Bugsie (and Friends!)

On This Page:       Bugsie & Variations       The fence tricks       The hole trick       The watergate trick       The xian trick       The exposure meter trick       The Laser Sight trick       The flying trick

Not All Bugs Are Bad

There are some bugs in the games that can be used to get Lara to places where she isn’t supposed to go, or to get her to places where she IS supposed to go faster (shortcuts).

Like most computer/video games, the Tomb Raider series has its share of bugs. Some are mild, some are deadly—to Lara, that is. (The nastier bugs are covered in the walkthroughs where they occur. Look for bright red text wherever there's a bug warning.) But there are a few that can actually enhance your gaming experience. Some can get Lara to places she wouldn't otherwise be able to go. Some can even save her life. To find out all you need to know about these 'good bugs,' read on.

The most famous of all is Bugsie, the corner-bug.

On this page I’ll try to explain how you can use these bugs.

The Corner Tricks

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When Lara jumps straight up, she moves forward a little with every jump. This and the fact that the collision-detection isn’t 100% in the games are the basis of the corner-tricks. You can use the tricks at almost all the corners in the games, but there are some corners where they won’t work.

Also there are some corners where the tricks are very hard to perform, sometimes you need a lot of realigning before the trick works and sometimes you need a combination of two tricks.

screenshot 1

screenshot 2

screenshot 2a

screenshot 3

screenshot 4

screenshot 5

screenshot 6

The corner trick

Discovered in TR2 by Jason McAllister.
This trick works in all three TR-games, including the add-on levels.

1. Place Lara with her feet at a ledge and with her side against the corner of a wall, pillar or whatever.
2. Turn about 45 deg. towards the corner and jump. You’ll see Lara partly disappearing into the structure .
3. Lara will move into the wall a little with every jump you make until she suddenly shoots up to the top of the structure.
4. At some corners in TR3 Lara moves over the edge of the drop after a few jumps and falls. You could try the crawl-corner trick here or a combination of the two. If that doesn’t work, you might have found one of the few corners where the trick just doesn’t work.

If you want to get all the way up on the roof, repeat the jump trick again starting at the spot marked with the yellow X in screenshot 6.

Click on each screenshot to see a larger version.

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The advanced corner trick

Discovered in TR2 by Stiletto.
Works in all the games.

"When I first learned about the corner trick in the Croft Times (a long time ago), I immediately went
and tried it out at a corner in the training level of TR2.

I just did one little thing wrong; I tried it at a corner on the ground (no drop).
The trick worked and I didn’t realise my mistake until I reread the article some time after."

      -Stiletto

1. Place Lara near the corner where you want to try the trick with her face to the wall (picture 1)
2. Turn Lara away from the corner about 45 deg. like in picture 2.
3. Jump up a few times and see if Lara movers into the wall (picture 3). If she doesn’t, turn her a little more.
4. If Lara has moved into the wall far enough, the next jump will take her to the roof (picture 4).

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   screenshot 1

   screenshot 2

   screenshot 3

   screenshot 4

   screenshot 5

   The crawl corner trick

   Discovered in TR3-demo (Jungle) by Stiletto.
   Works from TR3 onward.

   "Shortly after the demo of TR3 had hit the net, there was a rumour that the corner trick didn’t work anymore.
   Bugsie was dead.

   Alarmed by these tidings I immediately downloaded the demo to see for myself.
   What I found was that Bugsie wasn’t dead, but he was ill. It seems that the programmers had made a lot of corners Bugsie-resistant.

   I had to find a way to help Bugsie survive and went experimenting with the new moves in the game.

   This lead to the discovery of the crawl corner trick."

         -Stiletto

   1. Find a corner, any corner and place Lara against the wall near that corner like you see in picture 1.
   2. Press "crouch" and "forward" to get Lara on all fours. If all goes well, a lot of Lara will disappear in the wall (picture 2).
   3. Sometimes this is enough to make Lara shoot up. If it isn’t, shortly release the crouch-key. Lara should now move even deeper in the wall and shoot up.
   4. If she still refuses to go up (Lara can be stubborn at times), release "forward" and "crouch" and press "jump". That ought to do it.
   5. This trick works on a lot of corners where the "normal" corner tricks don’t work.

      You may need to repeat the crouch, crawl, straighten routine a couple of times before Lara will spring up to the top of the corner. The more precisely you position her in step #1, the fewer tries it will take.

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      screenshot 1

      screenshot 2

      screenshot 3

      screenshot 4

      screenshot 5

      The swimming corner trick

      Discovered in TR3 by Robert DePape
      Works in all the games (not sure about TR1, didn’t try it there yet, but it sure works in TR-UB)

      Now this is a nice one, Lara can "bugsie" while she’s swimming.

      The trick itself is easy to perform, Lara shoots up pretty easy, but in most spots she falls back down immediately after.

      
      

      1. Swim on the surface to a corner and place Lara near the corner, facing the wall.
      2. Turn Lara towards the corner. Now dive and you'll see Lara move into the wall and shoot up to the top.

         Click on each screenshot to see a larger version.

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         Not the corner tricks
         

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         After all those tricks using the cornerbug, it's time for something completely different. Tricks that use other bugs.

         screenshot 1

         screenshot 2

         screenshot 3

         screenshot 4

         The fence trick

         Found by...
         Works in TRI, TR_UB, TRII and TRIII (All Hallows).
         Haven't found a place in TRII-Golden Mask to use the trick

         In some places in the games you can run right through a fence. You have to aim for a spot where two parts of the fence join (a seem). I've found that there isn't a consistent way to do the trick, in some places you have to run to the fence with an angle, in other spots you can run straight into the fence. I haven't experimented with this trick a lot, so I can't tell you too much about it.

         One place where the trick is easy to do is in Bartoli's Hideout in TR2. There's a nice shortcut using this trick. Here you aim for a corner in the fence, but in some other places this isn't necessary. So that is what I'm using an example of:

         

         1. Go to the balcony with the high fence where you would normally enter the room with the pushable block in the fireplace.
         2. Go to the left end of the balcony and line up like in the screenshot. Now run straight to the corner and Lara should go right through the fence. Press action to make Lara land on the wall, if you don't press action, Lara will fall in the water below and you'll end up near the beginning of the level.
         3. Behind the wall that Lara lands on is the room where you get the Uzi’s. You can now proceed to the end of the level, skipping a large part of it, or you can use the corner trick to get on the roofs and then go back to the balcony and do the level as normally, but with the Uzi’s already in your inventory (handy in the library when you have to fight off two armed baddy's).

         If you are not in that place, or if you don't get it cause you are not there, use these instructions, exampled by.

         1. Position Lara facing a fence between one and two squares (floor textures) away from the fence and one to two sidesteps away from the floor seam that meets the seam in the fence. (You may need to experiment a little with the positioning.) Using the Look button, carefully position her so her head is directly in line with the vertical seam between the fence textures. (screenshot 1)

         2. Run straight at the seam. (screenshot 2)

         3. If you've lined it up correctly, Lara will run right through the seam to the other side of the fence. (screenshots 3 & 4)

         Or, line Lara up facing a concave corner in a fence or balcony (i.e., a thin texture with regular seams, nothing a full block thick). Line her up at about a 45 degree angle with the corner, and run at the seam. If you angle it right, she'll pop through to the other side. It may help to press Action or Jump + Action as you run. (This variation was found by Joe C. and reported on tombraiders.com.)

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         The watergate trick

         (No, this has nothing to do with Nixon.)
         Discovered in TR2 by Steve
         Works in TR2 in only one spot. (As far as I know. If you find another place to use the trick, please let me know.)

         In the Temple of Xian there's this one gate in the water that's partly under water and partly above water. This gate doesn't open until late in the level, but you can get through it without opening it.
         This makes for a big shortcut, skipping a major part of the level.

         

         
         To get through the gate, swim to it on the surface until Lara hits the gate. Now all you have to do is press Ctrl (action, for psx-users) and Alt (jump, or in this case dive).

         By pressing Alt, Lara moves into the gate. The collision-detection then moves Lara up, just like with the corner tricks. Because of the ceiling, Lara can't go up far and falls back in the water. Keeping Ctrl pressed makes Lara move forward while falling, making sure that Lara ends up on the other side of the gate. Pressing Ctrl isn't always necessary to make the trick work, I can get Lara through without pressing it, but if I want to get her back through the gate, I do have to keep Ctrl pressed.

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         Movable Block or Crack Bug

         screenshot 1

         screenshot 2

         screenshot 3

         This technique was also discovered by über-bugmeister Stiletto. It's similar to the fence bug in that you force Lara through the seam between two textures, here a wall and a movable block. These screenshots were taken in the Barkhang Monastery level in TR2, where this bug can be used to avoid the pool with the strong current (as suggested by Baz on tombraiders.com). It's also perfect for taking a shortcut into the pyramid in Tomb Raider: Unfinished Business Atlantean Strongold level (as suggested by Wes D.).

         1. If necessary, push or pull the movable block so there are empty spaces on the side where Lara is standing and on either side beyond the block (as shown in the diagram below). Depending on what's beyond the block, you may be able to see light through the vertical crack between the block and the wall. Position Lara at a 45 degree angle to the corner with the seam. Sidestep into the corner so Lara's foot and arm are right against the crack. (screenshot 1)

         2. Side flip toward the crack and Lara should go through it into the open space beyond. (screenshots 2 & 3)

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