topic Re: EaglerCraft = offline Minecraft in Peer-Peer Topics

EaglerCraft = offline Minecraft

SteveHarmon — Mon, 11 Mar 2024 22:56:03 GMT

We have been having issues with EaglerCraft and cannot figure out how to block it. For those who do not know, EaglerCraft is an offline, scaled-down version of Java Minecraft. It is not supported by Mojang, it was developed by some folks who have made it available on Github. Because it is offline and runs locally on a Chromebook, most content filters (we currently use Securly) and device management (we currently use LanSchool) cannot "see" it because no traffic is going on the internet. Teachers have been complaining about this because they cannot see it on LanSchool. The way it works is that the students save the HTML file to their Drive from home (they cannot access the sites that have the file while on campus because it is blocked - but it they use a personal computer with their district credentials then they can save it to their Drive). From there, they share it with their friends. Then the person can run it using the Files app on their Chromebook. So far, nothing I have tried works to block it. I can usually find and remove individual instances of it in Drive if I know who the user is, but it is time consuming to do this, and students can just go home at the end of the day and download it again. Also, if they are savvy enough to change the name of the file, then my search parameters will not work.

Any solutions (or ideas!) that folks have come up for this issue would be greatly appreciated!

Re: EaglerCraft = offline Minecraft

NielsBrockmeier — Fri, 15 Mar 2024 12:21:03 GMT

Althought a bit drastic, and I'd recommend first trying it on a subset of students if possible. You could try blocking the URL to open local files in the browser. It would, from a first quick try, mainly impact opening PDFs from local storage. But installing the Adobe Acrobat extension would prevent this, as it opens in the extension which doesn't need a subscription I believe. The URL to block:

file://*

But it might impact more than just this file, so I'd recommend to not roll this out for everyone at once

Re: EaglerCraft = offline Minecraft

Bluecomet — Mon, 18 Mar 2024 17:28:38 GMT

Great question! If you find a solution I would love to know it!

Re: EaglerCraft = offline Minecraft

tvasso — Tue, 19 Mar 2024 14:42:47 GMT

I set up a Rule in Google Admin. I receive an alert any time activity for Document Type = html occurs on a student chromebook. This at least keeps me aware of the potential game downloading activity.

Re: EaglerCraft = offline Minecraft

robbabiak — Tue, 19 Mar 2024 16:25:13 GMT

Controversial Take: Is this a Device Management Issue or a Classroom Management Issue?

Re: EaglerCraft = offline Minecraft

SteveHarmon — Tue, 19 Mar 2024 22:25:36 GMT

In some ways I would consider this a bit of both, leaning more heavily towards the classroom management side. The issue is that teachers are trying to use our device management solution (we use LanSchool) but because it does not use the internet a blank screen shows on the tool. If the teacher walks to check it out, the students quickly hide the window or close the window. Because the file URL is so cryptic, the teachers don't know what is happening, but they suspect something is happening which is why they reach out to IT. I keep trying to find a technical solution to this if one exists in order to throw a bone (idiom for trying to help them out) to the teachers!

Re: EaglerCraft = offline Minecraft

SteveHarmon — Tue, 19 Mar 2024 22:30:21 GMT

Great idea! I will test this out and see if I can use this in some manner!

Re: EaglerCraft = offline Minecraft

mbrennan — Wed, 20 Mar 2024 12:35:31 GMT

I've been playing around with this, but I haven't had any luck. It might be in the way I'm using the rules, can you share any details on Rule type and conditions that worked for you?

Re: EaglerCraft = offline Minecraft

VeronicaC — Thu, 21 Mar 2024 13:50:40 GMT

I was able to create the rule after going through the investigation tool which found a few downloads. At least I will be notified if this download increases! I included my set up below.

Re: EaglerCraft = offline Minecraft

Kim_Nilsson — Thu, 21 Mar 2024 13:53:49 GMT

Beautiful!

Re: EaglerCraft = offline Minecraft

tvasso — Mon, 25 Mar 2024 14:08:06 GMT

You can go to Rules in Admin. Create a Rule. See below for how I set it up.

Re: EaglerCraft = offline Minecraft

SteveHarmon — Mon, 25 Mar 2024 20:04:19 GMT

Thanks @tvasso for the idea about using the Investigation Tool. My issue with this was that it is still a manual process and I was hoping to automate it. Your suggestion did spur an idea for me, though. I ended up using GAM to export to a Sheet a list of all of the HTML files in our Student OU.

gam ou_and_children /Students show filelist query "mimeType contains 'html'" fields id,name,createdDate,lastViewedByUser,explicitlyTrashed,fullFileExtension,lastviewedbyuser,filesize,size,alternatelink todrive tdfileid FILEID tdsheet id:SHEETID tdretaintitle true tdupdatesheet true tdnobrowser true

Then I have a second tab that runs a query on the data:

=query(RawData_AND!A:I,"select * where Col7>10000000 and Col7<20000000",1)

Col7 is the filesize. I found that the only HTML files over 10,000,000 bytes were offline games. I suppose I could remove the top cap of 20,000,000 bytes, but I haven't yet.

Then I used another GAM command to purge these from our Drive:

gam csv gsheet MYEMAIL FILEID FilterByFilesize gam user ~Owner purge drivefile ~id

The "FilterByFilesize" is the name of the tab in the Google sheet.

I put the GAM commands into a BAT file, then run a task scheduler action to run that command daily (at midnight - it does take a LONG time to scan all of the students' files looking for HTML files). On Friday when I ran it manually, there were over 1100 files found - when it ran last night, there were seven files found. After a few months, I might run it weekly instead of daily.

Re: EaglerCraft = offline Minecraft

Kim_Nilsson — Mon, 25 Mar 2024 20:37:36 GMT

Such a great use of GAMADV-XTD3!

Re: EaglerCraft = offline Minecraft

SteveHarmon — Mon, 25 Mar 2024 23:32:16 GMT

Just be careful with relying on the Title search for Eaglercraft, as the students are savvy enough to change the name of the file. I found some that were named Clever (our single sign-on solution) or named after our math program - they probably thought that the name would show up in the classroom management tool and teachers would assume they were on task. The filesize ended up being the best way to filter things as most regular HTML files are not as large as the offline games.

Re: EaglerCraft = offline Minecraft

Jrsowash — Thu, 28 Mar 2024 14:10:40 GMT

You can block EaglerCraft and similar offline games by blocking locally run Javascript. I recorded this video to walk you through the steps: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2bM1liYruDM

Google help article on blocking local files

Re: EaglerCraft = offline Minecraft

Jrsowash — Thu, 28 Mar 2024 14:12:00 GMT

This is what I do, but I only block Javascript access on local files to avoid blocking other legitimate files usage.

Re: EaglerCraft = offline Minecraft

SteveHarmon — Mon, 22 Apr 2024 23:08:14 GMT

Just a follow-up:

I ended up removing the upper-limit on filesize, as there were a bunch of other type of off-line games that were much larger filesizes. I figured that anything above 10000000 was not going to be legitimate!

Also, another forum asked about this and the Sheet I use, so I made this public-facing one: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1928-RS5BF4s4kB4rySaiYJhZWYs_BIQt8qZFsnh5Pmw/edit#gid=113899. The first tab has instructions on how to use it. Use it carefully, as you can delete a bunch of stuff on accident if you are not careful!

Re: EaglerCraft = offline Minecraft

SteveHarmon — Mon, 22 Apr 2024 23:22:38 GMT

Thanks, John! This worked as advertised in preventing EaglerCraft from running. Unfortunately, it had the side effect of disabling an extension we run called One Two One that prevents students from using other student's Chromebooks. Not sure if we could put the One Two One extension on the allow list - will need to test this another day!

Re: EaglerCraft = offline Minecraft

Olger — Thu, 24 Apr 2025 01:05:25 GMT

We use GATLabs GAT Shield (and GAT+ and Teacher Assist) to keep our students on the straight. GAT Shield is a browser extension and so runs on the device. I run weekly reports listing everything I find on "file:///media/fuse/" and export that to a Gsheet. I then use filters and pivot tables to check for, amongst others, Eaglercraft. If found, that chromebook gets reset from the admin console, wiping their local media. I then trace back where the files were downloaded from and block that website.

I also "follow" (report on) a bunch of known offenders and check their browsing history. THose students now work for me. 😄 They find stuff, I see it, and block it. It's a nice little dance.

I haven't found any mention of it on this forum, but there's a sneaky way students can play games, bypassing lots of content filters. This uses the "about:blank" page in Chrome Interstellar is a well known website. We block this by redirecting about:blank to google.com.au (using GAT Shield). GAT Shield itself also prevents abuse of about:blank.

@SteveHarmon, we have assigned our chromebooks to users (as most probably have) and use GAM to check (running from a Windows server on a 10 min schedule) whether the recent user matches the assigned user. If not, the script disables the user account in Workspace and they have to turn up at the IT Office, where we explain why they can't use someone else's laptop. Student rarely use another laptop now as they know very well what happens.

I can share the Powershell script that we use for this if there's an interest.

Re: EaglerCraft = offline Minecraft

Kim_Nilsson — Wed, 07 May 2025 07:33:52 GMT

That GAM + Powershell script sounds cool. Please, do share.