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SimTunes

From PCGamingWiki, the wiki about fixing PC games
SimTunes
SimTunes cover
Developers
Maxis
Release dates
Windows 1996
Taxonomy
Monetization One-time game purchase
Modes Singleplayer
Genres Simulation, Music/rhythm
Series Sim
SimTunes on MobyGames
SimTunes on Wikipedia
SimCity (series)
SimEarth 1990
SimAnt 1991
SimLife 1992
SimFarm 1993
SimHealth 1994
SimTower 1994
SimIsle: Missions in the Rainforest 1995
SimTown 1995
SimPark 1996
SimGolf 1996
SimTunes 1996
SimSafari 1998
The Sims (series)
Sid Meier's SimGolf 2002

SimTunes is a singleplayer simulation and music/rhythm game in the Sim series.

The installer is 16-bit only, but a workaround is available. See Running the game on 64-bit Windows.

Availability

Source DRM Notes Keys OS
Retail
DRM-free
Entire game can be copied to the hard drive.
Windows

Game data

Configuration file(s) location

System Location
Windows

Save game data location

System Location
Windows <path-to-game>\Tunes[Note 1]
This is the default location used. An alternate save game data location can be chosen via the options menu.
Standalone saves are saved under <path-to-game>\Alone.

Video

In-game options menu.
In-game options menu.

Windowed

Although not a true windowed mode, the game can be run to give the impression. If the desktop resolution is greater than the game, the game will be centered in on the desktop at 640x480.
Here is how to toggle it should it become unusable:

Disable windowed mode[citation needed]
  1. Right click on the SIMTUNES.EXE file (located in the installation folder) and select "Properties".
  2. Go to the "Compatibility" tab and enable "Run in 640x480 screen resolution".
  3. Run the SIMTUNES.EXE file to play the game.

Alternatively, you can go to SIMTUNES.INI (located in C:\Windows) and change UseDirectDraw to TRUE.

Input

Keyboard and mouse State Notes
Remapping
See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Mouse acceleration
Mouse sensitivity
Mouse input in menus
Mouse Y-axis inversion
Controller
Controller support

Audio

Audio feature State Notes
Separate volume controls
Each of the 4 active Bugz can have their volume adjusted independently.
Surround sound
Subtitles
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost
General MIDI audio
Exists as a sound output option; default output is Wave.

Localizations

Language UI Audio Sub Notes
English

Issues unresolved

Standalone saves crash on startup

Issues fixed

Running the game on 64-bit Windows

Although the game installer is 16-bit, the actual game is 32-bit. The only way to play it is to use an alternate installer:

Installing the game via alternate installer

Setting up the game with an alternate installer[citation needed]
  1. Somewhere on the computer (ex. the Desktop), create a new folder called "SETUP".
  2. Copy the contents of the SimTunes CD and paste them into the folder that was created before.
  3. When everything has finished copying, go to <Setup Folder>\SETUP and delete the SETUP.EXE file.
  4. Download the generic 32-bit installer and add it to the folder.
  5. Run the installer and follow the on-screen instructions.
  6. Once the installer has finished, go to the installation folder and run the SIMTUNES.EXE file to play the game.
While the main game will work, the tutorial is 16-bit and will not run

"SimTunes requires your computer to be set in 256 color mode"

Setting up compatibility settings[citation needed]
  1. Right click on the SIMTUNES.EXE file (located in the installation folder) and select "Properties".
  2. Go to the "Compatibility" tab and enable "Run in 256 colors". For Windows 8 and later, enable Reduced Colour Mode (set to 8-bit color).
  3. Run the SIMTUNES.EXE file to play the game.
Enabling DirectDraw (this will help fix drawing problems on newer graphics cards)

Open the file SIMTUNES.INI (located in C:\Windows) and change UseDirectDraw to TRUE.

Other information

API

Technical specs Supported Notes
DirectDraw
Executable 32-bit 64-bit Notes
Windows

System requirements

Windows
Minimum Recommended
Operating system (OS) 95
Processor (CPU) Intel 486DX2
System memory (RAM) 8 MB
Hard disk drive (HDD) 2 MB
Video card (GPU) SVGA, XGA


Notes

  1. When running this game without elevated privileges (Run as administrator option), write operations against a location below %PROGRAMFILES%, %PROGRAMDATA%, or %WINDIR% might be redirected to %LOCALAPPDATA%\VirtualStore on Windows Vista and later (more details).

References