Hold down the shift key while clicking the mouse on any button or area. This will bring up this help dialog with a detailed description of the tool or display. This is a listing of all of the object and tool help in SimCity 2000.

• COAL POWER - coal plants generate large amounts of vile black smoke that will cover your buildings in soot. Your citizens may start complaining when they have to repaint their buildings every two years.
• HYDRO ELECTRIC - water generators are very clean and efficient, but require a large investment of capital. They require only minimal maintenance.
• OIL POWER - the use of oil power fluctuates with the cost of petroleum. It is marginally cleaner than coal power.
• GAS POWER - natural gas is much cleaner than coal, but very expensive. Many cities save their gas plants for reserve power due to their cost.
• NUCLEAR POWER - nuclear power is clean, efficient and relatively cheap. Unfortunately, there is always the risk of a deadly meltdown.
• WIND POWER - very clean and relatively reliable, wind power is less cost-effective than solar power.
• SOLAR POWER - solar power is clean and cheap but unreliable. Cloudy seasons will leave your citizens shivering without light.
• MICROWAVE RECEIVER DISH - launch a satellite to collect solar power, then beam it down to Earth. Microwave power is very efficient, clean and reliable. Unfortunately, the effects of a mis-targeted be am are as yet unknown.
• FUSION POWER - Fusion energy is clean, reliable, efficient, and expensive. Accidents may destroy the plant but will not spread radioactive havoc.
• PLYMOUTH ARCO - The Plymouth Arco is 'Solid as a Rock', or so claims Plymouth Arcologies, Inc. It is known that they have stood through several earthquakes, notably in the NeoRepublic of Mexico and the Taiwan CoProsperity Region. Plymouth Arcologies are designed primarily to support heavy industries, as witness Greenland Motors, maker of the Narwhal 3000. This might not be such a good choice if you are overly concerned about pollution. Plymouth Arcos cost $100,000 and can attract up to 55,000 residents.
• FOREST ARCO - The Forest Arcology is named for its attractive forest setting on the top level. Throughout the structure, citizens utilize recycling, operate ecologically sound industries, and maintain a rich verbal heritage that replaces television and radio. Unfortunately, the youth of Forest Arcos are bored silly and roam out into your city where they stare mindlessly at soap operas and sports programs displayed in the electronics department at local malls.Building a Forest Arcology costs $120,000 and can attract up to 30,000 residents.
• DARCO - 'Darco' is slang for 'De-Urbanized Arcological Construct'. Originally designed by the twisted genius of Dante McCallavre, the artist/architect proclaimed it a reactionary response to the rigid, archetypal Arcologies of his day. No one really knows what this means, and many engineers are frankly baffled at how the thing stays standing. Inside, the ill-lit corridors twist into odd, meandering corkscrews that mysteriously turn back on themselves. There are rumors that a strange sub-species of man inhabits the air ducts.Darcos cost $150,000 and can attract up to 45,000 brave souls.
• LAUNCH ARCOS - 'Launch' Arcologies were nicknamed for their resemblance to modern orbital launchers. The resemblance is not entirely coincidental, as sophisticated methods of biological support were necessary to oxygenate and feed the thousands of inhabitants. While never tested, the manufacturers claim the occupants could stay self-contained for up to two decades. The sides of the Arcology are equipped with vernier jets to stabilize the structure during storms and earthquakes. A small nuclear facility independently powers the building; spare energy is stored by electrolyzing water into two tanks for oxygen and hydrogen.The 'Launch Arco' is the largest, costing $200,000 and holding 65,000 inhabitants. Build enough of these and you may discover the final secret of SimEarth.
• BULLDOZER Demolish/Clear - This will destroy buildings, roads, trees, and decorative water, and will remove rubble.Level Terrain - This tool will level terrain to the same altitude as the first location you click on. It will also clear terrain by removing trees, roads, powerlines, and buildings.Raise Terrain - This raises the terrain.Lower Terrain- This lowers the terrain.De-zone - This will remove the zone from an area.
• LANDSCAPE Trees - This tool adds trees to the terrain.Water - This will put down small streams and decorative ponds. It can be used to create waterfalls for the Hydro electric power plant.
• DISPATCH - This tool is only available during emergencies. It allows you to direct your police and firefighters to suppress problems.Dispatch Police - Police are useful for suppressing riots and resisting floods. Dispatch Firefighters- Firefighters suppress fire and resist floods and toxic clouds. Dispatch Military - Military units may be available to your city after the military has constructed a base. Military units are highly trained and are effective against a variety of disasters.
• POWER Power Lines - Build these from your power plants to your zoned areas so they can start to build. These can cross roads and rails only at right angles. There is a slight transmission loss of power through these lines, so try to minimize the distance they have to traverse. Power Plants - This will bring up a list of the currently available power plants that you may build. This list will grow as time passes and technology progresses.
• WATER Pipes - These transmit water and carry away sewage. You need powered water pumps to generate water.Water Pump - Powered pumps will generate water for your city. The amount they produce is increased by placing them next to standing water. It also has a seasonal variance depending on rainfall. Water Tower - Water towers store water to combat seasonal variation.Treatment - Adding a treatment plant reduces your city-wide pollution levels.Desalinization - Water pumps will not pump sea water. A desalinization plant will take sea water and produce pure water for your city.
• CITY BONUS - As your city grows in size, the city council will vote to reward you.Mayor's House - You will be given a residence at 2000 population. City Hall - The council will vote to build a City Hall at 10000 population. Statue - This will occur after the City Hall, but before Arcologies or the other rewards.
• ROADS - This is your primary method of transport. Roads connect zones, allowing them to grow.Highway - Highways are faster and more efficient than roads. Commuters will move from road to onramps, then to highways, back to onramps, then on to roads again. Without the roads and on-ramps, highway are useless.
• TUNNEL - Tunnels dig through a mountain rather than going over it. One advantage to tunnels is that zones can be built over tunneled areas, improving land usage.
• ONRAMP - These are necessary for highways to function. They can only be placed at a highway/road juncture.
• BUS DEPOT - Depots provide rapid, low traffic transport. Up to half of your city's commuters will use these depots if they are well placed.
• RAIL - This transport method is efficient and traffic free. You must carefully place your rail depots, or else the rail will go unused.
• SUBWAY - These are underground railways. They operate like rail, except that subways need subway stations to operate.
• RAIL DEPOT - This is where commuters enter and exit the rail system.
• SUB STATION - This is where commuters enter and exit the subway system.
• SUB<-->RAIL - This allows you to connect your above-ground rail with your below-ground subway. You must place this next to an existing rail line.
• PORTS Seaport - This provides vital external transport for your city's industries. It will not be necessary until your city hits 10,000 people or so.
• AIRPORT - This provides inter-city transport for your city's commerce. It will not be needed until your city hits 15,000 people or so.
• RESIDENTIAL ZONING - Residential zones are where the people live. Low density zoning will only allow single family homes in an area. High density zoning will allow homes as well as high-rise apartments and condominiums.
• COMMERCIAL ZONING - Commercial areas provide services to your local population. This includes grocery stores, motels, entertainment, maintenance and more. High density zoning includes banking, real estate, and financial services.
• INDUSTRIAL ZONING - Industry is the backbone of your city. Initially, new residents are moving in to work with your industry. Meanwhile, industry is growing to meet external demands.
• EDUCATION ZONES - These special zones increase the 'EQ' or education quotient of your residents over time. The EQ of your city will influence many factors including crime, productivity, and which industries prosper. Each type of zone affects different age groups and has a maintenance cost associated with it.School - This represents primary and secondary education (from kindergarden to 12th grade). This will increase the EQ of the 5- to 20-year olds in your city. Of all education zones, these should be the most numerous in your city.College - This represents higher education- universities, junior colleges and vocational schools. This zone increases the EQ of the 15- to 25-year-olds primarily, and the older residents as well, though to a lesser degree.Library - This increases the EQ for all ages but to a lesser degree than the schools and colleges.Museum - Like the library this zone increases the EQ for all ages. But the effect is more and so is the cost.
• HEALTH AND SAFETY ZONES - These zones include essential city services to protect your residents.Police - Police stations help manage the crime in your city.
• FIRE STATION - Fire stations attempt to prevent and extinguish any fire s in your city. They also help during any sort of emergency.Hospital - This will have an beneficial effect on the health of your citizens.Prison - This will improve police performance if there is a lot of crime in your city.
• RECREATION ZONES - These special zones have a positive effect on residential growth and generally make your city a nicer place to live.Parks - Small and big parks both have a positive effect on local land values.Zoo - Zoos improve your city's desirability for residents, and improves its tourist value.
• STADIUM - Your citizens are more enthusiastic and loyal if they have a local team to rally behind.
• MARINA - These can only be placed down by the water.PLACE SIGNThis tool is used to place signs (labels) in your city. To use it just click on the city location where you want it placed and then enter the text for it. These can be used to name streets, subdivisions, lakes, etc. Or you may use this for jotting down notes to yourself about future plans for each area. These signs can be toggled on and off with the layer control button near the bottom of the City toolbar. To erase a sign, click on the base with the sign tool to open the record, then hit the delete key.
• QUERY TOOL - This tool will give you detailed information on anything in your city. Most areas only tell you about land value, local traffic, power and water supply. Special buildings such as fire departments, zoos, museums, et al., will have a specific micro-simulation you can examine.
• CENTER DISPLAY - This is the centering tool. It is used to scroll around your city. When you click in the window the scene will re-center on the place you clicked. If you click near the center of the window and hold the mouse button down, you can then smoothly scroll around by moving the mouse to adjust direction and speed.
• ZOOM OUT - There are three scales your city can be viewed at. This button allows you to increase the scale of your display. The tiles grow smaller and the area displayed grows.
• ZOOM IN - There are three scales your city can be viewed at. This button allows you to decrease the scale of your display. The tiles grow larger and the area displayed shrinks.
• ZONE DEMAND - These colored bars show you the current demand for each type of zone in your city. If the bar is up in the '+' area then your city needs more of that type of zone. The letters represent 'R'esidential, 'C'ommercial and 'I'ndustrial.
• ROTATE COUNTER-CLOCKWISE - Each time you click this button the scene in the window will rotate 90 degrees counter-clockwise.ROTATE CLOCKWISEEach time you click this button the scene in the window will rotate 90 degrees clockwise.
• MAP DISPLAY/WINDOW - This button brings up a pop-up map display. Hold down the mouse button to view it. You may 'tear away' the display to create a Map window. Drag the display away from the toolbar and release the mouse button. The map display shows a small, overhead view of your city. The map window has buttons to the left that allow you to view information such as 'Police Power', 'Crime Rate' and 'Pollution'.
• POPULATION DISPLAY/WINDOW - This button brings up a pop-up population display. Hold down the mouse button to view it. You may 'tear away' the display to create a Population window. Drag the display away from the toolbar and release the mouse button.This window is used to follow trends in your population. It will show the education, population and health for each age-group in your city. The technical name for this kind of display is a cohort-population graph.
• NEIGHBORS DISPLAY/WINDOW - This button brings up a pop-up neighbors display. Hold down the mouse button to view it. You may 'tear away' the display to create a Neighbors window. Drag the display away from the toolbar and release the mouse button. This shows the names and size of your regional neighbors, allowing you to compare your performance to your neighbors'. It also shows the size of the nation your city occupies.
• GRAPHS DISPLAY/WINDOW - This button brings up a pop-up graphs display. Hold down the mouse button to view it. You may 'tear away' the display to create a Graphs window. Drag the display away from the toolbar and release the mouse button.These charts show both short- and long-term evolution of population, traffic, pollution, crime, land value, health, education, power & water use, plus some national characteristics.
• INDUSTRY DISPLAY/WINDOW - This button brings up a pop-up industry display. Hold down the mouse button to view it. You may 'tear away' the display to create an Industry window. Drag the display away from the toolbar and release the mouse button. This window shows information about the 11 different industry groups. For each group you can display the national demand, your local tax rate and the ratio of local industries.
• BUDGET WINDOW - This allows you to examine your city's budget. You will be able to adjust your income and expenses, and hopefully have a positive cash flow.BUILDING LAYERThis button will flatten your buildings, allowing you to examine your roads, wires and other infrastructure. You will recognize the building types by their color: green - residential, blue - commercial, yellow - industrial, orange - city structures, grey - port structures. In under-view, the zone colors will be shown as outlines instead of colored-in squares.
• SIGN LAYER - This will hide your city's names and labels. See the 'PLACE SIGN' tool above.
• ROAD/TREE LAYER - This will turn off the display of your roads, rail, wires, trees and other non-building structures.ZONE LAYERThis button will allow you to examine your zones. In normal mode, this will hide all your zone buildings. In the under-view, this will put down colored tiles indicating the zone.
• UNDER-VIEW LAYER - This will transform your city display to a stick-figure outline of the terrain. Pipes and subways will become more visible, while all surface items will be hidden. The other layer buttons are still available and allow you to further customize the view.

• COAST SELECT - This button will add a coastline to the next map generated.
• RIVER SELECT - This button will add a river to the next map generated.
• HILL SLIDER - This slider adjusts how hilly the generated terrain will be.
• WATER SLIDER - This slider adjusts how wet the generated terrain will be. It will adjust both the sea level on the map as well as the number of streams and lakes.
• TREE SLIDER - This slider adjusts the number of trees on the generated terrain.
• MAKE NEW MAP - This button will generate a new map. The new map will be based on the settings of the two buttons and three sliders above.
• RAISE TERRAIN - This tool will raise the altitude when you click on the terrain, thereby creating hills.LOWER TERRAIN - This tool will lower the altitude when you click on the terrain, thereby creating valleys.
• STRETCH TERRAIN - This tool will allow you to stretch the terrain up or down. Click on the tile you wish to change and slowly move the mouse up or down while holding the button.
• LEVEL TERRAIN - This tool will level terrain and remove trees. Click on the tile level you wish to extend and move the mouse in the direction you want while holding down the mouse button.
• RAISE SEA LEVEL - Each time you press this button the sea level across the entire map will be raised one level.
• LOWER SEA LEVEL - Each time you press this button the sea level across the entire map will be lowered one level.
• PLACE WATER - This tool places tiles of water, thereby allowing you to create larger bodies of water like lakes and streams.
• PLACE STREAM - This tool creates streams. Click where you want the stream to start and it will flow downhill from that point.
• PLACE TREE - This tool adds trees to the terrain. Holding down the SHIFT key while using this tool will remove trees.
• PLACE FOREST - This tool will add a forested area to the terrain. Holding down the SHIFT key while using this tool will remove trees.
• ZOOM OUT - There are three scales your city can be viewed at. This button allows you to increase the scale of your display. The tiles grow smaller and the area displayed grows.
• ZOOM IN - There are three scales your city can be viewed at. This button allows you to decrease the scale of your display. The tiles grow larger and the area displayed shrinks.
• ROTATE COUNTER-CLOCKWISE - Each time you click this button the scene in the window will rotate 90 degrees counter-clockwise.
• ROTATE CLOCKWISE - Each time you click this button the scene in the window will rotate 90 degrees clockwise.
• CENTER DISPLAY - This is the centering tool. It is used to scroll around your city. When you click in the window the scene will re-center on the place you clicked. If you click near the center of the window and hold the mouse button down, you can then smoothly scroll around by moving the mouse to adjust direction and speed.DONE - When you are finished editing the terrain this button will bring you into the game. Make sure you are finished because you cannot return to the map-editing mode once the game has started.