Ridiculous Guitar Hero glitch makes leaderboards, achievements meaningless

[Rev. Link]

Check out what one of the posters over at GameFAQs has discovered.

http://boards.gamefaqs.com/gfaqs/genmessage.php?board=932565&topic=37251196

Apparently this is for real, as many people there and at the Score Hero forums have been able to pull this off. This is going to kill the online leaderboards for this game.

If you don't want to read the whole GF topic, and I don't blame you for not wanting to, let me summarize. You go to the practice mode and pick any section(s) of any song. Just as your practice session is about to end, right before the results screen comes up, you pull out your controller cord. The "you're rocking too hard" screen will pop up. When you plug your controller back in, if you did it right, the fretboard will continue to scroll with no notes. You then press start and exit out of practice. Go to career and pick any song you want. No matter what song you pick, the song you picked in practice is what will play. The computer will play the whole song, except for the actual sections you picked in practice. That is all you have to play. It'll even play at whatever speed you chose.

Once the song is over, you will get 100%. If you pick song sections that allow you to play at least around 50-60 notes, you'll also get five stars. This is enough to allow anyone to get the achievements for 5*ing all expert songs and beating Jordan. If someone wanted to take the time, they could also set the glitch up to play something big like, say, X-Stream, the whole song, on whatever speed they felt comfortable with, and play that over something where you wouldn't normally be able to score over 400k, like Trogdor. Then, guess what? You've got over 400k on Trogdor, and every other song you want to do this with. This blows the leaderboards' credibility to shreds.

Worse part is, the apparently works with both the 360 and PS2 versions of GHII and also GH: Encore. Someone at Harmonix fell asleep at the wheel for this one, and it looks like all of us who worked our butts off to get good scores are gonna be the ones who pay. I feel especially sorry for anyone who legitimately got the Jordan achievement. I can't even come close to that one, and it's a real mark of how good a player you are to get it. Now any old tool can cheat and get it.

[joshnickerson]

Well that sucks. Let's hope an online update will fix this on the 360 version, and future presses of the game will not have this glitch.

[smork]

Glad i'm not interested in leaderboards coz that would really piss me off. What a silly glitch!

The joy in GH is pulling off a difficult song yourself, so it doesn't decrease my enjoyment, but for those who like to compete against others I can see how it would.

[unwinddesign]

I don't see a problem with doing it to get the achievements, but doing it to get on the leaderboards is stupid.

Does the CPU activate star power for you, or no?

[Slate]

:texaschain:

Now the kick the bucket achievement is worthless and I can't prove that my rival didn't get it by cheating.. Maybe he won't hear about the glitch, And hopefully they'll patch it up within a week.

[Rev. Link]

I don't see a problem with doing it to get the achievements, but doing it to get on the leaderboards is stupid.

Does the CPU activate star power for you, or no?

No, there is no star power when you use this glitch, from what I've read.

But how can you say it's okay to use this to get achievements, but not to up your score? It's okay to cheat one way, but not another? People work really hard sometimes to get those 5-star and Buckethead achievements! Why should any loser who wants to cheat be able to get them without earning them?

[Slate]

I tried this glitch using my offline profile, And it's true that you can get the kick the bucket achievement using it, Wich stinks. But you can't use star power with the glitch.


But how can you say it's okay to use this to get achievements, but not to up your score? It's okay to cheat one way, but not another? People work VERY hard to get those 5-star and Buckethead achievements!

When I got really good at guitar hero, I thought that if I got every single player achievement it would be impressive.... But now they are worthless, All thanks to some damn glitch. But at least we can tell if some stupid person is cheating or not... IE a unattainable score in Drink up or a score too low for jordan on expert.

I think the leaderboards are safe enough because we can ban cheaters. They will be removed from the leaderboards if they are banned, Right?

[pacmanhat]

I don't see how this will have much of an effect on the leaderboards. Since all they track are high scores, and this glitch will almost always ensure extremely low scores, how will it affect them?

[Kitsune Sniper]

I don't see how this will have much of an effect on the leaderboards. Since all they track are high scores, and this glitch will almost always ensure extremely low scores, how will it affect them?

Imagine having the fastest, hardest song in the game played a speed four times slower than normal. And doing a full combo. That's how the leaderboards are fucked. The score won't have the star power multiplier, but it will still be high enough to affect certain folks.

As an example, if I'm understanding this correctly, the game will let you play the parts you didn't want to practice. So if you only do the intro of a song (like Freebird) in practice, you'll get to play the rest of the song in Career Mode without problems.

[ssjlance]

I think it will only be a problem for people who seriously abuse it. Considering that most scores will be way too low, they won't break any major records. All I know is that I'm going to 5 star Jordan tomorrow and never tell my brother my secret :)

[Oobgarm]

MS will take care of it, I'm sure. They'll check the leaderboards, no doubt about that.

I personally don't see too much of a problem exploiting glitches, but to each their own, I suppose. Looks like if I'm ever going to play GHII on my 360, I'll have to leave it unplugged from the intarweb if I want all the achievements. LOL

[Slate]

I think it will only be a problem for people who seriously abuse it. Considering that most scores will be way too low, they won't break any major records. All I know is that I'm going to 5 star Jordan tomorrow and never tell my brother my secret :)

It's going to bite you back when someone asks you to show them how good you are.

[Poofta!]

everyone whos pissed that it broke your "achievements": too bad

haha.

what happened to playing games cause you enjoy it, i hate this prove your better than X shit. (for the record, i dont own, or ever played guitar hero. id rather play a real guitar... GH in my view is remedial)

[Garry Silljo]

I don't see a problem with doing it to get the achievements

If you didn't actually achieve the achievement, it is empty and worthless. How can you be proud of something you never actually did?

[Rev. Link]

everyone whos pissed that it broke your "achievements": fuck you.

haha.

what happened to playing games cause you enjoy it, i hate this prove your better than X shit. (for the record, i dont own, or ever played guitar hero. id rather play a real guitar... GH in my view is remedial)

No, fuck you.
Achievements are a part of all games. Ever bragged to a friend about beating Castlevania without continuing? That's an achievement. Microsoft just put a point value on them in 360 games.

Now imagine you did beat Castlevania without continuing, and some little twerp guy who used a Game Genie to do the same thing popped up every time you happen to mention it and said, "Pfft, I did that too..." Don't you think that'd get annoying?

And if you don't care about Guitar Hero, why even come into this thread, spouting your mouth off? Beat it, go find something constructive to do.

[Promophile]

I still don't care about achievements, but then again, I'm not one to care about my e-peen. I find it baffling and hilarious when people buy games they wouldn't normally play just to rack up "points". If you get 5 stars on the hardest song through legit means it shouldn't matter if it shows up on some list.

[ssjlance]

You have a point there. I went ahead and told him since he gave me Ys II just for me to tell him how I did it. But it's really not that big of a deal. I did the Jordan thing, and my score was all of a glorious 6000.

[kedawa]

I can see how this would bother some people, but don't get too worked up because of a loophole in some online pissing contest.

[Lothars]

No, fuck you.
Achievements are a part of all games. Ever bragged to a friend about beating Castlevania without continuing? That's an achievement. Microsoft just put a point value on them in 360 games.

Now imagine you did beat Castlevania without continuing, and some little twerp guy who used a Game Genie to do the same thing popped up every time you happen to mention it and said, "Pfft, I did that too..." Don't you think that'd get annoying?

And if you don't care about Guitar Hero, why even come into this thread, spouting your mouth off? Beat it, go find something constructive to do.

Honestly I think this glitch is a great thing, plus I don't think achievements are that big of a deal, I probaly will use this to get the achievements because I don't care about them. but It's really preference though,

I don't agree with using it on Leaderboards but I think it's good for achievements.

[-hellvin-]

This is pretty damn disappointing. I've been working at 5 starring my last 5 songs on expert and have gotten really good at Jordan and am almost able to make it through solo c which keeps killing me, but OH WELL, what's the point now?

I'm still gonna work at it legit, not gonna cheat after coming so far...

[kedawa]

This is pretty damn disappointing. I've been working at 5 starring my last 5 songs on expert and have gotten really good at Jordan and am almost able to make it through solo c which keeps killing me, but OH WELL, what's the point now?
You're joking, right?
That's like saying 'I've been working out for years and I'm almost as fit as I want to be, but fuck it, some random dude I don't know is using steroids, so what's the point?'
If your only reason for playing games is to measure yourself against complete strangers on XBL, then you need a new hobby.

[Poofta!]

Now imagine you did beat Castlevania without continuing, and some little twerp guy who used a Game Genie to do the same thing popped up every time you happen to mention it and said, "Pfft, I did that too..." Don't you think that'd get annoying?

no. cause i dont brag about achieving anything in games. and i dont care who did what in a game either. if its such a big deal to you, you need to grow up.


i came here cause i have a 360 and am always interested in any glitches related to it and XBL. this is not your own personal private password locked thread, sir.

[Slate]

no. cause i dont brag about achieving anything in games. and i dont care who did what in a game either. if its such a big deal to you, you need to grow up.

i came here cause i have a 360 and am always interested in any glitches related to it and XBL. this is not your own personal private password locked thread, sir.

I don't mind if you use the glitch just to hear a song the way it is played 100%, But using it to get a higher score (Or the achievements) Is wrong.

Using glitches to win in a game = Cheating

[skaar]

No, there is no star power when you use this glitch, from what I've read.

But how can you say it's okay to use this to get achievements, but not to up your score? It's okay to cheat one way, but not another? People work really hard sometimes to get those 5-star and Buckethead achievements! Why should any loser who wants to cheat be able to get them without earning them?

The same reason I don't feel bad when some jackass plays DDR on a controller - at least I feel good about how I play.

Don't sweat the small stuff.

[-hellvin-]

You're joking, right?
That's like saying 'I've been working out for years and I'm almost as fit as I want to be, but fuck it, some random dude I don't know is using steroids, so what's the point?'
If your only reason for playing games is to measure yourself against complete strangers on XBL, then you need a new hobby.

I could care less how I rank up to other people. I think it's pretty stupid that anyone can get most of the hardest achievements in two seconds when others actually have the ability to complete the task, that is all. I may never beat the song, but oh well, who cares. It's a fun system Microsoft invented but I find it funny how much points farming goes on in many games. Half the time I play some of the smaller arcade games with achievements I run into the same people during quick matches trying to achievement farm who continually quit when they don't meet up with their partner.

[Rev. Link]

no. cause i dont brag about achieving anything in games. and i dont care who did what in a game either. if its such a big deal to you, you need to grow up.


i came here cause i have a 360 and am always interested in any glitches related to it and XBL. this is not your own personal private password locked thread, sir.


Hey, you can try to justify or rationalize it as much as you want to, but coming into a thread about a game you care nothing about, then cussing people out in it is just plain rude. I thought people here at DP were better than that.

If you don't get the appeal of achievements, fine. But I'll thank you not to throw insults at those of us who do.

[digitalpress]

Hey, you can try to justify or rationalize it as much as you want to, but coming into a thread about a game you care nothing about, then cussing people out in it is just plain rude. I thought people here at DP were better than that.

They are - and this character "Poofta" should know better and has been warned before.

Reminder:


hi, i seem to have really screwed up and got my ips
banned from the forums. i had a previouse username
postulio, i was rude and really ticked someone off and
got banned, i made poofta and have tried to be on my
best behavior, im not sure what i did wrong this time.
i plead to be able to use the forums again, please,
ill do anything, send games, donate my time, anything.
i promise never to post anything disagreeable again. i
wont even post in off-topic if you say so! please. DP
was my only resource for collecting and i have grown
to love the people there. ill never argue or bash
anything there again. i please for one last tiny ounce
of a chance. please?

How quickly we forget.

[kedawa]

I could care less how I rank up to other people. I think it's pretty stupid that anyone can get most of the hardest achievements in two seconds when others actually have the ability to complete the task, that is all. I may never beat the song, but oh well, who cares. It's a fun system Microsoft invented but I find it funny how much points farming goes on in many games. Half the time I play some of the smaller arcade games with achievements I run into the same people during quick matches trying to achievement farm who continually quit when they don't meet up with their partner.
I know exactly what you mean. You could be the most skilled gamer in the world and get every achievement in a handful of the hardest and best games, but some spaz who just rents every game and gets all the easy achievement will end up with the higher gamer score.
It's a system that rewards playing lots of games instead of playing those games well. A better way of ranking would be to assign a grade for each game played, and average those grades.

[PDorr3]

I just cheated and kicked the bucket. Kill me.

[Nesmaster]

I just cheated and kicked the bucket. Kill me.

*stabs neck*

I didn't do kick the bucket either, I had a friend do it for me :P

Friends > glitches.

[s1lence]

Whats interesting is that the achievement websites, www.xbox360achievements.org for one, is locking any threads about this glitch. So it even has the achievement whores pissed off.

[Rev. Link]

I know exactly what you mean. You could be the most skilled gamer in the world and get every achievement in a handful of the hardest and best games, but some spaz who just rents every game and gets all the easy achievement will end up with the higher gamer score.
It's a system that rewards playing lots of games instead of playing those games well. A better way of ranking would be to assign a grade for each game played, and average those grades.

Not necessarily, though. I mean, yes, your example is technically correct, but you can look at anybody's game list to see what games they have achievements in, and which individual achievements they have.

So if I see some dude with a real high score and I check his list out and find nothing but lame stuff, then I know he's just collecting points. But if I see someone who has a lot of quality achievements, that tells me they are most likely a good player.

It used to mean something when you saw someone with the Jordan achievement in GHII. Now, it won't mean jack.

[Chuplayer]

Meh, I can't get this glitch to work. I just wanted to see if it would work. I'm no gamerscore whore or anything. 1390 after 10 months and not really trying FTL.

[Gemini-Phoenix]

I would say that I am one of the people that feels mighty pissed off about this. I'm someone who has really worked hard to achieve the scores I have, and believes that the ScoreHero site is a true reflection of a player's skill at the game. I am proud of my online ranking placement, as I know i've worked hard against other people who have also practiced.


Still, there's always the proven cut-off scores on ScoreHero that can be used to prove who is and isn't cheating. For example, if you end up scoring double what is known to be the maximum score range in a song, then you're obviously cheating (Ie, if a known maximum score for 100% notes for a song is between 120,000 and 130,000, and you score 280,000, then it's obvious you're a cheat)

[SegaAges]

Uh, for gamerscore, whatever.

Just for beating the game, right on right on.

I have never beaten contra without the "contra code".

A glitch is a glitch. Things happen.

it is only 1000 points. If you are that worried about your gamerscore, I am sure that you will not be too worried about a 1000.

Now I have only played this in ps2, can you play people on xbl?

If you can, challenge some people and destroy them. Yeah, take some suckaz out through xbl.

[Gemini-Phoenix]

If it affected just the X360 XBLA Achievment scores, then I would say "Fair enough, whatever" as these mean very little to me. And as said above, "Whatever, it's only 1000 points". But as it affects the global ranking system in total, it's a bit of a major glitch in my opinion, as you are now going to get complete n00b's 100 percenting every song without any skill, whilst the honest people amongst us will be pushed further down the list, with nothing but our own sense of achievment.

I hope they rectify this before Guitar Hero 3 comes out. Looks like Guitar Hero I is now the only way to PROVE how good a player actually is. I would get very suspicios of a player who has 100 percented every Expert song on GH II, but can barely break 100% on Medium on GH I

[Poofta!]

They are - and this character "Poofta" should know better and has been warned before.

How quickly we forget.

yeah i know, its wrong of me to demean you guys. i do not want to flat out insult you guys.

but do you guys really hear yourselves? your pissed that some people are having fun exploiting the games they bought. you lose nothing by this, except by not seeming as 'elite' or 'hardcore' and losing bragging rights i mean this doesn't seem a little... immature?


i understand being a little disappointed by this (just a little -- in the kind of way you'd be disappointed that the soda machine ran out of your favorite flavor) but stirring up heat online and damning everyone who does this?


with nothing but our own sense of achievment.

that isn't enough? what are you living life for? someone else's approval or gratification through self improvement?

[Sniderman]

yeah i know, its wrong of me to demean you guys. i do not want to flat out insult you guys.

but do you guys really hear yourselves? your pissed that some people are having fun exploiting the games they bought. you lose nothing by this, except by not seeming as 'elite' or 'hardcore' and losing bragging rights i mean this doesn't seem a little... immature?

And yet you show your maturity by popping out in your first reply with "Fuck you?"

And yet you claim you "do not want to insult you guys?" :shameful:

You'd better do the following immediately:
1. Apologize.
2. Lay low and don't post for a looooong time.

[digitalpress]

yeah i know, its wrong of me to demean you guys. i do not want to flat out insult you guys.

but do you guys really hear yourselves? your pissed that some people are having fun exploiting the games they bought. you lose nothing by this, except by not seeming as 'elite' or 'hardcore' and losing bragging rights i mean this doesn't seem a little... immature?

People might actually respect your opinion if you showed even the slightest respect for theirs. Guess what, genius, LOTS of players PLAY for bragging rights. Just because this is your definition of immature doesn't mean you're right. Remember, there are people who think anyone who plays videogames is immature - do you agree with them?

Embrace the versatility of the human race. It's not all about you.

[Rev. Link]

but do you guys really hear yourselves? your pissed that some people are having fun exploiting the games they bought.

No, we're pissed that cheaters are taking the hard work we've put into getting good at this game and crapping all over it. I know it doesn't change the fact that we're good, but it's still galling to see leaderboards full of impossible scores, while the scores of honest players get pushed lower and lower.

[Alucard79]

Sorry to make any of you mad, but I used the glitch to beat Jordan on expert just to aggravate my buddy. As far as I can tell with this glitch, in order to get a high score, you will still have to play the entire song like you normally would. In the practice mode you choose what speed you want, but when you go to cheat, only the song section you picked is saved. The speed of the song will still be whatever difficulty you choose. So long story short, if you want high scores, you will still have to play the entire song on the difficulty chosen. Also the fact that if they are cheating and playing the entire song, they do not get the "star power" to multiply their score. Either way, I suck at Guitar Hero, but I do love my achievements. Except for guitar hero, I have worked very hard for 8 plus hours a day for close to 8 months (when I got my 360) to earn all my achievements.

[Rev. Link]

But you could use the glitch to play, say, X-Stream over place of Jordan. Then you could get a score of around 400k on Jordan without even actually having to play it.