Noclip glitch
Noclipping is the ability to walk through barriers such as walls. This glitch was called the Noclip Glitch because it let you do almost everything actual noclipping did. Jagex Moderators can legally noclip if necessary.
Discovery
Somewhere around July 2008 a glitch was discovered by a couple of bug abusers that allowed players to go past almost any barrier in RuneScape. They promptly told one of their friends how it was done, who later popularised the bug with several infamous videos. It was done by abusing a bug in the Fishing Trawler that allowed a player to be teleported 150 spaces west / east from outside of the trawler. It was used to do several major bugs such as buying a Cape of legends from the Legends' Guild without having done the Legend's Quest or getting into areas that were normally inaccessible such as Tutorial Island, the unreleased city of Prifddinas, or even inside walls such as inside the Grand Exchange pillar.
Patching
This bug was eventually found by a few other players in around September 2008. The bug was patched about 2 weeks prior to the bug being revealed. The original players that had found the glitch had actually reported the glitch themselves to Jagex so it would be patched before any more people could find out and attempt to abuse it. It is commonly accepted that the bug was patched on 11 November 2008, the same day Stealing Creation was released, but this is only theorized by the 3 bug abusers who originally did it. No one is 100 percent sure when the true date was.
Aftermath
Not much was lost due to this bug. Jagex did have to patch the Legends' Guild so players who did not complete the quest could not buy a Cape of legends and also patch several items that helped do the glitch. In the end, only about 6 or so players abused the bug; a couple were banned for blatantly using the bug, however most players who did it were not affected as Jagex did not have proof that they used the glitch. One of the players originally banned has reportedly had their ban lifted recently, but was banned again for repeated bug abuse. Another instance of no clipping occured in January on world 9. Players were able to move freely as far north as Falador, and as far south as Port Sarim. Players could also visit tutorial island. Initially, players were attempting to scam other by saying things like "Drop your item here, teleport home, come back, and you will have two items" This, of course, was a hoax. Approximately an hour later, Mod Hulme arrived on the scene and patched the glitch.
Other Instances of Noclip
Other forms of noclipping have been discovered but they were not as significant as the fishing trawler incident and were leaked and patched very quickly.
- In April a bug was discovered with an activity in the Warriors' Guild that let you walk through walls. It could not be used to get to areas like Prifddinas; that was possible with the previous noclip though. This was quickly leaked and patched within a week. This bug was done by walking onto the catapult square whilst not wearing the shield and also spamming a stackable interface, this would stall the movement of being pushed off the square till all interfaces were closed, the player could teleport to a destination and close the interfaces to reach unaccessable areas.
- In May a bug that let you walk through walls in the quest Smoking Kills was discovered very similar to the bug in the Warriors' Guild. This was also leaked and patched very quickly.
- In September 2009 a minor bug was discovered with an update that came to have border guards letting you in to places, such as Barbarian Village or where the Outlaws are. This could only be done outside the Grand Exchange, where the border guards were letting you in to where the Outlaws are, west of the Grand Exchange. The player would go on the south-west wall to the Border Guards and, if clicked right, "noclipped" into the Eastern guard, then walked to a square behind the Western Guard, and, if running, was automatically put inside the south-western corner of the Grand Exchange wall. This was inescapable, unless you teleported. This bug was leaked, and quickly patched.
- On 10 August 2009 there was a bug at the Cosmic altar that you can pass the barriers (the path between the portal and the Runecrafting altar) some players have past many special arena's (Random Events, Quest arenas and even the render arena of the Player Owned Houses), this bug was fixed quickly (around 1 hour). There are two videos of the short noclip glitch on Youtube.
- In the quest Underground Pass you can walk east on one of the walkways to the demon and float in the air, making an easy ranging glitch to kill the demons. This is unpatched as of January 19, 2010.
- There was also a no-clip during the quest Underground Pass, which no longer works due to JaGex patching Stackable Interfaces, which were interfaces that stacked, it was done by entering the room with Iban in without Zamorak robes on and spamming one of these interfaces while your character being stalled, then teleporting to your destination, your character would be knocked back a few steps and hit for damage, around 3 people abused this bug and it was never leaked.
- In May 2011 a new no-clip was found using the chair from the Clan Camp, players would sit on the chair after using a grand seed pod then quickly open an interface, turning the player towards the gnome, the player could then teleport whilst spamming a semi-stackable interface and would be in the chair stance, when getting up would move your character one step forward, this force movement would also go through walls. Bug Abusers could move using this bug via Mithril seeds and Marker seeds.
- Commonly, NPCs no-clip walls when trying to attack players.
- A few days after the Grand Exchange was updated players were able to walk into the Southern wall 1 space east of the entrance. This was fixed at an unknown date.
- Currently there is a glitch in Dungeoneering which allows players to walk on depleted fishing spots. It is unknown if this applies to only one or more rooms.
- There is currently (as of 18/08/2012) a no-clip glitch on the west side of the Lumbridge Castle by the wall. This particular spot allowed players to be stuck within the ground.