Common Softlocks And Crashes

Below are common softlocks and crashes that you could encounter whilst playing the Ocarina of Time Randomizer. 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 join the Ocarina of Time Randomizer Discord and reach out to Support members in the #gameplay-and-tricks channel for help.

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

The DMT Biggoron location can sometimes become unobtainable. Unfortunately, the specifics as to how to trigger this are not yet clear.

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. A fix has been implemented in v7.1.157.

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.

The game will very rarely give you a Gerudo Mask instead of the original item when collecting an item, possibly leading to unbeatable seeds if you save after obtaining it. While very little is understood about this bug, the common factor appears to be that the original item was a Triforce Piece and that the seed is a Multiworld seed.

Confirming the borrowing of a mask from the Happy Mask Shop and then exiting the shop before receiving the mask will result in the mask trading quest becoming incompletable. The game will set the flag for having borrowed the mask, but it will not be in your inventory. As a result, the owner of the shop will not do business with you until you've sold the mask which you do not possess. In order to be able to leave the shop before receiving the mask, you need to be very quick and confirm the mask while the title card ("Happy Mask Shop") is still up on the screen. This collection delay bug can also occur in other shops, but since other shops don't set flags like the Happy Mask Shop does, the bug is inconsequential elsewhere. A fix has been implemented in v7.1.49.

Obtaining Zelda's Letter or a mask after having obtained the Weird Egg/Chicken but before having used it to wake up Talon can lead to a softlock, as it will overwrite the Weird Egg/Chicken and prevent you from sending Malon and Talon to Lon Lon Ranch. This is only possible if you've used glitches to skip waking Talon, or if you were playing on an older, experimental version of the Shuffled Child Trade Sequence Items setting. A fix has been implemented in v7.1.85.

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. This is extremely unlikely to ever get fixed, as it's a problem with the Wii VC emulator, and not with OoTR.

Using Din's Fire in the topmost room of Spirit Temple (i.e. the one with the floating skulls) will crash the game. A fix has been implemented in v7.1.44.

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

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

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.

Talking to Link the Goron and then moving out of his talk range will softlock the game. This can happen if you move while pressing A to speak and retaining enough momentum to leave the talk range (e.g. target and then mash A to roll and speak at the same time), leading to Link the Goron sitting down again and the player being stuck in a text box. You may also be forced to reload Goron City if you talk to him too fast. In general, it's best to not to rush speaking with Link the Goron to avoid these issues.

Winning the LW Target in Woods minigame a second time before receiving the reward will softlock the game. To do this, you need to press the Slingshot button as soon as you regain control and then win again without leaving first-person aim.

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. A fix has been implemented in v7.1.92.

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.96* Performing the glitch known as "Weirdshotting" can crash when using a randomized Kokiri Tunic color. 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. It needs to be one of the "weird" Weirdshot frames for the crash to occur, and the color of the Kokiri Tunic needs to be of a specific value (even when not equipped). We don't really know what these color values are, so until this is addressed it is highly recommended to not randomize the Kokiri Tunic color if you're planning on doing Weirdshots. A fix has been implemented in v7.1.44.

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.

Supersliding into the Rainbow Bridge cutscene will result in a softlock.

Placing the Buy Blue Potion in a shop (only possible through Plandomizer) will result in a softlock when you hover over it with the cursor. Don't put this "item" in your Plando. A fix has been implemented in v7.1.49.

There is an extremely rare (for reference we've only received two reports so far and they were 5 months apart) crash in Deku Tree that occurs when entering B1. The cause is currently unknown, but it will crash every time you try to enter B1 through the web. You will be forced to repatch the seed in order to continue.

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.

In Spirit Temple and MQ Spirit Temple, chests that spawn after playing Zelda's Lullaby in the "main room" (the one with the large statue whose face you destroy to reach the boss door) can sometimes disappear when leaving the room without opening them. Looking at the ceiling where they should have dropped from with C-Up will usually respawn them, though you will not see the cutscene as confirmation. If this does not work, saving and resetting will respawn the chests.

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. A fix has been implemented in v7.1.91.

Attempting to talk to Link the Goron on the first possible frame will prevent you from getting his item until you reload Goron City or take out an Ocarina.

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.

It is possible that the Scarecrow will refuse to confirm your Scarecrow's Song as adult. It is believed that this happens when you somehow play a song as child with 9 notes instead of 8, potentially due to performing the inputs too quickly.

It is also possible that the Scarecrow's Song you set stops working partway through a seed. It is different from the aforementioned bug in that you can confirm the song as adult (and even use it), but eventually it stops working and talking to the Scarecrow to have him repeat the song you played will give you an "empty song" playback instead, suggesting that your Scarecrow's Song has been deleted. It is not known what causes this.

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.

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.

Fixed Issues Since Latest Stable Version

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. A fix has been implemented in v6.2.189.

On Wii VC the game sometimes crashes when bonking using the Bonks Do Damage setting (currently available on the dev branch only). It is strongly believed to happen whenever bonking wth non-ohko values would lead to negative health. On N64 emulators it should only lead to graphical bugs. A fix has been implemented in v6.2.167.

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. A fix has been implemented in v6.2.8.

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 fix has been implemented in v6.0.49.

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.