February 25, 2005 - IGN has always been on top of things; that's why we periodically gather a list of the nastiest game-stopping glitches and offer recommendations on how to avoid them. While not everyone is destined to experience the same "bugs", we know how frustrating they can be for the gamers who do face them. Here're some recently reported glitches/bugs to look out for:
Gran Turismo 4 (PS2)
The Bug: The screen begins to shake lightly during certain scenes, causing a painful shimmering effect over the entire screen. This is most apparent at the beginning of races on night courses, such as the Special Stage Route 5 course.
The Fix: Reports claim that the screen shaking does not occur when the game is in 480p or 1080i mode. The shaking effect also seems to be induced when there are more vehicles on screen, which is why it typically goes away when all opponent drivers are behind you.
The Bug: Lots of people have been having a hard time getting their USB drives to work with GT4's photo mode.
The Fix: Some people have tried re-formatting their USB drives to FAT32 (from NTFS) and this has solved the problem.
The Bug: Perhaps this isn't a bug, but we've got no idea why the discrepancy exists. If you look at your vehicles listed in the garage, you'll see the horsepower listed next to the car names. However, if you select a vehicle from the garage and go into the screen where it displays only that one vehicle, the horsepower shown in the lower-left corner of the screen is often a different number.
Rome: Total War (PC)
I would just like you to know that v.3.2 of Rome: Total Realism is not compatible with Rome: Total War(v.1.2).
Submitted by filmjay
Project: Snowblind (Xbox, PS2)
The Bug: In the armory room where the kinetic kicker is, stack three crates (there are two crates in the hallway, outside of both doors leading to the armory) in front of the raised vent on the back wall, next to the lockers. The vent doesn't need to be opened at all, because it has no clipping/collision set for it (a glitch). Then, just jump into the vent and you're treated to a brief view of the no-clip dimension (outside the playing area), before the game counts it as a death and starts over from the last save.
Submitted by Cwyq
Top Gear: RPM Tuning (Xbox)
The Bug: Get rid of those big gray trucks. When you race and sometimes there will be one of those big gray trucks that look like a rider truck. Crashing into those sometimes can cost you the race. Well I noticed that if you use the rear view button (The Y button) and hold it down for maybe a sec. you'll notice when you look forward the truck will be gone. That's one glitch I'm glad is there.
Submitted by Ghost
SpongeBob SquarePants: The Battle for Bikini Bottom (PS2)
The Bug: Unlimited Slide Music. In Rock Bottom, at the part where you have to get the Golden Spatula by sliding, jump onto the Slide Track, then jump off when you see a platform under the part where the two walls close in, but don't get off there. If you time it right, you could hit the Sleepytime robot! If you land on the platform, the slide music will still be on. But be careful! If you fall, lose all your health or go to the place where the Slide Track ends, the music stops and you'll have to do it all over again.
Submitted by The Game Master
Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords (Xbox)
The Bug: This is a potentially game ruining glitch. When you are on the planet of Nar-Shadaa and you go into the underground tunnels of the Jek-Jek-Tar, your character comes to a locked door at which point you enter into a cut-scene and take control of either Mira or Hanharr as they fight each other. After you defeat whoever you're not playing as, you are tasked with opening the door for the Jedi (yourself). Make sure you save the game in multiple slots at this point. Here is the problem. When you open up the door for the Jedi nothing seems to be wrong, but do not save your game after you have opened the door until after the cut-scene with Visquis is over. If you save your game right when you unlock the doors to the vent room you might experience a glitch. I had my game saved at this point and I confronted Visquis in the chamber where Mira and Hanharr fight. A cut-scene ensued and instead of the proper cut-scene loading with Kreia talking to Hanharr and Mira and Atton talking, the scene abruptly ended and placed me back in the underground hideout with no exits, no characters to interact with and no way out. I always save in multiple slots, so I loaded up a game from when Mira/Hanharr opened the vent door and voila! the proper cut-scene played and I took over as my droid companion. If you only have one save game and the glitch occurs, you will never get out and your game will be ruined. I just thought that some people might want to know this because I almost lost 35 hours of gameplay.
The Fix: Always have multiple saves.
Submitted by Anthony
Midnight Club II (PS2)
The Bug: When starting at the gas station in L.A. Turn left and when you reach the 3rd road turn left again, and then turn right. Stop at the next bridge. You'll see 3 polls, stop at the first one. Look right, you should see a smaller wall beside the normal wall. Nudge your way into this area turning left or right and you should go through the wall.
Submitted by Douglas
If you've got tips on beating any game bugs then e-mail us about it. Even if you're just offering advice for bugs already covered, your help will definitely be appreciated and you'll be helping other gamers like yourself avoid these pitfalls. If you've been stumped by a particular bug, tell us about it! Shoot an e-mail our way and we'll see if we can help you, or at the least report it and have other people help you out.
The Bug: The screen begins to shake lightly during certain scenes, causing a painful shimmering effect over the entire screen. This is most apparent at the beginning of races on night courses, such as the Special Stage Route 5 course.
The Fix: Reports claim that the screen shaking does not occur when the game is in 480p or 1080i mode. The shaking effect also seems to be induced when there are more vehicles on screen, which is why it typically goes away when all opponent drivers are behind you.
The Bug: Lots of people have been having a hard time getting their USB drives to work with GT4's photo mode.
The Fix: Some people have tried re-formatting their USB drives to FAT32 (from NTFS) and this has solved the problem.
The Bug: Perhaps this isn't a bug, but we've got no idea why the discrepancy exists. If you look at your vehicles listed in the garage, you'll see the horsepower listed next to the car names. However, if you select a vehicle from the garage and go into the screen where it displays only that one vehicle, the horsepower shown in the lower-left corner of the screen is often a different number.
Rome: Total War (PC)
I would just like you to know that v.3.2 of Rome: Total Realism is not compatible with Rome: Total War(v.1.2).
Submitted by filmjay
Project: Snowblind (Xbox, PS2)
 |  | |
The Bug: In the armory room where the kinetic kicker is, stack three crates (there are two crates in the hallway, outside of both doors leading to the armory) in front of the raised vent on the back wall, next to the lockers. The vent doesn't need to be opened at all, because it has no clipping/collision set for it (a glitch). Then, just jump into the vent and you're treated to a brief view of the no-clip dimension (outside the playing area), before the game counts it as a death and starts over from the last save.
Submitted by Cwyq
Top Gear: RPM Tuning (Xbox)
The Bug: Get rid of those big gray trucks. When you race and sometimes there will be one of those big gray trucks that look like a rider truck. Crashing into those sometimes can cost you the race. Well I noticed that if you use the rear view button (The Y button) and hold it down for maybe a sec. you'll notice when you look forward the truck will be gone. That's one glitch I'm glad is there.
Submitted by Ghost
SpongeBob SquarePants: The Battle for Bikini Bottom (PS2)
The Bug: Unlimited Slide Music. In Rock Bottom, at the part where you have to get the Golden Spatula by sliding, jump onto the Slide Track, then jump off when you see a platform under the part where the two walls close in, but don't get off there. If you time it right, you could hit the Sleepytime robot! If you land on the platform, the slide music will still be on. But be careful! If you fall, lose all your health or go to the place where the Slide Track ends, the music stops and you'll have to do it all over again.
Submitted by The Game Master
Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords (Xbox)
The Bug: This is a potentially game ruining glitch. When you are on the planet of Nar-Shadaa and you go into the underground tunnels of the Jek-Jek-Tar, your character comes to a locked door at which point you enter into a cut-scene and take control of either Mira or Hanharr as they fight each other. After you defeat whoever you're not playing as, you are tasked with opening the door for the Jedi (yourself). Make sure you save the game in multiple slots at this point. Here is the problem. When you open up the door for the Jedi nothing seems to be wrong, but do not save your game after you have opened the door until after the cut-scene with Visquis is over. If you save your game right when you unlock the doors to the vent room you might experience a glitch. I had my game saved at this point and I confronted Visquis in the chamber where Mira and Hanharr fight. A cut-scene ensued and instead of the proper cut-scene loading with Kreia talking to Hanharr and Mira and Atton talking, the scene abruptly ended and placed me back in the underground hideout with no exits, no characters to interact with and no way out. I always save in multiple slots, so I loaded up a game from when Mira/Hanharr opened the vent door and voila! the proper cut-scene played and I took over as my droid companion. If you only have one save game and the glitch occurs, you will never get out and your game will be ruined. I just thought that some people might want to know this because I almost lost 35 hours of gameplay.
The Fix: Always have multiple saves.
Submitted by Anthony
Midnight Club II (PS2)
The Bug: When starting at the gas station in L.A. Turn left and when you reach the 3rd road turn left again, and then turn right. Stop at the next bridge. You'll see 3 polls, stop at the first one. Look right, you should see a smaller wall beside the normal wall. Nudge your way into this area turning left or right and you should go through the wall.
Submitted by Douglas
If you've got tips on beating any game bugs then e-mail us about it. Even if you're just offering advice for bugs already covered, your help will definitely be appreciated and you'll be helping other gamers like yourself avoid these pitfalls. If you've been stumped by a particular bug, tell us about it! Shoot an e-mail our way and we'll see if we can help you, or at the least report it and have other people help you out.
