File Item Transfer

Discovered by LegendofLinkk and figured out by JakeZSR, RETIRE and azer67

Note: This glitch also works in the SD version, but the results it gives are slightly different. Click here if you're interested in the SD version of this glitch.

Normal Trial and Glitched Trial

After defeating a boss for the first time in a dungeon, the game saves your inventory for later use in the Trials.

When entering a Trial in Ganon's Tower, the game is supposed to write your current inventory somewhere in the ram to save it, and give you back the inventory you had when you first fought the boss in its dungeon. When you then end the battle, the game uses the ramvalues and copies the saved inventory into your normal inventory, giving you back your items. That is a Normal Trial.

However, by fighting a boss in its dungeon without the telescope (done by performing Outset Escape), then the Trial associated with that boss will enter a Glitched state. That is probably because the game is looking for your telescope first in order to find your inventory. Since you didn't have the telescope when you fought the boss, the game fails to change your inventory and you get to keep your current items. This is a Glitched Trial.

File Item Transfer

The ramvalues used to save Link's inventory aren't wiped when quitting a file. This can be used to transfer items from one file to another, or delete most of your items.

When you enter a Glitched Trial, the game fails to give you back your old inventory and also fails to save your current inventory into ram. When no earlier data is written to the ramvalues, and you leave a Glitched Trial, the game tries to give you back an inventory that it didn't save. The game then overwrites the inventory with what it can read, only 00's when no set up is done, resulting in all items involved with FIT being removed. Savewarping will give you all of your items back, except for:

  • All Pearls
  • All Songs
  • Everything inside your Spoils Bag, Bait Bag and Delivery Bag
  • All Triforce Shards
  • Your rupees

However, by entering a Trial in a Normal State, Link's inventory is saved into ram, and by saving and quitting, the ramvalues used to save Link's inventory aren't wiped out. By then entering a Glitched Trial and leaving it (by saving and quitting for exemple), since the game failed to overwrite the old ramvalues with the new ones, you will get the items written previously into ram: the items from the file that entered the Normal Trial.

How to

To transfer items from one file to another, you will first need a file that has a Glitched Trial (called the main file), and a file that has a Normal Trial (called the setup file). The main file will receive items from the setup file (and it can only be that way).

On the setup file, enter a Normal Trial and quit to the title screen (saving or not doesn't matter). Then on the main file, enter a Glitched Trial. Then simply save warp, and you will now have the inventory from the setup file.

Here is a list of what gets transferred in between files:

  • Every main item (grappling hook, deku leaf, bombs, boomerang, bow, hookshot, skull hammer, iron boots, magic armor)
  • All Bags (delivery bag, spoils bag, bait bag), and their content
  • Telescope and Tingle Bottle
  • All Songs
  • All Triforce Shards
  • All Pearls
  • The Sail Upgrade (transferring the sail doesn't remove the softlock)
  • The Wind Waker (however, the wind waker is not usable without watching the wind waker cutscene)
  • Rupees (you can transfer more rupees that you can hold. This can allow you to buy items that are worth more rupees than your wallet can hold. Be careful, as updating your rupee count in any way will bring you back to your wallet max capacity).

And here is what does not get transferred and doesn't interact with FIT no matter what:

  • Bottles
  • Pictobox and Deluxe Pictobox
  • Hearts
  • Magic
  • All Charts
  • Power Bracelets
  • Gossip Stone
  • The sword
  • The shield
  • Quivers, Bomb Bags and Wallets
  • Hero's Clothes
  • Hurricane Spin
  • Hero's Charm
  • Sea map progression

Extra Notes

  • A Trial associated to a boss that has never been fought before does not work as a Normal Trial or as a Glitched Trial.
  • Since it's possible to both defeat a dungeon boss with the Telescope and another without the Telescope on the same file, it is possible to have one Normal Trial and one Glitched Trial on the same file. This can be done sometimes in order to make use of this glitch without premade files, skipping having to play through the game twice.
  • There are some interesting consequences to the deletion of the pearls: deleting Nayru's Pearl will make Endless Night start once again, and deleting Farore's Pearl will make KoRL refuse to sail in most of the ocean once more.
  • This trick can be done in order to obtain the same letter several times, allowing for a way to dupe 2 heart pieces (the HP from Maggie's sidequest and the HP from the mail minigame sidequest).
  • Since Quivers and Bomb Bags don't transfer, you might want to obtain one of them early if you intend on obtaining the bow or the bombs via FIT.
  • If you obtain the bow or bombs for the first time with FIT, there won't be arrow and bomb drops anywhere for you to pick up. You can still get bomb bag upgrades or quiver upgrades to get refills but that's it. This can be fixed by obtaining a bow or the bombs normally.
  • With FIT, it is possible to obtain the hookshot before the Earth and Wind Temple. This allows for skipping having to break the Song Stones that block the entrance to both of these temples using a L-Slide Clip.

Known Exceptions

This is a list of some of odd results this glitch is known to give, that might surprise you at first. These can be useful to know for routing.

  • The fully formed Triforce will not be removed from your inventory right after deleting it with FIT. You will need to savewarp to make it go away.
  • The bow upgrades and the sail upgrades share an unique feature with FIT: they always get transfered, but if you already had a bow or a sail on your main file when performing FIT, then savewarping will give you back the highest upgrade you obtained before doing that said FIT, giving the impression that they didn't transfer. To be able to take profit from such a FIT, leaving the Glitched Trial by either deathwarping or defeating the boss is required. You will not get them by savewarping.
  • If you delete your items, and then transfer your new, almost empty, inventory to another file by entering a Normal Trial, and if that file obtained a bow upgrade in some way, then that bow upgrade will transfer eventhough it was not in the inventory when entering the Normal Trial. This is probably caused by a line of code used during the Ganondorf fight, to make sure you don't lose your bow (since that fight removes the bow from your inventory).
Last updated 01/20/2019 – azer67