it was reflection, rsbot/powerboat was using injection and rid had something else going on. Basically what made it so effective was the fact that it was able to read the screen/colors and pull values from all of that while powerboat had to 'physically' insert itself into the java mainframe. I think rid was using algorithms to mimic player functions (hence why rid had to take control of the entire cpu).
edit: than jagex botnuke implemented some fluttering system that disturbed the reflection process and making it very easy to 'detect'