Common Softlocks And Crashes

Below are common softlocks and crashes that you could encounter whilst playing OoTR. The purpose of this page is to help readers avoid sticky situations, but should they still somehow get stuck due to permanently losing access to an important item then all hope is not lost: you can simply hack in the lost items (NOTE: obviously this will get you disqualified in a race. Racers are responsible for being familiar with this list, and avoiding softlocking or crashing by any means in it.) It may sound daunting at first, but it's actually remarkably easy. Feel free to reach out to Support members on Discord for help.

Permanently Losing Access to a Check's Item / Not Properly Receiving a Check's Item

• With Free Zelda turned on the item on Song from Impa will remain within the player's own world in a Multiworld, possibly leading to unbeatable seeds. A fix has been implemented in v6.0.5.

• There have been reports of Sun's Song not working as intended in some seeds with Randomize Ocarina Song Notes turned on. For example, the chest in the ReDead grave would not spawn and the puzzle in the so-called "symphony room" in MQ Spirit Temple would not advance. While the specifics are still unclear, it is believed to be related to certain 8-note Sun's Songs. The earliest report of this issue was on version 3.0. Even though this issue appears to be exceedingly rare, it is recommended to not play with this setting until a fix has been implemented. If you encounter this issue, please report this in our Discord with your spoiler log attached.

• Saving and resetting after entering the Temple of Time as adult, but before obtaining the item from ToT Light Arrows Cutscene will stop giving the item on that check, possibly leading to unbeatable seeds.

• Getting crushed (i.e. voiding out) by some falling chests whilst opening them on the same frame will set the flag for having opened the chest without giving the item within, possibly leading to unbeatable seeds.

Softlocks and Crashes

• Wii VC can sometimes crash. While these random crashes are extremely rare, they are also completely unpredictable. All you can do is save often.

• With Entrance Randomizer, certain transitions are known to cause crashes on Everdrive. Specifically, it seems to be transitions from certain areas (e.g. adult Market or Windmill) to a desert entrance that has the "sandstorm" effect. It is recommended to not play Overworld Entrance Randomizer on an Everdrive. A temporary workaround has been implemented in v6.0.49, and should work on all supported platforms.

• Using Din's Fire in the topmost room of Spirit Temple (i.e. the one with the floating skulls) will crash the game.

• Damaging Volvagia's second hitbox (e.g. with a bomb) after defeating Volvagia results in a softlock. This typically occurs when failing the quick kill strat.

• Starting a cutscene whilst the cutscene of lighting a sun is playing can result in a softlock.

• Starting a cutscene whilst climbing a ladder can result in a softlock. Examples include lighting the eyes in DC or failing the diving minigame in Zora's Domain.

• Collecting a gold skulltula token whilst the skulltula is unloaded can result in a softlock.

• Loading too many actors in Hyrule Field can lead to a softlock if you pull out the Hookshot. You'll know this glitch is occurring if you can't shoot arrows or if Bombs/Bombchus don't appear when pulled. It typically occurs around the grotto in the southeast corner of Hyrule Field.

• Executing the "Collection Delay Glitch" can softlock the game. This is typically done accidentally by giving an item (e.g. Claim Check) to an NPC in return for a different item whilst mashing through the text boxes. Make sure Link is not holding something in his hand before showing the item, or save beforehand.

• Interacting with the upper scarecrow in lake Hylia as child can softlock the game. While the specifics are still unknown, we believe it might be triggered by mashing through the text with the B button. Since this scarecrow has no effect on gameplay it is recommended to just steer clear from it.

• Diving and resurfacing in very shallow water (e.g. Kokiri Forest or Zora's River) can crash the game.

• Learning songs whilst Nayru's Love is active can crash the game.

• There is a Bongo Bongo "quick kill" strat that can cause issues when performed improperly. It involves dropping a bomb down the hole before jumping down and activating the fight. If the player activates the fight before the bomb hits Bongo Bongo, the game softlocks with no opportunity to Save + Quit, so be careful. If the player succeeds in stunning Bongo Bongo with the bomb but fails to "one-cycle", the boss will remain invisible for the rest of the fight (even with the Lens of Truth). Simply drop a bomb at the center of the stage to stun Bongo Bongo again. Please keep in mind that this quick kill strat is banned under the Standard ruleset.

• Performing the glitch known as "Weirdshotting" can crash on Glitchless Logic only depending on the color of your Kokiri Tunic. On Glitch Logic and No Logic these colors are excluded from the pool of random colors. This is not a glitch you can do accidentally, so if you don't know what weirdshotting is then you have nothing to worry about. (Note: the randomizer only prevents the offending colors during the initial generation with Glitch or No Logic; if you generate from an existing patch file or from a web link and choose to reroll the Kokiri Tunic colors, you are not prevented from rolling uncompatible shades.)

• By repeatedly walking in and out of Spirit Trial the obelisk blocking Light trial can be unloaded. However, the chests inside Light Trial could also unload. When this happens, pulling out the Hookshot can softlock the game. By exiting light trial and sidehopping to the right twice, you will void out and respawn at the door. This will cause the chests to load properly and will stop using Hookshot from crashing you.

• Using a Hookshot/Longshot as child (only possible through glitches) will softlock and/or crash.

Minor Inconveniences

• Leaving the room in Jabu where the Map Chest spawns after defeating the tentacle but before the chest spawns will require you to re-enter the room twice in order to properly spawn the chest.

• Stunning Gohma with a Deku Nut whilst she is climbing a pillar causes her to never stop climbing, forcing the player to Save + Quit and retry the boss fight.

• Attempting to talk to Link the Goron on the first possible frame will prevent you from getting his item until you reload Goron City.

• Similarly, attempting to get the reward from the cucco lady (aka Anju) as child on the frame before all the cuccos are in the pen (needs confirmation), such as when they are hopping from being on the fence to into the pen, will prevent you from getting her item until you reload Kakariko Village.

• Showing Ruto's Letter to King Zora can result in him not accepting the letter until you reload Zora's Domain. We are unsure about the cause, but we suspect it may have to do with backwalking onto the platform and showing the letter too quickly after King Zora is loaded onto the screen.

• Going through loading zones on Epona in Entrance Randomizer can cause Link to be stuck on Epona, forcing the player to Save + Quit. It is believed that what happens is that the game remembers that you went through the loading zone on Epona and the next time you enter an area where Epona can normally appear you will be placed on Epona, but if you enter from a water entrance then the game does not know how to handle that. This can be avoided by getting off Epona before transitioning to a new area.

• When fanfares are shuffled it is possible that the background music in certain areas doesn't play properly. It is believed that repeatedly playing a shuffled fanfare can interrupt the background music, which would explain why this occurs more frequently in areas with a high density of checks.

• When fanfares are shuffled it can take longer than usual for the Gerudo Horseback Archery minigame to finish if the shuffled fanfare is longer than the original one.

• In the basement of MQ Deku there's a room beyond the water room (with the singular Song of Time block) where you have to defeat all the enemies to advance further. If you do the basement in reverse, then the locked door that leads from this room into the water room will not unlock after defeating all the enemies until you exit and re-enter the room through the door that does open.