Glitches in GTA IV

A Glitch, or in some cases a Bug, is an error in the game that produces an effect that was unintended by programmers and appears in almost every game.

Description
The Glitches often arise from mistakes or errors in the game's coding which go unnoticed during development and testing of the game. Glitches can be unintentional and may cause problems to the player, but some glitches may be used to the player's advantage.

Some glitches are prominent than others and each one are specified and/or shared on a certain console (where these depends of the console's technical aspects). One of the most popular and common glitches is nicknamed "Blue Hell", which is featured in every game since Grand Theft Auto III. Once the player enters Blue Hell, they will fall for 5–10 seconds before returning to the surface.

Car Explosion
Randomly when Niko gets ran over by a car and dies, suddenly the car that hit and killed him explode, it is unknown what's causing this glitch. This was tested on the PC version.

Time Freeze
Dying and being admitted to hospital causes the in-game time to advance by 12 hours; however, the day does not advance. For example, if Niko goes to hospital at 5:00 on Saturday, he will be released at 17:00 on Saturday - but if Niko goes to hospital at 17:00 on Saturday, he will be released at 5:00 on Saturday when it should actually be 5:00 Sunday. This was tested on the PC version.

Vehicle Paintjob Loop Glitch
Multiple vehicles in Grand Theft Auto IV ail from a cosmetic glitch that can be triggered by excessive Pay 'n' Spray use. This glitch involves the paintjobs of these vehicles becoming stuck or looped on certain colours, and is often caused by a failure for the game engine to differentiate between pearlescent colours, leading it to incorrectly read multiple paintjobs with the same primary colour as the same paintjob. In almost all cases, the problematic paintjob is a dark metallic colour with a pearlescent luster; the number of resprays needed to get this "cursed" colour depends on the car's present paintjob and can be as soon as the next respray. From this glitch's circumstances, it appears that it arose from complications in the paint system when converting it from GTA San Andreas, which did not feature metallic paints and pearlescent lusters; thus why the engine only reads the primary colour and ignores lusters.

There are two particular variants to this glitch:
 * For vehicles such as the Dukes, Infernus, PMP 600, DF8-90, Cavalcade, and the Buffalo, they will eventually be permanently resprayed to one certain colour. This is because these vehicles have multiple paintjobs clustered together with the same primary colour, the game's inability to recognize pearlescent colours initiates a "20 GOTO 10"-esque loop, resulting in the same paintjob being resprayed indefinitely.
 * The more evident and rare examples of this glitch are the Patriot, Solair, and the Marbelle, which enter paint loops of two-three colours upon being sprayed a particular colour. In these cases, these "loops" are caused by two "twin" paintjobs with identical primary colours separated by one or two other paintjobs. When attempting to respray the car with the second "twin" paintjob, this will cause the engine to mistake it for the first "twin" paintjob, activating a loop.

Lone Racer
In the mission No. 1, go to the race start, but not on the yellow arrow that starts the race. Instead, do not pause but leave the game on for at least one in-game day. All other competition will be gone. Brucie is still with Niko, so go to the yellow arrow and start the race. The player will be in first place the entire time, so the player can simply complete the race (this may work in the Xbox 360 version only).

Corpse Vanish
After a mission ends in which an enemy was shot or blown into water (such as the missions Tunnel of Death or Uncle Vlad), the body of that particular enemy will not be shown in the water, even if the cutscene ended with the player only a few feet away from the sea.

Gap Glitch
If the player falls into a gap (i.e. between two cars or between a car and a dumpster), Niko will suffer minimal damage even when falling from a height that will normally kill him.

GetaLife Building Glitch
On the top of the GetaLife building, if Niko walks and falls onto the E, he will take damage and move forward, causing him to fall. However, when he falls, he will fall slower than the speed he normally falls and stay in a "lying down" position, and when he reaches the ground, he will take no damage.

Total Vehicle Immunity
At the beginning of a date with any of the girlfriends while in any vehicle, fire a weapon to end the date. The vehicle the player is currently in will become fire- (excluding the tires), bullet-, explosion-, and damage-proof.

Instant Brake
Bringing up the camera option on the Mobile Phone while driving in a car or on a bike will instantly stop the car or bike no matter what the speed the vehicle was going. However, this has been fixed in the PC Version.

Subway to Blue Hell
In the subway tunnels, it is possible to be forced through the wall and into Blue Hell. If the player is riding a motorbike and is trapped between the wall and a moving train, he can be forced through and off the bike. The player could also use a large vehicle (such as the Bus) and get shoved by two subways going in opposite directions to get forced into Blue Hell. All that occurs is falling for a brief few seconds before respawning on the ground above.

Happiness Island Car Spawn Glitch
A single car will spawn on the southern end of Happiness Island. Occasionally, the car may spawn with a driver. However, the car will not move, and the pedestrian driving it will simply be bopping their head to whatever station the car's radio is playing (Tested on PC, v.1.0.7.0).

Bomb Da Base Glitch
In the online multiplayer mode "Bomb Da Base II", players have reported a bug/glitch that occurs at a certain point in the mission. The screen will go black and then start loading, and the player will be loaded back to single player. This only occurs on the PS3 version, and was later fixed in a patch released by Rockstar.

Spinning Truck
If the player drives a truck up one of the ramps at Francis International Airport in Free Mode, it is possible to make the truck fall on its side and if the Player has also activated the Sixaxis option " Vehicle Aftertouch" the Truck starts spinning in circles. If one get a Mule and fall on the roof, it will roll itself over the driver's cabin back on its wheels. This is not only visible to the player, but also other players. This occurs on large vehicles with the capability of staying on their side, and can also occur in normal gameplay (though the player will earn a four-star wanted level for trespassing)

Gate Glitch
If the player gets out of a vehicle parked on the entrance gates leading to Francis International Airport's cargo yard (with stop signs on them), the gates will go back down and cause the vehicle to disappear. This also occurs on other gates in the game.

Arrest Glitch
Sometimes, when Niko has a wanted level and is stopped by the police, while performing a hands up gesture, the key to perform resisting arrest does not work, making Niko fail to resist arrest.

Extra Mission Glitch
When doing the extra missions for Roman, if the player pulls up next to some street furniture (newspaper boxes, dumpsters, etc.), the fare will walk into the objects and Niko will be stuck. This has been tested on Xbox 360, and the player will have to restart from the last save.

Vehicle Glitch
Sometimes, when driving by the gas station in Westdyke, there are two vehicles parked in the parking lot, one of which could be parked with its engine running, doors locked, and the hazard lights on, which cannot be turned off by the player.

Postbox Spawn Glitch
Rarely, if the player drives into a postbox, the postbox can spawn half-underground.

Wanted Level Glitch
The player can reduce a five or six-star wanted level by entering Francis International Airport. If the player does so, their wanted level will be reduced to four stars. A similar Glitch occurs when stealing a car from Auto Eroticar in Alderney- Any wanted level of four and above will be reduced to three.

Food Vending Glitch
Sometimes, the player may become stuck in a loop when trying to buy food at Burger Shot, Cluckin' Bell, or any other restaurant or food vendor - he then just stands in front of the vendor doing nothing. There are two ways to get out of this loop: one is to reload the game, and the other is to just go into the pause menu for at least ten seconds, and then he should momentarily continue. This is the same with any of the hot dog stands, with the only difference being that the player walks in a circle all the time. If the player is lucky and waits long enough, the animation might stop and the player gets the food at last. The player can avoid this by walking to the exact front of the vendor and by making sure that Niko is standing still. Do not try to buy food from vendors when Niko is somewhat far away from the counter/stand. Otherwise, cars and objects might block Niko, triggering this glitch.

Explosion Glitch
Causing many explosions at once (especially when it's raining) will cause the game to crash. Tested on PC version.

Vehicle Cheat Spawn Glitch
If the player spawns a car using cheats while looking over the edge of an overpass, the car may float in the air. If Niko shoots it, it will not become damaged, but it will fall down. Alternatively, if the player spawns one while standing just before the entrance of the Booth Tunnel, the car may become stuck in the top of the tunnel. Again, the player may shoot it to get it down.

Rock Car Glitch
Occasionally, a "rock car" spawns in the game (sometimes in multiplayer). This vehicle looks like any normal NPC while in motion until hit; however, the vehicle does not move from its line of travel, creating tremendous forces against both vehicles and leaving little cushion since the reaction is close to driving the vehicle directly into a wall. The impact usually kills the NPC and creates high to extreme damage to the player's car. (Damage to engine, suspension, etc.) Damage may be lessened on the NPC's car, but not as much. Other possibilities besides vehicle damage is ejection of the player through windscreen and the NPC's vehicle combusting internally.

Ped Cloning
There is a glitch that causes peds to clone themselves many times, such as an event that a ped is lying on an electric pole making a call.

TW@ Glitch
On the Xbox 360 version, if the player kicks somebody using the X button while they are using a computer in TW@, their health will be completely drained or almost drained. This usually does not work if the NPC is sitting at a chair with no computer.

Door Glitch
Shop doors can be glitched by driving a car into them. It will cause them to vibrate and distort.

Big Vehicle Glitch
Rarely, when a big-wheeled vehicle is sideways, it can be driven around. If turned sharply, it will return upright.

FIA Building Glitch
At Francis International Airport, it is possible to enter the airport building (the building before the runway) by jumping into pillars next to one of the entrances to the Airport. The building will have no interior, as it isn't supposed to be reached.

Faster Cars
There is a glitch to alter a car's top speed and acceleration. Pop the drive or all tyres of the car. This will decrease the car's off the line acceleration, but after the vehicle picks up speed and shifts into higher gears, it will regain its acceleration to such an extent that it will easily reach its top speed. This can make some cars faster than a Police Stinger with its tyres intact. It is also worth noting that a similar effect can be produced simply by driving off road, with all tyres intact.

No Wanted Level
In the mission "Do You Have Protection", there is a glitch where Niko cannot gain a wanted level after he leaves the sex shop with Dimitri. The entire map is accessible to explore, as long as the player can get around roadblocks on the bridges. Killing law enforcement will also not yield a wanted level and Niko can collect weapons that wouldn't normally be accessible this early in the game (Tested on PS3).

Catapult Glitch
If Niko is on top of a moving vehicle, and the vehicle drives down a slope, Niko will suddenly flinch and fall over. However, on very rare occasions, Niko can be catapulted a few feet into the air.

Car Spawn in Bohan Glitch
Occasionally, when the player is driving a car in Bohan, all or most of the other cars that spawn in both parked and moving positions will be the same model as the car being driven.

Prostitute Glitch
Sometimes, when the player invites a prostitute into their car, if they drive and then jump out with the prostitute still inside, they will actually drive off with the player's car. If the player catches up to them, they will find that there is a man in the driver seat, and the prostitute cannot be seen, strangely.

"Lying" Pedestrian
There is a rare chance that a pedestrian will spawn lying on the ground, and will converse with other peds (for example, talking about the day, hitting on/responding to being hit on). The glitch will be fixed if the player comes into contact in any way with the pedestrian.

Taxi Ride Glitch
Sometimes, when the player skips a taxi ride, the mini-map will disappear. Pausing then resuming the game will fix this (Tested on the PC version).

Yankee Glitch
If the player goes to an industrial yard north on Tinderbox Avenue (in Tudor, Alderney), one may found a Yankee next to a parking lot with barriers (one at the front of the yard). If the player touches it, the truck may eventually moves as it was stuck somewhere and "jumps" over the place. The same will be stuck due to the rollover or damaging the player if falls over the same (tested on Xbox 360).

Assault SMG as a Drive-By Weapon (TBoGT Only)
In The Ballad of Gay Tony, while in a car, boat, or on a motorcycle, and equipped with either an SMG or Micro-SMG, switch the drive-by weapon to the SMG. Activate the "Advanced Weapons" cheat, and the SMG will be replaced with an Assault SMG, which can't normally be used in drive-by mode. When firing the Assault SMG, Luis's body will become extremely deformed due to there not being a proper animation for firing this weapon from a vehicle. On the PC version, this is also possible without using cheats by scrolling down with the mouse wheel. If the player tries to scroll up, only the pistol and explosive slots will be available.

Invisible Helicopter Glitch (TBoGT Only)
In The Ballad of Gay Tony, it is possible to obtain an invisible helicopter by performing the swing glitch on a helicopter; the helicopter itself will be invisible, and only Luis can be seen. Note that it is much easier to do this with the Buzzard (confirmed on the PS3 version).

Rotterdam Tower Glitch (TBoGT Only)
If the player flies a helicopter into the Rotterdam Tower above the second ledge on any side, the helicopter and the pilot will enter the Blue Hell for a few seconds, then spawn either above the Rotterdam Tower or above the Firefly Projects.

Package Glitch (TBoGT Only)
Sometimes, after finishing the second mission for Sara, the package Luis picked up will be in his hand, along with his weapon. The player can change weapons normally but cannot shoot, and aiming is glitched. This can be fixed if the player dies or gets arrested.

Interior Trick
The player can glitch their way into hidden interiors by activating a bike glitch such that the bike ends up halfway into the interior or inside the interior. Upon pressing the vehicle enter button, the player will be forced into the interior. This method can cause Luis to spawn in places not accessible under normal circumstances (note, however, that certain places, such as Mikhail Faustin's house, may not have an actual interior and Luis and the bike will glitch and may fall into Blue Hell. Luis must then swim to the nearest coast).

Office Glitch
It is possible to glitch into Goldberg's office area by going outside and to the side of the building to where the player can still see inside. Using cheats, spawn a Turismo and continue until the Turismo is positioned between the inside of the hallway leading to his office and the waiting area. Also, keep trying to get into the car when the player can see the car still, and they can glitch inside.

TV Glitch (TBoGT Only)
On the PC version of The Ballad of Gay Tony, there is a glitch where, upon starting a new game, Luis' Apartment's television will be broken, as if it has been shot. This can be fixed by watching TV, as after that, the TV will remain normal.

Car Lights Glitch (TBoGT Only)
Also on the PC version of The Ballad of Gay Tony, a model error causes the tail lights of the cars that are found on TBoGT vehicles.img to not light up correctly. The most notable car with this glitch is the second generation Schafter, which is the first car available to the player in TBoGT.

This glitch can be noticed when the player is using a car newly introduced to TBoGT, or certain cars such as the Stallion and Futo. Stop anywhere and go in reverse. The player can notice that the reverse lights will not light up.

A fix is available to remedy the problem. It can be found here. Note that this fix requires a program such as OpenIV to gain access to the vehicles.img file of TBoGT.

Second TW@ Glitch
This glitch is quite common and it requires the Sanchez cheat. To attempt it, go to the TW@ Internet Cafe in northern Algonquin and, if in a vehicle, get out of the vehicle near the door. Then, use the Sanchez cheat and it should be inside (However, it might take a few times for it to appear). Get on the motorcycle inside the Tw@ internet cafe and now the pedestrians and even the player will be invisible. (Tested on Xbox 360 and PS3). A video of it can be found here (Ctrl/Cmd=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h6XqqxA7B5c)

Grenade Glitch
It is possible to throw a grenade and/or send a person underground (possibly into Blue Hell) in Alderney (Tested on PS3 - TLAD). A video of it can be found here (Ctrl/Cmd=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_8G8rQhCOs)

Surrender Glitch
If the player activates the lower wanted level cheat as soon as a cop attempts to arrest the player he will enter the hands up gesture. Like usual, if the player resists arrest while no stars are displayed, they will immediately receive a 2 star wanted level.

Rocket Launcher Glitch
Sometimes, if the player fires a rocket on a vehicle or a pedestrian, the rocket will miss the target and go flying in a different route and explode. This is more than likely a glitch.

Final Interview Glitch
In the mission Final Interview, if the player intimidates Goldberg with a gun and then fires the gun without shooting at him and kills Goldberg with a melee weapon, after retrieving the files, the cutscene where the receptionist gets into Goldberg's officer will still play, but the game will occasionally crash after the cutscene is about to end.

Megaphone Glitch
While having a wanted level, if the player kills the officers on a police vehicle with the police car coming close, the megaphone will still function, warning the player to surrender despite the officers are dead. This can also be observed if the player destroys an occupied police vehicle that comes close to the player. This is more than likely a glitch.

Days Passed Friends Ability Glitch
The player cannot call Little Jacob for Guns anymore after 215 in-game days passed and cannot call Roman for Car Service anymore after 230 in-game days passed (Tested on PC, version 1.0.8.0).

Wrong Jurisdiction Glitch
If the player takes a taxi ride from Liberty City to Alderney and vice versa and skips the journey, they may find police officers from the city that they were just in spawning. This is due to the game not yet registering the player's location change due to the journey skip. This is most evident when taking a taxi to an area with a high concentration of law enforcement (Example: Taking a cab from Algonquin to the Alderney State Correctional Facility and seeing LCPD officers spawn alongside Alderney State Troopers).

Buskers Glitch (TBoGT Only)
There is a glitch in TBoGT, where the buskers will simply start walking away when approached and won't be playing for the player, therefore, making the "St. Thomas" ringtone unavailable for Luis Lopez (Tested on PC, version 1.2.0.43).

Separated Articles

 * Clumping
 * Kate McReary Glitch
 * Malc Glitch
 * Swing Glitch
 * The Lost MC Clubhouse Glitch
 * More Ammunition Glitch
 * Falling Glitch