Installing Simutrans

For Simutrans to work, you will need two components: the Application and one or more Graphics Set, which in Simutrans we call “paksets”. Remember this from now on. Without a pakset, Simutrans won’t work, because it is the “visualization” of the game.

Recommended Installation

Windows

The recommended installation method is to use the Online installer. Users of Windows Defender antivirus may be blocked from downloading this file by a false positive virus identification. You may install manually as per below.

Linux

Linux users should be able to find Simutrans on their distribution repositories. The version may be outdated but should still works with the paksets “pak64”, “pak128” & “pak128.britain”. Alternatively, the non-official Simutrans repository, with more recent versions of Simutrans, can be used:

• rpm-Repository (Tested on Fedora 18 & 24)
• deb-Repository (Tested on Ubuntu 16/18/20 & Linux Mint 19.x)
• AUR packages for Arch Linux & Manjaro users

You will need to install a pakset, too. If there is no one offered, download one from the sources listed below, and copy it to the Simutrans folder:

• /usr/share/simutrans - if you installed it from the official repository (you need to make it writeable for you)
• /usr/share/games/simutrans - in some distributions (you need to make it writeable for you)
• ~/.local/share/simutrans/ - if you installed it from AUR

Now you have everything you need to play Simutrans. Have fun!

Note: If after opening a pakset you don’t hear any music, check No MIDI Music (Linux).

Manual installation

The Application

There are 4 possible options to download Simutrans:

• Official Homepage: www.simutrans.com
• Forum: Download Simutrans Forum
• Sourceforge: SourceForge Simutrans Download
  • Windows file: simuwin
  • Mac file: simumac (May require additional files. See below.)
  • Linux file: simulinux (May require additional files. See below.)
• Steam: Steam Simutrans

The paksets

There are a lot of different paksets, but you need only one installed to play Simutrans. You can download paksets from the script included in the zip file of from the following sources:

• Official Homepage: www.simutrans.com
• Forum: Download Simutrans Forum (Click on the most recent release to see the paksets download links)
• Sourceforge: http://sourceforge.net/projects/simutrans/files/

Keep in mind that the installed paksets should fit with the Simutrans version you have installed. The Simutrans version at SourceForge is directly indicated in the download link. If you don’t know it at all, you can find it in the top left corner of the title bar when you start the program. Older paksets versions usually work with newer program versions, but older Simutrans versions often don’t work with current paksets versions, because they use features that are missing in the older version.

There are different graphic sizes and resolutions available. A higher number means more pixels per tile.
To start with Simutrans, we recommend the basic pakset “pak64” or “pak128.german”. Whereby the former has a slightly “higher” degree of difficulty.

For a full list of paksets, chech the paksets page of this wiki.

Installation

1. Unzip the .zip folder. You will get a folder named “simutrans”
2. Copy the pakset folder into the simutrans folder or use the included script to get paksets if you haven’t already
   • Windows: download-paksets.exe
   • Linux: get_pak.sh
3. Start the application and select (if you have several installed) the pakset you want to play with.
   • Windows: simutrans.exe
   • Linux: simutrans (you may need to give execution permissions first with ‘chmod +x simutrans’)

Now you have everything you need to play Simutrans. Have fun!

System requirements

Simutrans runs on all computers (x86-64, x86-32, ARM-32, ARM-64) that have been sold since 2004 and run Windows (95 - Windows 10), Linux, BeOS/Zeta, FreeBSD or MAC OS X 10.8 operating systems. Simutrans runs also on Apple with a PowerPC processor. If Simutrans doesn’t offer a compiled binary for your system, you may want to compile Simutrans on your system.

Minimum requirements

• CPU step: 500 MHz
• RAM: 512 MB
• Grafic card: 16 Bit SVGA
• Resolution: 800x600

Recommended requirements

• CPU step: 2 GHz (multi-core CPU can improve Simutrans’ performance)
• RAM: 4 GB ( Cards up to 2000x2000 )
• 8 GB ( Cards with more than 2000x2000 )
• Graphics card: 32 Bit True Color
• Resolution: 1280x1024

Required disk space

• 64 paksets
  • HD: 50 MB
• 128 paksets
  • HD: 120 MB (pak128.cz)
  • HD: 280 MB (pak128.german, pak128.japan, pak128.britain)
  • HD: 500 MB (pak128)
• 192 paksets (pak192.comic)
  • HD: 380 MB

If you plan to install more than one pakset, then you must calculate with a requirement of 1 GB - 1,5 GB disk space.

Additional Information

Nightly releases

Nightly releases are Simutrans versions that are compiled everyday from the current Simutrans source code. Nightly versions are avilable at GitHub Nightly Releases

Arch Linux / Manjaro users may also want to install simutrans-nightly available in AUR.

IMPORTANT: Nightly releases are not tested and could contain critical bugs. If you are afraid of losing your savegame, please use a stable version.

No MIDI music (Linux)

It could be the case that Simutrans doesn’t properly play music. If that is happening to you, follow these steps:

1. Run a Simutrans version compiled with sdl2_mixer. If your distribution doesn’t ship such version, you may compile it yourself.
2. Install fluidsynth and a MIDI soundfont from your package manager.
3. Open Simutrans with the SDL_SOUNDFONTS=/path/to/soundfont variable set. Example:

SDL_SOUNDFONTS=/usr/share/soundfonts/FluidR3_GM.sf2 simutrans

Now music should work, but it may slow down the startup significantly.

Running Simutrans on Wayland (Linux)

You will need an SDL2/SDL2_Mixer version of Simutrans (which should be the default, as SDL1 is deprecated). To force Simutrans to run on the Wayland driver instead of the X11 one, run Simutrans as follow:

SDL_VIDEODRIVER=wayland simutrans

Keep in mind that SDL support for Wayland is still in early phase, so it could lead to some unexpected issues



More Information follows later...

-(required Driver for Mac/Linux)
-(Intel/ppc with Mac)