Starting the Bus on Command? 83457

[trevbo]

I have had a fair few theories about starting the bus.

Most of us know, if you spawn "Him," while on the Bus, "He," will shut it down. So will EMPs. Now in order to start it back up again, what would we use? the Power Turbine of course!

Noted, but in the event that say, you want to get the bus to leave sooner than the Bus Driver starts driving, what do we do?

I personally have tried using the Turbine to try to get him to go. Sometimes, it seemingly works, yet others I waste a nearly full Turbine getting the Driver to drive.

I read in a separate post, "Stop Calling The Bus Driver TEDD People," a response from:

Also, it seems that if I go up to bd, and aim at the green button on the dash, hit x, he wants to leave. Is it coincidence or does this work?

I keep assuming it is just from me going on the bus, but when I do, he doesn't usually beep. But if i do the green button x thingy, he beeps. Like a 'hurry up' button. Originally, i was hitting x while facing bd, but it was random. Now, xing the green button usually works.

It's probably just the unsanity...

I ALSO have had this theory!! Great find 83457, great find!

It seems to me that nearly EVERY time I try this, he honks, and starts to leave. It is independent of character, and timing, as I have made him leave almost 10 seconds within being at the next stop! just wait for him to finish his dialogue, face front, and try it! I usually rapid press "X," a few times, then hold it, and he honks!

If anyone else can help verify, we may have GREATLY leapt forward in the struggle! If anyone else has a post about this proved already, I'm a giant Jackass Flats! Haha!

Simply more thoughts and ideas pouring into the pot..

[zombo187]

I will try this! I know for a fact from multiple games of experience that as soon as you arrive at a new stop, open the doors and get off, and then you can get right back on and close the doors and CROUTCH and he will leave almost immediately.

Note: If you are playing with 4 members this method gets a bit hazy and usually requires all members on the bus to crouch for a few seconds.

But in my experience this works. traveling around getting perks is the best way to test it. get your crew to keep the crawler and go on the bus on a perk hunting mission and when you arrive somewhere open the doors and get off. then afer 1 sec of bieng off, get back on. Then you close the doors and crouch and the bus will usually start honking right away. I have even told my fellow gamers online about it and they told me that they get it to work for them as well nearly every time. with exception of complications of people near the bus or on top of the bus and even then after only a brief moment longer it honks and heads out.

[mX42o]

Just keep opening and closing the doors and he will leave right away. Also If you shoot him enough he will just keep driving right through the stops. Huge waste of ammo though.

[InfestLithium]

Just keep opening and closing the doors and he will leave right away. Also If you shoot him enough he will just keep driving right through the stops. Huge waste of ammo though.

There's where knifing comes in. Keep meleeing him until he gets angry around 3-4 times, and he'll lock the doors on you a take a five minute non-stop drive through the map. I tend to stay near the door when this happens so I know if he's still pissed off or not. But I have heard that you can manually relieve the bus driver's anger by doing what seems to be called "paying the fare". I'm going to also test this right now; I mainly heard this from a friend who too played zombies with me and said he got out with that method.

As far as Him goes, I just shot/knifed him until he grows tired of being pounded into.

Edit: Theory is invalid. I've done the process a little over 10 times, and no positive results followed. Estimating how long the doors remain locked, it is precisely 35-37 seconds. It's easy to attempt the procedure and assume that you can break free from the locked bus if you don't pay attention to time.

Also, the bus will being to leave quickly as long as nobody had gotten out the bus. When it reaches a stop, the bus driver waits a bit to see if a player has gotten out (this means staying inside the bus at all times, no squatting at the top). Then it leaves because the system recognizes that the players don't wish to get off.

[trevbo]

[Also, the bus will being to leave quickly as long as nobody had gotten out the bus. When it reaches a stop, the bus driver waits a bit to see if a player has gotten out (this means staying inside the bus at all times, no squatting at the top). Then it leaves because the system recognizes that the players don't wish to get off.

So what you're getting at Lithium, is that Treyarch placed essentially a 2-D, AI Character, with adaptive tendencies and player recognizing habits? With the "consciousness," to be able to know that the palyers wasnt to leave, simply because they didn't get off?

This would be quite a big deal. Unless theres other games that have done similar things with actual Artificial intelligence, not just meaning Bots that have no adaptive capabilities. Isn't that what separates actual consciousness from every version of AI, the ability to adapt?

If they did, THATS AWESOME. But I think its still all player initiated sequences. I guess there's nothing to do but test these ideas! I'm about to start the Rape Train, so we'll see! I'll be sure to post results!

[InfestLithium]

Essentially, yes; the game can render whether or not someone leaves the bus. I'm fairly certain that using the hatch though can bypass it. All the system needs to recognize is whether or not the bus doors open upon reaching a new location. I say this because in all the games I've ever played, getting off the bus causes the bus to leave around 3-5 minutes, whereas staying on the bus without opening the doors causes it to move onto the next stop. I'm pretty sure that I'm wrong in this scenario, but this is all just by evidence I picked up. It may differ from what you've played, or what anyone else has played. Tonight, I will see if this is exactly true or not.

[TheKingOfToast]

I can confirm that if you just stay pm the bus, he will leave shortly after arriving.

[trevbo]

I would have to agree. I tried it for myself tonight, and ran through quite a bit of TranZit. it seemed as though while we got off the bus, I can see where the game can recognize that the doors were opened because when we got off, it did stick around a while longer.

Also, I recall doing a few scenarios, inadvertently. I would open the doors, but stay on the bus, crouched, and he would leave much sooner, like 10-30 seconds after arriving. Other times, we wouldn't open the doors, and stay on the bus, tried both, crouched and standing, and he left around the same 10-30 second time range.

I verified the theory of getting off the bus, and then letting him finish his animation of arriving, saying dialogue, then spinning his head and body around then getting back on and holding X on the green light, or the other buttons next to it. He again seemed to drive off quite quickly, as though this was the catalyst.

Just on thing though, I am almost certain that the time from when you get off, until Bus Driver decides to leave, is for the majority, completely random. I've had times where playing solo, I get off at power, and he's honking as I get the panel completed. And have had others where it seems he stays for at least 5 minutes, sometimes a while longer.

However, I have tried to verify the idea of dropping a Power Turbine to start the bus, but is seems as though that has no effect. Its almost as if it does nothing. There have been few times where coincidentally it honked a few seconds after dropping one, but for the majority, I have no luck in this matter. Yet, others swear by it, so if it works for you, by all means, I may be wrong.

So all in all, I believe that many of the above stated theories are actually looking towards proven, as far I have researched, though I would like to hear the rest of your inputs. This is seemingly a good thing we have found, and quite helpful in sticky, or time saving situations.

EDIT: I think our idea of the Bus Driver knowing whether or not people are getting on and off the bus may actually be legitimate. Just think of the times when you get off the bus, say, of the way to the Farm, and take the shortcut past the Church to Town. We did this several times tonight, and the bus seemed to show up within a couple of minutes every time, regardless that there are two stops between, and lots of road. I think the bus may INDEED be quite an elaborate piece of AI coding that actually knows to leave faster when no one is on, and stay longer when people have gotten off.

Mostly only thoughts, but much good comes from positive thinking and research..

[PINNAZ]

I always tap 'x' (action) button on the Bus Driver & thought that he leaves quicker aswell. But I think what actually triggers him to start driving, is once you board the bus, this triggers one of his quotes, then he leaves shortly after.

So what you're getting at Lithium, is that Treyarch placed essentially a 2-D, AI Character, with adaptive tendencies and player recognizing habits? With the "consciousness," to be able to know that the palyers wasnt to leave, simply because they didn't get off?

The game has always had this ability. Think of it this way, you stand in certain areas & different atmospheric audio is activated. All the Radio's, Teddy Bears & other items can trigger certain things such as a song, audio or a door to open.

Heaps of games do this & have for many years. Stand in a certain vicinity or hit a certain button, it activates something.

The Bus Driver is no different.

[trevbo]

Well, I can see what you're saying here:

The game has always had this ability. Think of it this way, you stand in certain areas & different atmospheric audio is activated. All the Radio's, Teddy Bears & other items can trigger certain things such as a song, audio or a door to open.

Heaps of games do this & have for many years. Stand in a certain vicinity or hit a certain button, it activates something.

The Bus Driver is no different.

But that isn't what i was trying to get at. I was more saying that the real difference from AI and actual intelligence, is adaptation, and consciousness. NOT saying that the Bus Driver is conscious, but it certainly seems that he is adaptive, which many games along lines like Black Ops, are not. Yes, we could get into fighting games where opponents start to block if the same attack is used over and over, but this is a zombies forum, so I'll try to keep to myself about it.

I guess I'm saying that its impressive how they decided to make the bus that intelligent, and somewhat manipulative.

[Edward Richtofen]

To trigger the bus, enter and close the doors. The horn will sound in about 5 secs. This is also why if you don't open doors the stops are shorter.

[billy_bonesz]

I've been pressing pretty much all buttons really fast once on the bus, top or inside. and it SEEMS to trigger him to start up the bus faster. Just hit action, crouch, switch guns and jump alot and he seems to get the idea that your ready, I guess its as useful as shooting or grenading the box for a ray gun. It could be chance or it may get him going.

[SlashRacer]

I always run around on the inside. I run a clockwise loop making sure I run across all 4 wheel wells. Seems like it works with 10 seconds every time.

[83457]

Essentially, yes; the game can render whether or not someone leaves the bus. I'm fairly certain that using the hatch though can bypass it. All the system needs to recognize is whether or not the bus doors open upon reaching a new location. I say this because in all the games I've ever played, getting off the bus causes the bus to leave around 3-5 minutes, whereas staying on the bus without opening the doors causes it to move onto the next stop. I'm pretty sure that I'm wrong in this scenario, but this is all just by evidence I picked up. It may differ from what you've played, or what anyone else has played. Tonight, I will see if this is exactly true or not.

I always leave the doors open, but staying on the bus hurries it up regardless. The zombies only come in the doors when it is stopped, so I rarely close them. Or i shut it in the face of the zombie on my six, then reopen it as he jumps on the window/roof.

It seems that you can't hurry him up if he is doing his little seat-dance, otherwise it seems fairly reliable...

Yes, it's me!

Edit: i tried all last night (made round 26 solo), it worked every time. Make sure he isn't spinning around, hit x, wait a solid 3 count (you can run away during this time) and he will beep.