Sim City 2000 FAQ
INDEX
1.0 MISC I (General questions about the game)
2.0 TOOLS (Zoning, transportation, water, city
services)
3.0 BUDGET + OTHER WINDOWS (Taxes, ordinances, etc.)
4.0 MISC II (Bugs, rewards, cheats)
A-1 Appendix 1 (Solving Problems)
A-2 Appendix 2 (Adjusting Difficulty)
A-3 Appendix 3 (Mac Technical Problems)
A-4 Appendix 4 (IBM Technical Problems)
A-5 Appendix 5 (How to Make a Boot Disk)
1.0 MISC I
1.1 Q: (MAC) Where can I get the v1.1 updater?
1.1 A: The updater is available at the following ftp sites:
spider.navsses.navy.mil in /Joe 240/pub/game/sc2k
netcom.com in /pub/maxis
sumex-aim.stanford.edu
mac.archive.umich.edu
If you are unable to ftp, drop me a line (thx@netcom.com)
and I will mail you a copy.
1.2 Q: (MAC) What does the updater do?
1.2 A: *The budget should work properly now, transit figures
should be correct (and stay that way.)
*The Bulldoze Tool should always default to Bulldoze
instead of whatever tool was last used. This should
prevent accidental mass destruction caused by
forgetting that the last bulldoze tool being used was
Raise/Lower/Level Terrain.
*Airports should build correctly now (the ratio of
towers to runways should be better.)
*Several problems that show up with more than 7
stadiums/teams should be gone.
*Figures in the Analysis window (from the City Hall
query window) should stay correct.
*Sometimes, destroying bridges would leave an
un-usable shoreline tile. This should be fixed.
*Querying on certain tiles of the Forest Arcology in
certain situations would report bare land, this
should not happen.
*Arcologies that do not have micro-simulators attached
should now affect population (populations far greater
than 9.1 million should be attainable.)
*There is a new button when using the query tool on a
library.
*Placing highway and re-enforced bridges now charges
the user correctly.
*Schools should work properly at population levels
above 60,000.
*The date should now properly display above 9,999
years.
*The power graph should be more accurate.
1.1 Q: (IBM) I'm having trouble installing SC2K.
1.1 A: See Appendix 4 and 5 at the bottom of this file.
1.2 Q: Where's the SimCity2000 ftp site?
1.2 A: (MAC) spider.navsses.navy.mil in /Joe240/pub/game/sc2k
1.2 A: (IBM) andyspc.rh.uchicago.edu in /pub/sc2k
Logon as anonup with password upload in order to upload.
1.3 Q: Why can't I get onto the spider site?
1.3 A: The proprietor occasionally has things more important
than SimCity2000 to occupy his computer's time with.
I can't imagine what. :)
1.4 Q: How do I get on the Sim mailing list?
1.4 A: There is a digest and non-digest version of the mailing
list. For the digest, send mail to majordomo@cisco.com
with the following line in the body of the message:
subscribe simlist-digest
For the non-digest, use the following line
subscribe simlist
1.5 Q: Does Maxis have an E-Mail address?
1.5 A: You can reach e-mail technical support at
support@maxis.com
1.6 Q: Is there anybody from Maxis on the net?
1.6 A: Yes - Chris Weiss, cweiss@netcom.com
1.7 Q: Where can I get a demo of SimCity2000?
1.7 A: Anonymous ftp to netcom.com. Look in the /pub/maxis
directory.
SC2KDEMO.ZIP is a slide show for IBM.
SC2KDEMO.SEA is a slide show for Mac.
1.8 Q: How do I log on to the Maxis BBS?
1.8 A: The phone number is (510) 254-3869. (8-N-1)
1.9 Q: What's a good price for SimCity2000?
1.9 A: Well, I paid $38.88 (with CUE discount) at Egghead.
1.10 Q: Can I upgrade from the old Sim City?
1.10 A: No, I don't think so. SC2K is, pretty much, a totally
different product.
1.11 Q: (MAC) Can I run SC2K on my black and white mac?
1.11 A: No. SC2K is specifically designed to run in 256-colors.
1.12 Q: What newsgroups talk about SimCity2000?
1.12 A: comp.sys.mac.games, comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.misc,
and comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.strategic.
1.13 Q: Is there an upper limit on population?
1.13 A: (MAC v1.0) Yes. Only arcologies that have are
represented by a microsimulator contribute to population
- so, the theoretical maximum is somewhere around 9.1 million.
(MAC v1.1) Unknown. The updater now allows all arcos,
to contribute to population.
1.14 Q: Are there any books out about SimCity2000?
1.14 A: Well, I asked Nick Dargahi about his upcoming book:
"Here's the latest scoop. I am a coauthor of the
SimCity Power, Politics, and Planning book that
Prima Publishing is releasing next month, the other
author is Michael Bremer who, as you know, wrote the
manual that comes with the software. Our book
includes information that isn't available anywhere
else, since we had direct access to the programmers
and staff at Maxis.
Our book also includes color pictures of interesting
cities, including a city which has the world
population record for a SimCity of 9.3 million
people.
Other topics include:
*The most comprehensive information resource guide
for all tools, buildings and object types in
SimCity.
*The Making of SimCity 2000: Interviews with the
designers, and background information on how SimCity
2000 came into being.
*Greater detail on how the simulation works.
*How to beat the scenarios: tested methods to win
each scenario.
*Tips & Tricks Chapter: Includes how to hex edit your
city files to add more money or create new scenarios
of your own design. All Easter Eggs are mentioned.
*The Economic model. Managing your money, and
employing different economic strategies.
*Plus an appendix that teaches you how to install the
DOS version of SimCity 2000 so that it will run
under Windows 3.1 (as a DOS application) or under OS/2."
Nick is also the author of SimCity Strategies and Secrets
and A-Train - The Official Strategy Guide.
Johnny L. Wilson is working on The Sim City 2000 Planning
Commisioners Handbook, probably to be published by McGraw
Hill.
2.0 TOOLS
2.1 Bulldozer
2.1.1 Q: Should I buldoze abandoned buildings?
2.1.1 A: You can, but it's not necessary. Sims will build over
abandoned buildings, although, abandoned buildings
lower property values.
2.1.2 Q: Do I have to buldoze rubble?
2.1.2 A: No. Sims will build over rubble.
2.1.3 Q: Is there any way to bulldoze large areas at a time?
2.1.3 A: No. Although you can destroy a few buildings at a time
using raise terrain tool.
2.1.4 Q: The sims complain when I try to bulldoze some forest.
Should I pay any attention to them?
2.1.4 A: I don't think it'll do you any harm to ignore them.
2.2 Landscape
2.2.1 Q: How do I make waterfalls?
2.2.1 A: Place water on a slope.
2.2.2.Q: What's the magic eraser?
2.2.2 A: Select the tree tool. Press the mouse button with
the cursor on a blank tile. Keep holding down the
button and press the shift key. The cursor will
now erase any type of development. The effect is
rather odd - when you query the tile that's been
erased, the old structure appears to still be there.
2.2.3 Q: Can I make a deep river at higher elevations?
2.2.3 A: No, the only way to add water at elevations above
sea level is to use the water tool - and this only
makes water that is 50 feet deep.
2.2.4 Q: Does the water tool make fresh water or salt water?
2.2.4 A: (MAC) Fresh water.
2.2.4 A: (IBM) The water tool seems to make fresh water half
the time and salt water the other half.
2.3 Power
2.3.1 Q: Do undeveloped zones conduct power?
2.3.1 A: No. Only tiles that have immediate contact to
power (either next to another building or next
to a power line) will be powered.
2.3.2 Q: What type of power plant should I use?
2.3.2 A: If you aren't concerned with money, fusion plants
are the most efficient, and don't pollute or cause
disasters - like nuclear and microwave.
If you are concerned about money, then hydro is
best. Hydro plants don't pollute and don't need
to be replaced every 50 years.
2.3.3 Q: Isn't it kind of like cheating to use hydro power?
2.3.3 A: Well, first off, it's just a game, and you can
do whatever you want with it. The most efficient
use of hydro would be to use the raise terrain tool
to make a little bump. Line the bump with waterfalls
and then place hydro plants on the waterfalls. You
could even surround the hydro pants with water
pumps. This is the best, and most unrealistic use
of hydro plants. A more realistic approach would
be to make a map with a river, then raise the land
on one end of the river, and draw the river back
in, having it flow down the raised land. You could
then build large dams on the slopes.
2.3.4 Q: My power plants seem to last forever.
2.3.4 A: If you have disasters off, your power plants
will automatically be replaced when they are 50
years old. Their cost will also be deducted from
your coffers.
2.3.5 Q: Why don't hydro plants and wind power have to
be replaced every 50 years?
2.3.5 A: Well, you could say that this is bias on the
part of Maxis to encourage the use of clean power.
The real reason has to do with programming
limitations - they'd have to keep track of the
age of each plant.
2.3.6 Q: Why should I use wind power?
2.3.6 A: I don't know - appearance, maybe? If you have extra
space on the top of a mountain, you could put
windmills there. You could use a couple of wind
power plants to sustain a small village in the
middle of nowhere.
2.3.7 Q: Do I have to use raised wires to run power across water?
2.3.7 A: No, there's a cheat you can use to get around this.
Chris Weiss writes:
"There's a little trick you can do to run power across
water without needing lines. First, you need 3 tiles of
water between where you'd run the line from and where
you'd run it to. Build a power line brige across that 3
tile space and bulldoze the power line between the two
"on-ramps" for the power bridge. Replace the flat land
tiles with water again and Voila! The power flows across
the no-longer-existent power bridge."
2.4 Water
2.4.1 Q: How effective is a water pump?
2.4.1 A: A water pump (not next to water) will service
approximately 24 to 36 tiles, depending on the weather.
An additional 12 tiles (approx.) will be serviced for
every water tile that the pump is adjacent to.
For example: W W W
L P L
L L L
where W = water, L = land, P = pump
The above pump is next to 3 water tiles, therefore, it
will provide 60 to 72 tiles with water. I think that
each tile requires 600 gallons of water.
2.4.2 Q: Should I build water towers?
2.4.2 A: Each water tower will hold up to 40,000 gallons of
water. They will only fill up when you have a surplus.
It's probably easier to just build four more pumps in
the space that a tower would take.
2.4.3 Q: What good is a water treatment plant?
2.4.3 A: The manual says that water treatment plants will help
you prevent droughts by cleaning and recycling your
water. However, the online help says that water
treatment plants will reduce the overall pollution level
of your city. Experimentation has revealed that water
treatment plants do not really have anything to do with
the water supply. Adding one treatment plant (anywhere
on the map) will reduce the pollution level of your
city quite a bit. Additonal treatment plants have no
effect, though. So, build one, and only one
2.4.4 Q: How effective is a desalination plant?
2.4.4 A: Desalination plants seem to have an effective radius, so
there effectiveness is rather complicated. They can
provide water to 200 - 500 tiles each, depending on how
many seawater tiles are adjacent to the plant.
2.4.5 Q: What types of water will help a water pump?
2.4.5 A: Natural water and artificial water will improve the
performance of a water pump, while salt water will not.
Use the query tool to find out whether water is salty or
fresh. Water pump performance will even be improved by a
waterfall, or a waterfall with a hydro plant on it.
2.4.6 Q: I've built several pumps on the edge of my city,
but all the water seems to be going to the center.
2.4.6 A: Well, SC2K figures out how much water you have, then
it distributes it from the center of your city. The
only way to keep the water at the edge would be to
cut it off from the water system.
2.4.7 Q: Where do I need to build pipes?
2.4.7 A: Sims will automatically build pipes underneath
buildings, so, all you need to do, is build pipes
underneath roads. I like to place pipes underneath
my power lines.
2.5 Road + Rail
2.5.1 Q: How much road do I need?
2.5.1 A: A zone (residential, commercial, or industrial) must
be within 3 tiles (not counting diagonally) of a
road in order to start growing. If you're really
strapped for cash (say you start on the hard level)
then you can get away with discontinuous roads.
Just drop down 1 tile sections of road and build
different zones around it:
For example: R R R
R R R R R
R R r I I
C C I I I
C I I
where r = road R = residential, C = commercial,
I = industrial
Actually you don't really need any roads at all. If you
want, you can rely totally on mass transit. You won't
have any traffic, but growth will be less and
larger(3X3) buildings won't develop.
For example, sims will build given the following setup:
R I
R R R I I I
R R R R R I I I I I
R R R s R R R I I I s I I I
R R R R R I I I I I
R R R I I I
R I
where R = residential, I =industrial,
s = sub stations - connected underground by subway
2.5.2 Q: Why should I use rail instead of a subway?
2.5.2 A: Rail is cheaper, and, supposedly, has a greater
positive impact on heavy industry.
2.5.3 Q: How do bus stations work?
2.5.3 A: Place bus stations at busy intersections to
reduce traffic at that intersection.
2.5.4 Q: How do you build a reinforced girder bridge?
2.5.4 A: You will be asked if you want to build a reinforced
bridge if you place a highway tile halfway over
water:
before: L L L W W W after L L L W W W
L L L W W W L L H H W W
L L L W W W L L H H W W
L L L W W W L L L W W W
where L = land, W = water, H = highway tile
2.5.5 Q: What's the difference between a highway bridge and a
reinforced bridge?
2.5.5 A: Highway bridges don't allow ships to pass, but are
cheaper.
2.5.6 Q: What's the difference between causeways, raising
bridges, and suspension bridges?
2.5.6 A: Causeways do not allow ships to pass. Raising
bridges and suspension bridges both allow ships
to pass. Raising bridges are cheaper than
suspension bridges, but can only be a maximum of
eleven tiles long.
2.5.7 Q: How does my transportation system affect growth?
2.5.7 A: Residential zones must be properly connected to a
commercial or industrial zone in order to start
growing. Industrial or commercial zones must be
connected to a residential zone in order to start
growing. This connection can either be made by road
rail, or subway, however, growth will be best with
roads.
2.5.8 Q: Is there an annual charge for bus depots?
2.5.8 A: Yes, in fact, there are transportation charges for lots
of things. The chart below shows the various things that
have maintenance charges. The first column shows the
building cost. The other columns show how much is
charged, per year for each item in each category.
(Some items, like Sub/Rail, have split charges.)
Build Road Hwy Brid Rail Sub Tun
Road $10 0.10 -- -- -- -- --
Causeway $25 -- -- 0.22 -- -- --
Raising Bridge $50 -- -- 0.22 -- -- --
Suspension Bridge $75 -- -- 0.22 -- -- --
Highway $100 -- 0.80 -- -- -- --
Highway Bridge $200 -- 0.80 -- -- -- --
Reinforced Bridge $300 -- 0.80 1.00 -- -- --
Tunnel $150 -- -- -- -- -- 0.10
Tunnel Entrance $150 0.10 -- -- -- -- --
Onramp $25 0.10 -- -- -- -- --
Bus Depot $250 25.00 -- -- -- -- --
Rail $25 -- -- -- 0.40 -- --
Rail Bridge $75 -- -- 0.22 -- -- --
Subway $100 -- -- -- -- 0.40 --
Rail Depot $500 -- -- -- 1.60 -- --
Sub Station $250 -- -- -- -- 0.76 --
Sub/Rail $250 -- -- -- 0.40 0.40 --
Power Lines $2 -- -- -- -- -- --
Raised Wires $10 -- -- 0.20 -- -- --
2.5.9 Q: Will sims walk to a road, then drive to a sub station,
take the subway, drive from the sub station, and walk
from the road to work?
2.5.9 A: Well, I said yes before, but actually, work has to be
next to the road. (See next question.)
2.5.10 Q: Why do some zones develop away from a road, and others
don't?
2.5.10 A: terry@laue.biochem.ubc.ca writes:
"I recently posted my theory about the trip generator
by proposing four schemes. The question came up because
I was trying to explain how you can have properties
develop which are not connected to the road. The
schemes are as follows:
A. R = I
B. R =I
C. R= I
D. R=I
Well, I finally ran this experiment. Previously, I just
ran A and D. A did not develop but D did. Now, by
running all four, I have figured out how the trip
generator works. Again, A does not develop. Both
properties in D do develop. The R in B and the I
in C develop, but the I in B and the R in C stay empty
Therefore: the trip generator works by starting at a
square. It finds the nearest transportation link to the
building, which can be up to three tiles away. It then
finds paths to the nearest zones (ie: from an R square,
the generator looks for I and C zones). However, and
this is IMPORTANT, the zones must TOUCH THE ROAD! If it
cannot find zones touching the road, the originating
square will not develop!"
2.5.10 Q: Do I need 2 or 4 onramps at each road-highway
intersection?
2.5.10 A: Well, really, you only need one. The only reason to
have more would be for realism, or to shorten some
trip distances.
2.5.11 Q: Why can't I put highways where I want them?
2.5.11 A: I assume that they only allow highways to placed on
every other tile, just so that there won't ever by a
time when highways mismatch:
H H
H H H H
H H
2.6 Ports + Connections
2.6.1 Q: I've zoned a port - why do they keep complaining?
2.6.1 A: They won't stop complaining until either a runway
or pier has been built.
2.6.2 Q: What is the smallest size of zone for an airport?
2.6.2 A: An airport must be at least 1 X 5 tiles, in order
for a runway to be built.
2.6.3 Q: Why won't my airport grow?
2.6.3 A: I don't know. Results seem to vary from person to
person. Runways won't be built if you have an air
force base. Just keep trying to zone more airport
tiles. Sometimes Sims have difficulty building over
airport tiles that have power lines on them.
2.6.4 Q: Does my airport need to be connected to water pipes or
transportation in order to grow?
2.6.4 A: No. An airport only needs connection to power.
2.6.5 Q: Does my city have to be a certain size before an
airport can be built?
2.6.5 A: No. You could build a successful airport, even before
anybody moves into your city (of course, you won't have
any money left, but...)
2.6.6 Q: Why do I keep having air crashes?
2.6.6 A: You'll have air crashes if you have tall buildings
in the immediate flight path. Generally, it's best
to put your airport out of the way - perhaps on an
island or plateau.
2.6.7 Q: I've zoned a seaport, why won't piers develop?
2.6.7 A: Well, I think that a pier needs to be able to extend out
over water that's at least 150 feet deep.
2.6.8 Q: Exactly what effect do seaports and airports have,
anyway?
2.6.8 A: Unknown. They stop the sim's complaints. Airports
promote commerce and seaports promote industry. Beyond
that, who knows? It's a very hard factor to isolate.
2.6.9 Q: What does it mean when connections are requested?
2.6.9 A: You must build connections to your neighbors. Run a
road, rail, or highway to the edge of the map, and
you will be asked if you want to build a connection
to your neighbor.
2.6.10 Q: What does the number on the connection sign mean?
2.6.10 A: That's the distance to your neighbor.
2.6.11 Q: Why is it possible to build a connection to the
ocean?
2.6.11 A: I don't know.
2.6.12 Q: I've built plenty of connections, but they keep asking
for more.
2.6.12 A: They may want you to build highway or rail connections.
2.6.13 Q: Just how useful are connections, anyway?
2.6.13 A: A connection acts as a stimulus point. Normally,
residential zones are stimulated by being connected to
job zones, and vice versa. A connection will act as a
stimulus to both residential and
commercial/industrial.
2.7 Residential Zones
2.7.1 Q: What kinds of residential zones are there?
2.7.1 A: Name size population
Abandoned building 1 X 1 0
Construction 1 X 1 0
Lower Class Homes 1 X 1 10
Middle Class Homes 1 X 1 10
Luxury Homes 1 X 1 10
Abandoned building 2 X 2 0
Construction 2 X 2 0
Church 2 X 2 0 (dezones when built)
Cheap Apartments 2 X 2 80
Apartments 2 X 2 80
Nice Apartments 2 X 2 80
Condominium 2 X 2 120
Abandoned building 3 X 3 0
Construction 3 X 3 0
Condominium 3 X 3 360
Large Apt. Bldg 3 X 3 450
2.7.2 Q: What's the difference between light residential
heavy residential?
2.7.2 A: Light residential is cheaper and will only allow
1 X 1 buildings.
2.7.2 Q: Why should I use light residential?
2.7.2 A: Aesthetics? Not everyone can live in high rise
apartment buildings. Light residential requires
less police protection than heavy residential. If
your zoning an oddly shaped piece of land that
wouldn't be able to form into a 2X2 or 3X3 building,
you might want to use light instead of heavy.
2.7.3 Q: Why should I use heavy residential?
2.7.3 A: You will need to use heavy if you want your
city to have a large population. The blank map looks
large at the beginning, but you will quickly run out
of space if you rely on light zoning. The larger
buildings use the same amount of power, therefore,
you use less power per person. In addition, you
will get more tax revenue, for the same amount of
space.
2.7.4 Q: How do I encourage my sims to build 3 X 3 buildings?
2.7.5 A: First the property values have to be pretty good.
Second, a 3 X 3 piece of land must be adjacent to
an intersection: R R R r C C C I I I C C C r
R R R r C C C I I I C C C r
R R R r C C C I I I C C C r
r r r r r r r r r r r r r r
where R = res, C = com, I = ind, r = road
In the above example, the residential and commercial
zones may become 3 X 3 buildings, however, the
industrial zone will not.
2.7.6 Q: Can I get rid of all these churches?
2.7.6 A: Dave Chaloux writes:
"You can't really get rid of the churchs but it can
be worthwhile moving them. Zone a 2x2 residential
where you want the church. Blow up the church
and do not rezone. The church will often move to the
2x2 you made for it. Then and only then rezone as
residential where the church was. The reason this is
worth it is because if you zoned for a 3x3, you are
only getting 50 pop around the church (5 1x1s). The 3x3
will give you 360."
Pat Traynor writes:
"Hmmm... I wonder if you could build an industry
block 8x8, and leave the center 2x2 area empty.
Demolish a church in the main residential section
and then quickly zone the center of the industrial
section for residential. Perhaps the church would
pop up there."
This will work, but you have to build a road out to
the center:
r r r r r r r r r r
r I I I I r I I I r
r I I I I r I I I r
r I I I I r I I I r
r I I I R R I I I r
r I I I R R I I I r
r I I I I I I I I r
r I I I I I I I I r
r I I I I I I I I r
r r r r r r r r r r
where R = residential, I = industrial, r = road
Then, once you coerce the church into the middle, you
can bulldoze the road into the middle and replace it
with industrial.
2.8 Commercial Zones
2.8.1 Q: What kinds of commercial zones are there?
2.8.1 A: Name size population
Abandoned building 1 X 1 0
Construction 1 X 1 0
Cassidy's Toy Store 1 X 1 10
Bed & Breakfast Inn 1 X 1 10
Gas Station 1 X 1 10
Small Office Bldg 1 X 1 10
Convenience Store 1 X 1 10
Office Building 1 X 1 10
Warehouse 1 X 1 10
Abandoned building 2 X 2 0
Construction 2 X 2 0
Office Building 2 X 2 80
Resort Hotel 2 X 2 80
Grocery Store 2 X 2 80
Shopping Center 2 X 2 80
Office Building 2 X 2 120
Office/Retail 2 X 2 120
Abandoned building 3 X 3 0
Construction 3 X 3 0
Theatre Square 3 X 3 360
Corporate HQ 3 X 3 360
Parking Lot 3 X 3 360
Drive-In Theater 3 X 3 360
Office Tower 3 X 3 450
Office Park 3 X 3 ??
Historic Office Bldg3 X 3 ??
Mini Mall 3 X 3 ??
2.9 Industrial Zones
2.9.1 Q: What kinds of industrial zones are there?
2.9.1 A: Name size population
Abandoned building 1 X 1 0
Construction 1 X 1 0
Chemical Storage 1 X 1 10
Ind. Substation 1 X 1 10
Warehouse 1 X 1 10
Abandoned building 2 X 2 0
Construction 2 X 2 0
Factory 2 X 2 80
Factory 2 X 2 120
Abandoned building 3 X 3 0
Construction 3 X 3 0
Chemical Processing 3 X 3 360
Factory 3 X 3 360
Large Factory 3 X 3 ??
Warehouse 3 X 3 360
Large Warehouse 3 X 3 360
Ind. Thingamajig 3 X 3 360
2.10 Education Zones
2.10.1 Q: What are the relative effects of education zones?
2.10.1 A: The manual implies that you need 1 school for every
15,000 people in order to increase EQ to 90. This
does not seem right, however. Schools lose their A+
rating when student to teacher ratio goes above
12.75.
In other words, a half-full school gets about an A
and a full school gets an F.
Colleges have a capacity of 50,000, but, as with
schools, grade goes down as the number of students
approaches capacity.
Libraries and museums increase the EQ of all ages.
Museums are more effective than libraries.
2.10.2 Q: Does it matter where I put educational zones?
2.10.2.A: No, educational zones do not need proper access
to transportation to be effective. Educational
zones do increase land value, though.
2.10.3 Q: What EQ is average?
2.10.3 A: The SimNation EQ average is 100. Although, the average
age of sims that move into your city is around 83.
2.10.4 Q: My EQ doesn't seem to ever go above 100.
2.10.4 A: High EQ seems to require more than top notch schools,
colleges, libraries, and museums. I've built a small
city with excessive amounts of all these items. Over a
span of 400 years, EQ never got above 100. I think the
other factor must be industry - there's probably some
sort of feedback effect from the high EQ industries.
(Petro, auto, aero, electronics, etc.)
2.10.5 Q: I just put in a school but it still says 0 student,
and 0 teachers. Why don't they use the school?
2.10.5 A: There seems to be quite a long lag time (maybe a year)
before students will shuffle around to new schools.
Chris Weiss writes:
"Micro-simulators do all their calculations in
January (well, most of them anyway). So if you
place one in June, then query on it in July,
everything will be zeros (or incorrect, at any
rate). Wait until after January, then things should
look A-OK."
2.11 Health and Safety Zones
2.11.1 Q: Do police stations and fire stations need to be
placed next to roads?
2.11.1 A: No, apparently, police and fire power is not
effected by proximity to transportation.
2.11.2 Q: Do I need prisons?
2.11.2 A: Prisons increase police performance. If you still have
crime, even though you've just built a police station,
build a prison next to the police station to improve
the effectiveness of the police station at close range.
2.11.3 Q: Should I worry about the number of escapes from my
prison?
2.11.3 A: I believe that this is a symptom of overcrowding (high
inmate to guard ratio.) I would suspect that crime
might go up slightly around the prison.
2.11.4 Q: How many policemen or firefighters should I be able
to dispatch?
2.11.4 A: You should be able to dispatch 1 police icon for every
police station and 1 firefighter icon for every fire
station. The maximum number of emergency units you may
dispatch (including military) is 33.
2.11.5 Q: Do hospitals need road access?
2.11.5 A: I don't think they do.
2.11.6 Q: How many hospitals do I need?
2.11.6 A: The capacity of each hospital is 25,000, although, they
will have a higher grade at half capacity.
2.12 Recreation Zones
2.12.1 Q: What are all these things for?
2.12.1 A: Small parks and Large parks increase land value.
Zoos, stadiums, and marinas increase residential
demand and improve tourism.
2.12.2 Q: Can I build a marina in the middle of land?
2.12.2 A: Sure, just place a drop of water, then build
the marina on top of it. The boats'll have
trouble leaving though...
2.12.3 Q: Why do my sports teams always lose?
2.12.3 Q: Hmmm, bad coaching?
3.0 BUDGET + OTHER WINDOWS
3.1 Property Taxes
3.1.1 Q: How much should I set property taxes at?
3.1.1 A: Well, 7% is pretty much standard. If you lower
it, that will stimulate growth. If you raise it,
that will stifle growth.
3.1.2 Q: How is property tax revenue figured?
3.1.2 A: Use the following formula:
Population * Propert tax rate * 1.29 = Tax Revenue
or, if you are taxing zones at different rates:
Rpop * Rtax * 1.29 + Cpop * Ctax * 1.29 + Ipop * Itax * 1.29
where Rpop = residential population
Rtax = residential tax rate(in decimal, i.e. 0.07)
Cpop, Ipop = commercial, industrial population
Ctax, Itax = commercial, industrial tax rate
3.1.3 Q: Does property value have anything to do with tax
revenue?
3.1.3 A: No, not directly. High property values encourage
growth and higher densities. A piece of land will
have more tax revenue if it is of a higher density.
3.2 City Ordinances
3.2.1 Q: Why do ordinances get passed when I'm not looking?
3.2.1 A: Ordinances will get passed at random if you do not
have disasters turned off. Actually, the help says:
"If you've been doing very well, the city counsellors
sometimes take it into their heads to begin beneficial
programs using public funds."
3.3 Bond Payments
3.3.1 Q: I'm running out of money. Should I take out a bond?
3.3.1 A: Not if you can help it. If you can afford to spend
$300-$700/year for interest, you can probably do
without a bond. The only exception I can see is if
a disaster destroys your only power plant.
3.3.2 Q: How many outstanding bonds can I have?
3.3.2 A: There is a maximum of 50.
3.3.3 Q: What determines the interest rate of the bond?
3.3.3 A: The bond rate is determined by adding a percentage
to the current fed rate. The percentages are as follows:
Rating Added Percentage
AAA +1%
AA +2%
A +3%
B +4%
C +5%
D +6%
F +7%
3.3.4 Q: What determines my credit rating?
3.3.4 A: I believe that it's a combination of city value and
outstanding debt.
3.4 Map
3.5 Graphs
3.5.1 Q: How is traffic measured?
3.5.1 A: The number on the traffic graph is the average number
of cars/minute on all roads, highways, bridges. This
means that you can artificially lower your traffic
level by building lots of roads out in the middle of
nowhere.
3.5.2 Q: How is pollution measured?
3.5.2 A: In parts per million. Several different types of
buildings, most notably industrial and power plants,
give off a certain level of pollution. The pollution
value is a sum of all the pollution levels divided
by the amount of tiles occupied by development. Thus,
adding zones that don't pollute, such as a zoo, will
lower the value given in the pollution graph.
3.5.3 Q: What do the power% and water% numbers mean?
3.5.3 A: This is an inverse percentage of usage - the amount
of power or water that you have surplus.
3.5.4 Q: How is unemployment figured?
3.5.4 A: The level of unemployment seems to be directly related
to declines in R, C, or I levels. Growth in these areas
will lower unemployment.
3.6 Population
3.7 City Industry
3.7.1 Q: Can I change all of the tax rates at once?
3.7.1 A: In the city industry window, you can change all of the
taxes rates at once by holding down the option key.
3.7.2 Q: Which industries need high EQ?
3.7.2 A: Very High EQ - Aerospace
Electronics
High EQ - Petrochemicals
Automotive
Good EQ - Finance
Media
3.7.3 Q: Which industries pollute?
3.7.3 A: Heavy Pollution - Steel/Mining
Textiles
Petrochemicals
Automotive
Mild Pollution - Food
Electronics
Tourism
3.8 Neighbors
3.8.1 Q: Can I change the names of my neighbors?
3.8.1 A: Not easily, if at all. You would probably have to alter
your copy of SC2K with ResEdit.
3.8.2 Q: What other names are possible?
3.8.2 A: Oak Creek, Denmont, Fort Verdegris, Schwinton, Mill
Valley, Petaluma, PortVille, Ashland, Eubanks, Aurac,
Tent Pegs, Cherryton, Blake, Pioneers, Fortune,
Phippsville, Jeromi, Harpersville, Washers Grove,
Stars County, Villa, Serviland, Newton, Avon, Dexter,
Sinistrel, Jenna, Yestonia, New Boots, Hoek Creek,
Stimpleton, Little Rogue, Krighton, Cats Corner,
Rimmer, Lister.
4.0 MISC
4.1 Bugs
4.1.1 Q: What known bugs exist?
4.1.1 A: Well, I've only heard of a few.
(MAC v1.0) Airport bug - your airport will not make
runways anymore once you've got an air force base.
(I don't know if the same thing holds true for
piers and naval bases.)
(MAC v1.0) Budget bug - various budget items increase to
an enormous level.
(MAC v1.0) Newspaper bug - newspaper stories are screwed
up. Try switching to 256 colors before starting SC2K.
4.1.2 Q: What's being done about the bugs?
4.1.2 A: There is currently an updater for the mac version that
fixes the above bugs.
4.1.3 Q: Why do some of my police stations tell me how many
arrests have been made, while others don't?
4.1.3 A: Well, this is the microsimulation limit. Certain
zones, like police stations, power plants, schools,
etc., are called microsimulations, and each one
has it's own data. There is a limit to these of 150.
4.2 Terrain Editor
4.2.1 Q: How do I get rid of trees?
4.2.1 A: With the tree or forest tool selected, press shift.
4.3 Military Bases
4.3.1 Q: When should I get a military base?
4.3.1 A: When your population reaches 60,000
4.3.2 Q: My population is more than 60,000, why haven't I
been asked for a military base?
4.3.2 A: (MAC) You won't be asked for a base if you use the ptga
cheat.
4.3.3 Q: Why should I have a military base?
4.3.3 A: It provides customers and jobs. Certain bases
may deter the monster. You may be able to deploy
troops during an emergency. Military bases will
increase crime and traffic, though.
4.3.4 Q: How big is a military base?
4.3.4 A: Air force and army bases are 8 X 8 tiles.
(I don't know for sure whether or not the others
are this size.)
4.3.5 Q: Why does the military say they can't find a suitable
site for a base?
4.3.5 A: Probably because there isn't an empty piece of land that
is large enough. There may be some randomness in this,
however. Try saving your game before you get to 60,000,
and then restart from your save point if they don't
find a suitable site.
4.3.6 Q: Will the military ever ask me to grant land for a
base again?
4.3.6 A: No. Only once.
4.3.7 Q: How do I get rid of a military base?
4.3.7 A: You'll either have to use the raise terrain or lower
terrain tool.
4.3.8 Q: Why does the air force dispatch tanks to disasters?
4.3.8 A: There's only one icon (a tank) for all military.
4.4 Disasters
4.4.1 Q: How do I put out fires?
4.4.1 A: Use dispatch firefighters tool to place a
firefighter icon next to a patch of fire. If there's
a lot of fire, you can also build a fire station on
top of it to put it out (you'll have to experiment
with this.)
4.4.2 Q: How do I make the monster go away?
4.4.2 A: I don't think you can.
4.4.3 Q: What other disasters are there?
4.4.3 A: Meltdown, Microwave Oops, Pollution, Fire Storm,
Mass Riots, Major Floods, Toxic Spill, Volcano.
4.4.4 Q: Hey, why is the monster making wind generators?
4.4.4 A: Chris Weiss writes:
"The Monster is not neccisarily bad. He's an
elemental kind of guy. 50% of the time, he'll place
something bad (fire). The other 50%, he'll place
something good. If it's something good, there's a
33% chance of it being Windmills, Water, or Trees."
4.4.5 Q: What do I do about floods?
4.4.5 A: Besides dispatching emergency units, you can prepare
ahead be building dikes on your coastlines - use the
raise terrain tool to increase the land on the coast
one level.
4.5 Cheats, Bonuses, and other Secrets
4.5.1 Q: How do I get more money?
4.5.1 A: (MAC v1.0) Well, the easiest way is to type
porntipsguzzardo. This will give you $500,000 and allow
all technologies and rewards to become available. It
will also prevent the military from building a base.
Once you've typed porntipsguzzardo, you can type
ardo by itself to get additional $500,000s.
4.5.1 A: (IBM) Porntipsguzzardo does NOT work on the IBM version.
There is a cheat, but it has not, as of yet, been
discovered.
4.5.2 Q: (MAC) Does porntipsguzzardo still work in version 1.1?
4.5.2 A: No. Chriss Weiss writes:
(on comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.strategic)
"Okokok, the cheat IS in the DOS version, it's just much
harder to find. And don't worry about them mac folk, the
cheat'll be just as hard for the 1.1 version of SimCity
2000 Mac. I don't know exactly what it is, but I do know
it involves more than just typing stuff. You have to
click places too."
4.5.3 Q: Are there any other secret words?
4.5.3.A: FUND, CASS, JOKE, VERS. Typing cass, will give you $250
at the end of the month. If you type more than once
during a month, you will incite a fire storm.
4.5.4 Q: Is there any other ways to get lots of money?
4.5.4 A: If you have the old Sim City, you can import an old
city into Sim City 2000. One city (Big City) that
came with the old Sim City has a large sum of money.
You can use the old terrain editor to clear this map
and then import it into SC2K.
MartinL@ozonline.apana.org.au writes:
"You will need a calculator/program that can convert
Decimal to Hex, and Hex to Decimal and a code editor
like Norton.
*****Before you start this you should make a copy of
your game, just in case you make a mistake******
1. Save your game and note how many funds you have. If
you have less than 4095 then I recomend taking out a
bond, the reason will become clear later.
2. Open the game with your code editor
3. Convert the ammount of funds you have into Hex,
eg. 9379 = 24A3.
4. Now search for this number in the code, using a find.
5. When you have found it, change all the numbers into
"F"'s eg. 24A3 becomes FFFF. This is why you should
have more funds than 4095, otherwise there will only
be 3 digits in Hex, above that figure you will have 4
digits to change.
6. Quit the editor and remember save.
7. Open it with SC again and you should, if you changed
4 digits into FFFF, have 65535 funds.
8. Now, go take out a bond and quit & save again.
9. Open it with the editor again and change the new
number that's there (1270F) to...yep, you guessed it,
FFFFF. That should give you $1048575 funds! Now if
you are still more greedy you can repeat it from step
7."
4.5.5 Q: What is the Launch Arco secret?
4.5.5 A: Apparently, there is no secret. You can build as
many launch arcos as you want, and nothing will
happen. Reports are that it was nothing more than
a bad joke.
4.5.6 Q: What are the city bonuses, and when do I get them?
4.5.6 A: Mayor's House 2,000
City Hall 10,000
Statue 30,000
Military Base 60,000
Braun Llama Dome 90,000
Arcologies 120,000
4.5.7 Q: There's something flying around my city, and it's
not a helicopter or an airplane.
4.5.7 A: That's Captain Hero! He/She/It appears to take care
of disasters (sometimes) if you don't have an other
capacity for dealing with it.
4.5.8 Q: There's something swimming around in my ocean!
4.5.8 A: Well, that's a Nessie.
4.5.9 Q: How do I shoot down the traffic helicopter?
4.5.9 A: Click on it with the centering tool.
4.5.10 Q: What's with all the llamas?
4.5.10 A: Maxis is obsessed with many things. Llamas don't
have copyright lawyers.
4.5.11 Q: Where can I get my picture taken on a llama?
4.5.11 A: At the Yakima Mall - Yakima, WA.
4.5.12 Q: Why are the number of bungee jumps and weddings the
same at the Braun Llama Dome?
4.5.12 A: Chriss Weiss writes:
"Uhm, sure. See, the chapel at the Llama Dome is owned
by the brother-in-law of the guy who runs the Bungee
jump center. Newlyweds get a cupon for a free jump as a
special gift from the chapel. In addition, those who
Bungee get a coupon for a free wedding! (I seem to
remember the top of the coupon reading 'You've taken
the plunge, now take the plunge!' :)"
4.6 Arcologies
4.6.1 Q: The newspaper just reported that some other city has
built an arcology. Why can't I?
4.6.1 A: Once arcologies have been invented, you must have a
population of 120,000 in order to build them.
4.6.2 Q: What do I need to do to improve the conditions of my
arcologies?
4.6.2 A: Place some parks nearby to increase property value,
build a police station, add water and power. This
ought to give you an A+ rating.
4.6.3 Q: Do I need to add water and power to launch arcos too?
4.6.3 A: Well, the online help says that they are self-contained,
however, this does not seem to be the case. I think it
may still work, but conditions will be D+ at best.
4.6.4 Q: What do conditions have to do with anything, anyway?
4.6.4 A: I would assume that arcos that have a higher grade
will grow faster.
4.6.5 Q: What do people do in these arcologies?
4.6.5 A: Well, look at the population of the arco. Half that
goes towards residential, 1/4 towards commercial, and
1/4 towards industrial. This is true for all arcos.
4.7 Weather
4.7.1 Q: Why should I care about the weather?
4.7.1 A: Weather affects the output of water pumps, solar
plants, wind power, and influences the likelihood
of riots and fires.
4.7.1 Q: The weather icon shows a tornado. Should I be
worried?
4.7.1 A: The tornado shown on the weather icon is different
than the tornado on the disaster menu. When the
icon is showing a tornado, you can pretty much
ignore it.
4.8 Scenarios
4.8.1 Q: How do I beat these scenarios?
4.8.1 A: From the March 94 issue of Electronic Entertainment:
"Charleston - Pause the game. Build water pumps in the
swamps then rebuild the connections to other cities
and put more onramps on the freeway system. Then let
the simulation run, keeping taxes low while you create
dense zoning in areas damaged by the hurricane.
Dullsville - Pause the game. Lower taxes to zero until
the population is big enough to make you money. Then
build dense using 13-by-6-tile zoning. Take out a bond
if you have to.
Flint - Click on the book for property taxes and set
industrial taxes to zero. Find a good hangout and
wait.
Hollywood - Control the fires the monster sets and
after he leaves, lower the property taxes to zero.
The go see a movie.
Oakland - Control the fire using bulldozers to clear a
fire break and just ignore the Sims' complaints. Then
set taxes as low as you can and build dense in the
empty area by Lake Temescal."
4.8.2 Q: How do I get more scenarios?
4.8.2 A: Chriss Weiss writes:
"A scenario pack is in the works, I think it'll include
New York, Portland, and San Jose (these are subject to
change, and there will probbaly be more than just the
3). I don't know which disasters will be associated with
which cities."
4.8.3 Q: How do I make my own scenarios?
4.8.3 A: (IBM) There doesn't seem to be any easy way to create
scenarios for the IBM version.
4.8.3 A: (MAC) Well, first, you'll need a copy of ResEdit.
(which can be located at ftp.apple.com in
/dts/mac/tools/resedit)
Then, you'll have to learn how to use it. :)
(not very hard)
1. Build a city to the point that you want the
scenario to start at.
2. Make a copy of your city and use ResEdit to
open it.
3. ResEdit will ask if you want to make a resource
fork - say yes.
4. Use ResEdit to open one of the scenario files
that came with SC2K.
5. Copy and paste each resource from the scenario
file to your city. (There should be four - PICT,
SCEN, TEXT, and TMPL)
6. Once you've got a copy of each resource in your
city, you can edit them.
PICT - This is the picture that goes with the
Scenario selection screen. Delete the old
picture and use a graphics program to make
your own picture and paste it in. The PICT
should have an ID=128.
TMPL - You don't need to mess with this one.
TEXT - There are two TEXT ID's
128 - This text describes the scenario on
the Scenario selection screen.
129 - This text is used for the extended
description that pops up just before
the city begins.
SCEN - This resource has all of the goal details.
Disaster type - There are 16 different
disasters. A 0 means no disasters.
Disaster Xloc, ylox - these are the origin
coordiantes - I'm not exactly sure
how to make use of these.
Time limit (months) - you must reach goal
before this many months pass.
City size, Ind, Res, Com Goal - build
population to this size
Cash Funds-Bonds - raise this much money.
Land Value Goal - increase land value to
this level.
Pollution, Crime, Traffic limit - I
haven't experimented with these yet.
There are 4 more goals that I don't know
what to do with.
7. Once you've edited the resources, you need to
change the file type. Use Get Info to change the
file type from CITY to SCEN.
8. Now just make sure that the city is in the same
folder as SC2K and everything should work out.
You might have to play with the PICT to make it
fit right. and you will probably need to
experiment with the goals to make your scenarios
challenging, yet reachable.
9. The disasters are numbered as follows:
1 fire 9 meltdown
2 flood 10 microwave
3 riots 11 volcano
4 pollution 12 firestorm
5 air crash 13 mass riots
6 earthquake 14 major floods
7 tornado 15 chemical spill
8 monster 16 hurricane
A-1 Appendix 1 (Solving Problems)
Growth
* Lower taxes
* Improve roads/transportation system
* Improve water system
* Intersperse zones
* Improve land values
* Build airports (Commercial)
* Build seaports (Industrial)
* Build connections
* Lower pollution/crime/traffic
* Improve education/health
* Pass Legalized Gambling ordinance (Commercial)
* Pass Tourist Advertising ordinance (Commercial)
* Pass Business Advertising ordinance (Industrial)
* Pass City Beautification ordinance (Tourism)
* Pass Annual Carnival ordinance (Tourism, Commercial)
* Pass Nuclear Free Zone ordinance (Residential)
* Remove Nuclear Free Zone ordinance (Industrial)
* Remove Parking Fines ordinance (Residential)
* Remove 1% Income Tax ordinance (Residential)
* Remove 1% Sales Tax ordinance (Commercial)
Land Value
* Build parks, trees, water
* Build recreational zones
* Build educational zones
* Build police, fire, hospitals
* Pass Pass City Beautification ordinance
* Pass Homeless Shelter ordinance
Pollution
* Pass Pollution Control ordinance
* Increase tax rate on polluting industries
* Build a water treatment plant
* Lower traffic
* Use light industrial instead of heavy industrial
* Use solar, hydro, wind, microwave, fusion power
* Move poluting buildings to edges of map
Traffic
* Build more roads and highways
* Build mass transit
* Pass Parking Fines ordinance
* Intersperse different zones (build R close to I, C)
Crime
* Build police stations
* Pass Anti-Drug Campaign ordinance
* Pass Neighborhood Watch Campaign
* Use more light zoning
* Build prisons
Unemployment
* Zone more industry and commercial zones
* Remove Pollution Control ordinance, if in place
* Lower industrial and commercial tax rates
Education
* Build Schools, Colleges
* Build Libraries, Museums
* Pass Pro-Reading Campaign ordinance
* Give tax breaks to high-EQ industries
Health
* Build hospitals
* Pass Public Smoking Ban ordinance
* Pass Free Clinic ordinance
* Pass Junior Sports ordinance
* Pass CPR Training ordinance
A-2 Appendix 2 (Adjusting Difficulty)
Money cheats
Using one of the previously mentioned methods for getting
more money is the simplest way to make things easier. You
don't have to worry about balancing the budget and you can
lower taxes to zero.
No disasters
Disasters can be quite, well, disasterous, for a young city.
It's not a good a to leave a city running overnight without
turning the disasters off. For one thing, even if you had
good fire coverage, you'd probably lose a lot of your city
to fire. In addition, most power plants need to be replaced
every 50 years, so, soon, everyone would be out of power.
Starting Level
Changing the starting difficulty level changes the amount of
money you start with, the frequency of disasters, and the
level of external demand for your manufactured products.
Starting Time
Later starting times are easier because of the increased
availability of inventions and the increase in external
demand.
Terrain Editing
It's much easier to build a city on flat ground - and you
can do all the flattening you want, at no cost, in the
terrain editor. You can also add waterfalls for use with
hydro power.
Riverless hyrdo plants
This source of power is not very realistic, however, it does
not pollute, is fairly efficient, and does not need to be
replaced every 50 years. Just place a drop of water on any
slope, and build a hydro plant there.
Artifically watered pumps
Water pump efficiency can be artificially improved by
placing drops of water next to them.
Disconnected roads - roadless city
By not building full road systems, it is possible to
keep traffic down, however, it's not very realisitic.
Heavy/Light Density Zoning
If you're interested in building a city with a large
population, you need to use mostly heavy zoning. A more
realistic city (N.Y. and Hong Kong excepted) would
have heavy to light zoning in a ratio of from 25/75 to
50/50.
A-3 Appendix 3 (Mac Technical Problems) from 1.1 Updater
Restart With Extensions Off
SimCity 2000 has been tested with many, many extensions with
few or no problems - however, we cannot guarantee that there
will not be conflicts. It's possible that, if certain
extensions are loaded in a certain order, or in certain
configurations, SimCity 2000 might not work correctly. If
you do have problems running SimCity 2000, we suggest re-
starting with extensions off. To do this, select Restart
from the Special menu, and hold down the Shift key until you
see the "Welcome to Macintosh" screen with the text
"Extensions Off". When you are finished playing SimCity
2000, restart your machine again and your extensions will
load properly.
Make Sure You Are Running In 32-Bit Mode (If Possible)
In your Control Panel folder, select the Memory control
panel and make sure that 32-Bit Addressing is enabled. Some
machines will not have this option available. If this is the
case, 32-bit addressing is probably not the source of the
problem.
Upgrade To Sound Manager 3.0
We also recommend upgrading your system software with the
Sound Manager 3.0 extension available from many online
services (including the Maxis Technical Support BBS at 1-
510-254-3869) or directly from Apple Computer.
Switch To 256 Colors (660av Users Especially)
SimCity 2000 automatically switches your Macintosh to 256-
color mode if it is not already set, and returns it to the
original color depth when exiting. Some Macintoshes display
erratic behavior when this happens (e.g., the Newspaper
display draws pixels on the top area of your screen and
doesn't display newspaper articles when you click on
newspaper article headings). The solution is to manually
switch your Macintosh color depth to 256. This is done in
the Monitors control panel.
Beware Of Screen Savers
Certain windows in SimCity 2000ยช may not re-draw after some
screen savers have cleared the screen. This will leave you with
a white window and no idea what to do with it. The buttons in
these windows are still active; just keep clicking around until
you hit something. In some situations, Delrina's Bill'n'Opus
screen saver may conflict. We recommend disabling the screen
saver while SimCity 2000 is running.
A-4 Appendix 4 (IBM Technical Problems) from the Maxis BBS
*****THE MAXIS EMERGENCY TOP TEN LIST FOR SIM CITY 2000*****
Technical Support is totally overwhelmed at the moment answering
Sim City 2000 questions. Here are the top ten questions we are
getting and the fixes for each one. Hope these help to get you
up and running!
Q. I loaded the program but when I go to run it (by typing
SC2000) it gives me a message that I don't have enough memory
even though I've got 4 megabytes of RAM on my system.
A. The problem happens because out of 4 megabytes of memory,
there isn't enough available to load the program. When your
computer starts up, it loads other programs into that memory.
The easiest way to get around this is to make a bootdisk and
start your computer with it instead. See your SIMCITY 2000
ADDENDUM & QUICK START GUIDE pg. 6 and the "HOW TO MAKE A
BOOTDISK" section at the bottom of this document.
Q. I try to start the program and get a message, "Microsoft
compatible mouse not found".
A. The program requires that a mouse driver be loaded in memory.
If you do have a mouse driver loaded and the program still
doesn't find it, make sure that it is at least version 8 or
higher by the Microsoft version numbering system. If you have
an older version of a mouse driver, you will need to update
the driver version by contacting the manufacturer of the mouse
OR by contacting the store where the computer was purchased.
Q. I get a message, "The video card you've selected is not found.
Please re-install and verify that your video card is
supported."
A. Sim City 2000 needs a SVGA video card in order to display the
640 x 480 - 256 color video resolution. The video card needs
to have at least 512K of video memory. Some cards may need a
VESA driver to be loaded prior to running the program and
since there are many different video cards, there are many
different VESA drivers for each card. If you aren't sure
which video card you have, try loading the UNIVESA.EXE driver
as this driver supports a wide variety of video cards. You
can load this driver by typing,
"C:\SC2000\VESA\UNIVESA\UNIVESA " and pressing the "Enter"
key. This will load the VESA driver for the video card. If
this VESA driver isn't the correct one for your video card,
contact the manufacturer of the video card to determine what
the correct VESA driver is. To find out whether or not you
need to load a vesa driver for your video card, go to the
C:\SC2000 sub-directory and type " INFO " and press enter.
This will display information about your system. Press the
spacebar twice to get to the third page of the info program to
find out whether your card has a VESA driver loaded. If it
tells you that the following VESA modes are supported then you
won't to load one. If it says "Either your card does not
support VESA or there is no driver loaded", this means that
you have to load a vesa driver for the video card.
Q. I have a SOUND BLASTER type sound card and it fails when I try
to select it for sound effects. Whats going on in Dodge?
A. The earlier SOUND BLASTER cards used an IRQ setting of 7. The
new ones, however, now use IRQ 5. We are looking for IRQ 7
and if your card fails you probably have it set differently.
Try running the install again and this time, when the sound
card fails initialization, click on the CHANGE SETTINGS button
and change the IRQ setting to the number 5. Then click on the
CONTINUE button and this should make the program accept the
sound card.
Q. I try to run Sim City 2000 and when I do I get some weird
UNEXPECTED INTERUPT - ERROR 35 message. I'm really confused!
A. This means that you have an ATI video card. You must run a
program before starting Sim City 2000. Type " MW_ATIUP " and
press the "Enter" key from within the SC2000 sub-directory.
Once you do this it will return you to the C:\SC2000 prompt.
Now type SC2000 and the program will run fine.
Q. I have a DIAMOND VIPER video card and I can't get the program
to work with it.
A. All you have to do is type " VPRMODE VESA " and press enter.
This will load the vesa driver for your video card. If you
get a "Bad command or filename" message then you need to be in
your VIPER subdirectory before you run the VPRMODE VESA
command. Also, make sure that Sim City 2000 is set up for
VESA Super VGA graphics. (You can check this by running the
INSTALL program from within the SC2000 sub-directory.)
Q. I run the installation program and when it gets to the type of
video card I have, the program locks up.
A. The installation program is trying to figure out what kind of
video card you have in your computer. Sometimes it conflicts
with a program and that will cause the installer to lock up.
If you have DOS version 6.X, you can do a clean boot by
pressing the F5 key when the "Starting MS-DOS" message
appears. This will bypass your configuration files and then
run the installer again. It will work fine now.
Q. I have OS/2 and I want to run Sim City under it. I tried
doing all of the memory stuff but still can't get enough free.
Please tell me it's possible. -Gooie
A. Dear Gooie....Yes! You can run it under OS/2. All you have to
do is select a DOS FULL-WINDOWS session. Once in DOS, go to
the SC2000 sub-directory and type " SC2000 NO_MEM_CHK " and
the program will run. You should only do this if you have at
least 6 - 8 Megabytes of memory though because with four you
won't have enough.
Q. I play the program and during a certain point, I get a "STACK
OVERFLOW" message and the system dies an ugly death.
A. Ouch! This is a little problem (or bug) that has surfaced on
some machines. We are currently working on a fix and believe
that the new version of the DOS Extender that we are using
will fix the problem. In the meantime, contact MAXIS technical
support and ask to have you name added to a list. We will
contact you when a solution is found. I hope it is really soon
because I know you are dying to play this wonderful product!
Q. I have a problem and it isn't listed in the list.
A. If you have any problems that aren't addressed in this list,
please post (to the Maxis BBS) a message with the type of
problem you are having and we'll be sure to add it to our
list! This list will be revised depending on the types of
problems you are experiencing.
This concludes the wonderful TOP TEN question and answer list.
Thanks for reading it!
A-4 Appendix 4 (How to Make a Boot Disk) also from the Maxis BBS
******************** HOW TO MAKE A BOOT DISK *******************
If you are having problems making a boot disk, take the time to
browse over this stuff and see if it helps you any.
1. The BOOT DISK must be in your A: drive to work properly. A
boot disk in your B: drive just won't cut the cake; it has to
be in drive A:.
2. Make sure your mouse driver is copied onto the BOOT DISK. You
need to copy your mouse driver onto the boot disk and it must
be named either MOUSE.COM or MOUSE.EXE to work in your
AUTOEXEC.BAT FILE. If it has a different name, simply type
the correct name in the autoexec.bat file in order to load the
driver. i.e. If your mouse is named AMOUSE.COM, then you need
to type AMOUSE on the mouse line of your autoexec.bat file.
3. From the C:\ prompt, type "SYS A:" and press the Enter key on
your keyboard. This will copy the system start-up files to
your floppy disk in the A: drive.
4. If you need a vesa driver for your video card, enter in the
name of the vesa driver into the autoexec.bat file. This is a
sample of what you need to type: IGNORE THE QUOTES! Don't type
them, they just surround what you need to type in.
A:>\"COPY CON AUTOEXEC.BAT" (type the line and then press
the ENTER key.)
Once you type this line it will drop you down to a flashing
cursor that is waiting for you to type commands. Type the
following commands that are in upper-case letters and press
the enter key to drop to the next line:
PROMPT $P$G
MOUSE
C:\SC2000\VESA\UNIVESA\UNIVESA
C:
CD\SC2000
SC2000
After typing the SC2000 line, press the F6 key on your
keyboard and then press the enter key. It should say "One
file(s) copied" when done.
Try to restart your computer with the BOOTDISK in drive A: and
it should boot up into the program. If it doesn't, see the
possible errors below to help trouble shoot.
1. While booting, it gets to MOUSE and says, "Bad command or file
name". This will happen if you don't have the mouse driver
(MOUSE.COM or MOUSE.EXE) copied onto your bootdisk or if the
mouse driver has a different name. Make sure the mouse driver
is on the bootdisk AND that it is named MOUSE.COM or
MOUSE.EXE. If it is named MSMOUSE.COM or something else,
rename the mouse file by typing "REN MSCMOUSE.COM MOUSE.COM"
at the A: prompt. This will rename the mouse from
mscmouse.com to mouse.com and it should now work.
2. If you use the bootdisk and you still get the "The video card
you have selected is not found. Please re-install......."
message, this means that you don't have the correct video card
VESA driver loaded. Please contact your video card
manufacturer to inquire as to the correct VESA driver to load
for your video card.
3. If you get a message "Non-system disk or disk error", remove
the floppy and press any key. This means that the system
(startup) files aren't on the floppy disk. Once you have
booted up, go to the DOS sub-directory by typing CD\DOS
. Make sure you put the boot disk back in the A: drive
and then type, SYS A:. This will transfer the system to your
boot-disk and correct the problem.
Additional notes:
You only need to have a mouse driver loaded and, in some
cases, a vesa driver. You don't need any type of memory manager
because we use a dos extender.
If you have an IBM XGA or XGA2 video card it will switch the
program into sixteen colors. We are currently looking into a
solution that would prevent this from happening thus allowing
the program to run in 256 colors.
If you have a Texas Instruments Travel Mate 4000 and can't run
the program: We have been in contact with the good folks at Texas
Instruments and are currently working on a fix.
If you have a Packard Bell computer and are getting "mouse
trails" where the cursor moves on the screen - You need to
contact Packard Bell's technical support department. They have
found a solution to the problem and are also taking care of the
method in which to correct it. (I just wanna say that there
doing one heck of a good job too! Especially after going through
that major earthquake!) Kudos to the folks at Packard Bell!
The program makes some heavy demands on the system hardware.
There is very little out there in terms of standards and it makes
the development of a product such as this a tremendous job. Hang
in there and we'll get you going! Maxis Technical Support is open
from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Pacific Standard Time. We experience HIGH
call volumes on MONDAYS and during the later hours of the day.
If you are having trouble reaching us by telephone, try to call
earlier in the day or during the middle of the week as this is
our lowest call volume time.
Thanks!