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Generation I Glitch Discussion

Walking from glitch cities to "normal" cities? - Page 1

Walking from glitch cities to "normal" cities?

Posted by: camper
Date: 2012-06-30 12:48:18
I tried the glitch city trick today with every route I could reach (route 1-15). Some interesting and strange things happened.

Route 9 glitch city:
I turned WTW code on (otherwise I couldn't move at all), then continuously walked east. About 30 seconds later (the map is huge), the palette turned blue for 1 split second, so I assumed I've entered Cerulean City and left. (notice Cerulean City is WEST of Route 9) East of this blue stripe was seemingly endless mountain tiles so I decided to go back to this "Cerulean City" and started walking south. After a long walk, the menu suddenly popped up, as I started the Mew Glitch earlier in Route 24. So I assumed I had just crossed the boundary of Route 24 and Cerulean City. One step south, and I (seemed to be) in the real Cerulean City! The signs and NPCs worked; I even entered the destroyed house and came out from the other entrance. Then I went inside the gym and immediately tried to went out. It DIDN'T work so I was stuck in the void (the WTW code was still on)  :-\

Route 15 glitch city:
Turned WTW code on as usual; walked 3 steps west and the palette turned pink. 2 steps more and I was in Fuchsia City (east part of the zoo)! Everything worked; I went in the Pokemon Center, reached the counter and immediately walked south out of the building. Then I completely lost control of the character; he went south into the ocean and was stopped by a swimmer, and even tried to walk one step south after the trainer called him.  :???: The battle didn't start and the game locked up.

Can someone explain this strange behaviour?

Re: Walking from glitch cities to "normal" cities?

Posted by: GARYM9
Date: 2012-06-30 13:13:31
Every Glitch City teleports you to an X,Y co-ordinate on the world map, albeit with broken loading, usually being near the route/city you were in.  However, sometimes the X,Y co-ords aren't valid by normal means (Cinnabar - Seafoam - Fuchsia Route (23?) glitch city teleports you south of the route hence when you walk north and see the barrels/boulders of Route 23, the game crashes as there  is no data there.)

Map linking is left intact most of the time. (Route 1's glitch city linking back to Pallet Town/Viridian City whereas Cycling Road to my knowledge doesn't.)

The strange "can't control character" and "character walks south forever" behaviors you describe are part of WTW's effect on game controlled movements of the character.  If you walk out of a house with WTW still on, you will not be able to move out of the door.  If you talk to the old man and are told to go away (no pokedex) you will be pushed south forever.  Same happens for the 1st Gym Leader blocking NPC, etc.  You need to turn the code off before doing these events.

Re: Walking from glitch cities to "normal" cities?

Posted by: camper
Date: 2012-06-30 13:22:39
Route 1 glitch city CAN link to Pallet/Viridian but they're just phantom cities with no NPC, broken door wraps and unreadable signs. But I entered the REAL Cerulean/Fuchsia which I didn't think it possible.

I was able to move out from the burgled house with WTW code on, but not the gym? I knew from a video that you'll go south forever when you're told to follow the boy outside Pewter City with WTW on, but why did the Pokemon center door also behave like that?

Re: Walking from glitch cities to "normal" cities?

Posted by: GARYM9
Date: 2012-06-30 13:36:19
Yes, glitch cities act differently when it comes to linking.  Fuchsia can be reaccessed with NPCs from the eastern route as it links properly.

Depending on the door and how it's made in game, they seem to act different.  Say for example steps and side exits vs. the exit of your house in pallet town.  While you won't get stuck in the first, you'll get stuck in the latter.

Re: Walking from glitch cities to "normal" cities?

Posted by: camper
Date: 2012-06-30 13:42:42
How about the Route 9 one? According to the distance I walked, the original position (where I entered the glitch city) had to be completely outside the world map.

Re: Walking from glitch cities to "normal" cities?

Posted by: Torchickens
Date: 2012-07-01 14:15:01

I tried the glitch city trick today with every route I could reach (route 1-15). Some interesting and strange things happened.

Route 9 glitch city:
I turned WTW code on (otherwise I couldn't move at all), then continuously walked east. About 30 seconds later (the map is huge), the palette turned blue for 1 split second, so I assumed I've entered Cerulean City and left. (notice Cerulean City is WEST of Route 9) East of this blue stripe was seemingly endless mountain tiles so I decided to go back to this "Cerulean City" and started walking south. After a long walk, the menu suddenly popped up, as I started the Mew Glitch earlier in Route 24. So I assumed I had just crossed the boundary of Route 24 and Cerulean City. One step south, and I (seemed to be) in the real Cerulean City!




Every Glitch City teleports you to an X,Y co-ordinate on the world map, albeit with broken loading, usually being near the route/city you were in.  However, sometimes the X,Y co-ords aren't valid by normal means (Cinnabar - Seafoam - Fuchsia Route (23?) glitch city teleports you south of the route hence when you walk north and see the barrels/boulders of Route 23, the game crashes as there  is no data there.)

Map linking is left intact most of the time. (Route 1's glitch city linking back to Pallet Town/Viridian City whereas Cycling Road to my knowledge doesn't.)


I found this difficult to explain without doing some research. To summarize what happened, ending up in Cerulean City's west connection when you walked east relates to you avoiding a map connection and the coordinates overflowing, so the game loads the other connection.

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to cover exactly how you get 'phantom cities'. I suspect it's probably because the game loaded the map but hasn't loaded the NPC data properly. According to the game, you're technically still in the real city. The post I've made below is relatively long. If you'd like me to clarify anything, please let me know!

I also found that glitch cities often place you on invalid coordinates. As part of a project, I'll try my hardest to note if there is a clear pattern between these coordinates. Walking out of the Safari Zone gate loads 'warp 4' of the last map.



I don't think there really is a 'world map'. Towns and routes use a system that simulates a 'map' where maps link to other maps. This is why in Generation I the game will most likely freeze (Red/Green seem to be exceptions) when you step in to the boundaries of a in-doors building, because there are no map connections and the game will try to place you on 'map 255'.

It's probably best to understand glitch cities not as 'glitch maps' at all. When you step out of the exit of the Safari Zone gate the game loads 'warp 4' of the last map location in memory.


Normally the last map location in memory is Fuschia City (0x07), where 'warp 4' is valid, because it has the player stepping out of the Safari Zone. That is why stepping outside may load a valid warp, such as walking out of the Bicycle Shop if the last location was Cerulean City.

Route 9 (0x14, dec:20) does not have a valid 'warp number 4'. When I tested it on Yellow, stepping out in to Route 9's Glitch City placed me on map coordinates Y:43 (0x2B), X: 87 (0x57), as seen when tracking the values D360 and D361 in memory viewer.

[img]http://i1271.photobucket.com/albums/jj640/Torchickens/Route9glitchcity.png[/img]


The 'edge' of Route 9 can be found at coordinates Y = 0x11 (dec:17), X = 0x3B (dec:59).

[img]http://i1271.photobucket.com/albums/jj640/Torchickens/GlitchCityTestingBGBState9.png[/img]


In the picture above, we can see Route 9 has a boundary at (X): 0x3B (dec:59). Stepping one step right loads the player on to Route 10. The game then loads the current coordinates for Route 10 as Y = 11 and X = 0.


We can also see Route 9 has another boundary at (Y): 0x11 (dec:17). Going one step down loads the player in to 'map 255', coordinates Y = 0x00, X = 0x3B (dec:59) and the game freezes. That happens because Route 9 doesn't have a valid south connection, unlike Route 10 that links to Lavender Town (0x04).

Normally, when you are outside of bounds the map will change or the game will freeze.

However, glitch cities are one way of preventing the route from changing and escaping the map boundaries.

The map 255 connection has a 'height' of 2 steps. This means you can walk into it from the right below the red arrow I've drawn (second picture), and the game won't freeze after you walk down. In the case of the glitch city (first picture), the Y coordinate 0x2B (dec: 43) is already greater than (0x11 + 1), and you're free to walk down.

The route 10 connection seems to have a 'width' of 1 step. In the glitch city (first picture), the X coordinate 0x57 (dec: 87) is greater than (0x3B + 0) and you're free to walk left or right.


Now, if you continue walking right the x-coordinate eventually overflows. When you reach an x-value of 0xFE (dec:254), take one step right and the game loads Route 8's west connection, which is Cerulean City. The coordinates have now changed to y = 0x33 and x = 27.


[img]http://i1271.photobucket.com/albums/jj640/Torchickens/CeruleanCity.png[/img]


It looks like you might have walked south and reached Route 24. What happens is a similar situation.

As you walk down from Cerulean City, 'y' increases. If you make it reach 255, the game loads Cerulean City's north connection, and you'll reach Route 24 (map 0x23 , dec: 35). The coordinates have changed, again (y = 0x23, dec: 35) (x = 1D, dec: 29) in my case.


[img]http://i1271.photobucket.com/albums/jj640/Torchickens/CeruleanCity12.png[/img]


Something different happens when you take one step down though. The y coordinate is now '00', and we're in Cerulean City again.


[img]http://i1271.photobucket.com/albums/jj640/Torchickens/CeruleanCity2.png[/img]

This is because we crossed Route 24's boundary at y = 0x23 (35).


[img]http://i1271.photobucket.com/albums/jj640/Torchickens/Route24Real.png[/img]



Here I was able to replicate what happened to you. The glitchy tiles disappeared and Cerulean City loaded properly.


[img]http://i1271.photobucket.com/albums/jj640/Torchickens/EnteringRealCeruleanCity.png[/img]



To make a test on picture 3, I walked up until the y-coordinate matched Cerulean City's south connection at '0x25'. It took me into Route 5, and then one step later I ended up in the 'real' Cerulean City.

[img]http://i1271.photobucket.com/albums/jj640/Torchickens/EnteringRealCeruleanCity2.png[/img]

Re: Walking from glitch cities to "normal" cities?

Posted by: camper
Date: 2012-07-02 05:34:51
Thank you for the really detailed explanation. I think I understand most of it.

According to what you said, I can escape from most glitch cities (if not all) simply by walking in the correct direction! I'll try this later.

Re: Walking from glitch cities to "normal" cities?

Posted by: xeno
Date: 2012-07-18 02:17:54
As far as I can tell, you can walk out of many glitch cities via wtw, as well as walk into them, for me, I turned on wtw via the pokedos cartouche, and was able to leave the original glitch city via going south a ways, after going to the top before the freeze tiles, and it led me to Pallet town, if I remember correctly.

Also, there is some consistency with route 11, the Route under lavander, and Vermillion…
Go to vermillion, walk through the wall behind the Machop, and then continue over water, keep going in a straight line and you will enter the normal route below lavander…

Re: Walking from glitch cities to "normal" cities?

Posted by: camper
Date: 2012-07-18 04:17:20
I'm now trying to go along every direction from every glitch city and see where it leads me to. Pallet Town and Route 1 are both connected to phantom towns/cities and I can never walk out from the phantom Pallet-Viridian-Pewter map.

Late edit: And that includes phantom cinnabar island too. Those are the only places I can visit. Never managed to go east from there.

Re: Walking from glitch cities to "normal" cities?

Posted by: xeno
Date: 2012-07-18 12:49:34
its kinda creative with that….for pallet, you have to go to viridian, then walk like….5 steps to the left from the sign saying "viridian city" (village) and then go down.

Its mainly you find where the line of freeze tiles(or lack thereof)  is, then you go around it.
If I'm able to, I'll make a video of it and show what I mean.

Re: Walking from glitch cities to "normal" cities?

Posted by: camper
Date: 2012-07-28 12:15:09
What I meant is, that I can't go from phantom Pallet Town to the eastern cities (Cerulean City, for example) simply by walking (through walls).

Off-topic: By messing around with the memory viewer, I found that a large part of RAM is replaced by 0039 when the game crashes. I wonder why…

Edit again: I've found the way to escape from phantom cities! Apparently I only have to step on a tile with valid coordinates at the first step of map change.
e.g. I can walk one step north from Route 1 [X=15 Y=00] (the last tile before crashing) to the real Viridian City.
And so, walking down from phantom Viridian City always gets you to phantom Route 1.