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Frequently Asked Questions
Contents:
What are the system requirements?
- Macintosh: SimTower requires atleast a 68030 Mac or better to run. A 68040 is recommended.
SimTower runs native on a PowerMac. 256 colors are required. System 7.0 or above is required.
SimTower is compatible with System 7.5. The program needs 4 MB of RAM and
approximately 5 MB of hard drive space.. Word on the street is that SimTower works fine on docked Duo machines.
CD ROM required for CD ROM Edition.
- Windows: Simtower requires a 386 atleast, 486 recommended and a Pentium preferred.
4 MB of RAM. 5 MB hard drive space. 256 colors using standard Windows SVGA drivers.
Any sound card supported by windows (Optional).
Windows 3.1 or higher (Windows 95 or Windows NT for example)
CD ROM required for CD ROM Edition.
"But the Manual Says ..."
The manual for SimTower gives many good guidelines, but many of the
figures are just plain wrong. The manual, no doubt, had to be printed
long before the game was ready, and many of the details of the program
changed right before release. The figures in this FAQ come from the
README files that come with the game, with the updater, and from playing
the game itself.
How do I get Stars?
| Stars | Population | Other Requirements |
| 1 | 0 | none |
| 2 | 300 | none |
| 3 | 1,000 | 1 security station |
| 4 | 5,000 | VIP favor, 2 Suites, Medical Center, Recycling OK |
| 5 | 10,000 | Metro Placed, Recycling OK |
| TOWER | 10,000 | Cathedral placed on top |
When can I build stuff?
| Stars | Population | What you can build |
| 1 | 0 | Lobby,Stair,Floor,Office,Condo,Fast-Food,Elevator |
| 2 | 300 | Single Room,Housekeeping,Security,Service Elevator |
| 3 | 1,000 | Double Room,Suite,Retail,Restaurant,Express,
Clinic,Parking,Ramp,Recycling,Ballroom,Theatre |
| 4 | 5,000 | Metro |
| 5 | 10,000 | Cathedral |
* See How do I get stars?
Where's the VIP?
In order to get from three to four stars, the VIP must rate your
building. But first, he must get there! He will want to stay in a suite,
so you should build at least two. You must also have underground parking
available for the hotel customers who pay the big bucks. Putting the
Suites near an express elevator, and serving the underground parking
with the same express elevator is sometimes a good idea. If you don't
like your express going underground, change it back after you get your
rating!
After you have everything in order for the VIP's visit, you will just
have to wait. After all, he's the VIP!
How Many Stairs (or whatever) can I Build?
The simulation has the following built-in limits (presumably to make the
game run at a tolerable speed).
| FastFood+Restaurants+Shops | 512 |
| Parking Spaces | 512 |
| Stairs + Escalators | 64 |
| Elevators (all kinds) | 24 shafts total |
| Named Sims | 20 |
| Named Sims | 20 |
| Theatres+Ballrooms | 16 |
| Security Stations | 10 |
| Medical Clinics | 10 |
| Elevator Cars | 8 cars per shaft |
| Metro Station | 1 |
| Cathedral | 1 |
The SimTower 1.1 Updater (Pros and Cons):
Charlotte Henkle listed several problems
with the updater:
- The metro problem is not solved. I crashed the game out about 3 times
before I found a good place to put the metro.
- When you do have a metro,
the people coming in will only go to shops/fast food/restaurant on the
first 2 floors, not to anything above that. [This is the expected
behaviour, I think.]
- No matter how close fastfood places are to
elevators (They can be bisected by them), I get the message: "Elevators
are too far away". They complain about this until it starts to rain,
when they say "Access to trasportation is good". The must be talking
about arks ;)
- Also with fastfood places: Once they get enough people to
have business be average, in the comment window I get the message
"Business is average/ Opens tomorrow". It's been saying that for 10
years now.
- The hotel rooms seem to have random things in their comment
boxes, like "fastfood" or "office", even if these rooms are no where
near these places. Rooms with random comments seem to be less happy than
non-commented rooms.
What versions of SimTower exist?
As of August, 1996 the Windows version has 1.0 and 1.1. and the Mac version as 1.0, 1.1 and 1.2.
If you have version 1.0, you can upgrade to 1.1 with with patches.
If you have new information Please let me know.
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