Batman: Arkham Origins Burnley Tower Glitch & Other Common Bug Issue Fixes

The Burnley/Lacey Comm Tower glitch and the Boat Rope bug are getting on everyone's nerves. Here are some of the most common bugs and their fixes (if they have one!).

If you cannot find the issue covered here or want to check out more Batman: Arkham Origins walkthroughs and common bug fixes, check out the Master List.

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It is Day 1 for Batman: Arkham Origins, and we are off to a good start running headlong into a whole bunch of issues. Some of these are fixable, some of them will definitely require patching from the developers – but here are some things you can try.

Please note, most of these errors relate to problems experienced on the PC Steam version of the game.

Burnley/Lacey Communications Tower Glitch

This is the big one, and the one that everyone from the Steam forums to WB Games have been screaming about for hours. 

Once you zipline through the ventilation shaft and hack the communications tower, you are supposed to Batclaw your way back up through the ventilation shaft and climb out. Unfortunately, Batman only hangs there by his fingertips and is unable to climb out. 

There is no current fix for this. It will need to be patched by the developers. What you can do in the meantime is Fast Travel out of there, but it will not unlock any of the Enigma stuff or the fast travel for Burnley. There have also been a few reports from some people who managed to get past it “while crouching during hanging up with the Batclaw” but this has been unconfirmed so far.

EDIT: There is a tap-dance workaround for this. (Thanks nghiatito!)


Strangely, this only affects the PC version of the game.

Getting Stuck on Penguin’s Boat

This is the second biggest issue people are running into, but at least for this one, some people have been finding some ways around it. At one point Batman finds himself in a section where he needs to Batclaw himself over water using a pontoon. Using the Batclaw on the ring results in the ring being pulled off and the rope falling down, locking Batman on the rope. 

Several players have suggested pressing Left Ctrl which will allow you to let go of the rope. Others have suggested restarting from checkpoint and then opening the door. 

Some have tried pressing Left Ctrl and reported that this will release the rope but not fix the issue and insist that a patch is needed. I have not been able to test this part yet.

EDIT: I have gotten through this section myself, and while I did not see a section in which the rope fell down, I did find that there was no indication what to do when I had finished pulling myself in one direction over water. Pressing Left Ctrl let go of the rope for me, leaving me free to Batclaw something else. No issues. 

Game Crashing

First, make sure that your drivers are updated, check these out in particular: 

  • VC redist 2010
  • NVIDIA PhysX drivers
  • AMD/NVIDIA GPU drivers
  • DirectX Jun 2010 or SDK
  • Dot .net Client profile 4.0
  • Dot .net Extended Profile 4.0

This should fix a few issues with game crashing (while changing resolution, upon game startup, etc.).

Remember that if you use AMD, do not turn on PhysX. NVIDIA cards are the only ones that can run this. You can only set your CPU to run it for you, which will not help your performance. Arkham Origins is optimized for NVIDIA on PC, so if you are experience stuttering, errors, and lag issues, try to keep it under MSAA x4 – this should not be a problem for higher-end AMD cards though. 

Steam Preload Error – No Play Game Button

This affected some players who preloaded their game before the game officially released. After the game was released, the preloaded game did not display the ‘Play Game’ button. 

To fix this:

  • Shut down Steam
  • Reboot your PC
  • Restart Steam 

Reset Video Settings 

This is if you have messed around too much with the settings and are unable to go back in through the Settings menu to fix them. You can change them all back to Default without being in-game:

  • Access your Arkham Origins folder (SteamsteamappscommonBatman Arkham OriginsSinglePlayerBMGameConfig)
  • Remove the BMEngine.ini file
  • Start up the game again, it should be restored to Default settings

Laggy Cutscenes

This can be caused by some issues with Direct X 11 and advanced video profiles which causes stuttering and sluggish cutscenes. 

  • Access your Arkham Origins folder (SteamsteamappscommonBatman Arkham OriginsSinglePlayerBMGameConfig)
  • Open BMEngine.ini in Notepad
  • Set AllowD3D11 to False

This will set it back to Direct X 10/9. There are some areas in which you will see random FPS drops throughout the city as well that may be caused by this issue.

EDIT: I saw a report on the Steam forums that they released a patch on the first day that fixed many of the framrate and stuttering issues for Direct X 11, as well as multiple mentions of it on the WB Games forums, but I haven’t been able to find it in Steam updates history myself to be certain. 

Avast Virus Issue

For some reason, Batman: Arkham Origins shows up on Avast’s radar as a virus. This is a false positive.

WBID/Multiplayer Issues

This one affects people in different ways. One of the first things that you are offered is the opportunity to get your hands on a new Batsuit if you create a WBID. Through personal experience, after trying to do this, I got an error through the website when I tried to verify my account. If you attempt to login, you will not be able to.

  • Restart the game. You will get a message congratulating you on creating an account and unlocking the new Batsuit.

Other issues under this umbrella include level resets in multiplayer, and WBID kicking you offline

My best advice is to avoid multiplayer for the time being, since it is the first day and the game is very buggy. You risk running into the above problems as well as losing level resets and player progress in single player.

Flickering Killer Croc/No Dialogue

I experienced this one myself. I had a little trouble in the fight with Killer Croc (that still sounds so embarrassing to admit) which resulted in my fighting him about three times. On the last time, he bugged out and started flickering. Which was fine in terms of gameplay, it made him no harder to fight, but it did make for some silly screenshots. So far, those affected appear to be using AMD, but there have only been a handful of reports.

(Killer Croc trying to eat your face off)

(what you see with flickering Killer Croc glitch)

This will need a patch fix too, but at least it is harmless and not gamebreaking.

Additionally, sound and subtitles may cut out during this fight, as well as at the very beginning of the game. There is currently no fix for these either, and require a patch. I did not encounter this issue. 

Sound Bug in GCPD Communications Tower

Sound may cut out for you in/after the GCPD Tower area. This is fixable, but not immediately.

  • Follow the game through the area and complete the scripted commands
  • You will reach a door locked by a terminal which suggests switching to Detective Mode and scanning around you
  • Exit the game and reboot

Sound and subtitles should now be functioning again.

Skip Steam Intros

And lastly… this is not exactly a bug, but it is very annoying. The opening intros for the game are very long, very annoying, and completely unskippable. 

  • Go to Steam Library
  • Right-click on Batman: Arkham > Properties
  • Add this to launch options: -nostartupmovies

I will post more bugs and fixes as I find them. Many thanks to users on the Steam forums, the WB Games forums, and friends around the internet!

For those of you feeling extremely frustrated, please remember that this is the first day – there will be bugs. They will be horrible and game-breaking, as per any new release. The Batman: Arkham series has weathered these before, and have come away from them as superstar releases stacked with awards. It’s not exactly easy, but give it time. 

If you cannot find the issue covered here, I have written several articles on other common issues and their fixes:

  • Issue Fixes #2 (covers getting stuck in GCPD tunnels, Mad Hatter issues, etc.)
  • Issue Fixes #3 (covers post-Steam patch final Bane fight black screen, Steam issues, etc.)
  • Issue Fixes #4 (covers Chapel glitch, My Alibi glitch, Copperhead bugs, Deathstroke, Steam, etc.)

For walkthroughs and other tips for Batman: Arkham Originscheck out the Master List.

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Author
Stephanie Tang
Avid PC gamer, long-time console lover. I enjoy shooting things in the face and am dangerously addicted to pretty. I'm also a cat.