Dodging The Bugs On Windows 10.
Anti-Bug Tricks
Combine these anti-bug tricks with your own strategy and you might actually enjoy this game a little more. Give it a try on a day you have nothing else better to do.
1. You might be tempted to modify the games “exe” file for compatibility troubleshooting, but you may discover it causes more harm than good. The game actually functions better in the newest release of Windows 10 without any compatibility settings, so don’t do that. Otherwise, on any other Windows OS, the usual compatibility setting attempts are … Windows XP, Vista, 7 or 8 … and run as Administrator. Be careful with that though, because Windows XP mode might cause problems with your graphics card.
- File Location = ..%ProgramFiles%SteamSteamAppscommonSkyscraper Simulator
- File Name = skyscraper.exe
2. If you can start the game and begin a NEW game, then do NOT quit the game until you’ve reached the “game complete” prompt. You literally must keep the game running until you’re done with your new game session, which might take 6 – 12 hours depending on your strategy. The reason for this is because there’s a save file bug that causes audio glitches and app crashes which the developers never bothered to fix. There’s no guarantee the save file can recover where you left off, sometimes it works, but often it fails. It’s a simulator that’s supposed to run anyway, so let it run. I’ve successfully allowed the game to run in the background for short periods of time without any problems, but it still irks me to do that with this buggy game. I’m always afraid it’s going to crash after restoring the app window. So far it hasn’t done that though.
3. The save game feature is only good for saving your final results to recall for bragging rights later and view the city you helped develop in that particular saved session. That’s all it’s really good for. However, just in case, do a save after every skyscraper build. You never know when a power outage will occur and just by pure luck the save file might actually work ONCE on the reload, but chances are you’re still going to bump into a glitch somewhere because you loaded from a save file that doesn’t really work 100%. It might work the first time, but it almost never works a second time and beyond.
(Note: Another work around for the save file issue is possibly using Virtual Box virtual machine software and take advantage of the save state feature while keeping the game open. The problem with that is it might not support all of the graphic calls the game uses and you’ll have to deliberately turn down the game’s graphic options to force it to work. Not to mention you need a good CPU and lots of RAM to work with as well. I’ve never tried it, and I doubt it’s worth the trouble, but it’s a thought that might work with other older games.)
4. When buying machinery and progressing through the build stages, you may have experienced a loud looping GONG sound. It happens because you don’t have enough foremen or workers. To prevent the loop from getting stuck, simply make sure you hire enough foremen and workers BEFORE the machinery arrives, and BEFORE the next build stage requiring them starts. Pay attention to what you’re doing and you’ll successfully prevent that bug from occurring.
5. You may have experienced a music echo bug (song sounds like it’s playing twice out of sync), but so far it only happens when trying to resume a game from a save file. It never happens when you play a new session all the way through. So again, don’t play from a save file, if you can avoid doing so. However, if you still want to try resuming from a save file and the music bug occurs, then the only way to resolve it is to use the game options to turn the music all the way down. You’ll still hear the song, but it’s only 1 track that only plays once. Afterwards, if you try to turn the music volume back up you’ll hear 2 tracks playing again, so don’t do that.
6. Sometimes when vehicles arrive they don’t startup or begin a task and it will just be sitting in the parking lot staging area. Try clicking on the vehicle and it might highlight in the equipment list. Check it’s control type. If it says “manual”, then switch it to “automatic”. It should take off and do it’s thing then. If clicking on the vehicle doesn’t help you find the culprit, then read over the list manually and look for a vehicle status of “arrived” and it’s just not doing anything. Chances are the game sent you a manual vehicle for some strange reason. Just select that vehicle and change the control type to “automatic”. Obviously, if the vehicle status says “repairing” then it’s functioning normally, just wait, it will move again eventually.
7. Occasionally, after you know for sure all vehicles were running smoothly previously, you may notice a vehicle getting stuck in the parking lot (sometimes on the utility road too). Usually you can click on those and they’ll highlight in the listing. The vehicle status will probably say “working”, but it’s not going anywhere. You have to manually reset the vehicle by toggling the control type from “automatic” to “manual” (if applicable), then click “stop”, wait for the shutdown to complete, then click “start” (or switch control back to “automatic”), wait for the startup to complete, and then it will go back to doing actual work again. Apparently the developers thought it would be funny to include slackers goofing off on the job and you have to smack them around a little bit, LOL.
8. While in the City View mode and looking for property to purchase, you might encounter a property you have already built a skyscraper on which you previously sold, but the game is still offering to purchase it again. This is the only GOOD glitch I have discovered. It’s good because you can buy the property again at undeveloped value, then immediately sale it again at developed value (waiting period still required though). The game might let you do this several times with the same property between building other skyscrapers, so keep an eye out for this “Santa Claus Bug” 😉 lol
9. Last, but not least, and I should’ve mentioned this first … When all else fails because you can’t start the game at all, then try manually editing the “device.icom” and “settings.icom” files located at “..%ProgramFiles%SteamSteamAppscommonSkyscraper Simulatorsystem”. The values are mostly self-explanatory in both files and you should be able to manipulate them easily. Just remember to save a backup copy of them before editing them.
You can set a custom window size and adjust a few graphic features in “device.icom”.
You can toggle off/on further graphic and audio settings in “settings.icom”. Note that deferred rendering is available as a last resort.
So if you can’t even get the game to start to see the options menu, then you can just do it yourself manually and try again. It doesn’t hurt to try a little Trial and Error. What’s the worse that could happen? What? Break a game that’s already broken? Ha Ha Ha.
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