CTA bus simulator releasing soon

[jajuan]

Ha! This is getting funnier than I thought! Grundelphia??? Oh my goodness!!!  I mean hell, give the guy credit when it's due but I still can't stop laughing my butt off about "Greycat"! 

Yup that's what he named it. And just like our local Chicago group here have pointed out the Chicago RTS retooled from one originally developed from Eastern USA versions of that bus aren't really Chicago accurate, I'm sure the Philly folks who've seen the OMSI game are probably ragging this young guy that his SEPTA NFs aren't really Philly accurate in that SEPTA D40LF buses in real life don't have that rear grill like Chicago and other cities' versions of that bus. They'd also point out how most Philly NFs have that rear destination display placed on the upper right corner of the rear and that it protrudes outward a bit.

[XE NewFlyer]

great bus simulator passengers say did you see the bears game last night sometimes every day and that is so funny but passengers stand up even when the bus is about empty

routes that might be good for the bus simulator

156,151,10,134,143,125,120,121,7,126,17,122 and 123 even though there gone

[jajuan]

great bus simulator passengers say did you see the bears game last night sometimes every day and that is so funny but passengers stand up even when the bus is about empty

routes that might be good for the bus simulator

156,151,10,134,143,125,120,121,7,126,17,122 and 123 even though there gone

Well OMSI 2 does have a chrono feature which basically helps the simulate how services, real or fiction, on a given city map changes over time. So past CTA routes wouldn't be an issue to simulate. But routes like the 7, 126 and full length of 151 would be resource heavy and would take a lot of computer storage space and extra work placed on your computer's graphics capabilities due to the combination of their lengths and number of stops. 10, 134 and 143 are on the long side too for OMSI simulated routes but each of them having express nonstop zones along tree lined highways with fewer buildings along those express zones helps balance the internal computer resource issue.

[jajuan]

One other route I was thinking would be suitable for OMSI 2 based off the Chicago add-on is 157. It's of medium length with a trip time close to that of the two main routes that are part of the OMSI 2 base game. So it shouldn't be too graphics or processor intensive compared to simulating routes of longer length. 

[Mta_Donny]

It sounds to me like this game is set up like the real-world, where you have to wait a few minutes after the bus starts to air to build up before it can move and that is one of the doors is open the bus won't move either. Hopefully this can be made a stand-alone and be available in stores.

I noticed two things. One some of the passengers come on without paying and that some of the passengers stand before the standee line and don't always move to the rear of the bus. And the part where some of the AI vehicles drive through one another. Is this a bug or something? Any answer would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for your time

Edited August 20, 2015 by Mta_Donny

[sw4400]

It sounds to me like this game is set up like the real-world, where you have to wait a few minutes after the bus starts to air to build up before it can move and that is one of the doors is open the bus won't move either. Hopefully this can be made a stand-alone and be available in stores.

I noticed two things. One some of the passengers come on without paying and that some of the passengers stand before the standee line and don't always move to the rear of the bus. And the part where some of the AI vehicles drive through one another. Is this a bug or something? Any answer would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for your time

I, too, would love to see the game revamped and made into something you can get at Target, Wal-Mart, etc... in a DVD or CD form. I like the game, but there is much that needs to be done first....

• Controls: Very loose and too much movement(if you can believe that). I barely moved my mouse to position the driver's head to the panel on the left by the steering wheel so I can set for "Day Run" or "Night Run" to get the bus ready for starting, etc.... and the head rotates all the way up and to the back, like the poor guy has no spine in his back and his head can face the back of the bus and the roof..... creepy!!! There should be a stop point where the head won't go any farther, like if you were the operator(Hard Truck games are like this).
• Graphics: Love the graphics, but they can be glitchy at times. Buses on top of buses, driver going below ground. Game crashing.... needs improvement, but promising start overall.
• Sound: Not much to say... sounds great. Sounds like a New Flyer bus being driven.... brakes releasing, doors opening, kneel function and ramp deployment(though I don't know if it's needed in the game), parking brake application and release. I don't know about the buzzer at startup.... is that the sound a New Flyer makes on startup and if the "Check Engine" light comes on? I remember a bus breaking down once(#1322), but that bus had a high-pitched steady tone going, not a buzzer before the bus engine quit running.
• Game Engine: This is in need of attention. Game talks the talk, but doesn't quite walk the walk.... If you stop running the bus and quit until the next day with say #1701, when you resume, it puts you in that bus, only to find when you go to start it, the damn thing has a dead battery!!! No crank, just a click..... what gives??? And there is no way to fix the bus apparently, as I clicked the wrench icon and nothing... I looked along the exterior of the bus to see if something was there for me to click(engine cover, battery cover), but nothing. For $60, I would've expected a more entertaining game. It looks very promising, but just has sections to be addressed and worked on.

[jajuan]

I, too, would love to see the game revamped and made into something you can get at Target, Wal-Mart, etc... in a DVD or CD form. I like the game, but there is much that needs to be done first....

• Controls: Very loose and too much movement(if you can believe that). I barely moved my mouse to position the driver's head to the panel on the left by the steering wheel so I can set for "Day Run" or "Night Run" to get the bus ready for starting, etc.... and the head rotates all the way up and to the back, like the poor guy has no spine in his back and his head can face the back of the bus and the roof..... creepy!!! There should be a stop point where the head won't go any farther, like if you were the operator(Hard Truck games are like this).
• Graphics: Love the graphics, but they can be glitchy at times. Buses on top of buses, driver going below ground. Game crashing.... needs improvement, but promising start overall.
• Sound: Not much to say... sounds great. Sounds like a New Flyer bus being driven.... brakes releasing, doors opening, kneel function and ramp deployment(though I don't know if it's needed in the game), parking brake application and release. I don't know about the buzzer at startup.... is that the sound a New Flyer makes on startup and if the "Check Engine" light comes on? I remember a bus breaking down once(#1322), but that bus had a high-pitched steady tone going, not a buzzer before the bus engine quit running.
• Game Engine: This is in need of attention. Game talks the talk, but doesn't quite walk the walk.... If you stop running the bus and quit until the next day with say #1701, when you resume, it puts you in that bus, only to find when you go to start it, the damn thing has a dead battery!!! No crank, just a click..... what gives??? And there is no way to fix the bus apparently, as I clicked the wrench icon and nothing... I looked along the exterior of the bus to see if something was there for me to click(engine cover, battery cover), but nothing. For $60, I would've expected a more entertaining game. It looks very promising, but just has sections to be addressed and worked on.

I still say you gave up too easily on the game. There are actually some quick fixes to some of the issues you encountered. To view any of the side controls, it's actually better to use your arrow keys instead of your mouse to turn the driver's head. or if you wish to look at it another way internal camera view. In the case of buses breaking or powering down and refusing to run, that's easily fixed by putting the bus in neutral, shutting the bus completely down, powering it back up and continuing on with your route. Since you're already logged on and signed for a route, you don't have to worry about unlocking the bus's transmission again. With those simple fixes in mind, I've actually had relatively few problems with the game overall during the couple of months I had it. Interestingly, I've found that the Chicago buses are a bit more stable than some of the other buses available in the game, and I actually use them in other game maps than I do the buses meant to be used for those maps. (You're able to do that last one by adding the depot file of those other maps to your Chicago bus vehicle files so that you can log that map's route destinations into your bus). 

[MTRSP1900-CTA3200]

• ...Controls: Very loose and too much movement(if you can believe that). I barely moved my mouse to position the driver's head to the panel on the left by the steering wheel so I can set for "Day Run" or "Night Run" to get the bus ready for starting, etc.... and the head rotates all the way up and to the back, like the poor guy has no spine in his back and his head can face the back of the bus and the roof..... creepy!!! There should be a stop point where the head won't go any farther, like if you were the operator(Hard Truck games are like this).

Flight Simulator allows full 360 degree movement too, and I don't have a problem with it. However there are many more switches and stuff to interact with on a virtual $280 million 747 than a virtual CTA bus. I agree that they could soften up the view sensitivity, and maybe even restrict the degree of rotation, but overall, I don't have a problem with the full views. They might already have an option to change the sensitivity of the view movement though. A game that really handles this aspect well is Euro Truck Simulator 2.

...Game Engine: This is in need of attention. Game talks the talk, but doesn't quite walk the walk.... If you stop running the bus and quit until the next day with say #1701, when you resume, it puts you in that bus, only to find when you go to start it, the damn thing has a dead battery!!! No crank, just a click..... what gives??? And there is no way to fix the bus apparently, as I clicked the wrench icon and nothing... I looked along the exterior of the bus to see if something was there for me to click(engine cover, battery cover), but nothing. For $60, I would've expected a more entertaining game. It looks very promising, but just has sections to be addressed and worked on.

Technically the game is $35 and the Chicago add-on is $20, both before taxes. And there are many clickable things when you are viewing the bus from the outside. You can adjust the interior temperature just by clicking on the hopper windows.

Just start a new game every time and you won't have to go through that. Personally I do what jajuan does though:

...In the case of buses breaking or powering down and refusing to run, that's easily fixed by putting the bus in neutral, shutting the bus completely down, powering it back up and continuing on with your route. Since you're already logged on and signed for a route, you don't have to worry about unlocking the bus's transmission again...

I still find the game and add-on to be worth the money.

[Mta_Donny]

A word of caution. I've seen numerous sites promising this download for free, but it turns out that they are potential viruses or malaware. I think I got tricked like that. Thank God this Avast free version was vigilant enough to catch it. To me it sounds like a way to beat the system. If I'm wrong please correct me. Anyone else aware of these sites? And how safe are the sites where you pay for the download are? What do I do if my antivirus rejects it?

Edited August 26, 2015 by Mta_Donny

[Mta_Donny]

Oh and another thing. I've seen in some videos of the game on You Tube some people take the New Flyers to some maps that are hilly; such as some of the maps of European cities. I've seen the buses struggling to go up the hill. Is that how this bus behaves in real-life? how well do they perform on hilly routes?

[Busjack]

Oh and another thing. I've seen in some videos of the game on You Tube some people take the New Flyers to some maps that are hilly; such as some of the maps of European cities. I've seen the buses struggling to go up the hill. Is that how this bus behaves in real-life? how well do they perform on hilly routes?

Essentially you don't have that problem in Chicago, which is relatively flat. Someone from San Francisco would have to answer that. However, one of the reasons that SF has historic cable cars and trolley buses is that diesel buses, in general, did not work so well.

Another issue may be the powertrain setup, as NF replied in the 2012 procurement that its XD60 with a ZF transmission didn't meet CTA acceleration specs. That left the unanswered question whether one with an Allison transmission would.

[MetroShadow]

Essentially you don't have that problem in Chicago, which is relatively flat. Someone from San Francisco would have to answer that. However, one of the reasons that SF has historic cable cars and trolley buses is that diesel buses, in general, did not work so well.

Another issue may be the powertrain setup, as NF replied in the 2012 procurement that its XD60 with a ZF transmission didn't meet CTA acceleration specs. That left the unanswered question whether one with an Allison transmission would.

In fairness, some of the diesel/hybrids can handle the SF hills, especially in Upper Mission and Nob Hill (besides the point - your bus in the game is dependent on the terrain. Real life buses can handle up-to-ridiculous inclines). 

[BusHunter]

Oh and another thing. I've seen in some videos of the game on You Tube some people take the New Flyers to some maps that are hilly; such as some of the maps of European cities. I've seen the buses struggling to go up the hill. Is that how this bus behaves in real-life? how well do they perform on hilly routes?

Buses perform well, we have a hill here and there basically around narragansett on the north side. Addison has the steepest grade, you can see it on googlemaps. There might be a steeper hill on 103rd east of western, I vaguely remember. As long as the trans is working well there shouldn't be a problem. I remember #4916, the orion, that was getting ready to retire and it had about the worst trans i've seen. It would really struggle to get to speed on flat surfaces around the University of Chicago. Now if you put it on Addison, i couldn't say if it would make it or not. Probably not. Some of these #6400's struggle a little on hills, but they struggle on flat streets too. They are just too worn out, some of them. It's really hit and miss between slow #6400's and faster ones.

Edited August 26, 2015 by BusHunter

[jajuan]

A word of caution. I've seen numerous sites promising this download for free, but it turns out that they are potential viruses or malaware. I think I got tricked like that. Thank God this Avast free version was vigilant enough to catch it. To me it sounds like a way to beat the system. If I'm wrong please correct me. Anyone else aware of these sites? And how safe are the sites where you pay for the download are? What do I do if my antivirus rejects it?

Yes you have to be very careful of sites that offer the base game and any of its payware addons for free because they are indeed bastions for viruses and malware. When it comes to downloading addon maps that are provided as freeware, which you don't pay for, it's best to get those downloads from OMSI forum sites that are specifically set up for sharing such maps. The Aussie site, Aerosoft site, and official OMSI 2 forum set up for player support are good sources. Steam's forums for OMSI 2 also has a list of links of good OMSI 2 maps you can download to your OMSI 2 base game for free with little worry about encountering viruses or malware. 

Oh and another thing. I've seen in some videos of the game on You Tube some people take the New Flyers to some maps that are hilly; such as some of the maps of European cities. I've seen the buses struggling to go up the hill. Is that how this bus behaves in real-life? how well do they perform on hilly routes?

Bushunter and MetroShadow are correct that there are American cities and a few areas in Chicago that have hill like surfaces and some inclines that real life New Flyer buses handle quite well. MetroShadow is also correct that your bus in game is dependent upon the terrain in that specific game map. In some game maps there are some European buses that also struggle with getting up hills and inclines, while there are others with multiple hills and inclines that New Flyers in the game negotiate with the same relative ease that they would relatively flat surfaces.

[XE NewFlyer]

A word of caution. I've seen numerous sites promising this download for free, but it turns out that they are potential viruses or malaware. I think I got tricked like that. Thank God this Avast free version was vigilant enough to catch it. To me it sounds like a way to beat the system. If I'm wrong please correct me. Anyone else aware of these sites? And how safe are the sites where you pay for the download are? What do I do if my antivirus rejects it?

good to know free maps can do that too

[XE NewFlyer]

sometimes when i stop the D40LF is says on the dash pannel low oil and do not shift is that a glitch or is it when i stop to hard

Edited August 28, 2015 by XE NewFlyer

[Mta_Donny]

sometimes when i stop the D40LF is says on the dash pannel low oil and do not shift is that a glitch or is it when i stop to hard

I think it's a feature to mimic what happens to buses in real life. It could be that the oil might shift because of the way the bus might be brought to a stop. A censor in the motor could pick it up and think the engine is low on oil and shut down to lessen the chance of engine damage. Another thing. Could someone please tell me if checks can be used online to get this game? Some people like me are a little paranoid of using any sort of card online.

[XE NewFlyer]

route 151 union stn B&H 9.57 km 156 9.25 km 157 10.97 km

Edited September 2, 2015 by XE NewFlyer

[jajuan]

sometimes when i stop the D40LF is says on the dash pannel low oil and do not shift is that a glitch or is it when i stop to hard

Yes it is indeed from stopping too hard or too fast. The game is mimicking the oil shifting to just one section of the bus and thus the sensor thinking oil ran low.

[XE NewFlyer]

some how all my signs are gone stop signs bus stop signs all signs are gone but not stop lights

[jajuan]

some how all my signs are gone stop signs bus stop signs all signs are gone but not stop lights

Did you check your map complexity settings? Since the Chicago bus stop signs are a bit more detailed than you usually see on OMSI, your map complexity settings need to be at least 3 for the chicago bus stop signs to show.

[Mta_Donny]

Is there a feature in the game that allows you to transfer passengers should your bus breakdown? 

Here's a video showing an example of a CTA New Flyer bus breaking down during a run on route 124

[BusHunter]

I got this for Xmas. It's actually not bad once you figure out how to operate the buses. I was fiddling with it and it has alot of extra options which makes it kind of cool, like you can adjust the time on the clever devices display. You can even play with the destinations, like if you're lonely for a #77 to Cumberland display you can just type it in and it displays. I even had a #X80 Irving Pk Exp on the sign. cool!! The steering is kind of loose, any small adjustments and the bus turns. I've already done the #124 and #130 round trips, it's really cool how the passengers pay fares via ventra. I wonder if it will accept cash fares, there is an adjustment to turn on the sale of tickets, I haven't yet tried. I was looking at the adjustments and you can adjust the game to penalize you if you should hit a car. By default it's only gonna penalize you for hitting pedestrians. You can adjust the traffic flow too and how many passengers will board the bus. I still need to play with that though. It would be cool if I could get a full standing load bus. I tried to get the TMC mod working but it's just showing up as an MTA bus. Overall I think it's interesting and worth the money. It would be cool though if I someone could expand it to use other routes. They claim there's a tutorial on that but I haven't yet researched it.

There's always other OMSI simulations to try like I might be interesting in trying the south london one. It would be cool to drive a double decker.

[jajuan]

1 hour ago, BusHunter said:

I got this for Xmas. It's actually not bad once you figure out how to operate the buses. I was fiddling with it and it has alot of extra options which makes it kind of cool, like you can adjust the time on the clever devices display. You can even play with the destinations, like if you're lonely for a #77 to Cumberland display you can just type it in and it displays. I even had a #X80 Irving Pk Exp on the sign. cool!! The steering is kind of loose, any small adjustments and the bus turns. I've already done the #124 and #130 round trips, it's really cool how the passengers pay fares via ventra. I wonder if it will accept cash fares, there is an adjustment to turn on the sale of tickets, I haven't yet tried. I was looking at the adjustments and you can adjust the game to penalize you if you should hit a car. By default it's only gonna penalize you for hitting pedestrians. You can adjust the traffic flow too and how many passengers will board the bus. I still need to play with that though. It would be cool if I could get a full standing load bus. I tried to get the TMC mod working but it's just showing up as an MTA bus. Overall I think it's interesting and worth the money. It would be cool though if I someone could expand it to use other routes. They claim there's a tutorial on that but I haven't yet researched it.

There's always other OMSI simulations to try like I might be interesting in trying the south london one. It would be cool to drive a double decker.

When you get the hang of the game BH try driving the Chicago buses in other city simulations. You're in for a lot of fun. You'd have to copy and paste the .hof files for that map into Chicago bus vehicle files to use the Chicago buses on that different map though. Doing that similar process for the RTS bus you downloaded should get destination signs for Chicago city routes to show on that bus too. Find the .hof file for the Chicago map in the Chicago bus vehicle files and copy and paste into the RTS vehicle files. When using the Chicago buses on different city maps, after you select the route you want to drive the game generates a random run number for that route that you can key into the clever device since NF buses on OMSI are defaulted to ask for run numbers from being simulated versions of Chicago NF buses. The farebox also automatically reverts to an OMSI generic one on maps other than Chicago when using the Chicago NF. The Ventra reader on the passenger side of the farebox stays though.  I found a modification on the OMSI forum page for different paint jobs for the 40 ft NF. After downloading it, it had the extra benefit of also expanding the fleet numbers. So now I'm not restricted to the fleet numbers for 40 ft diesel buses that were assigned to Kedzie garage at the time that the Chicago add-on for OMSI got developed.

On 9/17/2015 at 10:06 AM, Mta_Donny said:

Is there a feature in the game that allows you to transfer passengers should your bus breakdown? 

Here's a video showing an example of a CTA New Flyer bus breaking down during a run on route 124

You can get around the bus stalls with the Chicago buses by applying the parking brake and shifting the bus into neutral gear. The bus motor cranks right back up. The motor won't shift on unless the fear is on neutral.

[Busjack]

18 hours ago, BusHunter said:

By default it's only gonna penalize you for hitting pedestrians.

Is Dorval Carter going to bring out the virtual legal department to defend you?