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 The version may be outdated but should still work with the paksets "pak64", "pak128" & "pak128.britain".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

For versions greater than Simutrans 123.0.1, an in-game installer is available to install paksets if you didn't install any from the repository. For earlier versions you will need to download one from the sources listed below.

Steam

You can download Simutrans on Steam. By default it comes with pak128, but other paksets are available as DLCs and in the Steam workshop.

Manual installation

The Application

There are 3 possible options to download Simutrans:

• Official Homepage: www.simutrans.com
• Forum: Download Simutrans Forum
• Sourceforge: SourceForge Simutrans Download
  • Windows: simuwin
  • Mac: simumac
  • Linux: simulinux

The paksets

There are a lot of different paksets, but you need only one installed to play Simutrans. There are different graphic sizes and themes available. A higher number means more pixels per tile. To start with Simutrans, we recommend the basic pakset "pak64" (also called simply "pak) or "pak128.german". The former has a slightly "higher" degree of difficulty.

You can download paksets from:

• From Simutrans 123. The in-game installer (available from "Options -> Install" or from the pakset selector).
• The installer included in the zip file
  • Windows: download-paksets.exe
  • Linux/macOS: get_pak.sh
• Manual download 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/

If you downloaded the paksets manually:

• You need to decompress and copy the pakset folder (ignoring the "simutrans" folder, if any) to your Simutrans installation folder. From versions greater than Simutrans 123.0.1 you can also copy the pakset folder to the following locations:
  • Linux: ~/simutrans/paksets
  • macOS; ~/Library/simutrans/paksets
  • Windows:

    %localappdata%\simutrans

• 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.

For a full list of paksets, check the paksets page of this wiki. Now you have everything you need to play Simutrans. Have fun!

System requirements

The official download for Simutrans 123 runs on Windows 8-11 (x86-64 and x86-32), Linux greater than Ubuntu 20.04 (x86-64 only), macOS greater than 10.15 (Catalina) and Android. However, Simutrans can run on other systems and architectures, so if your system is not on this list, you can download an older version or compile Simutrans on your system.

Minimum requirements

• CPU step: 500 MHz
• RAM: 512 MB
• Graphic 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: 50 MB
• 128 paksets
  • pak128.cz: 120 MB
  • pak128.japan, pak128.britain: 280 MB
  • pak128, pak128.german: 500 MB
• 192 paksets (pak192.comic): 800 MB

If you plan to install all the paksets, then you must calculate with a requirement of 2 GB - 2,5 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 available at GitHub Nightly Releases.

Arch Linux / Manjaro users may also want to install simutrans-svn available in the 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/macOS)

From Simutrans 123 the new music backend only needs a soundfont to be provided (if it can't find one automatically). You can copy a soundfont to the simutrans/music directory and select it from the sound options.

For earlier versions, if the music doesn't work and Simutrans was compiled with SDL2_Mixer you can follow these steps:

1. Install fluidsynth and a MIDI soundfont from your package manager.
2. Open Simutrans with the SDL_SOUNDFONTS=/path/to/soundfont variable set. Example:

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

Running Simutrans on Wayland (Linux)

To force Simutrans to run on the Wayland driver instead of the X11 one, run Simutrans as follow:


Keep in mind that SDL support for Wayland is still in early phase, so it could lead to some unexpected issues (like mouse pointer not being displayed).