Pro Van Skillz

A collection of the techniques that I've discovered while playing this lovely and legal game.

Intro

So you want more? You want to truly master this game? Well, then, you're gonna have to learn the REAL tricks of the trade... and by that, I mean how to work the game in not-quite intended ways. As a (somewhat literal) roadmap for these techniques, I present to you:

YE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO THE EXPLOITATION OF THE VAN!

(If you have any suggestions, leave them in the comments! I will try to add them!)

This guide is mostly about how to mess with the van, since that's what I spend most of my time doing.

1: Van-jumping

First: Van-jumping. This is the most powerful trick I've found so far.

The van is a very tall vehicle. By jumping on the hood and then onto the roof (this might take a couple tries), you can use the van as a platform for looking or jumping. By parking the van next to a wall and then jumping on the roof, you can go over pretty much any wall in the game. You might, however, have to look around for a part of the wall that's shorter than the rest.

This also works with the car too, but it's shorter so the jumping part doesn't work very often. It still works for spotting cameras, though.

Remember that nobody cares where you park the vehicle as long as it's not in the middle of the road or on the sidewalk. The vehicle does, however, trigger cameras and guards, although guards can't shoot you through the windows.

Some examples:
>Wanna get into the Software House (302)? Park the van right next to the hedges behind the building, then jump from the roof of the van to the hedges, from the hedges over the fence, and then down from the fence into the back of the building. If you do it right next to the climbable gutter, and time it so that the guards arn't looking, you can get into the software house at any time of day.

>What about The Butlers (202)? Behind their house is a section where, if you look up at the wall, you can see climbable vines high off the ground. Conveniently, those vines happen to be at the same height as the top of the van... huh. By quickly scooting to the left of the house and up the patio stairs, you can get into the second floor of the house with no tools whatsoever, except your neutron-star balls that you used to get past the guard there. Getting out is also easy, but that's for later.

>Still not enough? Try getting into the warehouse (301) via the BACK DOOR! Along the cargo-container side of the wall, one section of wall is slightly shorter than the rest and doesn't have any wire on top. Not only can you jump over that with the van, but you can also throw most of the heavy loot back over it, too!

>Pretty much every house in Greenview can be accessed this way.

>The construction site (305... I think? I'm forgetting the numbers.) can be vanned into as well. Drive off to the right side of the site, and back the van up to the part of the fence that is partly collapsed. By jumping through the crack in the fence from the van, you can get over the wall, but you can't get back out that way.

2: Loading items through walls

Now, another one involving the vehicles: Loading items through walls.

As long as you are holding a large item (Like a printer or server) near the rear of a vehicle, it will be loaded into the back. You don't actually have to open the rear door of the vehicle to load items in, just walking into the back of the vehicle while holding the object will load it in.

This means that, even if the vehicle is parked on the other side of a wall, you can still load heavy items into it without actually having to leave the place, load the item, and come back in.

Some examples:

Well... I can't really think of any examples where this is particularily useful, but it works well with technique #1.

3: Escape

Running away is a very important part of this game. Here are some tips!

You don't actually have to drive out of the neighborhood... You can walk, run, or use one of the cars you've stolen.

Some examples:

>If you get caught in the office of the Motorcycle Shop (302), you can run jump out of the wall and run straight for the border, in a pinch.

>If you load something into the car/van and then walk out, the item doesn't dissapear: you still get whatever loot you have.

General tips

Here are a few more things that are useful, but not really powerful enough to warrant their own section.

>Just like real life, you don't take fall damage.

>Despite the fact that the vehicles sound like they make noise, NPC's can't actually hear the car engine at all. If you somehow manage to tokyo-drift your way into a property... you are a god.

>It's super easy to get out of The Butlers (202): Just make your way down the cliff and to the far left of the property (away from the house). If you sprint-jump from one of the rocks, you can jump over the wall.

>The Warehouse (301) also has a super easy escape route if you're in the container field at the back of it: Just climb the stairs to the scaffold-thing and jump on top of the containers until you're able to jump over the short section in the wall.

>The Abandoned House (306... if I remember correctly) is super easy to get into, since the guards seem to have really poor vision. Don't test your luck, though.

>If you hack into a door, and the tenant finds it unlocked, they will immediately call the police. Go in through a window or patio door instead, if you can. Remember to close it behind you!

>Tenants almost never go to bathrooms. Use them as safe spots if you lose track of them.

>By holding SHIFT while figuring out a safe, you turn the dial faster. This means you're much less accurate, though, so it's only really useful if you messed up in the first place and are trying to get back to where you were.

> Once you complete the story and kill Vinny, you have the entire upper floor of the Lombardies's house at your disposal. It'll still say that there are four people in the house, but there are only three - trust me.

[mikpet]

Also you can jump over fences by parking your car close to it and interact with the car seat.
Something kind of useless is being able to clip through fences especially at farms but you can Van-jump over more easily, why I bring this up is since the getting into the seat is easier when the car is in those spots.

[mikpet]

Pretty good guide though I've got a lot of use from showing large items through walls.
I found a way to get through windows that have the blockers.
I know it works on 201 and though I haven't really tested it on other windows but most ground level windows tend to work.
(It's not too precise)

1. Find a window, press yourself against the wall and crouch near the middle of the window.

2. Lean to the direction based on which side of the window you're on.

[mikpet]

3. Then you swing yourself towards the window and aim near the middle and either spam interact or just press it once when the prompt comes up.

4. Repeat until you've gotten the window cut and opened it.

5. Make sure the tenants aren't there (If the tenants are close they'll hear the window open)

6. Do it once more and you can climb through the blocked window.

Things to keep in mind:
- You can't get back through even if the window is open inside.
-You need the glass cutter
-If you can't get it working I probably explained it badly and I can send screenshots to prove it or make it clearer.

[b0k0n0n]

you're wrong about tenants never using bathrooms!
in my experience in every house there's _at least_ one person who will be sitting in a bathroom for _at least_ an hour every day... except for that lousy 111 maybe - i've never tried to monitore them that long ;)
the guy who owns the white car (the 4th one - the one involved in story mission where you have to scan his car key) in ng+ he literally spends half a day in his bathroom... i didn't measure the time but i hade more than enough time for myself to bring down full van-load of items while he was admiring his bathtube
...and he's not alone in thatmatter if he's a _tenant_ not just some guard boy - those do intend to ignore bathrooms, that's a fact - they don't get payd for sitting on the toilet ;P

[nicks husband coach]

guys dont test fall damage im in the hospital and i have to sit on wheelchair forever

[pahuuden_ruhtinas]

Yes exactly. The container was just very hard to jump (for me at least, I had to stack office shredders and jump off on top of them :D) Thanks!

[F7FF]

You mean the very top of it? I can recall being there a couple times... I think you just have to walk up a scaffold or some stairs or something.

I remember something about a cargo container that has a ramp on it which lets you get there.

[pahuuden_ruhtinas]

Do you happen to know how to get to the top floor of the construction zone?