Start Simutrans

From Simutrans Wiki

Contents 1 Starting Simutrans 2 Command line options 2.1 Screen resolution 2.2 Fullscreen mode 2.3 Freeplay 2.4 Logfile 2.5 Alternative pak-set 2.6 Framerate 2.6.1 Current versions (valid as of 99.05.1) 2.6.2 Previous versions (up to 99.05) 2.7 No Music 2.8 Disable Sound Effects 2.9 Debug 2.10 Multi-User Support (from V0.99.08 onwards) 2.11 Choose Savegame

Starting Simutrans

Once installed you can just execute the simutrans executable, all commandline parameters are optional. As a beginner, you might want to try the -freeplay option

In Windows, you can create a shortcut to simutrans.exe to your desktop.

In Linux, you usually would start Simutrans from a terminal window, or by creating a shortcut as in Windows.

There are two ways to change the basic configuration of Simutrans:

1. You change the configuration file
2. You add command line options (to your shortcut)

An easy way to get Simutrans started is to use the SimuStarter utility (Windows only). SimuStarter can be downloaded from the SimuStarter website.

It's usually easier to add command line options, so here they are:

Command line options

Screen resolution

simutrans.exe -screensize widthxheight

This sets the size of the window (in window mode) or the screen resolution (in fullscreen mode) to width x height pixels

Fullscreen mode

simutrans.exe -fullscreen

Simutrans will use the whole screen, not having any window border. Be careful about the set screen resolution, and never start simutrans with a screensize that is not supported by your screen.

Freeplay

simutrans.exe -freeplay

You have 'endless' money. This means that the game won't stop, if you are in debt for more than three month.

Normally in Simutrans, when you use up your $300,000 starting money, you have three 'months' within which to have a positive balance again after maintenance costs. Since it's difficult to get started within $300k when you're playing for recreation, you can turn on 'freeplay' to be able to have as much debt as you want. To do so for a game started without the switch, just save, restart ST with the switch, and load the savegame again.

Logfile

simutrans.exe -log 1

With this parameter simutrans will write all output-messages to the file "simu.log". This is helpful if you want to report bugs.

Alternative pak-set

simutrans.exe -objects pakname/

Specifies the folder containing the pak-set your want to use.

e.g. simutrans.exe -objects pak128/

Framerate

Current versions (valid as of 99.05.1)

simutrans.exe -fps n

Simutrans will respond much better on a slow computer (slow in relation to the screen resolution and the transport network´s size/complexity), if the fps (frames per second) rate is reduced. Lowest recommended value is 5. The standard value is 25, but may have been changed already by parameter frames_per_second in simuconf.tab, which you also can change.

Previous versions (up to 99.05)

simutrans.exe -refresh n

Simutrans will only display every nth frame, while n is in a range from 1 to 16.

n=1 is the default (display every frame) and n>3 might lead to jerky display.

simutrans.exe -refresh 2 will only display every second frame. Speed-up of about 25%

simutrans.exe -refresh 3 will only display every third frame. Speed-up of about 33%

No Music

simutrans.exe -nomidi

You will not hear any music during gameplay. It can be useful if you want to listen to other music sources. In some cases (SDL executables on Linux), -nomidi may be needed to avoid problems (game hanging for a certain time) caused by some unresolved bug.

Disable Sound Effects

simutrans.exe -nosound

You won't hear any sound effect (vehicles, rail, money etc...).

Debug

simutrans.exe -debug

Enable debugging trace

Multi-User Support (from V0.99.08 onwards)

Note: this doesn't mean multi-player, which isn't possible now or in the foreseeable future. It means that the program can be used properly (that is: without admin privileges) on an OS that has user separation and restrictive pre-defined file protection (e.g. Linux, Windows XP).

simutrans.exe -singleuser

Simulates the behaviour from previous versions (to some extent): load/store all files in the program folder.

simutrans.exe -multiuser 

(Default setting) Use user-specific directory to store savegames, screenshots and logfiles. Also take settings (like simuconf.tab) from there, if available.

The user-specific directory is

• on Windows: C:\Documents and Settings\Username\My Documents\simutrans or similar (language-dependent)
• on Linux/BeOS/Mac OS X: $HOME/.simutrans (e.g. /home/username/.simutrans)

Choose Savegame

simutrans.exe -load <savegame>.sve

Directly start with playing this savegame.

Note: this parameter has to come as the last one. [TODO: exact description]