Grand Theft Auto III Purple Nines Glitch FAQ By gtafreak420 I. Introduction II. Important Information for New Players (Spoiler-Free) III. The Purple Nines Glitch 1. Who exactly are the Purple Nines? 2. What exactly is the Purple Nines glitch? 3. Who can be affected by the glitch, and how does it occur? 4. What can I do if I already have the glitch? 5. Is there any way to see if I have the glitch early in the game? IV. Conclusion _______________ I. Introduction _______________ I was one of the first people to start complaining of the Nines in my game to be missing back when this game first came out. I haven't played in awhile, but upon reading about GTA3 again I see a lot of people have been plagued by the same glitch that cursed me to playing through the game two extra times. This is my attempt to make their lives easier. This is geared both towards the beginning player and the experienced player, and fully explains the glitch as far as I have been able to understand it, and how to avoid it or deal with it if you already have it. This is based mostly on my own experiences, as well as some of the posts by dozens of users on Gamefaqs who have had this problem. If you have any new information for the FAQ or find any of the information to be in error please email me at smallfuzzygreenthing@yahoo.fr. For the purposes of this FAQ, a save "file" means an individual game saved into one of the 8 slots within the pause menu of GTA3. A save "block" means the entire entry for GTA3 on your memory card, accessible through the browser menu of your PS2. ________________________________________________________ II. IMPORTANT INFORMATION FOR NEW PLAYERS (SPOILER-FREE) ________________________________________________________ Right off the bat, if you are a new player and haven't got a GTA3 block on your card yet, start a new game, finish the initial mission ("Luigi's Girls") and save your game to slot 8. This file should be a clean new game now, with the Nines intact. Do not ever save over top of it. If you ever want to start a new game, load this file instead of choosing "New Game" from the pause menu. This will prevent you from getting the Purple Nines glitch at any point. Enjoy the game. If you really want to make sure that the Purple Nines glitch has not affected your block, explicit instructions will be provided near the end of this FAQ that will allow even completely novice players to verify this. -- SPOILERS BELOW -- ____________________________ III. THE PURPLE NINES GLITCH ____________________________ 1. Who exactly are the Purple Nines? Essentially, there are two separate gangs in the Witchita Gardens area of Shoreside Vale; the Nines and the Red Jacks. Both wear a hockey jersey-style shirt with black shoulders, a white stripe, and then a solid colour - red for Red Jacks, purple for Nines. There is some confusion to newer players about this, since on the map provided with the game this territory is marked "Southside Hoods". Both the Nines and the Jacks make up the Hoods together, and although at war, will for some reason come to each other's aid when attacked. Both also drive the same vehicle. 2. What exactly is the Purple Nines glitch? The Purple Nines are missing from the game, and instead, only Red Jacks can be found on the street. This makes the initial D-Ice mission, "Uzi Money", impossible to do, since it involves cruising the streets and gunning down Nines. This makes it impossible to get any further telephone missions from D-Ice and get 100% completion in the game. 3. Who can be affected by the glitch, and how does it occur? This glitch only seems to affect people who have completed the telephone missions for D-Ice of the Red Jacks at some point, and then saved the game. Some people have claimed to suffer from the glitch without completing the D-Ice missions, but I'm not sure if their information is reliable. Essentially, once successfully completing the final D-Ice mission, the Jacks have won the turf war and the Nines are no longer to be found on the streets any further during the game. This is when the glitch occurs; once you have saved after completing this mission, selecting "New Game" from the pause menu will create a new game in which the Nines are already exterminated. However, any existing save files from before the final D-Ice mission was completed will still have the Nines. This is why creating the save file of a fresh game in slot 8 when you first create the GTA3 save block and starting new games by loading it avoids the problem. 4. What can I do if I already have the glitch? There is absolutely no way to get the Purple Nines back in your current game, unfortunately. You might be able to create a new game within the same save block that does have the Nines in it, but information is unreliable on this. The only sure-fire way to get rid of the glitch that I know of is to delete the GTA3 save block off of the card and start right from scratch again, making sure to save that slot 8 file for starting future new games. Some people have reported successfully starting a new game with the Nines present by removing their memory card entirely, resetting the machine and starting a new game. When it gets to the point that you can save, re-insert your memory card and save your game to your existing save block. This new game MIGHT have the Nines in it, but some people have reported it not working. You can immediately verify it with the below instructions. 5. Is there any way to see if I have the glitch early in the game? Yes, there is. It's far too frustrating (and believe me, since I went through it) to play all the way until you unlock Shoreside Vale only to discover that you can never complete all of the missions or get 100% - and it's worth noting that D-Ice's missions are some of the most fun in the game. These step-by-step instructions will get you to the proper area to verify if the Nines are present even if you're very new at the game. First and foremost, load the file that you want to verify off the card. You need to use cheat codes to verify if the Nines are there, so if you're worried about corrupting your file, feel free to remove your memory card at this point. You won't need to save after you verify that the Nines are there anyway. Pick up a half-decent car at least. A taxi is perfect, as it's relatively easy to control, even for newbies. You can find your own way to the Callahan Bridge (the bridge which gets blown up during the opening sequence when you escape), which will be barricaded with orange barriers preventing you from driving across it now. Back up so that your back is to the buildings behind you and you are directly facing the orange barriers. Enter the "Good Handling" cheat code (R1, L1, R2, L1, Left, R1, R1, Triangle). You should see "Cheat Activated" appear on your screen. Get back in your car since entering the code will make you step out, and gun it straight at the orange barriers. Just before you get to them, press the L3 button (the stick). Your car should hop over the orange barriers - if you didn't make it, just back up and try a couple more times, it's not hard. Now enter the "Car Can Fly" cheat code (Right, R2, Circle, R1, L2, Down, L1, R1). You should see the "Cheat Activated" message again if it worked. Back up so you're facing straight ahead on the bridge, with the barriers behind you. Punch on the accelerator. The car might get a little unstable as it starts to lift off, but just try to keep it pointed straight. When you get to the point where the bridge is broken, haul back (towards you) on your control stick and coast across the gap. You can try pressing L3 as you reach the edge as well to get a hop, but usually you'll leave the ground too soon. If you miss, you'll die in the water. Just try again, it's not as hard as it sounds. Once you land on the other side and see the "Welcome to Staunton Island" sign, stop and take the "Car Can Fly" cheat off by entering it again. It's too difficult to drive on the streets with it turned on. You can leave the handling cheat on if you like, or enter it again to turn it off as well. Now, for those of you who know where you're going, the tunnel to Shoreside Vale will not be blocked yet and you can head over and verify. If you don't know where you're going, these directions will get you straight to Witchita Gardens. Drive down the bridge, and take the first right-hand turn you can when you get off of it. Follow this road (it will make a slight turn to the left) past a construction site (don't stop for long, there's a gang here who hates you) until it ends at a T-intersection. Turn to the left. Follow this road until it stops at a T-intersection as well, and turn right. Turn right again at the next T-intersection onto the road that follows the cliffs. Your next right-hand turn should be the entrance to the tunnel - don't speed past it, it sneaks up on you. Take the tunnel down to the T-intersection and turn left. There won't be any other cars in the tunnel with you yet, as it technically isn't supposed to be active. Follow the tunnel all the way to the end - you'll pass a turn-off to the left which leads to the airport, at which point there will be traffic in the tunnel. Drive carefully, it can be very tricky to navigate the tunnel with other cars. Once you exit the tunnel, turn left. Follow this road as it curves around the shore. You'll pass a road to your left eventually, and then the next left turn should be a bridge that slopes gently upwards. The area around the base of this bridge, and the area at the top of it are Hoods territory. You should see dark-skinned guys wearing both red shirts and purple shirts. If you don't see any purple shirts, only red shirts, you have the glitch. At this point, you can just reset and load your game again. If you have the glitch and you tried the above technique of starting without your memory card in, it's not working for you, and you'll have to delete your save block. ______________ IV. CONCLUSION ______________ I hope this saves at least a few people out there from the hassles I had to go through, and helps everyone understand just how this glitch occurs and how to avoid it. Thanks go to gamefaqs.com and all the message board posters who have talked about this frustrating bug and helped us all understand it. Happy hunting! This FAQ is Copyright (c) 2002 by gtafreak420. All rights reserved. Any re-use, transmission, duplication or distribution without the express written permission of the author is prohibited.