Games PC SIM CITY 3000 User Manual
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1
TRANSPORTATION DEPARTMENT . . . . . . . . . .44
MEET YOUR TRANSPORTATION ADVISOR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .44
B
ASICS OF THE TRANSPORTATION DEPARTMENT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .44
TRANSPORTATION ADVISOR Q&A . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .47
CITY PLANNING DEPARTMENT . . . . . . . . . . . .48
MEET YOUR CITY PLANNING ADVISOR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .48
B
ASICS OF THE CITY PLANNING DEPARTMENT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .48
CITY PLANNING ADVISOR Q&A . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .52
ENVIRONMENTAL DEPARTMENT . . . . . . . . . . .53
MEET YOUR ENVIRONMENTAL ADVISOR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .53
B
ASICS OF THE ENVIRONMENTAL DEPARTMENT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .54
ENVIRONMENTAL ADVISOR Q&A . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .56
PUBLIC SAFETY DEPARTMENT . . . . . . . . . . . .57
MEET YOUR PUBLIC SAFETY ADVISOR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .57
B
ASICS OF THE PUBLIC SAFETY DEPARTMENT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .58
PUBLIC SAFETY ADVISOR Q&A . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .62
HEALTH, EDUCATION AND AURA DEPARTMENT .63
MEET YOUR HEA ADVISOR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .63
B
ASICS OF THE HEA DEPARTMENT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .63
HEA ADVISOR Q&A . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .65
UTILITIES DEPARTMENT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .66
MEET YOUR UTILITIES ADVISOR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .66
B
ASICS OF THE UTILITY DEPARTMENT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .66
UTILITIES ADVISOR Q&A . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .71
CREDITS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .73
TABLE OF CONTENTS
GREETINGS! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4
TUTORIAL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5
STEP 1: LAUNCH AND LOAD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5
STEP 2: SELECTING AN AREA TO BUILD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5
S
TEP 3: BUILDING ROADS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6
S
TEP 4: ZONING RCI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6
S
TEP 5: POWER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8
STEP 6: BRINGING YOUR CITY TO LIFE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8
S
TEP 7: WATER AND WASTE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9
S
TEP 8: PROTECTING YOUR CITIES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11
S
TEP 9: FINANCES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12
STEP 10: DATA MAPS, CHARTS, AND GRAPHS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13
S
TEP 11: AS YOU CAN BUILD, SO CAN YOU DESTROY . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13
THE JOY OF MAYORING; A REFERENCE GUIDE . .15
OPENING MENU . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15
MAIN TOOLBAR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20
I
NFORMATION BAR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .29
V
IEW PANEL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .31
A
DVISORS, PETITIONERS, AND NEIGHBOURS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .32
MAPS, CHARTS, AND GRAPHS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .35
CITY DEPARTMENTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .38
FINANCIAL/BUDGET DEPARTMENT . . . . . . . . . .38
MEET YOUR FINANCIAL ADVISOR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .38
BASICS OF THE FINANCIAL DEPARTMENT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .38
F
INANCIAL ADVISOR Q&A . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .43
2 3
TUTORIAL
This Tutorial walks you through the beginning stages of building a city. There are
many types of cities you can build with SimCity 3000 and many ways to start; this
Tutorial provides one example.
STEP 1: LAUNCH AND LOAD
This tutorial calls for the use of a specific saved game.
1. The first thing you need to do is launch SimCity 3000. If you need any help,
please see the enclosed Reference Card.
2. When the opening menu appears, select Load City, then open the city
TUTORIAL
Each time you start a new city or load a city, the simulation speed is set to PAUSE.
Keep it that way for now so you can build in peace, without settling Sims making
demands, until you are ready for them.
STEP 2: SELECTING AN AREA TO BUILD
Well, here it is! This is where the magic happens. Over on the right, you have all of
the tools you’ll need to build any kind of city you can dream of. This is called the
Main Toolbar. Across the bottom of the scr een, you ar e given all of the infor mation
at a glance that you’ll need to make sure every gear is spinning like you want it to.
This is your Information Bar.
The first step is to find a large open ar ea to build your future metropolis - the
bigger the area, the better.
• To scroll freely ar ound the City View, click and hold the right mouse button then
move the mouse in the direction you wish to scroll….
• …or centre the view on your cursor. A single-click of the left mouse button
accomplishes this.
GREETINGS!
Hello and welcome to SimCity 3000™! Congratulations on your election as Mayor of
one of the finest SimCities in the entire SimNation. I’m sure you are eager to get
your city started, but there ar e a few things you need to know before you dive in.
As Mayor, your job is twofold. You are charged with creating a city that brings your
dreams to life, but you also have to provide a good life for your Sims. “What’ s a
Sim?” you ask. All of the people that live in all of the little SimCities in that huge
SimNation, they’re all Sims and you’re their new Mayor. But you’re so much more
than just their Mayor. You control their destinies. Sure, they can do some things on
their own, but it’s up to you to give them a nice place to live, to work, to raise their
families, to pursue happiness, and all of those other things they should be allowed
to do. Just remember—if you don’t give them what they’re looking for, there’s
always some other Mayor out there who will and Sims can be quick to leave for
greener pastures.
There are all kinds of cities that Sims ar e willing to live in. There are Sims who’d like
to live in a metropolis, or maybe an industrial town is more their thing. Since you’re
the Mayor, you can build anything you desire and you can count on there being some
Sims that will want to move in. If you want, you can even put together a little island
out in the middle of nowhere and, if you set up the place right, Sims will move to
your city in their hundreds.
With the help of this guide and your Advisors, I’m sure you ar e going to make a great
Mayor. Just remember—there are billions of Sims out there just itching to find their
own urban paradise and you, you lucky dog, are the person who can give it to them.
4 5
News Ticker
Information Bar
Main ToolbarCity View
Landscape
Zone
Build Transportation
Build Utilities
Place Civic/Special Buildings
Emergency
Meet
Adjust & Review
Change Settings & Exit
Terrain Grid Toggle
Navigation Map
Zoom Out
Zoom In
Layer View
Simulation Speed Control
Date
Funds
Population
City Name
Rotate
Hide Toolbars button
RCI Demand Indicator
1. Click on the ZONE button on the Main Toolbar. A menu of icons will
pop up. Click and hold the RESIDENTIAL button.
The Residential icon contains a submenu of options. The active item from the
submenu is designated by a checkmark. In the case of the Residential zone button,
the default is for Light Residential. Once a different zone density has been selected
in this submenu, it will become the new default.
Residential can be zoned in 3 dif fer ent densities: Light , Medium, and Dense. This
allows you precise control over what your Sims can build.
2. Move the cursor to highlight Medium Residential and release the mouse
button.
3. Move the cursor to the City View and click on one of the cor ners of the 8x8
enclosed area, but do not release the mouse button.
4. Drag the Residential zone Drop Shadow until it covers the tiles within the 8x8
enclosed area.
5. Release the mouse button; the Drop Shadow will become a medium density
Residential zone.
Don’t worry if you don’t fill in the square in one swipe. You can click to place
individual zone tiles if you need to. Just do as many stretches or individual tiles of
the zone as it takes to fill in the square.
In each of the two remaining rectangles, you want to pr ovide an ar ea where Sims
will be able to work and shop.
6. Select Light Commercial from the Zone menu and fill one of the enclosed
rectangles near your Residential zone.
7. Select Medium Industrial from the Zone menu and fill the r emaining enclosed
rectangle.
You should now have a layout that looks like the following image:
As you build cities, you will find that you need enough Residential to support both
the Commercial and Industrial districts. So don’t be surprised when the most
prominent zone in your city is Residential.
When you start a new city the zoom level is set to the furthest zoom level.
Zoom in one level using the ZOOM IN button in the View Panel.
STEP 3: BUILDING ROADS
Transportation is critical to the growth of your city. Start by building some roads.
1. Select the ROAD button from within the BUILD TRANSPORTATION button
menu.
2. Move the cursor over to the City View.
Y ou’ll notice that as you move the cursor into the City View window it will change
appearance to indicate the selected tool. In this case, the cursor represents a
transportation tool; roads, to be exact.
3. Click and drag the mouse where you wish to place your first road. Create a
road that is ten tiles in length.
The line you’ve drawn represents wher e the road you’re creating will be placed; it is
called the Drop Shadow. Upon releasing the mouse button, the Drop Shadow turns
into road.
If you cannot place an item, the Drop Shadow will tur n red to indicate that you need
to select a different location.
If you start to place any item and change your mind about placement, you can
cancel the action by making sure the SHIFT key is pressed before you release the
mouse button.
4. Build a series of straight roads along the grid to end up with a square that is
10 tiles by 10 tiles.
5. Continue drawing roads until your map looks like the following pictur e.
STEP 4: ZONING RCI
There are three zone types that the Sims need in order to have a functioning city:
Residential, Commercial and Industrial. Residential zones are where your Sims live.
Commercial zones contain shops and offices. The Industrial zones contain various
factories, industries and warehouses. Sims need a lot of room to live, so inside the
10x10 neighbourhood you are going to zone for Residential.
6 7
STEP 5: POWER
Sims need power, yet typically do not like living next to power plants. The far ther
you can place this plant from your Residential zone the better. However, for the
sake of this tutorial, pick a location just slightly away from your zoned area.
1. Once you have an area selected, click on the POWER PLANTS button
located within the BUILD UTILITIES button menu.
This brings up a window containing a selection of power plants. Because this
city started in the year 1950, you have a very limited selection of power plants.
2. Select the coal plant and click the checkmark to close the window. Then move
the cursor to the City View over the area you have chosen to locate your power
plant.
Notice that the Drop Shadow for the coal plant is 4x4.
3. Place the coal plant with a single-click of the left mouse button.
Now you need to run wires from the power plant to the zones.
4. Select POWER LINES from within the BUILD UTILITIES button menu.
Power lines can be drawn like roads; you can click and drag the Drop Shadow
in a line.
5. Draw a line of wires that connects the coal plant to at least one point of any of
your zones.
For more information on what your Sims’ power needs are, please see the Utilities
Depar tment section.
STEP 6: BRINGING YOUR CITY TO LIFE
Are you ready to see your city come to life? It’s time to see the first fruits of your
labours.
1. Move the speed of the simulator from pause to full speed by clicking on
the extreme right speed marker on the Simulation Speed Control
located in the Information Bar. Then click the RUN SIMULATION arrow to
turn the simulation on.
Let a few months tick by. Sims are starting to move into their new homes, and
workplaces are being established. The types of buildings that ar e built r eflect both
the density and land value of that zone. For more information on the r elationship
between zones and land value, see the City Planning Department section.
You can see time pass by looking at the Date next to the Simulation Speed Control.
2. Look at the RCI Demand Indicator in the Infor mation Bar. This tool
provides feedback regarding what zone types are in demand in your city.
When the meter, or bar, for a zone type is up, that means the Sims could use
more of that zone type. If the meter is down, then there is a surplus of that
zone. It is possible to have the RCI Demand Indicator levels up even though
you have a lot of that zone. See the City Planning Department section for more
information.
3. Pause the game again by clicking on the PAUSE SIMULATION button on the
Simulation Speed Control; it’s time for more additions to your city.
STEP 7: WATER AND WASTE
There are two more utilities that are absolutely essential to your Sims’ lives: Water
and Waste (Garbage) Disposal.
Water
1. Click on the MEET button on the Main Toolbar.
This is where you’ll go to meet with an Advisor or Petitioner.
2. Select the Utilities Advisor and select BRIEFINGS from the drop
down menu.
Briefings contain reference documents provided by SimNation.
3. Read through the briefing “Getting Water To Your Sims.”
4. When you’ve finished, close the Advisor window and select WATER
STRUCTURES from within the BUILD UTILITIES button menu. This brings
up a window containing a selection of Water Structures.
5. Select the water pumping station from the list of available buildings.
6. Move the cursor to a site near your zones in the City View window and place a
water pumping station by clicking the mouse button. Water pumping stations
must be built near a fresh water source to operate. If the location you have
selected for your water pumping station is not within two tiles of fresh water,
the pump will have no pumping capacity. The easy solution is to create sur face
water.
7. Water pumping stations require power. Select the POWER LINES button from
within the BUILD UTILITIES button menu.
8. Draw a line of wires that connect the nearest powered zone or power plant to
the water pumping station.
The water pumping station holds and pumps water to the thirsty Sims, but the
water has to get to them first. You’ll need to connect the water pumping station to
the zones with pipes as well as connect power to the pump.
8 9
5. Zone a landfill that is 4x4.
You don’t need to worry about powering a landfill, but you need to be sure there’s a
way for the rubbish trucks to get there.
6. Build a road from the zones to the landfill.
7. Unpause the simulator again.
8. Zoom in using the ZOOM IN button in the V iew Panel and watch as dump
trucks start taking rubbish to the dump.
Over time the landfill will show signs of use. This is just one of the many visual
feedback systems you will come across. Always keep an eye on things in your city
to see how well everything is doing.
STEP 8: PROTECTING YOUR CITIES
Safety is very important in your city. Without police and fire pr otection, how do you
expect your Sims to sleep at night? You need to place a police station and a fire
station to satisfy the security needs of your Sims.
1. Click on the PLACE CIVIC/SPECIAL BUILDINGS button menu. Her e
you will find the POLICE and FIRE STATION buttons.
The submenu in the POLICE button contains the POLICE STATION. The
FIRE STATION has its own button next to POLICE.
2. Place one of each building along the road near your landfill.
If you place the buildings more than two tiles away from the zoned ar ea (which has
power), you need to run power lines to them fr om any power ed building or zone.
3. Click the QUERY button fr om within the ADJUST & REVIEW button menu.
Click on anything in your city with this tool to provide infor mation on that
item.
4. Click on the police and fire station. If they ar e not powered, you will
need to run power lines to them (make sure that the simulation speed is
unpaused).
5. When you are done looking at the Query window, click the checkmark in the
lower, right corner to close it.
9. Select the WATER PIPES button from within the BUILD UTILITIES button
menu on the Main Toolbar.
You are now looking at the Underground View of your city. This layer shows
how your water pipes are laid out as well as all of the str uctures that are
providing water. The only building you currently see is the Underground View of your
water pumping station
10. Click and drag a line of water pipes that connects the water pumping station to
your developing zones.
All tiles within seven tiles of any part of the pipe will be watered as long as there is
water running in the pipes.
11. Start the simulator by clicking on the fourth tick mark and then the RUN SIMULATION
arrow on the SIMULATION SPEED CONTROL in the Information Bar.
Let a little time pass and watch as water begins to radiate from the pipes to the
zones. Watered areas will appear in blue in the Under ground V iew for pipes.
12. Now r eturn to the above ground view from the City Layer Views window.
13. Click on the LAYER VIEWS button in the Information Toolbar
14. Click the DEFAULT VIEW button in the City Layer Views window and then click
on the checkmark.
Rubbish
Since Sims are moving in and happily going about their daily lives, you should start
seeing messages in the News Ticker letting you know what is going on in the city.
The Sims may not be complaining about waste management yet, but trust me when
I say, “Deal with rubbish early!”
1. Click on the MEET button and then select the Environmental Advisor.
2. Read through the Briefing, “Dealing with Garbage”, and then close the Advisor
window.
3. Pause the simulator again so you can do some more work while the Sims
“sleep.”
It’s time to start some waste disposal. To do so, you’re going to zone a landfill in
your city. Usually you’d want to keep a landfill as far from your city centre as
possible, but for this tutorial, you can put it relatively close.
4. Find some land near your zoned area and then select LANDFILL from
within the ZONE button menu.
Landfill is a zone, so you can place it the same way you placed the
Residential, Commercial, and Industrial zones.
10 11
STEP 10: DATA MAPS, CHARTS, AND
GRAPHS
There are various Data Maps, Charts, and Graphs your advisors maintain
for you. They give an overview of city happenings as well as historical
data on various aspects of your city’s growth.
1. Click on the View Data button located within the Adjust &
Review button menu on the Main Toolbar. Choose from a list
of maps, char ts, and graphs to see an overview of your city
as it stands now.
2. When you are done looking at your city’s statistics, close any open
windows by clicking on the X in the upper right corner.
STEP 11: AS YOU CAN BUILD, SO CAN
YOU DESTROY
Disasters happen all the time in the real world and SimCities are no exception.
Before you unleash anything in your city, save the game.
1. Click on SAVE AS button found within the CHANGE SETTINGS & EXIT
button menu; this opens the Save City window.
2. Name the file anything other than Tutorial.
3. You can change where you save your city, but leave this one in the default
directory.
4. Click the checkmark to save the city.
Back to the game? Good. Time to destroy what you have cr eated.
5. Press the START DISASTER button located within the EMERGENCY
button menu on the Main Toolbar and select FIRE.
A fire will soon start in your city. The City View window will be automatically
centred on the location of the fir e as it br eaks out. This is called the AUTO GO TO
DISASTERS feature (this feature can be turned of f in the Prefer ences window).
During a disaster the Simulator runs at a very slow speed to allow you to deal with
it. The Simulation Speed Control is disabled until the disaster runs its course. Once
the disaster is over, the simulation speed will return to the setting it was at prior to
the disaster.
You have to hur ry and get some fir efighters out to the blaze before it reduces your
city to rubble.
Keep in mind that having a single police depar tment and a single fire station will
only be satisfactory if you never grow your city more than this. For more infor mation
on maintaining proper safety coverage, see the Public Safety Department section.
STEP 9: FINANCES
Practically everything you build has an annual maintenance cost. The monetary unit
of the SimNation is the SIMOLEON.
1. Open the Budget window by clicking on the BUDGET button from within
the ADJUST & REVIEW button menu.
This is where you monitor and control the way you spend your money.
2. Look at the Police Budget line item.
You adjust each budget by moving the pointer on the
slider in front of each department. Each slider has a
marker. The marker represents what the Advisor for that department wants you to
allocate.
3. Leave the Police and Fire Budgets to what the Public Safety Advisor’ s
asking for.
At the bottom of the window, you’re told whether you are projected to make or lose
money at the end of the year.
If it looks like you’ll be losing money, you can try raising taxes.
4. Click on the INCOME button at the top of the Budget window
5. Adjust the taxes for Residential, Commercial or Industrial by clicking on the up
or down arrow in the appr opriate line to increase or decrease the tax rate.
Just remember that when you raise taxes, your Sims might not like it and may
move away to another city.
6. Look through your Income and Expenditures.
7. Close the Budget window by clicking the checkmark in the lower right corner.
12 13
Data Maps
THE JOY OF MAYORING; A
REFERENCE GUIDE
This section provides a breakdown of every tool, button, and menu found in
SimCity 3000.
OPENING MENU
This is the first menu you see when you launch SimCity 3000. Your options from
this menu are START NEW CITY, LOAD CITY, STARTER TOWN, REAL CITY TERRAIN,
PREFERENCES, and EXIT. Each option is detailed below.
Start New City
When you choose to START NEW CITY, your first step is to determine your NEW
CITY OPTIONS.
• City Name – Anything that suits your fancy, up to a maximum of 50 characters.
• Mayor Name – What your Sims will call you. Select any name under 50
characters. Last names work best, as your Sims will address you as “Mayor
‘MAYOR NAME’. ”
• Difficulty Level – Choose an easy game, a hard game, or something in
between. Easy games give you more money to start with.
• Start Date – The year your city is established.
• City Size – The number of tiles in your city. (Low end systems will have better
game performance with smaller cities).
6. Click on the DISPATCH FIREFIGHTERS button, located within the
EMERGENCY button menu.
You could send police out to deal with the pr oblem, but they won’ t be nearly
as effective as your firefighters. The reason you have firefighters to dispatch is
because of the fire station you built. If you had neither police nor fire coverage,
your Sims would rally a volunteer group to dispatch at your command.
7. Click on a tile near the fire.
This dispatches one of your two fire units, one from your fire station and one being
your volunteer group. Each subsequent fire station will give you one additional
dispatch unit.
By leaving the fire truck dispatched next to a fire for a long enough time, the fir e
will be put out.
8. Click on another tile near a fire to dispatch your second fire fighting unit.
9. If you click on yet another tile, it will move the first of your two dispatch units
to this new location.
10. Continue to dispatch your fire fighting units to surround the blaze until you
manage to put it out.
11. Once you have either put out all of the fir es, or your city is burnt to the
ground, click on the LOAD CITY button from within the CHANGE
SETTINGS & EXIT button menu in the Main Toolbar.
12. You will be asked if you want to save your current city. Say NO, and then select
your saved game when the Load screen comes up. Voila! Good as new!
As you continue to explore what you can create as a Mayor of a SimCity, Sims will
continue to ask for more and more things (keep your eye on the News T icker!) and
it’s up to you to make their dreams, as well as your own, a r eality. Feel free to
continue building this city, or start a brand new one. The choice is yours!
14 15
• Map Edge – Clicking on any of the four Map Edges cycles between a coast line
and a neighbour border.
• Map Centre – Clicking on the Map Centre cycles between dry land, rivers, lake
and mountain.
• Mountain Slider – Raising and lowering this slider will increase and reduce the
amount of mountainous areas on your terrain.
• Water Slider – Raising and lowering this slider will increase and r educe the
amount of water on your terrain.
• Tree Slider – Raising and lowering this slider will increase and reduce the
amount of trees on your terrain.
• Re-Generate Terrain – Any time you make adjustments in the Terrain Toolbar
you must press this button for the changes to take effect on the actual map.
• Accept This Terrain – Establishes your new city using the terrain depicted in
the City View window.
Starter Town
Various “standard” designs, or templates, have been used for years by various
mayors in various cities all across the world. These templates are available to you
in the form of STARTER TOWNS. These are ready to go templates based on city
planning theories through the ages. All of a city's basic needs are laid out, simply
unpause the simulation and watch them build. Where these templates go from
here is up to you.
• Select the Starter Town you would like to use and click the checkmark.
• The next step is to determine your NEW CITY OPTIONS, choose a Mayor Name,
City Name, and the Difficulty Level you’d like to play at.
Once your city options are set, click the checkmark and a city terrain is created.
• Select ACCEPT THIS TERRAIN at the bottom of the Terrain Toolbar to
immediately start building your city using the terrain you see in the City View
window.
Or…
• Click RE-GENERATE TERRAIN to create a new random terrain based on the
same landscape profile.
Or…
• Elect to edit a terrain to suit your fancy by using the tools in the Terrain Toolbar
as described below:
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Map Edge
Map Centre
Re-Generate Terrain
Tree Slider
Accept This Terrain
Mountain Slider
Water Slider
Preferences
Everyone likes to r un their city a certain way. Setting the Game Preferences to fit
your style will make you a happier Mayor.
Performance
These settings allow you to fine tune your game to suit the performance of your system.
When you turn any of these settings OFF, SimCity 3000 will run at a faster rate.
• Traffic Visible – This determines at which zoom levels you can see traffic at.
Only turn this up to the highest level if you have a Recommended System (see
the Reference Card for mor e infor mation).
• Sims Visible – This determines at which zoom levels you can see your Sims
walking the streets.
• Other Animations – This selection includes building animations and graphic
effects that are not essential for game play.
• Screen Resolution – This selection will allow you to set the scr een r esolution
of your game window. The smaller the size, the faster the game will run.
Changes in screen resolution will not take place without restarting SimCity
3000.
General Options
Allows you to toggle on or off the SimCity 3000 Start Up Tips.
Sound
Check boxes for these options turn the selection ON or OFF, and the sliders
increase or decrease the volume.
• Music – Control the volume or toggle on or off the selection of scores that will
be played in random order throughout gameplay.
• Ambient Sound – These are the sounds you hear when you zoom in and get
close to the city.
• Sound Effects – The noises you hear when you do action items in the game.
• Enable 3D sound – This option will only be editable if the game has detected
the necessary hardware.
Load City
The LOAD CITY button allows you to load both SimCity 3000 cities and SimCity
2000 cities.
• Select the city you’d like to continue playing and click the checkmark.
That’s all there is to it!
Real City Terrain
SimCity 3000 comes with several starting terrains based on geographic data from
real cities all over the world.
• Select the terrain you would like to build on and click the checkmark to
proceed to the NEW CITY OPTIONS window described above.
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Landscape
This is where you go for all of your ter rain editing needs. When it comes to placing
items like Trees or Sur face Water, a single click or a click and drag of the mouse in
the City View will place those items. The ter rain modifying tools do not actually
place anything on the map when used. Instead, they raise, lower or level a piece or
section of terrain with each click or click and drag of the mouse.
Plant Trees: Click or click and drag on an undeveloped tile with this tool to
plant trees. The more you click or click and drag, the more trees are placed
on undeveloped tiles. The type of tree that is placed depends on the
elevation.
Create Surface Water: Click or click and drag with this tool to place water
on undeveloped tiles.
Lower Terrain: Clicking on any tile with this tool lowers the terrain by one
level. As a tile is lowered it will lower the surrounding tiles as well. Be
careful, this is an easy way to sink a city if you ar en’t careful! You cannot
lower terrain if it will affect existing buildings.
Raise Terrain: Clicking on any tile with this tool raises the terrain by one
level. It can also raise up surrounding tiles, which will destroy buildings on
those tiles. This is an easy way to demolish a city if you aren’t careful! You
cannot raise terrain if it will affect existing buildings.
Level Terrain: Use this tool to create areas of flat terrain to build on. Click
on a tile of terrain with the left mouse button and then drag the mouse with
the button still held down. The selected area will level to the height of the
first tile selected.
Demolish: Does just what it says; clicking on any Sim-made object (as well
as trees) with this tool destroys or removes it. Click and drag over an area
to demolish all objects in that entire area
Zone
This button menu houses all of the zoning tools. Zoning means you designate a
zone, and the Sims will develop the appropriate buildings within that zone. All zones
are placed by clicking and holding the mouse button and then moving the mouse to
draw the desired zone shape. You can place a single tile of zone with a single-click
of the mouse button. If you zone an area as Residential, then only Residential
buildings will spring up there.
What actually builds in the Residential, Commercial, Industrial, Airport and Seapor t
zones is up to the Sims. You are merely placing restrictions on what type of
buildings and how dense the zones can get. Keep in mind that just because you
have zoned for a certain density, you won’t necessarily see that zone develop to its
fullest until there is the necessary demand.
Music Choices
Highlight a music selection and preview it by clicking the PLAY button below the list
of selections. Check the selections that you want to play during gameplay. Those
that are left unchecked will not be included in the random selection of music.
Exit
Just like it sounds, this button will exit the game.
MAIN TOOLBAR
The Main Toolbar contains buttons that can have up to two levels of tools within
them. Clicking on a button on the Main Toolbar displays the tools that button menu
offers. Some of those buttons have a submenu within them.
To activate the submenu, simply
click and hold on the button. The
active tool in the submenu is
designated by a checkmark.
In order to aid the exact
placement of every item in
SimCity, everything you can place
has a Drop Shadow. The Drop
Shadow is a preview of what you
are about to place. In general, if
the Drop Shadow is blue, an item
can be placed or built. If the Drop
Shadow is red, it is not possible to
build or place the selected item.
Everything in SimCity is placed
with a single-click of the mouse
button. Items like transportation
systems, pipes, wires, and zones
can also be placed by clicking and
dragging the cursor over an area
and then releasing the mouse
button.
The cost of construction is actively
displayed as you place an item.
This cost will be subtracted from
your operating funds as you
release the mouse button.
You can cancel the placement of any item by holding down the SHIF T key befor e
releasing the mouse button.
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Landscape
Zone
Build Transportation
Build Utilities
Place Civic/Special Buildings
Emergency
Meet
Adjust & Review
Change Settings & Exit
Build Transportation
Everything you need to create a functioning transportation system is here, from
roads to subway.
Transportation networks are drawn very much like zones, except they can only be
drawn in a line (straight or diagonal). Transit types include: road; highway; rail; and
subway rail. To place a line of any of these items, click and hold the mouse button
while moving the mouse where you want to place the object. As long as the Drop
Shadow highlight is blue, the item will be successfully built. If the ter rain or
presence of sur rounding buildings will prevent an item from being placed, the Drop
Shadow will turn from blue to r ed. The selected transit type will not be built along
the path of the red Drop Shadow. See the Transportation Department section for
more information.
City engineers will jump to your assistance in building some transportation
elements:
• To make a connection to one of your neighbouring cities, simply draw a road,
highway, rail or subway to the edge of your city terrain. The city engineers will
ask if you wish to build a connection and let you know the cost. If you accept
the cost, they will construct the connection.
• To build a road, highway or rail bridge, drag the Dr op Shadow for the selected
transit type across a body of water (it must be perpendicular to the water and
straight). The blue highlight will let you know when you have successfully
crossed the water and the engineers are able to construct a bridge. The city
engineers will let you know the cost of the span, and if you accept, will build an
appropriate bridge.
• A road or rail tunnel will be r ecommended by the city engineers when traversing
mountainous terrain. Drag the transit Drop Shadow to the base of steep
terrain. If the underground distance is sufficient for the tunnel to be
constructed, six tiles minimum, the city engineers will ask if you wish to bore a
tunnel and let you know the cost of this construction. If you accept, the cost of
the tunnel construction will be deducted fr om your operating funds and the city
engineers will place a tunnel entrance and exit and bore the tunnel for you.
Transportation Menu Items:
ROAD: Roads can be placed as a single tile, or clicked and dragged to be
placed in a line, straight or diagonal.
HIGHWAY: Available in 1940, highways are elevated, high capacity roads.
They allow traffic to travel more efficiently over greater distances.
Highway - To build a highway, select a location and drag the highway tool
across the terrain, release the mouse button to place the highway.
On-Ramp - To place an on-ramp to a highway, you must first have a road to
highway intersection or highway to highway intersection. Position the onramp tool in the tile adjacent to any corner of the intersection and singleclick. An on-ramp will be built.
RESIDENTIAL: From here you can decide what density of Residential you
want to zone.
The density choices are:
• Light – Includes: single family homes.
• Medium – Includes: small apartment buildings.
• Dense – Includes: large apartment buildings.
COMMERCIAL: This is where you decide what density of Commercial you
want to zone.
The density choices are:
• Light – Includes: local shops, petrol stations.
• Medium – Includes: medium size of fice buildings and stor es.
• Dense – Includes: large office buildings and large stores.
INDUSTRIAL: Here’s where you can select what density of Industrial you
want to zone.
The density choices are:
• Light – Includes: agricultural areas, small factories and warehouses.
• Medium – Includes: medium factories and war ehouses.
• Dense – Includes: large factories and warehouses.
LANDFILL: Landfills ar e the cheapest way (monetarily) to dispose of
rubbish, but they destroy the land they are built on and ruin the land value
of surrounding areas. Each tile of landfill can hold up to a certain amount of
waste. As the landfill fills up you will notice piles of rubbish. Query a landfill
tile to find out the disposal capacity system-wide. Landfills decompose
rubbish at a slow rate over time. Landfills can not be demolished while
waste is present, however, if you de-commission a landfill you can de-zone
the area once all of the r ubbish has decomposed.
SEAPORT: This zone helps industry and commercial zones to gr ow, as well
as opening a powerful means of removing rubbish from your city. Seapor ts
must have water access to a neighbour and be at least 2x6 tiles in order to
develop. The edge of the seaport must be flat against the sea.
AIRPORT: Available in 1930, airports help the commercial districts to grow
by blowing open the doors to travel. Airpor ts need to be at least 3x5 tiles in
order to develop.
DE-ZONE: The De-Zone tool removes any pre-existing zone. In or der to DeZone an area, there can be no buildings over the target area, so you may
have to demolish the area first.
DEMOLISH: Click on any Sim-made object to destroy or remove it. Click and
drag over an area to demolish all objects in that entire ar ea.
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