Welcome to Tropico!
This ReadMe file accompanies version 1.03
Contents
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- Contact Information
- Installation and Configuration
- System Requirements
- Getting Started
- Additional Keyboard Hot Keys
- Known Issues
Contact Information
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For official news, hints, and community check out developer's site at www.poptop.com. or the U.S. publisher's site at www.wizworks.com/macsoft, or the U.K. publisher's site at www.feral.co.uk.
To get involved with the Tropico fanbase, visit www.cafetropico.com, the online hangout for Tropico players.
Installation and Configuration
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If you find that you do no have enough physical RAM to run Tropico, turn on Virtual Memory in your computer's Memory Control Panel. You may need to adjust your virtual memory settings higher than Tropico's preferred size for best performance. 128 MB total virtual memory should be sufficient.
System Requirements
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Any Macintosh with a 233 MHz G3 processor or faster
Mac OS 8.6 or later
32 MB RAM (64MB RAM recommended)
940 MB of free disk space
A 4x CD-ROM drive
While Tropico may run on systems earlier than 8.6, we do not support them. So if you are going to play Tropico on an old system, you are on your own!
Getting Started
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If you are running Mac OS 8 or 9:
Launch the game using the 'Tropico for OS 8 or 9' selection. When Tropico launches it may revert briefly to the desktop, do not worry this is a normal part of its launch routine.
If you are running Mac OS X:
Launch the game using the 'Tropico for OS X' selection. When Tropico launches it may revert briefly to the desktop, do not worry this is a normal part of its launch routine. If you have problems running in OS X, please refer to the section "Mac OS X issues" within this document.
If you are unable to run the game or to enter the main game world from the dictator's office screen, try running the game in safe mode (hold down the key while launching the game) see the section "Safe Mode" below for more details.
Safe Mode
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If you're experiencing a video problem or are otherwise unable to either launch the game or enter the main game world from the dictator's desk menu, try using "safe mode".
To use safe mode, hold down the key on the keyboard while you double click on the Tropico icon to launch the game, and continue holding the key down until you are shown a warning that you are about to launch into safe mode.
Safe mode disables music and sound, and it resets graphics to run in software mode (not OpenGL), and to run at 800 x 600 resolution. Beyond changing these starting settings, safe mode has no lasting effect. Once you're in the game world, you can press to bring up the settings window and change your graphics and sound settings to your liking. The safe mode simply gives you a stable start in case you've had some type of trouble or crashes that might be attributable to your sound settings or graphics mode.
Memory Issues
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Tropico will run faster with more detail, the more memory it has available.
Under Mac OS X, memory management is automatic - Tropico will optimize itself for your available memory with no intervention needed on your part. However, Mac OS 8, and 9 users may need to tweak memory settings for optimal performance, as follows...
We recommend that you ENABLE virtual memory. If you don't know what virtual memory is, that's ok - it's on by default, but some users manually disable it. A good setting is twice the amount of installed physical RAM, but make sure it is at least 128 MB.
If you have more than 64MB of RAM in your machine, we recommend that you increase the amount of memory available for Tropico to use, as follows:
Single click on the program 'Tropico for OS 8 or 9'. From the menu bar, select 'File', then 'Get Info', then 'Memory'. Change the 'Preferred Size' to one of the following values, based on how much physical memory your computer has:
If you have 96 MB of RAM, change the 'Preferred Size' to 120000 KB
If you have 128 MB of RAM, change the 'Preferred Size' to 170000 KB
If you have 256 MB of RAM, change the 'Preferred Size' to 340000 KB
Performance Issues
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The two most important factors in determining how smoothly Tropico plays are your CPU speed and RAM. Tropico is playable with the minimum specifications listed above, but plays more smoothly on faster computers. In general, Tropico detects your machines specifications and adjusts certain game parameters accordingly. If you wish to tweak things yourself, bring up the settings window (press in the game world).
If your CPU is slow, try turning down the options in the 'graphics' tab. Turn trees to stump only mode by pressing the key. Turn off weather animation by pressing . Don't turn the game speed above 'Normal' late in the game, with lots of people moving about (nothing especially bad happens, but running the game very fast with lots of people increases choppiness).
If you only have 32MB of RAM, go into the 'memory' tab in the settings window and uncheck all the options, and turn max detail to the first or second setting. Avoid rotating the map (which loads more graphics, using more RAM). If you have more than 32MB of RAM, it's still not necessarily a good idea to turn all the memory options up - things may run smoothly early in the game, but slow down later on when more people and buildings are on the map. Typically, the default settings determined by the game for your system work best, over the course of a full game.
Also, you are strongly encouraged to quit all other applications before launching Tropico - other applications can drain resources and slow the overall system down.
Mac OS X Issues
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Make sure your version of OS X is updated to at least version 10.0.2. To check this, go to 'Apple Menu' -> 'About This Mac'. If you are not running at least version 10.0.2, update your system by going to the 'Apple Menu' -> 'System Preferences' -> 'Show All' -> 'Software Update'. Finally click on 'Update Now' to dwonload the latest version of Mac OS X.
It is possible you may still have problems even if you are using an up to date version of OS X. Because OS X is at this time quite new, and many game related sub-systems and drivers are not robust, some users may experience problems launching the game or with crashes inside the game in OS X using the native 'Tropico for OS X'.
If you have such problems, we first recommend starting in "safe mode" as described above. If that is unsuccessful try 'Tropico for OS 8 or 9' as an alternative - it also runs quite well under Classic, with no noticeable speed differences versus the native Mac OS X version when in full-screen mode. We recommend that you do not run Tropico in windowed mode under classic, as it is painfully slow.
Systems with dual monitors may experience problems in OS X, though dual monitors should be fine for Mac OS 9 or below (the game doesn't utilize both monitors, but it works fine). If you are using Mac OS X, it is recommended that you disable dual monitors while playing Tropico.
Video Card Issues
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Tropico has the ability to use hardware accelerated 3D graphics (through OpenGL).
This feature is disabled by default, but you can enable it in the settings window in the game world.
Selecting hardware mode is NOT RECOMMENDED if you have a video card with less than 16MB of video RAM. Most iMacs built in 2000 or earlier, as well as iBooks and Powerbooks do not have enough video RAM. Newer iMacs, G4s, and G4 Cubes should have enough video RAM.
In OS 9 or below, if you are tight on memory, switching to hardware mode may cause OpenGL to freeze your computer. Make sure to set Tropico's preferred memory allocation at least 2MB below that of the "largest unused block" of memory, which can be checked in the "About this Computer" window.
If you switch into hardware 3D mode and the game crashes, we recommend that the next time you launch the game, you use 'safe mode'.
Hardware mode works well early in the game, with relatively few units and buildings, but in some cases can actually increase choppiness late in the game with more people and buildings in play, as all available RAM on the video card is used. The options in the memory tab may also be useful in hardware mode - using fewer and less detailed images can result in smoother 3D acceleration.
Make sure that you have the latest drivers from the manufacturer of your video card. Many video issues will be resolved if you install your video card's latest drivers. Please contact your video card manufacturer for updated drivers or install the Open GL driver supplied with the OpenGL Installer. Listed below are some common video card manufacturers' web sites. Tropico may not support some or all of the cards produced by a particular manufacturer.
ATI - http://support.atitech.ca/
3Dfx Interactive - http://www.3dfx.com/
nVidia - http://nvidia.com/
Function Key issues
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Tropico uses a number of function keys ( through ), for hot keys.
If, when trying to use these function keys, you get a blank window pop-up or other problems, and you're using Mac OS 9, then you've probably got your function keys set to be used by the Mac operating system, rather than the game. The hot key functions can be accessed through the settings window in the game world, so you don't NEED them, but if you'd like them to work as intended in Tropico, go to the 'Keyboard' control panel, click on 'Function Keys', and uncheck the option 'Use F1 through F15 as Hot Function Keys'.
In addition to the hot keys listed in the manual, the following are available:
O - Jump to your election opponent (only if election underway)
- Take a screenshot
Programmable hot keys are also available for quick jumps to map locations, people, and almanac pages, as follows...
The number keys on the keyboard (0 through 9) can be programmed.
If viewing an almanac page, hold down and press '3' to set the number 3 as a hot key for that page. Then, to return to that almanac page, press 3 (without or ) at any time.
To set a hot key to a unit or building, select that unit or building, then program the key by holding down and pressing the number (i.e. 3). To set a map location hot key, do the same thing without any unit or building selected. In all of these cases, press the same number (without or ) at any time to jump back to them.
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