I like how you said 'gang-related gun deaths'.. but we all know that really means negro gun deaths. The negrogs run around the country having the same tribal warfare they have in their homeland still today (sad). It would be alot better if they forced the fat bitches on welfare in the ghettos to be sterelized to prevent them from have 5 bastard children who will run around shooting each other.
Yeah especially with perverts who enjoy watching tenticle monsters sodomize 10 year old schoolgirls. Sick shit! Funny how that stuff is so popular with the socially inept like the overweight editors of this crappy site!
sci*ntology is a cult led by john travolta.
slashdot is deeply involved with Sci*ntology.
you should leave slashdot now or they may brainwash you.
check out anti sci*ntology sites
Fight this cult now!
SimTower For Windows Read Me
Last Minute Info April 19, 1995
Please read all of this document - it's important! Really!
We've tried to make this readme file informative, useful and fun. You might even find a clue to any SimTower cheat codes in here.
What's in this Document
Reading This document
Using Write
Using Something Other Than Write
Technical Stuff
Introduction
Installation Problems
System Conflicts
Some Other Things To Consider
Windows Shells Other Than Program Manager
QEMM, 386MAX, and other "cloaking" or "shadowing" Memory Managers
Increase Resources
Be Bold!
Sound And Music
Video, Palettes and Pictures
The Most Important Video Information in This File
What are Video Drivers?
What Does This Have to Do with SimTower?
General Note On Video Cards
Changing Your Video Driver
It Don't Work. Now What?
Specialized Video Stuff
Diamond Stealth 64 DRAM/VRAM
Cirrus Logic Chipset
Windows for Workgroups 3.11
Memory Issues
The General Idea
Windows for Workgroups 3.11
Using Virtual Memory
Disk Compression Users
Non Disk Compression Users
Gameplay Issues
Elevators
The Elevator Control Panel
What Does It Mean: Floors Closer than Moving Cars?
What About the "Car Response Time?"
Renaming Stuff
Housekeeping Stuff
Hidden Stuff
Limits
Some (Confusing) Money Matters
More Hidden Stuff
Talking to Real People
Customer Support
Before You Call Customer Support
The Most Important Stuff
The Next Most Important Stuff
Ways to Get Ahold of Us
Who we are
Reading this Document
Using Write
To make this document easier to read, enlarge the Write window by clicking the Maximize button in the upper-right corner of the window. Or open the Control menu in the upper-left corner of the Write window (press ALT+SPACEBAR), and choose the Maximize command.
Make sure that you are in Portrait Orientation. To check, open the File menu and select Print Setup.... Click the Portrait button if it's not set.
Use the Find menu to search for information which may be of interest to you. Readme files are the last chance for producers, programmers, managers, play testers and other nefarious types to include important information. As such, information can be a little "scattered". Search (with Find) and you may be pleasantly surprised. It ain't hyper-linked text, but it's the next best thing.
To move through the document, press PAGE UP or PAGE DOWN. Or click the arrows at the top and bottom of the scroll bar along the right side of the Write window.
To print the document, choose Print... from the File menu.
For Help on using Write, press F1.
NOTE: The screen shots in this Readme file are in 16 color BMP files to keep this file as small as possible. Also, the screen shots may not look all that spiffy when printed. Believe me when I tell you that the game looks much better in 256 colors.
Using Something Other Than Write
This document has been written using an outline structure. Unfortunately, Write doesn't support an outline structure.
If you can load this document into another word processor that CAN display it in an outline, you'll be able to find help and information more quickly by reading subject headings.
Actual Read Me information starts here...
Technical Stuff
Introduction
Games are pushing the envelope of software development. Word processors and spreadsheets, for all their menus and functions and what not, mostly just sit in memory and wait for you to do something. Games are running all the time, grabbing resources and forcing video drivers to perform at peak level. SimTower may be "just a game", but it's a busy game, and it's making your system work all the time... even when the window is minimized.
If you're having trouble running SimTower for Windows, or are getting error messages, check out this section first (it's why we put it near the top of the file). These tips were compiled and written by the Virtual Adept Magi of Maxis Customer Support and QA., and contain enough information to make you an expert too (or at least enough to make you sound like one).
Installation Problems
NOTE: If you are using memory managers (such as QEMM) other than the standard utilities that come with DOS, these installation instructions do not apply.
If the SimTower installer reports a General Protection Fault (GPF), AND you're running DOS 6.0 or higher, follow these steps (you earlier version of DOS users should skip to the next section):
1. Reboot your computer. Either press the reset button on your computer's case OR press Ctrl+Alt+Delete on your keyboard all at the same time to reboot.
2. Watch the boot-up process closely for the Message "Starting MS-DOS...".
When you see this message press your "F8" key once. You'll have to be nimble, since the "Starting MS-DOS..." message only gives you 2 seconds. If you succeed, you'll see a message that says "DOS will prompt you to confirm each line of the CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT files."
3. The order in which the lines are presented to you depends on your machine. Answer "Y" to the following lines in the CONFIG.SYS file:
DOS=HIGH,UMB (These items may be listed on separate lines 'DOS=HIGH' and 'DOS=UMB'.)
DEVICE=C:\DOS\HIMEM.SYS (This line may be listed as DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\HIMEM.SYS)
NOTE: There are NO SPACES used in these lines!
4. Answer "N" to ANY other lines. This means ANY other lines.
5. You'll be deposited at the (dreaded) C:\> prompt. Don't be scared. Just type in "CD\WINDOWS" then hit [Enter].
6. You will now be in the Windows directory. Your prompt will read, "C:\WINDOWS>"
7. Type "WIN" [enter] to start Windows. Windows may be a little slower than usual.
8. Now follow the setup instructions in the SimTower Addendum & Quick Start Guide.
9. After installation, reboot your computer and let it start up as usual.
10. If you still receive GPFs contact Maxis Customer Support.
The Next Section (for pre DOS 6 users)
You'll likely need to create a boot disk to prevent conflicting software from loading. This boot disk MUST be in Drive A. DOS looks in Drive A for booting instructions before it looks in Drive C. It NEVER looks in Drive B. If you only have one floppy drive, DOS always looks in that drive before it looks in Drive C.
Making your boot disk
First, read these instructions once (or perhaps twice) to familiarize yourself with the procedure and what you'll need.
Here's what you do to make a boot disk:
1. Place a blank, formatted disk in the A: drive. (If your floppy disk is not formatted, put the disk in the "A:" drive and then from the "C:\>" prompt type in "format a:" then press .
2. Get to your C: prompt by typing "C:"
3. Type "SYS A:" (This puts basic system files on the floppy in your A: drive.)
4. Type in "A:\" to switch to your "A:" drive.
5. Make sure that you are on the "A:" drive; if you are not, BAD things may happen.
6. Create a CONFIG.SYS file by following these instructions:
a. Type "copy con config.sys"
b. Type "DOS=HIGH,UMB" (no spaces)
c. Type "device=himem.sys" (no spaces
d. Press the F6 key (you will see "^Z"), then press . You'll get a message telling you that one file has been copied.
Reboot your machine with this boot disk in drive A. This will let you bypass your auto-loading stuff and give control back to you. You'll end up at the C:>prompt. Type "cd\windows" . Now you're at your Windows directory. Type "win" . This loads Windows.
System Conflicts
Conflicts are rare but they can occur. If you're not having problems, take no action (or, if it ain't broke, don't fix it).
If you are having problems (or if the fine writing in this file seems interesting), read on.
Many people make Windows load some programs automatically. Some of these programs are benign. Others are resource hogs. The easiest solution is the most drastic: turn off everything but the Program Manager and SimTower to free memory and system resources.
If that's a bit much, consider that most problems are caused by two types of programs. The worst offenders are screen savers. If you're using a screen saver (even the default Windows screen saver), you should disable it to prevent conflicts when running SimTower.
The second worst offenders are virus protection programs. It's a sad comment on our times that virus protection programs are a necessity, but really, the only time they actually do any good is when a disk is inserted. There's no reason to have them running if all you're doing is building a tower. If you experience trouble running SimTower for Windows, try disabling virus protection programs.
To determine if something else is running, hold down the key on your keyboard then press the key at the same time. This brings up the Windows Task List.
Ideally, the only item in the Task List window should be Program Manager. If there are any other items shown, and you want to disable them, click on the item to highlight it and click on the End Task button to turn it off. Repeat until only Program Manager is active. Now run SimTower for Windows.
Some Other Things To Consider
Windows Shells other than Program Manager
Shell programs are third party replacement programs that you can use in place of the standard Windows Program Manager. These include such things as HP Dashboard, the Norton Desktop, and XSoft's TabWorks (which comes installed on most Compaq computers).
If you are having trouble installing or running SimTower for Windows, try either turning off the shell you are using, or using that program's File - Run command to run Program Manager. The command line to run Program Manager is C:\WINDOWS\PROGMAN.EXE. Once you have installed SimTower, you should be able to close Program Manager and run SimTower through the shell program you usually run.
Some shell programs simply won't let you run SimTower properly. If you have successfully installed SimTower but it still won't run, try turning off the shell program you have been using.
A Special Note About TabWorks: If you are running TabWorks, we STRONGLY recommend the following procedure to eliminate extraneous icon creation and other bizarre problems.
1. Go to the Options menu.
2. Select File Tracking Options, and deselect Track File Creation and Track File Modification.
This will allow you to install SimTower through TabWorks without having to run Program Manager.
QEMM, 386MAX, and other "cloaking" or "shadowing" memory managers.
QEMM has a feature called "Full Stealth Mode". Full Stealth Mode tries to free as much lower memory as possible by "cloaking" or "shadowing" all the devices and drivers in upper memory. This would include most the BIOS on most video cards. Unfortunately, neither SimTower nor WinG (the Windows Graphic utility that SimTower uses) will detect your video BIOS if it's cloaked or shadowed. We recommend that you turn off Stealth Mode altogether or do not include the Video Regions in the optimization of your system. If you need any assistance with these procedures PLEASE call the manufacturer of your memory manager to confirm that what you are using is WinG compatible.
Increase Resources
If you get occasional General Protection Faults in MMTASK or MCISEQ, try increasing the buffers allocated for sounds. To do this, open the Control Panel icon and select Drivers. In the Drivers window, there will be a list of items like "Timer" and "[MCI] Sound". Highlight "[MCI] Sound", and click on the Setup button. Usually, the MCI Waveform Driver Setup window will be configured for a 4 second buffer. You should try increasing that to 6 seconds.
Be Bold!
When all else fails, increase the amount of low memory available in DOS. See your DOS manual for information on increasing the amount of memory available.
Sound and Music
SimTower for Windows supports all sound cards that are compatible with Windows 3.1. If you do not have a sound card, you will get a message reminding you of this. Click Continue. SimTower will run without sound.
If you have a sound card, check the Options menu in SimTower. In the Options menu is an item called Sound, which has three selections: Elevators, Background, and Events. For sound to play, at least one of these menu items must be selected. Having all three selected gives you the full range of sounds in a building. Turning off all three gives you more speed from your computer.
There is no music in SimTower.
Video, palettes and pictures
The Most Important Video Information In This File
Some video drivers shipped with Windows 3.1 do NOT work on most systems. These drivers are designed to work only with specific video cards. Chances are that you do NOT have this type of card! These are the drivers which begin with Video 7 or XGA.
If you use these drivers but don't have the cards they are designed for, you'll get a blank screen when Windows loads. Windows is actually running just fine, but it's kind of hard to use a graphic interface if you can't see the graphics.
If you are reading this after you have already loaded one of these drivers and you no longer can load up Windows, call your video card manufacturer. In a few paragraphs you'll find out how to change your Windows driver back to VGA. If you have any doubts about changing your display drivers around, PLEASE call your video card manufacturer.
What are Video Drivers?
Windows uses programs called Video Drivers to control how your particular graphics card displays things on the screen. Usually, the video card installed in your computer has a set of video drivers for you to use with Windows. Windows itself comes with video drivers that work on almost any video card and allow your computer to display 16 colors with a resolution of 640x480 pixels.
What Does This Have to Do with SimTower?
Many people have only the generic 16 color video drivers installed. Others have video drivers which allow more than 256 colors. What's a poor company to do?
Well, what we did is allow SimTower to run in color resolutions other than 256. Obviously, displaying 256 color artwork in only 16 colors can produce some effects which are... less than artistic.
On the other hand, some of the animation or colors in SimTower may not work properly with systems running in more than 256 colors.
In both the above cases, SimTower is still playable, so if you don't have 256 color drivers or are not sure how to install them, you can still play SimTower.
However, for absolutely the most bestest results, we recommend that you run SimTower in 256 colors. Your video card manufacturer or documentation should have information to help you set your card for 256 colors.
The steps to change your video driver are system-specific; you may have an icon in your Control Panel or perhaps a separate group for setting and changing resolutions and the number of colors.
We recommend that you check with your vendor or manufacturer for information on your display card, but here are some general hints and tips we can run through.
General note on video cards
WinG (the graphic utility that SimTower uses) will usually warn you if your drivers are incompatible. If you do not get the warning, most likely you will not have video trouble.
This does not mean that the WinG check is 100% correct so if you have video trouble consult your video card manufacturer to check the WinG compatibility of your video card.
If you do not know what company makes your video card, consult the manufacturer of your computer to find out what brand of video cards they have been using on your model machine.
Changing Your Video Driver
WARNING: Follow these instructions ONLY if you and your computer are on friendly, familiar terms.
You may need your original Windows disks (they have programs which you might need but which may not have been installed) so it's helpful to have them handy.
Next, find the Windows Setup icon and double-click it to open it. It's usually in the Main program group. Display shows you what your system is set for. If it's just "VGA", that means 640x480 resolution with 16 colors. We're going to change that to something a little nicer.
Open the Options menu and choose Change System Settings. Click the down arrow at the right side of the Display bar to show a list of drivers that are in the options. Scroll up and down to see the available selections. Look for one that lists specifically 256 colors. (Remember, you most likely do not want the Video 7 or XGA drivers!) When you find one, select that setting by clicking on it, then click on OK.
If you don't find a driver for your card, you can still use Other display at the end of the list. In this case, you'll definitely have to tell the Settings program where your driver is, since it already can't find it.
Most likely, what you want is installed already. If so, you'll get a prompt asking you if you want to use the currently installed driver or use a new one. Most of the time you'll want to use the currently installed driver (unless you have a newer version of what's installed). If it's not installed, you've got your Windows disks handy. Insert any disks as requested.
Click the Restart Windows button when instructed.
It Don't Work. Now What?
It is possible that after Windows restarts with the new driver that your display will blank out or not function properly. This indicates, at the very least, that you have loaded the wrong driver for your video card. It may also mean that you will need a specific driver for your card.
Don't panic. Here's how to put things back the way they were.
1. Get to your C:\> prompt.
If your computer goes straight into Windows without you typing anything, you must prevent that from happening. If you have DOS 6.0 or higher, you can press the F5 key when you see the prompt "Starting MS-DOS." If you have an earlier version of DOS, you must use a boot disk to boot from your A: drive.
2. Get to the Windows directory (type CD\WINDOWS [Enter]).
3. At the C:\WINDOWS> prompt, type SETUP [Enter]). This loads the DOS version of the setup program you used to change your video driver.
4. Use the keyboard arrow keys to move to the DISPLAY line and hit [Enter].
5. Now you can use your arrow keys to scroll the listed options to VGA. Hit [Enter]
6. Use the arrow keys to go back down to Accept these settings...
Load windows like you normally would.
Specialized Video Stuff
Diamond Stealth 64 DRAM/VRAM
If you have a Diamond Stealth 64 DRAM or VRAM video card, you should disable all "Power Saver" features (even the DOS ones)! Otherwise, your system can actually turn off while SimTower is in the foreground. We're not sure why this happens, which makes it very difficult to fix.
Cirrus Logic Chipset
Certain older drivers shipped with Cirrus Logic video cards may be incompatible with SimTower for Windows. Make sure you have the most recent versions of the video driver for your card or use the Microsoft Generic SVGA drivers, available on most on-line systems or from Microsoft.
Windows for Workgroups 3.11
If you have Windows for Workgroups 3.11, you should look at the options for "SuperVGA". Make sure to select one that lists 256 colors. "SuperVGA (640x480, 256 colors)" or "SuperVGA (800x600, 256 colors)" should be good choices. These are generic Microsoft drivers that work with many cards. These Microsoft generic drivers are available through many shareware dealers or from Microsoft. Even though they aren't optimized for your card specifically, they should get you going. If you have problems with them, we recommend that you get a driver that is specific to your card. Usually, you can get such a driver from your dealer or the card's manufacturer.
You may also see a message from the Windows Graphics package, WinG. It runs a calibration test the first time it installs to optimize video performance. It may warn you that it is using a slower method of video due to "an older version" of your video card software; SimTower and WinG will run for now, but we would recommend obtaining an updated version of your display driver (one that is WinG-friendly) at your first convenience, from the dealer or manufacturer of your video card. It is a good rule of thumb to keep your video and sound drivers updated with the best version available from the manufacturer.
Memory Issues
The General Idea
SimTower for Windows requires that you run Windows in 386 Enhanced Mode (Microsoft calls it that whether you've got a 386, 486 or a Pentium).
You can check to see if you are in Enhanced Mode by choosing Help in your Program Manager, then going to About Program Manager...
If About Program Manager says you are in Standard Mode, exit Windows, then restart with the command WIN/3 instead of WIN. This will force Windows to start in Enhanced Mode.
If you cannot run Windows in Enhanced Mode, please verify that your system meets or exceeds the minimum system requirements printed on the system requirements label on the box your copy of SimTower for Windows came in.
Windows for Workgroups 3.11
If you're using Windows for Workgroups 3.11, the only possible mode is Enhanced, so the About... box won't mention mode, just free memory. This is normal and cool.
Using Virtual Memory
Disk Compression Users
If you're using disk compression software such as DoubleSpace, DriveSpace, Stacker, SuperStor or things like that, these instructions ARE NOT for you. Most of these programs will come with their own utilities to use virtual memory. Refer to the documentation that came with your compression program for more information).
Non Disk Compression Users
If you don't have enough memory to run SimTower for Windows, first close all other programs that are running to free up the necessary memory.
If this doesn't correct the problem, there's still hope. To prepare yourself, you might refer to the Windows manual section called MEMORY. There are several different options explained in the manual, from editing your startup configuration files to using Virtual Memory. We can help you out a little here (and we're somewhat less daunting than the Windows manual).
Virtual Memory uses your system's hard disk drive to temporarily store information that would normally be kept in the system RAM memory. It's a little slower than RAM, but you have the potential to increase your available memory quite significantly.
You run Virtual Memory by following these steps:
1. Find your Control Panel icon. It's usually within the Main program group.
2. Double-click on the Control Panel icon to open it.
3. Double-click on the Enhanced icon (the icon looks like a computer chip -- if it is not there, you are not running Windows in Enhanced Mode. See the instructions on starting Windows in Enhanced Mode.)
4. Click on the Virtual Memory... button to open the Virtual Memory window.
5. Click on the Change button. You'll get a window which has some important information. The most important information is the Recommended Maximum Size for Virtual Memory on your computer. This number will vary from machine to machine. If your computer is not already set to this number, you're in luck. Type that number in the New Size box.
6. Check out your Windows manual for more information concerning virtual memory.
Finally, if you are using Sound Effects in SimTower for Windows, you will need as much free conventional memory as possible. Conventional memory is memory below 640k. Please see your DOS manual for instructions on freeing conventional memory. If you have DOS 6 or higher, just run the MemMaker program. Type MEMMAKER at your DOS prompt.
Gameplay Issues
Elevators
Q: "My elevators never seem to be working right. Everyone is stressed out and moving out of my tower. Why aren't they taking the elevator? I just don't understand this whole elevator thing."
A: Get ready for a long winded, but informative, response.
If you prefer to develop your own strategy for success in SimTower you can skip over this.
Elevator control is one of the most important issues in SimTower. Elevators are the highways and byways that let your SimTenants move from floor to floor. Your tenants don't like stairs much (even the tenants who work out). Take time to read the Elevators section on the SimTower.
What, you got more questions? Alrighty then, read on...
The primary key to successful transportation in SimTower is to section off your tower every 30 levels. You'll need the Express elevator (and three stars) to do this most efficiently, but you can fudge a little by having one (or two) "Standard" elevators skip floors 2-14 but stop on floors 1 and 15-30 until you can build a real Express elevator.
When you are routing your elevators keep in mind that Sims will only transfer transportation modes ONCE. This means if a Sim takes a Standard elevator from floor 35 to floor 30 then transfers to an Express elevator and continues down to floor 1 the Sim will not take anymore transportation modes other than walking. If the Sim took an escalator to the Express elevator, that still counts as TWO modes of transportation.
Sims look for the easiest way to travel from point A to point B. They will usually take the closest elevator to their point of origin. Here are the modes of transportation in the order that the Sims prefer to travel. Escalators, Stairs, Standard Elevator, Express Elevator. Of course if the Sim is on floor 15 she won't be able to take escalators all the way down to floor 1. But she will take the Standard elevator instead of the Express, even though they both travel to floor 1 from 15.
If you are getting demand messages from the Sims saying "Tenants on floor X cannot get to floor Y". check to see if the Sims have adequate transportation. If the transportation looks fine and you still get the same demand, look closely at the lobby floor on which the Sim is changing transportation methods. On the transfer lobby floor, make sure that there is actual lobby built all along the floor. If there is any break in the lobby it will appear as a gray section on the floor. Two sections of lobby with even a sliver of gray between them are NOT connected! If a Sim tries to transfer on that floor and the elevator that they need to take is on the other side of the "break" in the lobby, the Sim will not be able to get to that mode of transportation. This is what is causing the demand "Tenants on floor X cannot get to floor Y."
In really tall towers, some of your Express elevators should serve each 30-floor block exclusively (instead of every 15 floors). One (or more, depending upon the width of your tower) Express Elevator stopping at floor 15 is plenty. Also, if there are no facilities underground, there's no reason to have an Express Elevator go there.
When you are finally able to build Express Elevators, here's a simple plan to follow: Start your first Express Elevator at floor 1 and raise it to floor 30. Start a Standard Elevator on floor 30 and raise it to floor 40. Add some cars to both new elevator shafts. Add the facilities of your choice. You really shouldn't try to build up more than 10 more floors. Remember that you might not have a lot of money at this stage of the simulation. You can always add another elevator shaft and more facilities later. Below is a screen shot that will show you just what the heck we are talking about here.
The Elevator Control Panel
Open the Elevator Control Panel by clicking the elevator machinery with the "Query" tool. This panel can seem confusing at first, especially the "Floors Closer than Moving Cars."
What Does It Mean: Floors Closer than Moving Cars?
The "Floors Closer than Moving Cars" setting determines how many elevator cars are moving in a particular shaft at one time. The number in the "Floors closer than moving cars" box has a default setting of "5". Here's what that means:
Suppose a Sim is on the 20th floor and requests an elevator. At the same time, there is a empty car on the 26th floor not doing anything. With a setting of "5" the simulator looks 5 floors up the shaft (to floor 25) and 5 floors down the shaft (to floor 15) for any moving cars. If there's a moving car in this range, AND if it's headed in the direction the Sim wants to travel, the moving car will respond to the request. The empty car on floor 26 would respond if there were no moving cars between floor 15 and floor 25.
If you change the number of "Floors closer than moving cars" to "1", all the elevator cars in a particular shaft will be moving most of the time. Moving all the cars all the time may not be a good solution for your tower. Refer to your manual (especially the paragraphs on "waiting" or home floor locations for empty cars) to find out why.
What about the "Car Response Time?"
When Car Response Time is set to zero, it means that as soon as someone gets in the elevator, the doors close and the elevator leaves. If a lot of people are waiting for an elevator, it's possible that only a few of them will be able to scamper in before the doors close.
You can reduce stress by letting your elevators wait for a while before taking off.
Below is a screen shot of the Elevator Control Panel. The settings in this screen shot are not the default settings! These settings will keep elevator traffic flowing well on MOST towers. If you have especially heavy traffic on some floors you will need to find alternate routes for some of the Sims (e.g., escalators, stairs, or additional elevator shafts). Every tower you build will be a little different, and each will have unique transportation needs. Feel free to experiment and customize your elevator controls to suit your tower. The manual has a description of the buttons and functions of the Elevator Control Panel, as does the SimTower Help File.
Q: Can I rename the different business sites in my tower, just like I can
rename the people?"
A: YES. Even though there is no mention of this in the manual you can rename the
any space you like. Example: "English Pub" can be named "Brian's Brewery". Click
the rename button and in the space that says "English Pub" type "Brian's Brewery".
Then click on the rename button in the same window as the text field that contains
"Brian's Brewery" and you have successfully renamed a business site. You can only
have 15 characters in the new name.
Q: "How can I tell where the V.I.P. is going to stay?"
A: The V.I.P. will appear as a yellow Sim. Contrary to the manual (page 58), the
suite that the V.I.P. will stay in is not highlighted by a yellow box around it. You can
watch the V.I.P. go into their hotel room.
Q: "Where is Housekeeping?"
A: The Housekeeping button was moved from under the Security button (as page 20
in the manual states) to under the Hotel room button on the tool bar.
Q: "What are the requirements to get to the next star?"
A: Star Rating Population Event
1 You start SimTower with a 1 star Tower
2 300 None
3 1000 At least two security offices.
4 5000 More than one suite room. Recycling and
Medical demands satisfied. A V.I.P. must
visit and rate your tower favorably.
5 10,000 Metro station placed. ALL demands
satisfied.
Tower 15,000 Cathedral placed and wedding takes place.
Q : "I am having trouble getting to my next star rating. What's up?"
A : On the higher star ratings SimTower only looks at your permanent population. That means that your hotel tenants are no longer counted as population towards the next Tower level. If you have plenty of permanent population, you might not have had the wedding take place in the cathedral. The wedding will only take place on the weekend. Also, try to place more of your tower's service oriented facilities to improve your tenants evaluation of the conditions (Recycling centers, security, etc.).
Q: "I'm a cheater and I want more money. Are there any cheat codes in
SimTower?"
A: There is only one way to cheat in SimTower. You must start a new tower. Then
before you place anything, place a section of lobby underground all the way down
and to the left on the level below the "B9" level. This will double your starting funds.
Q: "Are there any limits to the number of facilities of a certain type you can
place?"
A: YES. Some types of facilities have a limit on the amount you can place. Here
are the limits for a five star tower.
Cathedral =1
Elevator Shafts =24
Elevator cars per shaft =8
Fast Food + Restaurants + Retail Shops =512
Medical centers =10
Metro station =1
Parking spaces =512
Security offices =10
Stairs + Escalators =64
Cinemas + Party Halls =16
There is also a limit to the number of Sims you can name. Only 20 Sims can have
names at any one time.
Q: "The funds in the 'Finance' window do not match the funds in the "Status Bar". Is something wrong?"
A: There is nothing wrong with your copy of SimTower. The funds in the "Finance" window are rounded to the hundreds place, while the "Status Bar" will display all the way down to the ones place. Example: if you have $2000000 ($2 million) according to the "Status Bar" the amount will appear as $20000 in the "Finance" window. SimTower's prices are all in the thousands, and you are never going to have anything other "0" s in the last three decimal places of the "Status Bar" funds display. (Which makes this a minor issue, but we are still sorry.) If you add two "0" s to the amount in the "Finance" window it will exactly match the funds in the "Status Bar".
Q: "The manual says that a Lobby section costs $5000, but every time I place a
Lobby it charges me $22,000. Why?"
A: The "section" that the manual and SimTower text boxes refer to is different from
what the size of your cursor is when you select the Lobby tool. A section as defined
by the program as the smallest space that you can build with a tool. The Lobby
cursor is actually FOUR sections as defined by the program. That will equal
$20,000. "Where does the extra $2000 come from?" If you do not have the walls
built (you can see the sky) on the floor where your going to place the lobby then you
will be charged $500 for each section of floor you need to build. Four sections equal
$2000, and the grand total is $22,000.
Note: If you build a 2-story lobby on the ground floor (hold down the Ctrl key
while you place the first section of lobby) the total deduction from your funds will be
$40,000 per cursor space. If you build a 3-story lobby on the ground floor (hold
down the CTRL and SHIFT keys while you place the first section of lobby) the total
deduction from your funds will be $60,000 per cursor space.
Q: "How do I get rid of cockroaches once they have infested a room?"
A: You must bulldoze the room.
Q: "I want to move my Housekeeping space, but I can't seem to bulldoze it."
A: Exactly; once you have placed Housekeeping you cannot bulldoze it. Other
spaces that can not be bulldozed are: Cathedral, Metro Station, Recycling centers,
and Security offices.
Q: "I have read the Help file, this Read Me file, and EVEN the Manual
all the way through, but I still have a question. Who can help me?"
A: You may now call Maxis Customer Support at 510-253-3755.
Q: How do I get a 2 or 3 story lobby?
A: Oops. I guess we lied when we said there was only one cheat.
Talking to Real People
Customer Support
Give Customer Support a call if you have something really specific, like a graphic card problem or an error message that no one (not even the System Analyst in your building) understands. You can reach them at 510-253-3755.
Before You Call Customer Support
The Most Important Stuff
Make sure you've read this Read Me file completely (we'll know if you haven't), in addition to any other appropriate material (like the manual). If you're still at your wit's end, there's a few things you can do to make serving you and solving any problems a little easier.
The most important thing is to make sure that your computer system meets or exceeds the requirements defined on the SimTower system label. The system label is located in the lower-left portion of the front of the box.
The next most important thing is to call us from your computer! It's much, MUCH easier to solve a problem when you're at your computer, and nearly impossible to solve when you aren't at it.
The Next Most Important Stuff
It's really handy to have a print-out of your WIN.INI, SYSTEM.INI, CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT files. You can print these files by typing MSD at the C:\ prompt. This runs the Microsoft Diagnostics program which will allow you to print out a report of your system. Remember, we don't know what your system has, and we can't see what it says on your screen.
If you can't print out your system files (for whatever reason), it's not the end of the world, as long as you are at your computer when you call!
If you are getting error messages or General Protection Faults (GPFs), write down what the error message says. Include what you were doing when you got the message. This will help us diagnose the problem.
Write down all of the steps you have taken to try to solve the problem. If we know what you've already done, we may be able to get you running faster.
Have your program disks, your manual, and your Addendum available and within easy reach.
Ways to Get Ahold of Us
We aren't trying to hide or anything. There're lots of ways to contact Maxis.
The first is by telephone. If you decide that you would like to call and hear a friendly voice, you'll find the number and hours of operation for Customer Support listed on the Maxis Maxims sheet, included in the box your program came in. There is lots of other useful info there, so keep your Maxis Maxims somewhere handy.
By phone might not be handy for you. We are present on all of the major on-line services if you subscribe to any of them. If you don't currently subscribe, many on-line services will give you a 30-day trial membership. Refer to the Maxis Maxims for more information on signing up. On AOL, just e-mail to "Maxis", or use keyword "Maxis". On CompuServe, do "GO GAMBPUB" and leave a message in the Maxis forum.
For you Internet users! We can be reached on the Internet via e-mailing to SUPPORT@MAXIS.COM; we have a microscopic ftp site at ftp.netcom.com in the/pub/ma/maxis directory, which we are hoping to expand soon. World Wide Web site is ftp://ftp.netcom.com/pub/ma/maxis/http/maxis.html WHEW!! (Use a bookmark!!)
We maintain a BBS that is free-of-charge (although your phone company will hit you with long distance charges) to all registered users of Maxis products. The BBS number is (510) 254-3869 and it is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. We support up to 14.4k BPS and have four nodes. The settings are 8-N-1. You can also find the latest FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions), hints and tips from other users and other good stuff.
Make sure you register your software! We've included a handy little postcard for you to send in. This will entitle you to FREE Technical Support for the life of the product. The product life ends when a new version is released or the product is discontinued.
Who we are
We've saved the best for the last, the names behind the faces behind the voices you'll get when you call Customer Support. Be gentle with them. They didn't write the code or the manual, but they do provide support for the product which far outlasts jelly doughnuts (and other comestibles).
Roger Johnsen (Our Fearless Leader)
Aaron Shephard (Dr. Emu)
Brian Smith ()
Chris Charman (FAX-BACKS Guru)
Jeff Feil (AKA Quam)
Joy (Couldn't do it without you) Carchidi
Kirk Lesser (AKA Blud - like the stuff in your veins. Don't ask.)
Leo Kunkle (He's there for ya!)
Lisa Laverty (You have questions, Lisa has answers)
Owen Nelson (Owen Means Graphics)
Shannon Dawes (She makes great popcorn)
It's not a typo, the editors for this site just can't spell for shit. It's not so bad making typos on a message board, I make them all the time, but if you are running a very popular news site you should at least learn how to spell properly. However, slashdot is not a respected news site, and CmdrTaco is an uneducated fuck.
Beos was a piss poor Os. Very little hardware support (even less than linux), no worthwhile applications, and ugly, childish graphics. All I can say is good riddence to bad rubbish
The American government lies all the time, that would be unacceptable in my own country, but the people in America are too busy being 'patriotic' and will let the government trample right over them.
yeah I think it's good that stuff like that is illegal. Might give some sad looking goth kids a chance to go outside instead of commiting crimes that have higher sentences than rape
Re:If only Transmeta would release a different CPU
on
Via One-ups Transmeta
·
· Score: -1
Heh.. it uses code morphing to emulate only one platform... rather badly
amen, unfortunately due to line condtitions I only get about 320kbit down and 128kbit up on my dsl, but the connecttion is very stable (I have had it connected before for several days at a time and multiple gigabytes of downloaded data)
I don't have a monthly download cap which is great, but alot of the cable providers have a 6-8 gigs of download per month before they begin charging you per extra megabyte.
windows users are the ones who have money for gadgets like handheld pc's. Linux users use mostly free software, that should tell you something about their financial situation.
Top Nine Reasons to Quit Slashdot.org
#9. Slashdot is a plot by Microsoft to destroy the productivity of Linux users.
I have friends who were once tremendously productive programmers, until they started reading Slashdot. Then, the endless stream of links, updated a dozen times a day no less (so you don't go once a day to get your fix; instead, you keep a window open and hit reload every twenty minutes or so), steadily seduced them, until they eventually became babbling idiots, dribbling saliva from the corners of their mouths, ranting on the forums about the relative merits of Karma Whores and Anonymous Cowards. Can there be any doubt that this website is anything other than a nefarious ploy to destroy Linux by undermining the productivity of its developers? And is there any organization that would like to destroy Linux more than Microsoft? (Well, maybe the Santa Cruz Operation...) Is it any coincidence that just as the Feds were working out Microsoft's sentence, Microsoft sued Slashdot, resulting in a firestorm of geek ire that totally overshadowed the monopoly ruling?
#8. Screaming 14-year-old boys attempting to prove to each other that they are more 3133t than j00.
Need I say more?
#7. Technical opinions refereed by popular vote means lousy technical opinions.
Before the Internet, a certain breed of deconstructionists had a lot of fun telling everybody that "privileging of dominant paradigms" was wrecking the world. The Internet has taught us that privileging certain views is absolutely crucial to avoid drowning in the ravings of idiots. On Slashdot, many articles discuss technical issues---but comments are refereed by popular vote, and even though the populace of Slashdot readers knows somewhat more than your average set of people off the street, they still tend to promote (as in "moderate up") a lot of technical nonsense. Reading Slashdot can therefore often be worse than useless, especially to young and budding programmers: it can give you exactly the wrong idea about the technical issues it raises.
The pre-Internet publishing world had magazines, newspapers, and journals with editors. Respectable publications hired qualified editors. Those qualified editors were educated enough to make intelligent decisions about the quality of content. The Slashdot model removes the editors and substitutes popular vote, and the result (unfortunately) is that the quality level becomes incredibly inconsistent. It was an interesting experiment; it didn't work, not for Slashdot (though it might work in some other population of users). Too bad. Now, it's time to quit.
#6. Community myth that Linux is technically superior to any other operating system in the known universe.
People who do operating systems research, of course, think this is a joke. Dissent from this view in Slashdot, however, and you'd better be wearing your asbestos fatigues.
#5. Butt-ugly visual design.
Of course, this one's a matter of taste. However, in my analysis, the visual elements of the Slashdot site are basically hopelessly confused and wrong. From the cryptic links in the left margin, to the drop-shadowed graphics (hello, digital design cliche circa 1994?), to the offensively lousy color scheme (let's use circuit board green, because it's "News for Nerds", right?) I can't find much to like about the design of Slashdot.
#4. Gullible editorial staff continues to post links to any and all articles that vaguely criticize Linux in any way.
Blowhards (like the flock of irresponsible columnists over at the Windows-boosterism rag InfoWorld) have had tons of fun taking advantage of this tendency to drive hits to their site. On any given day, Slashdot readers are treated to another link to another column by another self-proclaimed pundit declaring that Linux is (pick one) unreliable, not scalable, not user-friendly, doomed, piracy-inducing, foul-smelling, or un-American. And irony was that the editors of Slashdot are falling right into the pundits' trap: inciting the Slashdot community is the one surefire way to drive up your hit count and hence your revenue from ad banners. Did the Slashdot editors ever wise up? Not that I ever saw. Given how tiresome the endless pro-Linux jihad had become by the time I quit, I have very little desire to go back and find out whether that's changed.
#3. Gullible editorial staff continues to post links to bogus pseudoscience articles by crackpots.
At the time I quit, the editors were posting links to theories of alternate consciousness, unified theories of the universe made up by people in their garages, and the like at a rate of two or three a week. And the number was only increasing. If I want to read articles that promote totally bogus pseudoscience, I'll open up the Village Voice. We don't need another webzine filling that role.
#2. Editorial/comment system pretends to be democratic but in reality most content remains firmly in the iron clasp of the editors.
The above problems with editorial could be solved if stories could be moderated as well as comments, or if editors paid attention to negative feedback about the posting of certain articles. However, the editorial staff, while pretending to be ideology-free selectors of any "interesting" content, in fact exert tremendous power over the content of the site, because they are the only ones who can select top-level links. They have furthermore demonstrated, for all the reasons above, that they cannot use this power wisely.
In fact, if you think about it, the links on Slashdot are easily an order of magnitude less interesting, on average, than those of Suck, Hotwired, or FEED---all of which are run by smart editors with good taste (and two of which are dead---thus proving that only the good die young). If you've read any of these webzines, you'll probably agree. Rob and Hemos simply don't compare, as editors, to Stephen Johnson or Joey Anuff.
So, really, it's time to ask yourself: why should I read Slashdot? Because it targets my demographic? That's a silly reason. So why not quit today?
#1. Two words: Jon Katz.
Every community has its resident gasbag. The difference between Slashdot and other communities is that they have the means to kick their village idiot off his soapbox, but they lack the will. If Jon Katz is not the single worst writer for any webzine, anywhere on the planet, alive today, then I am a penguin. His writing manages to be endlessly meandering and verbose, and simultaneously utterly content-free.
Notice, by the way, that I have not said a word about his technical acumen. It's not necessary to. Katz (who, like all opportunists, likes to paint himself as an innocent victim whenever he's criticized) makes a big deal about how there are "technical snobs" in the Linux user population who blast him for not being a technical genius. To tell the truth, Katz's inability to install even recent Linux distributions (which are arguably as easy to install as MacOS or Windows) on a run-of-the-mill x86 PC does testify to his general cluelessness. However, Katz is not a programmer or sysadmin; he's a writer. He must stand or fall based on the quality of his writing. And his writing is totally the pits. He would never have gotten published anywhere but Slashdot; even WIRED, cheerleaders of all things "digital" and "decentralized", finally got tired of his babbling and let him go. The cheesiest, most blatantly pandering "Hookers Who Read Proust" article on Salon.com displays more literary skill than the finest Katz screed ever to see the light of day.
To make things worse, Katz is also a shameless opportunist who regularly uses Slashdot to promote his books. And the Slashdot admins go right along with it. You can't criticize someone for their taste in friends, but you can criticize them for continuing in a relentless and blind nepotism that destroys the quality of the site.
No single factor wase more pivotal in driving me away from Slashdot than Jon Katz. Even when I registered for an account and filtered Katz out, still he made it into news items not labeled Jon Katz---presumably to promote sales of his book. What other webzine displays such a blatant disrespect for its readers?
But then again, Katz's pandering, one-note "Ich bin ein Geek" spiel may be exactly what the Slashdot audience deserves.
Simply put, it's time to quit Slashdot, once and for all.
Slashdot Mirror
don't forget this link. don't let the url fool you, it's a very interesting article about cancer research
fuck you
the mario bros movie was great
seriously, it had a great story and was very entertaining
I like how you said 'gang-related gun deaths'.. but we all know that really means negro gun deaths. The negrogs run around the country having the same tribal warfare they have in their homeland still today (sad). It would be alot better if they forced the fat bitches on welfare in the ghettos to be sterelized to prevent them from have 5 bastard children who will run around shooting each other.
Yeah especially with perverts who enjoy watching tenticle monsters sodomize 10 year old schoolgirls. Sick shit! Funny how that stuff is so popular with the socially inept like the overweight editors of this crappy site!
sci*ntology is a cult led by john travolta.
slashdot is deeply involved with Sci*ntology.
you should leave slashdot now or they may brainwash you.
check out anti sci*ntology sites
Fight this cult now!
what's with the sig you fucking bastard
page lenghthen my ass
/pub/ma/maxis directory, which we are hoping to expand soon. World Wide Web site is ftp://ftp.netcom.com/pub/ma/maxis/http/maxis.html WHEW!! (Use a bookmark!!)
SimTower For Windows Read Me
Last Minute Info April 19, 1995
Please read all of this document - it's important! Really!
We've tried to make this readme file informative, useful and fun. You might even find a clue to any SimTower cheat codes in here.
What's in this Document
Reading This document
Using Write
Using Something Other Than Write
Technical Stuff
Introduction
Installation Problems
System Conflicts
Some Other Things To Consider
Windows Shells Other Than Program Manager
QEMM, 386MAX, and other "cloaking" or "shadowing" Memory Managers
Increase Resources
Be Bold!
Sound And Music
Video, Palettes and Pictures
The Most Important Video Information in This File
What are Video Drivers?
What Does This Have to Do with SimTower?
General Note On Video Cards
Changing Your Video Driver
It Don't Work. Now What?
Specialized Video Stuff
Diamond Stealth 64 DRAM/VRAM
Cirrus Logic Chipset
Windows for Workgroups 3.11
Memory Issues
The General Idea
Windows for Workgroups 3.11
Using Virtual Memory
Disk Compression Users
Non Disk Compression Users
Gameplay Issues
Elevators
The Elevator Control Panel
What Does It Mean: Floors Closer than Moving Cars?
What About the "Car Response Time?"
Renaming Stuff
Housekeeping Stuff
Hidden Stuff
Limits
Some (Confusing) Money Matters
More Hidden Stuff
Talking to Real People
Customer Support
Before You Call Customer Support
The Most Important Stuff
The Next Most Important Stuff
Ways to Get Ahold of Us
Who we are
Reading this Document
Using Write
To make this document easier to read, enlarge the Write window by clicking the Maximize button in the upper-right corner of the window. Or open the Control menu in the upper-left corner of the Write window (press ALT+SPACEBAR), and choose the Maximize command.
Make sure that you are in Portrait Orientation. To check, open the File menu and select Print Setup.... Click the Portrait button if it's not set.
Use the Find menu to search for information which may be of interest to you. Readme files are the last chance for producers, programmers, managers, play testers and other nefarious types to include important information. As such, information can be a little "scattered". Search (with Find) and you may be pleasantly surprised. It ain't hyper-linked text, but it's the next best thing.
To move through the document, press PAGE UP or PAGE DOWN. Or click the arrows at the top and bottom of the scroll bar along the right side of the Write window.
To print the document, choose Print... from the File menu.
For Help on using Write, press F1.
NOTE: The screen shots in this Readme file are in 16 color BMP files to keep this file as small as possible. Also, the screen shots may not look all that spiffy when printed. Believe me when I tell you that the game looks much better in 256 colors.
Using Something Other Than Write
This document has been written using an outline structure. Unfortunately, Write doesn't support an outline structure.
If you can load this document into another word processor that CAN display it in an outline, you'll be able to find help and information more quickly by reading subject headings.
Actual Read Me information starts here...
Technical Stuff
Introduction
Games are pushing the envelope of software development. Word processors and spreadsheets, for all their menus and functions and what not, mostly just sit in memory and wait for you to do something. Games are running all the time, grabbing resources and forcing video drivers to perform at peak level. SimTower may be "just a game", but it's a busy game, and it's making your system work all the time... even when the window is minimized.
If you're having trouble running SimTower for Windows, or are getting error messages, check out this section first (it's why we put it near the top of the file). These tips were compiled and written by the Virtual Adept Magi of Maxis Customer Support and QA., and contain enough information to make you an expert too (or at least enough to make you sound like one).
Installation Problems
NOTE: If you are using memory managers (such as QEMM) other than the standard utilities that come with DOS, these installation instructions do not apply.
If the SimTower installer reports a General Protection Fault (GPF), AND you're running DOS 6.0 or higher, follow these steps (you earlier version of DOS users should skip to the next section):
1. Reboot your computer. Either press the reset button on your computer's case OR press Ctrl+Alt+Delete on your keyboard all at the same time to reboot.
2. Watch the boot-up process closely for the Message "Starting MS-DOS...".
When you see this message press your "F8" key once. You'll have to be nimble, since the "Starting MS-DOS..." message only gives you 2 seconds. If you succeed, you'll see a message that says "DOS will prompt you to confirm each line of the CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT files."
3. The order in which the lines are presented to you depends on your machine. Answer "Y" to the following lines in the CONFIG.SYS file:
DOS=HIGH,UMB (These items may be listed on separate lines 'DOS=HIGH' and 'DOS=UMB'.)
DEVICE=C:\DOS\HIMEM.SYS (This line may be listed as DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\HIMEM.SYS)
NOTE: There are NO SPACES used in these lines!
4. Answer "N" to ANY other lines. This means ANY other lines.
5. You'll be deposited at the (dreaded) C:\> prompt. Don't be scared. Just type in "CD\WINDOWS" then hit [Enter].
6. You will now be in the Windows directory. Your prompt will read, "C:\WINDOWS>"
7. Type "WIN" [enter] to start Windows. Windows may be a little slower than usual.
8. Now follow the setup instructions in the SimTower Addendum & Quick Start Guide.
9. After installation, reboot your computer and let it start up as usual.
10. If you still receive GPFs contact Maxis Customer Support.
The Next Section (for pre DOS 6 users)
You'll likely need to create a boot disk to prevent conflicting software from loading. This boot disk MUST be in Drive A. DOS looks in Drive A for booting instructions before it looks in Drive C. It NEVER looks in Drive B. If you only have one floppy drive, DOS always looks in that drive before it looks in Drive C.
Making your boot disk
First, read these instructions once (or perhaps twice) to familiarize yourself with the procedure and what you'll need.
Here's what you do to make a boot disk:
1. Place a blank, formatted disk in the A: drive. (If your floppy disk is not formatted, put the disk in the "A:" drive and then from the "C:\>" prompt type in "format a:" then press .
2. Get to your C: prompt by typing "C:"
3. Type "SYS A:" (This puts basic system files on the floppy in your A: drive.)
4. Type in "A:\" to switch to your "A:" drive.
5. Make sure that you are on the "A:" drive; if you are not, BAD things may happen.
6. Create a CONFIG.SYS file by following these instructions:
a. Type "copy con config.sys"
b. Type "DOS=HIGH,UMB" (no spaces)
c. Type "device=himem.sys" (no spaces
d. Press the F6 key (you will see "^Z"), then press . You'll get a message telling you that one file has been copied.
Reboot your machine with this boot disk in drive A. This will let you bypass your auto-loading stuff and give control back to you. You'll end up at the C:>prompt. Type "cd\windows" . Now you're at your Windows directory. Type "win" . This loads Windows.
System Conflicts
Conflicts are rare but they can occur. If you're not having problems, take no action (or, if it ain't broke, don't fix it).
If you are having problems (or if the fine writing in this file seems interesting), read on.
Many people make Windows load some programs automatically. Some of these programs are benign. Others are resource hogs. The easiest solution is the most drastic: turn off everything but the Program Manager and SimTower to free memory and system resources.
If that's a bit much, consider that most problems are caused by two types of programs. The worst offenders are screen savers. If you're using a screen saver (even the default Windows screen saver), you should disable it to prevent conflicts when running SimTower.
The second worst offenders are virus protection programs. It's a sad comment on our times that virus protection programs are a necessity, but really, the only time they actually do any good is when a disk is inserted. There's no reason to have them running if all you're doing is building a tower. If you experience trouble running SimTower for Windows, try disabling virus protection programs.
To determine if something else is running, hold down the key on your keyboard then press the key at the same time. This brings up the Windows Task List.
Ideally, the only item in the Task List window should be Program Manager. If there are any other items shown, and you want to disable them, click on the item to highlight it and click on the End Task button to turn it off. Repeat until only Program Manager is active. Now run SimTower for Windows.
Some Other Things To Consider
Windows Shells other than Program Manager
Shell programs are third party replacement programs that you can use in place of the standard Windows Program Manager. These include such things as HP Dashboard, the Norton Desktop, and XSoft's TabWorks (which comes installed on most Compaq computers).
If you are having trouble installing or running SimTower for Windows, try either turning off the shell you are using, or using that program's File - Run command to run Program Manager. The command line to run Program Manager is C:\WINDOWS\PROGMAN.EXE. Once you have installed SimTower, you should be able to close Program Manager and run SimTower through the shell program you usually run.
Some shell programs simply won't let you run SimTower properly. If you have successfully installed SimTower but it still won't run, try turning off the shell program you have been using.
A Special Note About TabWorks: If you are running TabWorks, we STRONGLY recommend the following procedure to eliminate extraneous icon creation and other bizarre problems.
1. Go to the Options menu.
2. Select File Tracking Options, and deselect Track File Creation and Track File Modification.
This will allow you to install SimTower through TabWorks without having to run Program Manager.
QEMM, 386MAX, and other "cloaking" or "shadowing" memory managers.
QEMM has a feature called "Full Stealth Mode". Full Stealth Mode tries to free as much lower memory as possible by "cloaking" or "shadowing" all the devices and drivers in upper memory. This would include most the BIOS on most video cards. Unfortunately, neither SimTower nor WinG (the Windows Graphic utility that SimTower uses) will detect your video BIOS if it's cloaked or shadowed. We recommend that you turn off Stealth Mode altogether or do not include the Video Regions in the optimization of your system. If you need any assistance with these procedures PLEASE call the manufacturer of your memory manager to confirm that what you are using is WinG compatible.
Increase Resources
If you get occasional General Protection Faults in MMTASK or MCISEQ, try increasing the buffers allocated for sounds. To do this, open the Control Panel icon and select Drivers. In the Drivers window, there will be a list of items like "Timer" and "[MCI] Sound". Highlight "[MCI] Sound", and click on the Setup button. Usually, the MCI Waveform Driver Setup window will be configured for a 4 second buffer. You should try increasing that to 6 seconds.
Be Bold!
When all else fails, increase the amount of low memory available in DOS. See your DOS manual for information on increasing the amount of memory available.
Sound and Music
SimTower for Windows supports all sound cards that are compatible with Windows 3.1. If you do not have a sound card, you will get a message reminding you of this. Click Continue. SimTower will run without sound.
If you have a sound card, check the Options menu in SimTower. In the Options menu is an item called Sound, which has three selections: Elevators, Background, and Events. For sound to play, at least one of these menu items must be selected. Having all three selected gives you the full range of sounds in a building. Turning off all three gives you more speed from your computer.
There is no music in SimTower.
Video, palettes and pictures
The Most Important Video Information In This File
Some video drivers shipped with Windows 3.1 do NOT work on most systems. These drivers are designed to work only with specific video cards. Chances are that you do NOT have this type of card! These are the drivers which begin with Video 7 or XGA.
If you use these drivers but don't have the cards they are designed for, you'll get a blank screen when Windows loads. Windows is actually running just fine, but it's kind of hard to use a graphic interface if you can't see the graphics.
If you are reading this after you have already loaded one of these drivers and you no longer can load up Windows, call your video card manufacturer. In a few paragraphs you'll find out how to change your Windows driver back to VGA. If you have any doubts about changing your display drivers around, PLEASE call your video card manufacturer.
What are Video Drivers?
Windows uses programs called Video Drivers to control how your particular graphics card displays things on the screen. Usually, the video card installed in your computer has a set of video drivers for you to use with Windows. Windows itself comes with video drivers that work on almost any video card and allow your computer to display 16 colors with a resolution of 640x480 pixels.
What Does This Have to Do with SimTower?
Many people have only the generic 16 color video drivers installed. Others have video drivers which allow more than 256 colors. What's a poor company to do?
Well, what we did is allow SimTower to run in color resolutions other than 256. Obviously, displaying 256 color artwork in only 16 colors can produce some effects which are... less than artistic.
On the other hand, some of the animation or colors in SimTower may not work properly with systems running in more than 256 colors.
In both the above cases, SimTower is still playable, so if you don't have 256 color drivers or are not sure how to install them, you can still play SimTower.
However, for absolutely the most bestest results, we recommend that you run SimTower in 256 colors. Your video card manufacturer or documentation should have information to help you set your card for 256 colors.
The steps to change your video driver are system-specific; you may have an icon in your Control Panel or perhaps a separate group for setting and changing resolutions and the number of colors.
We recommend that you check with your vendor or manufacturer for information on your display card, but here are some general hints and tips we can run through.
General note on video cards
WinG (the graphic utility that SimTower uses) will usually warn you if your drivers are incompatible. If you do not get the warning, most likely you will not have video trouble.
This does not mean that the WinG check is 100% correct so if you have video trouble consult your video card manufacturer to check the WinG compatibility of your video card.
If you do not know what company makes your video card, consult the manufacturer of your computer to find out what brand of video cards they have been using on your model machine.
Changing Your Video Driver
WARNING: Follow these instructions ONLY if you and your computer are on friendly, familiar terms.
You may need your original Windows disks (they have programs which you might need but which may not have been installed) so it's helpful to have them handy.
Next, find the Windows Setup icon and double-click it to open it. It's usually in the Main program group. Display shows you what your system is set for. If it's just "VGA", that means 640x480 resolution with 16 colors. We're going to change that to something a little nicer.
Open the Options menu and choose Change System Settings. Click the down arrow at the right side of the Display bar to show a list of drivers that are in the options. Scroll up and down to see the available selections. Look for one that lists specifically 256 colors. (Remember, you most likely do not want the Video 7 or XGA drivers!) When you find one, select that setting by clicking on it, then click on OK.
If you don't find a driver for your card, you can still use Other display at the end of the list. In this case, you'll definitely have to tell the Settings program where your driver is, since it already can't find it.
Most likely, what you want is installed already. If so, you'll get a prompt asking you if you want to use the currently installed driver or use a new one. Most of the time you'll want to use the currently installed driver (unless you have a newer version of what's installed). If it's not installed, you've got your Windows disks handy. Insert any disks as requested.
Click the Restart Windows button when instructed.
It Don't Work. Now What?
It is possible that after Windows restarts with the new driver that your display will blank out or not function properly. This indicates, at the very least, that you have loaded the wrong driver for your video card. It may also mean that you will need a specific driver for your card.
Don't panic. Here's how to put things back the way they were.
1. Get to your C:\> prompt.
If your computer goes straight into Windows without you typing anything, you must prevent that from happening. If you have DOS 6.0 or higher, you can press the F5 key when you see the prompt "Starting MS-DOS." If you have an earlier version of DOS, you must use a boot disk to boot from your A: drive.
2. Get to the Windows directory (type CD\WINDOWS [Enter]).
3. At the C:\WINDOWS> prompt, type SETUP [Enter]). This loads the DOS version of the setup program you used to change your video driver.
4. Use the keyboard arrow keys to move to the DISPLAY line and hit [Enter].
5. Now you can use your arrow keys to scroll the listed options to VGA. Hit [Enter]
6. Use the arrow keys to go back down to Accept these settings...
Load windows like you normally would.
Specialized Video Stuff
Diamond Stealth 64 DRAM/VRAM
If you have a Diamond Stealth 64 DRAM or VRAM video card, you should disable all "Power Saver" features (even the DOS ones)! Otherwise, your system can actually turn off while SimTower is in the foreground. We're not sure why this happens, which makes it very difficult to fix.
Cirrus Logic Chipset
Certain older drivers shipped with Cirrus Logic video cards may be incompatible with SimTower for Windows. Make sure you have the most recent versions of the video driver for your card or use the Microsoft Generic SVGA drivers, available on most on-line systems or from Microsoft.
Windows for Workgroups 3.11
If you have Windows for Workgroups 3.11, you should look at the options for "SuperVGA". Make sure to select one that lists 256 colors. "SuperVGA (640x480, 256 colors)" or "SuperVGA (800x600, 256 colors)" should be good choices. These are generic Microsoft drivers that work with many cards. These Microsoft generic drivers are available through many shareware dealers or from Microsoft. Even though they aren't optimized for your card specifically, they should get you going. If you have problems with them, we recommend that you get a driver that is specific to your card. Usually, you can get such a driver from your dealer or the card's manufacturer.
You may also see a message from the Windows Graphics package, WinG. It runs a calibration test the first time it installs to optimize video performance. It may warn you that it is using a slower method of video due to "an older version" of your video card software; SimTower and WinG will run for now, but we would recommend obtaining an updated version of your display driver (one that is WinG-friendly) at your first convenience, from the dealer or manufacturer of your video card. It is a good rule of thumb to keep your video and sound drivers updated with the best version available from the manufacturer.
Memory Issues
The General Idea
SimTower for Windows requires that you run Windows in 386 Enhanced Mode (Microsoft calls it that whether you've got a 386, 486 or a Pentium).
You can check to see if you are in Enhanced Mode by choosing Help in your Program Manager, then going to About Program Manager...
If About Program Manager says you are in Standard Mode, exit Windows, then restart with the command WIN/3 instead of WIN. This will force Windows to start in Enhanced Mode.
If you cannot run Windows in Enhanced Mode, please verify that your system meets or exceeds the minimum system requirements printed on the system requirements label on the box your copy of SimTower for Windows came in.
Windows for Workgroups 3.11
If you're using Windows for Workgroups 3.11, the only possible mode is Enhanced, so the About... box won't mention mode, just free memory. This is normal and cool.
Using Virtual Memory
Disk Compression Users
If you're using disk compression software such as DoubleSpace, DriveSpace, Stacker, SuperStor or things like that, these instructions ARE NOT for you. Most of these programs will come with their own utilities to use virtual memory. Refer to the documentation that came with your compression program for more information).
Non Disk Compression Users
If you don't have enough memory to run SimTower for Windows, first close all other programs that are running to free up the necessary memory.
If this doesn't correct the problem, there's still hope. To prepare yourself, you might refer to the Windows manual section called MEMORY. There are several different options explained in the manual, from editing your startup configuration files to using Virtual Memory. We can help you out a little here (and we're somewhat less daunting than the Windows manual).
Virtual Memory uses your system's hard disk drive to temporarily store information that would normally be kept in the system RAM memory. It's a little slower than RAM, but you have the potential to increase your available memory quite significantly.
You run Virtual Memory by following these steps:
1. Find your Control Panel icon. It's usually within the Main program group.
2. Double-click on the Control Panel icon to open it.
3. Double-click on the Enhanced icon (the icon looks like a computer chip -- if it is not there, you are not running Windows in Enhanced Mode. See the instructions on starting Windows in Enhanced Mode.)
4. Click on the Virtual Memory... button to open the Virtual Memory window.
5. Click on the Change button. You'll get a window which has some important information. The most important information is the Recommended Maximum Size for Virtual Memory on your computer. This number will vary from machine to machine. If your computer is not already set to this number, you're in luck. Type that number in the New Size box.
6. Check out your Windows manual for more information concerning virtual memory.
Finally, if you are using Sound Effects in SimTower for Windows, you will need as much free conventional memory as possible. Conventional memory is memory below 640k. Please see your DOS manual for instructions on freeing conventional memory. If you have DOS 6 or higher, just run the MemMaker program. Type MEMMAKER at your DOS prompt.
Gameplay Issues
Elevators
Q: "My elevators never seem to be working right. Everyone is stressed out and moving out of my tower. Why aren't they taking the elevator? I just don't understand this whole elevator thing."
A: Get ready for a long winded, but informative, response.
If you prefer to develop your own strategy for success in SimTower you can skip over this.
Elevator control is one of the most important issues in SimTower. Elevators are the highways and byways that let your SimTenants move from floor to floor. Your tenants don't like stairs much (even the tenants who work out). Take time to read the Elevators section on the SimTower.
What, you got more questions? Alrighty then, read on...
The primary key to successful transportation in SimTower is to section off your tower every 30 levels. You'll need the Express elevator (and three stars) to do this most efficiently, but you can fudge a little by having one (or two) "Standard" elevators skip floors 2-14 but stop on floors 1 and 15-30 until you can build a real Express elevator.
When you are routing your elevators keep in mind that Sims will only transfer transportation modes ONCE. This means if a Sim takes a Standard elevator from floor 35 to floor 30 then transfers to an Express elevator and continues down to floor 1 the Sim will not take anymore transportation modes other than walking. If the Sim took an escalator to the Express elevator, that still counts as TWO modes of transportation.
Sims look for the easiest way to travel from point A to point B. They will usually take the closest elevator to their point of origin. Here are the modes of transportation in the order that the Sims prefer to travel. Escalators, Stairs, Standard Elevator, Express Elevator. Of course if the Sim is on floor 15 she won't be able to take escalators all the way down to floor 1. But she will take the Standard elevator instead of the Express, even though they both travel to floor 1 from 15.
If you are getting demand messages from the Sims saying "Tenants on floor X cannot get to floor Y". check to see if the Sims have adequate transportation. If the transportation looks fine and you still get the same demand, look closely at the lobby floor on which the Sim is changing transportation methods. On the transfer lobby floor, make sure that there is actual lobby built all along the floor. If there is any break in the lobby it will appear as a gray section on the floor. Two sections of lobby with even a sliver of gray between them are NOT connected! If a Sim tries to transfer on that floor and the elevator that they need to take is on the other side of the "break" in the lobby, the Sim will not be able to get to that mode of transportation. This is what is causing the demand "Tenants on floor X cannot get to floor Y."
In really tall towers, some of your Express elevators should serve each 30-floor block exclusively (instead of every 15 floors). One (or more, depending upon the width of your tower) Express Elevator stopping at floor 15 is plenty. Also, if there are no facilities underground, there's no reason to have an Express Elevator go there.
When you are finally able to build Express Elevators, here's a simple plan to follow: Start your first Express Elevator at floor 1 and raise it to floor 30. Start a Standard Elevator on floor 30 and raise it to floor 40. Add some cars to both new elevator shafts. Add the facilities of your choice. You really shouldn't try to build up more than 10 more floors. Remember that you might not have a lot of money at this stage of the simulation. You can always add another elevator shaft and more facilities later. Below is a screen shot that will show you just what the heck we are talking about here.
The Elevator Control Panel
Open the Elevator Control Panel by clicking the elevator machinery with the "Query" tool. This panel can seem confusing at first, especially the "Floors Closer than Moving Cars."
What Does It Mean: Floors Closer than Moving Cars?
The "Floors Closer than Moving Cars" setting determines how many elevator cars are moving in a particular shaft at one time. The number in the "Floors closer than moving cars" box has a default setting of "5". Here's what that means:
Suppose a Sim is on the 20th floor and requests an elevator. At the same time, there is a empty car on the 26th floor not doing anything. With a setting of "5" the simulator looks 5 floors up the shaft (to floor 25) and 5 floors down the shaft (to floor 15) for any moving cars. If there's a moving car in this range, AND if it's headed in the direction the Sim wants to travel, the moving car will respond to the request. The empty car on floor 26 would respond if there were no moving cars between floor 15 and floor 25.
If you change the number of "Floors closer than moving cars" to "1", all the elevator cars in a particular shaft will be moving most of the time. Moving all the cars all the time may not be a good solution for your tower. Refer to your manual (especially the paragraphs on "waiting" or home floor locations for empty cars) to find out why.
What about the "Car Response Time?"
When Car Response Time is set to zero, it means that as soon as someone gets in the elevator, the doors close and the elevator leaves. If a lot of people are waiting for an elevator, it's possible that only a few of them will be able to scamper in before the doors close.
You can reduce stress by letting your elevators wait for a while before taking off.
Below is a screen shot of the Elevator Control Panel. The settings in this screen shot are not the default settings! These settings will keep elevator traffic flowing well on MOST towers. If you have especially heavy traffic on some floors you will need to find alternate routes for some of the Sims (e.g., escalators, stairs, or additional elevator shafts). Every tower you build will be a little different, and each will have unique transportation needs. Feel free to experiment and customize your elevator controls to suit your tower. The manual has a description of the buttons and functions of the Elevator Control Panel, as does the SimTower Help File.
Q: Can I rename the different business sites in my tower, just like I can
rename the people?"
A: YES. Even though there is no mention of this in the manual you can rename the
any space you like. Example: "English Pub" can be named "Brian's Brewery". Click
the rename button and in the space that says "English Pub" type "Brian's Brewery".
Then click on the rename button in the same window as the text field that contains
"Brian's Brewery" and you have successfully renamed a business site. You can only
have 15 characters in the new name.
Q: "How can I tell where the V.I.P. is going to stay?"
A: The V.I.P. will appear as a yellow Sim. Contrary to the manual (page 58), the
suite that the V.I.P. will stay in is not highlighted by a yellow box around it. You can
watch the V.I.P. go into their hotel room.
Q: "Where is Housekeeping?"
A: The Housekeeping button was moved from under the Security button (as page 20
in the manual states) to under the Hotel room button on the tool bar.
Q: "What are the requirements to get to the next star?"
A: Star Rating Population Event
1 You start SimTower with a 1 star Tower
2 300 None
3 1000 At least two security offices.
4 5000 More than one suite room. Recycling and
Medical demands satisfied. A V.I.P. must
visit and rate your tower favorably.
5 10,000 Metro station placed. ALL demands
satisfied.
Tower 15,000 Cathedral placed and wedding takes place.
Q : "I am having trouble getting to my next star rating. What's up?"
A : On the higher star ratings SimTower only looks at your permanent population. That means that your hotel tenants are no longer counted as population towards the next Tower level. If you have plenty of permanent population, you might not have had the wedding take place in the cathedral. The wedding will only take place on the weekend. Also, try to place more of your tower's service oriented facilities to improve your tenants evaluation of the conditions (Recycling centers, security, etc.).
Q: "I'm a cheater and I want more money. Are there any cheat codes in
SimTower?"
A: There is only one way to cheat in SimTower. You must start a new tower. Then
before you place anything, place a section of lobby underground all the way down
and to the left on the level below the "B9" level. This will double your starting funds.
Q: "Are there any limits to the number of facilities of a certain type you can
place?"
A: YES. Some types of facilities have a limit on the amount you can place. Here
are the limits for a five star tower.
Cathedral =1
Elevator Shafts =24
Elevator cars per shaft =8
Fast Food + Restaurants + Retail Shops =512
Medical centers =10
Metro station =1
Parking spaces =512
Security offices =10
Stairs + Escalators =64
Cinemas + Party Halls =16
There is also a limit to the number of Sims you can name. Only 20 Sims can have
names at any one time.
Q: "The funds in the 'Finance' window do not match the funds in the "Status Bar". Is something wrong?"
A: There is nothing wrong with your copy of SimTower. The funds in the "Finance" window are rounded to the hundreds place, while the "Status Bar" will display all the way down to the ones place. Example: if you have $2000000 ($2 million) according to the "Status Bar" the amount will appear as $20000 in the "Finance" window. SimTower's prices are all in the thousands, and you are never going to have anything other "0" s in the last three decimal places of the "Status Bar" funds display. (Which makes this a minor issue, but we are still sorry.) If you add two "0" s to the amount in the "Finance" window it will exactly match the funds in the "Status Bar".
Q: "The manual says that a Lobby section costs $5000, but every time I place a
Lobby it charges me $22,000. Why?"
A: The "section" that the manual and SimTower text boxes refer to is different from
what the size of your cursor is when you select the Lobby tool. A section as defined
by the program as the smallest space that you can build with a tool. The Lobby
cursor is actually FOUR sections as defined by the program. That will equal
$20,000. "Where does the extra $2000 come from?" If you do not have the walls
built (you can see the sky) on the floor where your going to place the lobby then you
will be charged $500 for each section of floor you need to build. Four sections equal
$2000, and the grand total is $22,000.
Note: If you build a 2-story lobby on the ground floor (hold down the Ctrl key
while you place the first section of lobby) the total deduction from your funds will be
$40,000 per cursor space. If you build a 3-story lobby on the ground floor (hold
down the CTRL and SHIFT keys while you place the first section of lobby) the total
deduction from your funds will be $60,000 per cursor space.
Q: "How do I get rid of cockroaches once they have infested a room?"
A: You must bulldoze the room.
Q: "I want to move my Housekeeping space, but I can't seem to bulldoze it."
A: Exactly; once you have placed Housekeeping you cannot bulldoze it. Other
spaces that can not be bulldozed are: Cathedral, Metro Station, Recycling centers,
and Security offices.
Q: "I have read the Help file, this Read Me file, and EVEN the Manual
all the way through, but I still have a question. Who can help me?"
A: You may now call Maxis Customer Support at 510-253-3755.
Q: How do I get a 2 or 3 story lobby?
A: Oops. I guess we lied when we said there was only one cheat.
Talking to Real People
Customer Support
Give Customer Support a call if you have something really specific, like a graphic card problem or an error message that no one (not even the System Analyst in your building) understands. You can reach them at 510-253-3755.
Before You Call Customer Support
The Most Important Stuff
Make sure you've read this Read Me file completely (we'll know if you haven't), in addition to any other appropriate material (like the manual). If you're still at your wit's end, there's a few things you can do to make serving you and solving any problems a little easier.
The most important thing is to make sure that your computer system meets or exceeds the requirements defined on the SimTower system label. The system label is located in the lower-left portion of the front of the box.
The next most important thing is to call us from your computer! It's much, MUCH easier to solve a problem when you're at your computer, and nearly impossible to solve when you aren't at it.
The Next Most Important Stuff
It's really handy to have a print-out of your WIN.INI, SYSTEM.INI, CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT files. You can print these files by typing MSD at the C:\ prompt. This runs the Microsoft Diagnostics program which will allow you to print out a report of your system. Remember, we don't know what your system has, and we can't see what it says on your screen.
If you can't print out your system files (for whatever reason), it's not the end of the world, as long as you are at your computer when you call!
If you are getting error messages or General Protection Faults (GPFs), write down what the error message says. Include what you were doing when you got the message. This will help us diagnose the problem.
Write down all of the steps you have taken to try to solve the problem. If we know what you've already done, we may be able to get you running faster.
Have your program disks, your manual, and your Addendum available and within easy reach.
Ways to Get Ahold of Us
We aren't trying to hide or anything. There're lots of ways to contact Maxis.
The first is by telephone. If you decide that you would like to call and hear a friendly voice, you'll find the number and hours of operation for Customer Support listed on the Maxis Maxims sheet, included in the box your program came in. There is lots of other useful info there, so keep your Maxis Maxims somewhere handy.
By phone might not be handy for you. We are present on all of the major on-line services if you subscribe to any of them. If you don't currently subscribe, many on-line services will give you a 30-day trial membership. Refer to the Maxis Maxims for more information on signing up. On AOL, just e-mail to "Maxis", or use keyword "Maxis". On CompuServe, do "GO GAMBPUB" and leave a message in the Maxis forum.
For you Internet users! We can be reached on the Internet via e-mailing to SUPPORT@MAXIS.COM; we have a microscopic ftp site at ftp.netcom.com in the
We maintain a BBS that is free-of-charge (although your phone company will hit you with long distance charges) to all registered users of Maxis products. The BBS number is (510) 254-3869 and it is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. We support up to 14.4k BPS and have four nodes. The settings are 8-N-1. You can also find the latest FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions), hints and tips from other users and other good stuff.
Make sure you register your software! We've included a handy little postcard for you to send in. This will entitle you to FREE Technical Support for the life of the product. The product life ends when a new version is released or the product is discontinued.
Who we are
We've saved the best for the last, the names behind the faces behind the voices you'll get when you call Customer Support. Be gentle with them. They didn't write the code or the manual, but they do provide support for the product which far outlasts jelly doughnuts (and other comestibles).
Roger Johnsen (Our Fearless Leader)
Aaron Shephard (Dr. Emu)
Brian Smith ()
Chris Charman (FAX-BACKS Guru)
Jeff Feil (AKA Quam)
Joy (Couldn't do it without you) Carchidi
Kirk Lesser (AKA Blud - like the stuff in your veins. Don't ask.)
Leo Kunkle (He's there for ya!)
Lisa Laverty (You have questions, Lisa has answers)
Owen Nelson (Owen Means Graphics)
Shannon Dawes (She makes great popcorn)
SimTower(TM) for Windows, ©1995 Maxis
It's not a typo, the editors for this site just can't spell for shit. It's not so bad making typos on a message board, I make them all the time, but if you are running a very popular news site you should at least learn how to spell properly. However, slashdot is not a respected news site, and CmdrTaco is an uneducated fuck.
Beos was a piss poor Os. Very little hardware support (even less than linux), no worthwhile applications, and ugly, childish graphics. All I can say is good riddence to bad rubbish
if you grandmother can't figure out windows than she is pretty fucking hopeless
are you kidding?
empire strikes back was even better than the first star wars... and in my opinion and the opinion of many others, the best star wars flick ever
good job sir, you trolled a troll.. with success
The American government lies all the time, that would be unacceptable in my own country, but the people in America are too busy being 'patriotic' and will let the government trample right over them.
the only people complaining will be the pirates and the abusers..
I see nothing wrong with that
lol it's not the user's fault that they get virus, it's called microsoft outlook express
Werd to my kwanzaa niggers
yeah I think it's good that stuff like that is illegal. Might give some sad looking goth kids a chance to go outside instead of commiting crimes that have higher sentences than rape
Heh.. it uses code morphing to emulate only one platform... rather badly
Alot of wasted potential in this chip
that's what you get for linux powered testing kits. Get the pocketpc windows one and you will know if your baby will be ok
Klerck you are the lamest fuckwad to ever post on this site. Try writing a real troll instead of posting you page lenghthener crap
amen, unfortunately due to line condtitions I only get about 320kbit down and 128kbit up on my dsl, but the connecttion is very stable (I have had it connected before for several days at a time and multiple gigabytes of downloaded data)
I don't have a monthly download cap which is great, but alot of the cable providers have a 6-8 gigs of download per month before they begin charging you per extra megabyte.
windows users are the ones who have money for gadgets like handheld pc's. Linux users use mostly free software, that should tell you something about their financial situation.
trance is the most commercialized shlock 'genre' of electronic music.. you should have no trouble finding it in a decently sized music store
Top Nine Reasons to Quit Slashdot.org
#9. Slashdot is a plot by Microsoft to destroy the productivity of Linux users.
I have friends who were once tremendously productive programmers, until they started reading Slashdot. Then, the endless stream of links, updated a dozen times a day no less (so you don't go once a day to get your fix; instead, you keep a window open and hit reload every twenty minutes or so), steadily seduced them, until they eventually became babbling idiots, dribbling saliva from the corners of their mouths, ranting on the forums about the relative merits of Karma Whores and Anonymous Cowards. Can there be any doubt that this website is anything other than a nefarious ploy to destroy Linux by undermining the productivity of its developers? And is there any organization that would like to destroy Linux more than Microsoft? (Well, maybe the Santa Cruz Operation...) Is it any coincidence that just as the Feds were working out Microsoft's sentence, Microsoft sued Slashdot, resulting in a firestorm of geek ire that totally overshadowed the monopoly ruling?
#8. Screaming 14-year-old boys attempting to prove to each other that they are more 3133t than j00.
Need I say more?
#7. Technical opinions refereed by popular vote means lousy technical opinions.
Before the Internet, a certain breed of deconstructionists had a lot of fun telling everybody that "privileging of dominant paradigms" was wrecking the world. The Internet has taught us that privileging certain views is absolutely crucial to avoid drowning in the ravings of idiots. On Slashdot, many articles discuss technical issues---but comments are refereed by popular vote, and even though the populace of Slashdot readers knows somewhat more than your average set of people off the street, they still tend to promote (as in "moderate up") a lot of technical nonsense. Reading Slashdot can therefore often be worse than useless, especially to young and budding programmers: it can give you exactly the wrong idea about the technical issues it raises.
The pre-Internet publishing world had magazines, newspapers, and journals with editors. Respectable publications hired qualified editors. Those qualified editors were educated enough to make intelligent decisions about the quality of content. The Slashdot model removes the editors and substitutes popular vote, and the result (unfortunately) is that the quality level becomes incredibly inconsistent. It was an interesting experiment; it didn't work, not for Slashdot (though it might work in some other population of users). Too bad. Now, it's time to quit.
#6. Community myth that Linux is technically superior to any other operating system in the known universe.
People who do operating systems research, of course, think this is a joke. Dissent from this view in Slashdot, however, and you'd better be wearing your asbestos fatigues.
#5. Butt-ugly visual design.
Of course, this one's a matter of taste. However, in my analysis, the visual elements of the Slashdot site are basically hopelessly confused and wrong. From the cryptic links in the left margin, to the drop-shadowed graphics (hello, digital design cliche circa 1994?), to the offensively lousy color scheme (let's use circuit board green, because it's "News for Nerds", right?) I can't find much to like about the design of Slashdot.
#4. Gullible editorial staff continues to post links to any and all articles that vaguely criticize Linux in any way.
Blowhards (like the flock of irresponsible columnists over at the Windows-boosterism rag InfoWorld) have had tons of fun taking advantage of this tendency to drive hits to their site. On any given day, Slashdot readers are treated to another link to another column by another self-proclaimed pundit declaring that Linux is (pick one) unreliable, not scalable, not user-friendly, doomed, piracy-inducing, foul-smelling, or un-American. And irony was that the editors of Slashdot are falling right into the pundits' trap: inciting the Slashdot community is the one surefire way to drive up your hit count and hence your revenue from ad banners. Did the Slashdot editors ever wise up? Not that I ever saw. Given how tiresome the endless pro-Linux jihad had become by the time I quit, I have very little desire to go back and find out whether that's changed.
#3. Gullible editorial staff continues to post links to bogus pseudoscience articles by crackpots.
At the time I quit, the editors were posting links to theories of alternate consciousness, unified theories of the universe made up by people in their garages, and the like at a rate of two or three a week. And the number was only increasing. If I want to read articles that promote totally bogus pseudoscience, I'll open up the Village Voice. We don't need another webzine filling that role.
#2. Editorial/comment system pretends to be democratic but in reality most content remains firmly in the iron clasp of the editors.
The above problems with editorial could be solved if stories could be moderated as well as comments, or if editors paid attention to negative feedback about the posting of certain articles. However, the editorial staff, while pretending to be ideology-free selectors of any "interesting" content, in fact exert tremendous power over the content of the site, because they are the only ones who can select top-level links. They have furthermore demonstrated, for all the reasons above, that they cannot use this power wisely.
In fact, if you think about it, the links on Slashdot are easily an order of magnitude less interesting, on average, than those of Suck, Hotwired, or FEED---all of which are run by smart editors with good taste (and two of which are dead---thus proving that only the good die young). If you've read any of these webzines, you'll probably agree. Rob and Hemos simply don't compare, as editors, to Stephen Johnson or Joey Anuff.
So, really, it's time to ask yourself: why should I read Slashdot? Because it targets my demographic? That's a silly reason. So why not quit today?
#1. Two words: Jon Katz.
Every community has its resident gasbag. The difference between Slashdot and other communities is that they have the means to kick their village idiot off his soapbox, but they lack the will. If Jon Katz is not the single worst writer for any webzine, anywhere on the planet, alive today, then I am a penguin. His writing manages to be endlessly meandering and verbose, and simultaneously utterly content-free.
Notice, by the way, that I have not said a word about his technical acumen. It's not necessary to. Katz (who, like all opportunists, likes to paint himself as an innocent victim whenever he's criticized) makes a big deal about how there are "technical snobs" in the Linux user population who blast him for not being a technical genius. To tell the truth, Katz's inability to install even recent Linux distributions (which are arguably as easy to install as MacOS or Windows) on a run-of-the-mill x86 PC does testify to his general cluelessness. However, Katz is not a programmer or sysadmin; he's a writer. He must stand or fall based on the quality of his writing. And his writing is totally the pits. He would never have gotten published anywhere but Slashdot; even WIRED, cheerleaders of all things "digital" and "decentralized", finally got tired of his babbling and let him go. The cheesiest, most blatantly pandering "Hookers Who Read Proust" article on Salon.com displays more literary skill than the finest Katz screed ever to see the light of day.
To make things worse, Katz is also a shameless opportunist who regularly uses Slashdot to promote his books. And the Slashdot admins go right along with it. You can't criticize someone for their taste in friends, but you can criticize them for continuing in a relentless and blind nepotism that destroys the quality of the site.
No single factor wase more pivotal in driving me away from Slashdot than Jon Katz. Even when I registered for an account and filtered Katz out, still he made it into news items not labeled Jon Katz---presumably to promote sales of his book. What other webzine displays such a blatant disrespect for its readers?
But then again, Katz's pandering, one-note "Ich bin ein Geek" spiel may be exactly what the Slashdot audience deserves.
Simply put, it's time to quit Slashdot, once and for all.
Good job
you just admitted you are a flaming faggot
Do you know Cmdrtaco? maybe you should give that queerbear a call.