yeah, you can't stand on the return portals (except in Dragon Shores, but even then you need codes to get up there). they're too slim.

Also, i didn't know you could swim under portals that aren't unlocked and get in. I really need to try that 8D

in Spyro 3, anyway. like i said, i haven't tried it in Spyro 2. also they're not *right* underneath the portal, they're usually a bit further down. i'd guess two or three "Spyros" down.

It also depends if there is something under the portal. If there is for example cave, it can be much deeper, for example bentley's portal.

in Spyro 3, anyway. like i said, i haven't tried it in Spyro 2. also they're not *right* underneath the portal, they're usually a bit further down. i'd guess two or three "Spyros" down.

in Spyro 3, you can swim under certain portals and get into the worlds even though they're technically not unlocked. (not enough eggs, not enough gems, need to do something, etc.) because the portals are still there under the area.

i wonder if the same applies to the return home portals in Spyro 2. i never thought to check.

I found a new glitch while playing on my PSP a short while ago. (This is recorden on a pc emulator)

Start a new game, go through the level, talk to everyone and get the orbs. (I'm not exactly sure what makes it work) Then get a rock and go to the portal. Positon yourself just outside the range where the portal's sky appears. Spit the rock at the portal, and the portal rises towards the sky.

Both the PSP port of the game and the version I played with the emulator are NTSC, so I don't know what happens in the PAL version.

This is probably the best spyro glitch i have seen so far

Portal: My people need me *whimsical opera plays in background as it floats away*

Anyway, more related to the topic, I have tried to do the same in other levels(Magma Cone and Skelos Badlands) with the lava balls, but I got no strange results.

Are you currently studying Graphical Programming?

Interesting theory, Sheep. It also might just be as simple as the fact that the Physics system isn't up to par. For instance, notice how the model's faces hit each other, and cause texture issues? The collision boxes seem to not be that great, either. It could just be for the fact that the PlayStation wasn't a powerful console, but also Spyro didn't have a very long development time, either. Either Way, it's a great game, and we'll always find funny issues.

The texture issues is rather interesting(nothing to do with physics, nor collision detection, though). Because of how the PS1 renders 3d models, with flat, depth sorted(distance from triangle center to camera) triangles rather than a depth buffer, they overlap each other incorrectly because the center of one triangle is closer to the camera than the center of a triangle that is in front of the first one. (This also means that the PS1 can't correctly render triangles that are going through each other.) A cause of this would for example be that parts of Spyro would be obscured by the ground below his feet, unless the developers had not countered it by giving Spyro and several other objects(or the individual triangles of these objects) an offset to the depth value to make the sorting algorithm think they are closer to the camera. This again causes issues like in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CboOloU … e=youtu.be
My theory is this:
They wanted to make sure that the triangles of the portal frame that were behind the actual portal triangles(those displaying the skybox), didn't obscure the latter, but couldn't give the portal(not frame) a depth offset because that would make Spyro obscured by it if he was too close. As you can see in this image http://s13.postimg.org/emvd8gf1z/portaldepth.png, Spyro, sitting on the ground behind the portal, is visible through the portal because he has a depth offset, while the portal doesn't. The solution would be to make the frame triangles behind the portal have an opposite depth offset, making them appear to the sorting algorithm as being further away from the camera. If you look closely at the graphical glitch in the video, you can see that the it is the triangles of the roof hole structure that hide certain of the portal frame triangles, as if the game thinks they are closer to the camera than those specific frame triangles.

Anyway, "the fact that the Physics system isn't up to par" is a rather vague explanation

Spyro's collision box is obviously a sphere(anything more complex would probably be too slow, and definitely unnecessary), and the rock probably is too(either that, a capsule, to simulate the rock's position between frames, or some kind volume ray casting), but possibly slightly enlarged to forgive bad aiming. But the portal's collision "box" is actually the full polygon model, or a very slightly optimized one.

We can see that the rock does correctly detect collision with the portal(collides when it should, and narrowly slips by when it should), and it doesn't need to have any physical reaction to the collision, because when detecting a collision, it creates some particles and stop existing. No physics. It does however cause reactions to a few of the game objects: Start the death animation/state of lizards and ladybugs, break baskets and vases, and cause the banner next to the portal to shake like when Spyro charges it. Most or all of these reactions would involve changing one or more of the hit object's variables.

A flaw in the general physics/collision system that randomly sets a variable of one of the objects would be very strange, as the code would only need to deal with physics related variables. In the code of the rock object, on the other hand, we know that it sets particular variables of particular objects.

There might be something funny with the system that controls the spit-able object's interaction with various game objects, though. If you aim next to characters, enemies, gem containers, etc., the spitting direction is automatically corrected to help the player hit directly on target. This also applies to the portal. I tested this with some other objects, like the gem lamps and flying powerup. When I aimed near the base of the lamps(or the end that sticks into the ceiling for the lamps in the cave), the aim was corrected to hit the base. When I aimed near center of the base of the powerup, the aim was corrected, and the rock even collided with something invisible when I spat from a certain distance.

Maybe if somebody could edit the map, they could add stairs to reach that spot.