost
|2007-01-13
|- style="background-color:#e06666" !
|0.3.294.0
|Lost
|2007-01-21
|- style="background-color:#ffd966" !
|0.3.296.0
|Unconfirmed
|2007-01-26
|- style="background-color:#ff62ff" !
|0.3.310.0
|Installer found
|2007-01-31, 08:24
|- style="background-color:#e06666" !
|
|Lost
|2007-02-01
|- style="background-color:#e06666" !
|0.3.313.0
|Lost
|2007-02-10
|- style="background-color:#e06666" !
|0.3.335.0
|Lost
|2007-02-17
|- style="background-color:#6aa84f" !
|0.3.368.0
|Found
|2007-03-27
|- style="background-color:#e06666" !
|0.3.372.0
|Lost
|2007-04-04
|- style="background-color:#ffd966" !
|
|Unconfirmed
|2007-04-08
|- style="background-color:#e06666" !
|0.3.390.0
|Lost
|2007-04-20
|- style="background-color:#e06666" !
|0.3.400.0
|Lost
|2007-05-05
|- style="background-color:#ffd966" !
|
|Unconfirmed
|2007-05-18
|- style="background-color:#e06666" !
|0.3.416.0
|Lost
|2007-05-20
|- style="background-color:#e06666" !
|
|Lost
|2007-05-30
|- style="background-color:#ff62ff" !
|0.3.442.0
|Installer found
|2007-06-12
|- style="background-color:#e06666" !
|
|Lost
|2007-06-28
|- style="background-color:#e06666" !
|0.3.451.0
|Lost
|2007-07-01
|- style="background-color:#e06666" !
|0.3.460.0
|Lost
|2007-07/08
|- style="background-color:#e06666" !
|0.3.470.0
|Lost
|2007-08-03
|- style="background-color:#e06666" !
|
|Lost
|2007-08-04
|- style="background-color:#e06666" !
|
|Lost
|2007-08-05
|- style="background-color:#ffd966" !
|0.3.484.0
|Unconfirmed
|2007-08-18
|- style="background-color:#e06666" !
|0.3.485.0
|Lost
|2007-08-18
|- style="background-color:#6aa84f" !
|0.3.488.0
|Found
|2007-08-18
|- style="background-color:#e06666" !
|
|Lost
|2007-08-29
|- style="background-color:#6aa84f" !
|0.3.512.0
|Found
|2007-08-31
|- style="background-color:#e06666" !
|0.3.585.0
|Lost
|2007-10-05
|- style="background-color:#e06666" !
|
|Lost
|2007-10-29
|- style="background-color:#e06666" !
|0.3.601.0
|Lost
|2007-11-01
|- style="background-color:#e06666" !
|0.3.603.0
|Lost
|2007-11-01
|- style="background-color:#e06666" !
|0.3.604.0
|Lost
|2007-11-01
|- style="background-color:#e06666" !
|0.3.605.0
|Lost
|2007-11-01
|- style="background-color:#ffd966" !
|
|Unconfirmed
|2007-11-02
|- style="background-color:#e06666" !
|0.3.607.0
|Lost
|2007-11-02
|- style="background-color:#e06666" !
|0.3.618.0
|Lost
|2007-11-13
|- style="background-color:#e06666" !
|0.3.619.0
|Lost
|2007-11-13
|- style="background-color:#e06666" !
|0.3.621.0
|Lost
|2007-11-13
|- style="background-color:#e06666" !
|0.3.622.0
|Lost
|2007-11-13
|- style="background-color:#e06666" !
|0.3.623.0
|Lost
|2007-11-14
|- style="background-color:#e06666" !
|0.3.624.0
|Lost
|2007-11-14
|- style="background-color:#e06666" !
|0.3.625.0
|Lost
|2007-11-14
|- style="background-color:#e06666" !
|0.3.626.0
|Lost
|2007-11-14
|- style="background-color:#e06666" !
|0.3.627.0
|Lost
|2007-11-14
|- style="background-color:#e06666" !
|0.3.629.0
|Lost
|2007-11-14
|- style="background-color:#e06666" !
|0.3.631.0
|Lost
|2007-11-14
|- style="background-color:#e06666" !
|0.3.632.0
|Lost
|2007-11-15
|- style="background-color:#e06666" !
|0.3.633.0
|Lost
|2007-11-15
|- style="background-color:#6aa84f" !
|0.3.634.0
|Found
|2007-11-15
|- style="background-color:#e06666" !
|0.3.638.0
|Lost
|2007-11-16
|- style="background-color:#e06666" !
|0.3.639.0
|Lost
|2007-11-16
|- style="background-color:#e06666" !
|0.3.641.0
|Lost
|2007-11-16
|- style="background-color:#e06666" !
|0.3.642.0
|Lost
|2007-11-16
|- style="background-color:#e06666" !
|0.3.644.0
|Lost
|2007-11-16
|- style="background-color:#e06666" !
|0.3.645.0
|Lost
|2007-11-16
|- style="background-color:#e06666" !
|0.3.646.0
|Lost
|2007-11-17
|- style="background-color:#e06666" !
|
|Lost
|2007-12-05
|- style="background-color:#ff62ff" !
|0.3.667.0
|Installer found
|2007-12-18
|- style="background-color:#6aa84f" !
|0.3.676.0
|Found
|2007-12-20
|- style="background-color:black" !
|<nowiki>colspan="3"</nowiki>|<span style="color:white;">'''2008'''
|- style="background-color:#6aa84f" !
|0.3.696.0
|Found
|2008-01-16, 09:15
|- style="background-color:#6aa84f" !
|0.3.699.0
|Found
|2008-02-08
|- style="background-color:#6aa84f" !
|0.3.719.0
|Found
|2008-03-05, 19:17:10
|- style="background-color:#6aa84f" !
|0.3.720.0
|Found
|2008-03-05, 20:16:52
|- style="background-color:#6aa84f" !
|0.3.739.0
|Found
|2008-04-01
|- style="background-color:#e06666" !
|0.3.740.0
|Lost
|2008-04-15
|- style="background-color:#e06666" !
|0.3.744.0
|Lost
|2008-04-24
|- style="background-color:#6aa84f" !
|0.3.764.0
|Found
|2008-04-24
|- style="background-color:#e06666" !
|0.3.782.0
|Lost
|2008-05-14
|- style="background-color:#6aa84f" !
|0.3.783.0
|Found
|2008-05-14
|- style="background-color:#6aa84f" !
|0.3.784.0
|Found
|2008-05-14
|- style="background-color:#ffd966" !
|0.3.803.0
|Unconfirmed
|2008-06
|- style="background-color:#ffd966" !
|0.3.805.0
|Unconfirmed
|2008-06-10
|- style="background-color:#6aa84f" !
|0.3.807.0
|Found
|2008-06-17
|- style="background-color:#e06666" !
|0.3.808.0
|Lost
|2008-06-19
|- style="background-color:#6aa84f" !
|0.3.809.0
|Found
|2008-06-20, 06:31:15
|}


</div>
==Gallery==
==Gallery==
<gallery mode=packed heights=61px>
===Videos===
Pirate.jpg|Screenshot of the 2005 client.
{{Video|perrow  =3
Dynablocks_Website.png|Early home page when the game was called Dynablocks.
  |service1    =youtube
DynablocksLogo_v1.png|A recreation of the Dynablocks logo.
  |id1          =xgj86s5juPs
RobloxLogo_v1.png|The 2004 rendition of the Roblox logo.
  |description1 =A brief history of the search by YouTuber PalPlayz.
RobloxLogo_v2.png|The 2005 rendition of the Roblox logo.
  }}
RobloxLogo_v3.png|The 2006 rendition of the Roblox logo.
==Images==
<gallery mode="packed" heights="175">
File:Pirate.jpg|A 2005 minigame about sailing a ship on ''Roblox''.
File:Dyna castle.jpg|A 2005 castle game from ''Roblox''.
File:Old roblox studio.png|The September 2006 version of ''Roblox'' Studio.
File:DynablocksUncesored.png|Early mockup of the ''Dynablocks'' website.
File:RobloxLogo v3.png|Late 2006 version of the ''Roblox'' logo.
</gallery>
</gallery>
==External Links==
#[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roblox Official Wikipedia page for ''Roblox''.]
#[https://discord.gg/CHFK7eXXMY Invite to the ClientSearch Discord]
#[https://robloxopolis.com/ The official ClientSearch Blog]
#[https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1_1tNBs6ieWOXZ5OTReMFQjR3RrC-BrSK20ZGu8Hs3sU The ClientSearch version list]
==References==
==References==
<references/>
<references />
 
__INDEX__
__FORCETOC__
[[Category:Lost video games]]
[[Category:Lost video games]]
[[Category:Partially found media]]
[[Category:Partially found media]]
[[Category:Historic]]

Latest revision as of 05:18, 27 February 2024

RobloxLogo v2.png

An old logo that dates back to 2005. Dubbed the "second generation" logo.

Status: Partially Found


Roblox is a massive online multiplayer platform that allows users to create and design their own games and play a wide variety of other user-generated games. Back before Roblox became available to the public, its name was originally GoBlocks. It was also changed to DynaBlocks for unverifiable reasons but it was ultimately changed to Roblox afterwards because of the name being too hard to remember.

Although Roblox is still up and playable, older versions of the from 2003 to 2006 have completely disappeared, and most versions, spanning from December of 2012 to February 2020, were locked off of Roblox's website. The earliest build currently uncovered by the community is a late March 2007 version.

Background

David Baszucki at Valley Rekindled, 2007.

In 1989, David Baszucki founded the company "Knowledge Revolution". Around this time, he developed general-purpose software for physics and mechanical simulation, which were intended for educational purposes. According to an interview with David, he recalls creating three pieces of software that were all physics-based, these being Interactive Physics, Working Model, and The Incredible Machine.[1] He also met Erik Cassel and Keith Lucas around this time.

Around 1998, he stepped down as the CEO and became the Vice President. Later on, Knowledge Revolution was acquired by MSC Software for 20 million dollars followed by both David and Erik leaving the company. They were soon joined by other employees as well. Soon after, development for a brand new game began, though the year development began is not specified or known. In late September 2003, an entry named eBlocks with the description "Stealth mode video game company." is added to David Baszuckis website but it is unknown what it was about. By December 2003, the pair bought the domains for GoBlocks.com and soon after Dynablocks.com.

Around March 29th of 2004, they renamed Dynablocks to Roblox[2] – a portmanteau of the words "robots" and "blocks". It was changed due to Dynablocks being a hard name to recognize.

By mid-2004, David Baszucki and Erik Cassel opened the public beta version of the game. It was an online building toy that allowed users to create and design their own games with genres like minigames and puzzle games, driving games. In 2005 Roblox was officially released to the public.

How Roblox Versions Became Lost

Roblox installers from 2004 to January of 2008 were been hosted on http://roblox.com/Setup/[3], these installers were MSI files that would be downloaded by the user manually for each update of the game. The problem with these MSI files is even if we could locate all of them, they grab files from an online source that no longer exists, so they effectively serve no purpose. However, in 2008, they briefly switched to completely offline installation files. These would be released as executables that had the relevant files bundled inside of the installer, making them easier to find.

In August of 2008, Roblox switched to using a Deploy server, which automatically grabbed the new version and installed it for you. These deploys were hosted at http://setup.roblox.com (now http://setup.rbxcdn.com). This is the installation process that is still in use today, however, as of February 2020, Roblox had marked their previous deploys as private, making them inaccessible.[4] Meaning most versions before February 2020 are lost media. Only a small fraction was actually downloaded and archived by people, and the rest are probably collecting dust on somebody's old hard drive.

History of the Search

Roblox has content servers where they host their assets, http://c0.roblox.com to http://c7.roblox.com. These assets include everything from avatar items to games. However, in 2012 there were hints that there was something more stored on these, and on http://c5.roblox.com a Roblox version from June of 2008, version 0.3.809.0, was located.[5]

In 2017, a dedicated archival group known as the "Roblox Client Search" or "ClientSearch" for short, began a heavier search for more versions. It had been known for a while up to this point that http://setup.roblox.com/DeployHistory.txt (now http://setup.rbxcdn.com/DeployHistory.txt) existed, listing releases as far back as November of 2009. However, Very quickly after ClientSearch was founded, a Pastebin was located, containing version hashes, some of which predated the listing in DeployHistory.txt[6] This allowed for the download of versions Prior to November 2009, going all the way back to August of 2008.

In October of 2017, a user by the name of MusicalProgrammer who had played Roblox in 2007, had come in contact with ClientSearch, and was able to provide them with several versions of Roblox, several from 2008, and four from 2007.

Around 2020, ClientSearch went on a long hiatus, a year-long stretch with absolutely nothing being found, and the effort was closed down. Then, in early 2021 ClientSearch came back, and a lead was contacted, who wished to remain anonymous. This lead had played Roblox in 2006 and was able to provide us a version from March of 2007, being the earliest version found, as of writing this.

In February of 2020, Roblox marked several files from before that date private, on their deploy server. Making it impossible for a regular user to download all the versions. The ClientSearch community had stepped up in an effort to archive these too, with most versions between November 2009 to December 2012 being archived. However, clients between December of 2012 to February of 2020 are no longer downloadable and are currently lost media. It should be noted that, even with the hashes found for older 2008-2009 versions on setup.roblox.com, this archive is still not complete, as there are still versions missing. There is no exact list, and it's unknown how much is lost, but it is now impossible to know what does and doesn't exist.

The Problem

David Baszucki's response following an inquiry about releasing old versions, among some other questions.

Despite ClientSearch being dedicated to finding lost versions, the problem arises that there is not enough awareness of the concept that Roblox can have lost media in this form. To put it in perspective, in 2005, there were barely over 100 players, in 2006, there were barely over 11,000. It was only in 2007 that the growth of Roblox began to speed up since it had been released. This small number of users, and the large amount of time that has passed, has made it become increasingly difficult to locate any user that might have a build. There have been several cases of hard drive failure, or the computers being discarded as a whole.[7]

Even David Baszucki, the CEO and Founder of Roblox, had a contact email found, and when he was contacted asking about releasing old versions, he replied "Unfortunately. we don't keep old Roblox versions alive - it would be too complex to deploy them, etc.!"

It doesn't help that ClientSearch tends to frequently get users who send in a fake version, and/or pretend to have a version from 2006. Not only is this just useless, but this wastes our searching resources.

Here is a general list of fake 2006 versions, there are modified versions of the game that should not be handed into ClientSearch, as they are not what we are looking for. Again, these are fake. Let me say it one more time, they are fake. Don't send these to us. Thanks.

https://archive.org/details/roblox-clients-2006-2021

https://archive.org/details/old-roblox-2005-2015

https://archive.org/details/old-roblox-2005-2015

https://archive.org/details/roblox-client-archive

https://archive.org/details/roblox-2006_202306

https://gamebanana.com/mods/37230

The $500 bounty

ClientSearch currently holds a $500 bounty for the first 2006 version that can be brought forward. This bounty is only handed out once, and goes to the first person who initially sent over the files. The terms can be found on our website https://robloxopolis.com/2006-roblox-bounty/

List of versions (Pre-August 2008)

The following is a table of missing versions, just so you can get an idea as to what is missing. This table is copied from the "Installer Clients" on this spreadsheet

It should be noted that "Installer Found" refers to the MSI file being located, but is ultimately useless as the files downloaded are files that no longer exist.

Version Status Compilation Date (UTC)
2004
Lost 2004-01
Lost 2004-10-26
2005
Lost 2005-01-24
Lost 2005-02-03
Lost 2005-02-22
Lost 2005-03
Unconfirmed 2005-06-17
Unconfirmed 2005-06-27
Lost 2005-10
2006
0.2.123.0 Lost 2006-03-23. 20:28
0.2.135.0 Lost 2006-03-24. 22:39
0.2.144.0 Lost 2006-04-14
0.3.030.0 Lost 2006-06-05. 16:57
0.3.041.0 Lost 2006-06-10, 15:17
0.3.046.0 Lost 2006-06-16. 22:06
0.3.070.0 Lost 2006-07-14, 15:52
Lost 2006-07-22
Lost 2006-07-28
Unconfirmed 2006-07-29
Lost 2006-08-04
Lost 2006-08-11
0.3.147.0 Lost 2006-08-16. 18:28
Lost 2006-08-20
Unconfirmed 2006-09-1x
0.3.218.0 Lost 2006-09-29, 00:32
0.3.230.0 Lost 2006-10-25, 17:33
Lost 2006-11-06
Lost 2006-11-08
0.3.245.0 Lost 2006-11-12
Unconfirmed 2006-11-21
Lost 2006-11-29, 05:00
0.3.253.0 Lost 2006-11-29, 09:00
Lost 2006-12-08
0.3.264.0 Lost 2006-12-20
0.3.266.0 Lost 2006-12-28
2007
Lost 2007-01-09
0.3.290.0 Lost 2007-01-11
0.3.291.0 Lost 2007-01-13
0.3.294.0 Lost 2007-01-21
0.3.296.0 Unconfirmed 2007-01-26
0.3.310.0 Installer found 2007-01-31, 08:24
Lost 2007-02-01
0.3.313.0 Lost 2007-02-10
0.3.335.0 Lost 2007-02-17
0.3.368.0 Found 2007-03-27
0.3.372.0 Lost 2007-04-04
Unconfirmed 2007-04-08
0.3.390.0 Lost 2007-04-20
0.3.400.0 Lost 2007-05-05
Unconfirmed 2007-05-18
0.3.416.0 Lost 2007-05-20
Lost 2007-05-30
0.3.442.0 Installer found 2007-06-12
Lost 2007-06-28
0.3.451.0 Lost 2007-07-01
0.3.460.0 Lost 2007-07/08
0.3.470.0 Lost 2007-08-03
Lost 2007-08-04
Lost 2007-08-05
0.3.484.0 Unconfirmed 2007-08-18
0.3.485.0 Lost 2007-08-18
0.3.488.0 Found 2007-08-18
Lost 2007-08-29
0.3.512.0 Found 2007-08-31
0.3.585.0 Lost 2007-10-05
Lost 2007-10-29
0.3.601.0 Lost 2007-11-01
0.3.603.0 Lost 2007-11-01
0.3.604.0 Lost 2007-11-01
0.3.605.0 Lost 2007-11-01
Unconfirmed 2007-11-02
0.3.607.0 Lost 2007-11-02
0.3.618.0 Lost 2007-11-13
0.3.619.0 Lost 2007-11-13
0.3.621.0 Lost 2007-11-13
0.3.622.0 Lost 2007-11-13
0.3.623.0 Lost 2007-11-14
0.3.624.0 Lost 2007-11-14
0.3.625.0 Lost 2007-11-14
0.3.626.0 Lost 2007-11-14
0.3.627.0 Lost 2007-11-14
0.3.629.0 Lost 2007-11-14
0.3.631.0 Lost 2007-11-14
0.3.632.0 Lost 2007-11-15
0.3.633.0 Lost 2007-11-15
0.3.634.0 Found 2007-11-15
0.3.638.0 Lost 2007-11-16
0.3.639.0 Lost 2007-11-16
0.3.641.0 Lost 2007-11-16
0.3.642.0 Lost 2007-11-16
0.3.644.0 Lost 2007-11-16
0.3.645.0 Lost 2007-11-16
0.3.646.0 Lost 2007-11-17
Lost 2007-12-05
0.3.667.0 Installer found 2007-12-18
0.3.676.0 Found 2007-12-20
2008
0.3.696.0 Found 2008-01-16, 09:15
0.3.699.0 Found 2008-02-08
0.3.719.0 Found 2008-03-05, 19:17:10
0.3.720.0 Found 2008-03-05, 20:16:52
0.3.739.0 Found 2008-04-01
0.3.740.0 Lost 2008-04-15
0.3.744.0 Lost 2008-04-24
0.3.764.0 Found 2008-04-24
0.3.782.0 Lost 2008-05-14
0.3.783.0 Found 2008-05-14
0.3.784.0 Found 2008-05-14
0.3.803.0 Unconfirmed 2008-06
0.3.805.0 Unconfirmed 2008-06-10
0.3.807.0 Found 2008-06-17
0.3.808.0 Lost 2008-06-19
0.3.809.0 Found 2008-06-20, 06:31:15

Gallery

Videos

A brief history of the search by YouTuber PalPlayz.

Images

  • A 2005 minigame about sailing a ship on Roblox.

    A 2005 minigame about sailing a ship on Roblox.

  • A 2005 castle game from Roblox.

    A 2005 castle game from Roblox.

  • The September 2006 version of Roblox Studio.

    The September 2006 version of Roblox Studio.

  • Early mockup of the Dynablocks website.

    Early mockup of the Dynablocks website.

  • Late 2006 version of the Roblox logo.

    Late 2006 version of the Roblox logo.

External Links

  1. Official Wikipedia page for Roblox.
  2. Invite to the ClientSearch Discord
  3. The official ClientSearch Blog
  4. The ClientSearch version list

References

  1. ↑ Roblox Blog page on a brief history of physics in video games. Retrieved 17 Sept '19
  2. ↑ https://ia903407.us.archive.org/BookReader/BookReaderImages.php?zip=%2F32%2Fitems%2Fsim_official-gazette-us-patent-trademark-office-trademarks_2005-02-01_1291_1%2Fsim_official-gazette-us-patent-trademark-office-trademarks_2005-02-01_1291_1_jp2.zip&file=sim_official-gazette-us-patent-trademark-office-trademarks_2005-02-01_1291_1_jp2%2Fsim_official-gazette-us-patent-trademark-office-trademarks_2005-02-01_1291_1_0146.jp2&id=sim_official-gazette-us-patent-trademark-office-trademarks_2005-02-01_1291_1&scale=1&rotate=0
  3. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20070202170622/http://www.roblox.com/Setup/Roblox.msi
  4. ↑ https://robloxopolis.com/the-clearing-of-deploys-in-2020/
  5. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20110520173356/http://c5.roblox.com/Setup_0.3.809.0.exe
  6. ↑ https://pastebin.com/0xkq30HQ
  7. ↑ https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1f0oWprnGXgQs2to4iszDa0OvxXWwVUOW5w0tTnWoILI
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