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Sim City 3000 Unlimited FAQ
Last Updated on: 2000-10-09 21:25:32
This is where you will find useful information about SimCity 3000 Unlimited.
The following are answers to some frequently asked questions about this game.
Please read these before e-mailing Loki Technical Support - Chances are your question is answered here too!
1. Introduction
- 1.1 How to use this FAQ
This FAQ allows you to navigate through the answers by category, or individually, or to view the entire FAQ at once.
The full view is also suitable for printing.
This FAQ is modelled on the Linux HOWTO documents for consistency and ease of navigation.
- 1.2 Authors
The maintainers of the FAQ can be reached by e-mailing faqs@lokigames.com.
Please send all correspondance directly related to the FAQlist tool to that address.
3. Interoperability
- 3.1 Can I buy the Windows version and download a patch, to play SimCity 3000 Unlimited under Linux?
No. We are not offering a patch to convert the Windows version to the Linux version.
- 3.2 Can a saved city created in Windows be used with SimCity 3000 Unlimited for Linux?
Yes. The saved games are compatible across platforms.
- 3.3 Can I use the stuff from SimCity Exchange (www.simcity.com) with the Linux version of SimCity 3000 Unlimited?
Maxis has elected not to support Linux users via the SimCity Exchange at this time.
Linux users are free to access third party sites to trade buildings, scenarios and save games with other SimCity 3000 Unlimited users, and the Linux version of SC3KU supports the use of these files, even if they were created on Windows.
The following is a partial list of third party fan sites where buildings, scenarios and other enhancements are available:
- http://www.sc3000.com/
- http://www.siminteractive.net/
- http://www.simcityhq.com/
- http://www.sngaming.com/
- 3.4 Can we use scenario scripts, upload/download new buildings, and whatever else they mention?
- 3.5 Can I make scenario scripts under Linux?
The SimCity 3000 Unlimited Scenario editor was written entirely in Microsoft Access,
and would need to be rewritten from scratch to work on Linux.
At this time there are no plans to rewrite this tool.
- 3.6 I also noticed a few programs for the building architect tools (a rendering kit and some props). Are these eventually going to be ported as well?
The Building Architect Tool is used to edit and create buildings for use in SimCity 3000 Unlimited.
The BAT has been ported to Linux and is included with the game CD.
Buildings created using the Linux or Windows version of the BAT will work on both Windows and Linux versions of SC3KU.
We are not currently working on porting any BAT extensions, but may choose to do so in the future.
- 3.7 The Windows version imports SimCity 2000 cities. Can the Linux version?
Neither the released version nor the 2.0a patch can import cities.
This capability will be added in the next patch.
In the meantime, if you have a SimCity 2000 city you need converted to SC3U, please e-mail
support@lokigames.com and we will convert the city for you.
4. Demo
- 4.1 Where can I get the SimCity 3000 Unlimited demo version?
- 4.2 How do I install the demo?
- Pull down the
sc3u-demo-x86.run archive from one of our mirrors
- Go to the directory in which you would like to install the demo. Make sure that you have write permissions to the directory. (ex.
cd /usr/local/games )
- Run the script with "
sh sc3u-demo-x86.run ". A new "sc3u_demo " directory should have been created.
- To run the game, just go to the new game directory and type "
./sc3u_demo " (or create symbolic links, or add the sc3u_demo directory to your path).
- 4.3 The demo is crashing on startup under RedHat 7.0 (or other glibc 2.1.8+ systems).
The usual trace looks like:
BUG! (Segmentation Fault) Going down hard...
Sim City 3000 Unlimited 2.0.955
Built with glibc-2.1
Stack dump:
{
./sc3u_demo(sdl_SnapShot+0x231) [0x847818d]
/lib/libpthread.so.0(pthread_kill+0x16c) [0x4002f610]
/lib/libc.so.6(__libc_sigaction+0x2a8) [0x400858d8]
./sc3u_demo(_dlerror_run+0xc9) [0x853dbb5]
./sc3u_demo(__dlopen_check+0x25) [0x853d875]
./sc3u_demo(Load__13cGZCOMLibrary+0x7ac) [0x835f264]
./sc3u_demo(UpdateClassRegistry__6cGZCOMR13cGZCOMLibrary+0x20) [0x8360cb8]
./sc3u_demo(AddLibrary__6cGZCOMRC10cIGZString+0x1c1) [0x835fea5]
./sc3u_demo(__11SimSettings+0x7e8) [0x815f5e4]
./sc3u_demo(EnumEntries__10cRZIniFileRC9cRZStringPFRC9cRZStringRC9cRZStringPv_vPv+0x759) [0x839f32d]
./sc3u_demo(AddDynamicLibrariesHere__7cSC3App+0x63e) [0x81600f6]
./sc3u_demo(sInit__12cGZFrameWorkR10cRZCmdLineb+0x13a) [0x835ac8a]
./sc3u_demo(Main__12cGZFrameWorkR10cRZCmdLineb+0x26) [0x835b2e2]
./sc3u_demo(main+0x45) [0x8156d41]
/lib/libc.so.6(__libc_start_main+0xce) [0x40074f66]
./sc3u_demo(_start+0x21) [0x8149f11]
}
This has been addressed in a patch for the demo.
Please download the SimCity 3000 Unlimited demo patch from here.
We have also updated the demo to include this patch.
7. Display
- 7.1 Can I stop the mouse cursor from flickering so much?
SimCity uses the X11 cursors by default. If your X server does not support hardware cursors,
or if you did not enable it in your XF86Config file ( Option "hw_cursor" on some drivers),
then some flickering may occur. Just run Sim City using its own internal software cursor code,
enabled by using the -cursor:bmp command line option, e.g.:
sc3u -cursor:bmp
- 7.2 The game seems very sluggish. Can I speed it up?
On X11, due to limitations in the X11 server, 2D hardware acceleration is not fully used.
Try decreasing the resolution at which you are playing, and you can also try to decrease level of animation on the screen in the Preferences dialog.
With large cities, you can also try to reduce the simulation speed.
The largest speed-up (aside from picking a good resolution) is to run the X server in 16bpp mode.
This will optimize the data being passed to the X server for display, and eliminate on-the-fly data conversions.
Note that some video cards (e.g. the nVidia cards, such as the GeForce) only have optimized 2D drivers under some versions of X.
The GeForce cards in particular are very, very slow with XFree86 3.3.6, and with XFree86 4.0 and 4.0.1.
You should either use XFree86 4.0.x with the binary nVidia drivers, or you should use XFree86 4.0.2 and the newer "nv" driver.
- 7.3 Alt-Click or Control-Click don't work as expected, when playing in a window.
If you are not using the fullscreen mode, then your X11 window manager may intercept some keyboard and mouse combinations for its own usage.
To bypass that, you can either switch to fullscreen mode by hitting Alt-Enter , or you can lock the input in the game window by hitting the Alt-G keys (while in the game).
To unlock the input again, just hit Alt-G once more.
- 7.4 I'm always getting the game in English, although my language is listed as supported.
Make sure that your LANG environment variable is set properly for the language you are using, before installing the game.
If the variable is not set at install time, the language files will not be installed.
- 7.5 The colors are really, really funny.
Some cards (in particular, the older Diamond Viper cards, such as the V330) do not support the RGB 565 format, instead they use RG 655.
This is a non-standard 16bpp mode, and it causes the bits representing the colors to be drawn to overlap and be given the wrong values when displayed.
Some users have successfully worked around this by forcing the X server to run in 15bpp mode instead of 16bpp mode.
(Note that this problem should not occur under 8bpp or 32bpp at all.)
Starting your X server with:
startx -- -bpp 15
should fix the display issue.
- 8.1 How do I change the hotkeys bindings?
This can't be done in the game itself, but the data files that define the hotkeys are easily editable.
Detailed intructions can be found in the hotkeys.txt file installed with the game.
- 8.2 Can I use my mouse wheel with Sim City 3000?
Yes, but you need to have it configured in your X server first.
You can use the mouse wheel with most widgets. In the game, you can also scroll the map horizontally, and vertically while holding the Control or Shift keys.
9. Sound
- 9.1 Can I use the Enlightenment Sound Daemon (ESD) with SimCity 3000 Unlimited?
Yes, although this is an unsupported configuration. Make sure you have the following line in your ~/.openalrc file :
(define devices '(esd native))
This will enable the OpenAL sound driver to try ESD first, and then fall back to the native OSS Linux drivers if ESD is not available.
- 9.2 The sound is skipping a lot, and is very choppy. Is there something I can do about it?
The release version of SimCity 3000 Unlimited pushes sound cards and sound drivers quite hard.
If the drivers for your sound card are incomplete, you may experience issues with sound.
We are working on a patch to SC3U which will widen the range of soundcards that behave well.
In the meantime, you may wish to decrease the amount of sound being used (e.g. turn off music), or run the game through esound.
10. Gameplay
- 10.1 How do I build a bridge?
The road (or highway) must be built horizontally or vertically, according to the map's grid, and it needs at least three tiles of level ground (preferably at the same height on both sides) before the water.
So, if you start the road/bridge three or more tiles away from the water, drag the road across the water, once you have three or more tiles of land on the other side, the "shadow" road should turn from red to blue.
If you let go of the mouse button, you will then be prompted with the cost of the bridge.
- 10.2 Once the Thanksgiving Day Parade starts, is there any way to stop it?
No. The parade is handled through the "disaster" mechanisms in the game.
As a result, like any "disaster" (e.g. locusts, fire, whirlpool, tornado, toxic cloud), the camera is zoomed in on the event,
time effectively pauses, and you get to wait out the marching drums. If you scroll away, the camera will snap back.
The parade will end after all the participants walk down the street and vanish, which may take a couple minutes.
- 10.3 How do I build a highway on-ramp?
You need to make certain that there is a stretch of highway, straight either on the horizontal or vertical, with a road perpendicular to it.
You need at least five straight, unobstructed tiles, since the on-ramp needs the exit signs as well.
If it is legal to build the ramp, the "shadow" under the cursor will be blue.
Support inquries should be addressed to support@lokigames.com.
FAQ's maintained by faqs@lokigames.com.
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