Changelog for PocketCity http://pocketcity.sourceforge.net/

Update Description:
Legend:
'+' = added feature
'*' = fix/modification
'-' = removed feature

Version 0.17dev:
+ Support for Palm OS 5 High Resolution API [& Sony Old]
+ Query Tool Improved
+ Changed savegame format to include power/water details
+ Power plants and defence stations (Fire, Police, Army) are now 4 zone items
+ Power lines and Water pipes can now overlap
+ Map is resizeable between 25x25 -> 120x120 (palmOS memory limitation)
+ Rail Lines
* Fix annoying winScreenLock issue
* 818171 Hard Crash on Sony Clie SL10
* 818172 Index out of range (0.16)
* 873010 Graphics look horrible on sony palm5
* 873809 key-repeat scrolling on v0.17 is broken (can't reproduce)
* 880086 The display coordinates don't update
* 880177 Off by one error in build/destroy tests
* 908005 initial map can be deformed
* 873817 Overlap images need to be repicked
* 880177 Off by one error in build/destroy tests
* 881854 Water/Power Mismatch
* 908665 Display-Rail line issues
* 884099 Growth algorithm is messed up 0.17dev
* 725967 Support for the hires palmos 5
* 937555 Map coloring for 16 color displays is wrong

Version 0.16:
* bug # 655848 crash after money warning
* bug # 655365 crash after some time of interacting
* bug # 726131 powerplant math is wrong in build routine
* bug # 750475 crash after tree-planting rage
+ auto-bulldoze feature for trees.
+ difficulty level (currently adjusts money at start)
+ Query tool.

+ Variable tax rate + Progress Meter for Map Rendering.
- Extend to Load Game / Initialization
* Better Pause / Freeze logic for dialogs.
* mycity == autosave city
* code and tiles are in separate programs (pdb, prc)
* Start of globalization work

Version 0.15:
* patch # 648260 Make greyscale work on HandEra 330
* bug # 636080 Exit Crash on Clie NR70
* bug # 636081 Map Failure on Clie NR70
* bug # 650955 residential zone water scale wrong
+ buttons can now be configured.
+ money, location and population are now clickable (pop is empty)

Version 0.14:
+ Savegames are backed up with application data
+ Build Date & Time is in about dialog
* Removed recursion from the distribution loop (speed up)
* savegame problems... autosave != citysave
* bug # 529058 Fatal Exception ( 1 )
* bug # 592947 Menu Freeze
* bug # 595053 Clear Volatiles On Load
* bug # 557213 Freeze and Fatal Exception ( 1 )
* bug # 593991 pipe chosen lays down pump on screen
* jog-assist works on menu on Clie

Version 0.13br2:
* The displayed item from the toolbar is what is placed.

Version 0.13br:
* Crash on settings menu fixed for PalmOS 3.5

Version 0.13 - PalmOS:
+ Clie device support (High Resolution, Jog Dial, Hold, Toolbar)
+ Tapping the speed icon cycles through the speeds
+ Added the Water Pump and Water Pipe to the quick list
+ Map has color when available
+ Added version number to the about dialog
* Rearranged Layout & reduced memory usage of forms (NOSAVEBEHIND)
* Fixed the printing of the map name

**** [Apr 1, 2007] by person
It's really quite addicting, but I deleted it once I read all the other reviews about how the game will eventually crash the whole PDA and reset its memory COMPLETELY. I haven't experienced this so far, but still.....CAVEAT EMPTOR!!!

* [Jan 7, 2007] by Groovetrain
This program completely reset the factory settings on my palm TX, no contacts, no calendar, etc., beware!

***** [Jan 3, 2007] by Zire 31 Owns
Absolutley wonderful on my Zire 31, tons of options, nice graphics, and fun disasters keep the entertainment factor high.

** [Nov 13, 2005] by asdf
It is a dead end game without population increase or money gain. Other than that, it's pretty good

***** [Dec 25, 2004] by Giyvin
I'm very limited on space so I only had this program for a limmited time, but I have to say it plays true to the classic and oyu placed a lot of wprk into this program. You are also very responcive to player/user comments and suggestions to fine tune the program. All this hard work for free ware, I hope you make it into programing out there very well you have great work quaility for little material reward. Five stars are more for your work then for the play of the game, great work.

***** [May 2, 2004] by Flashback
Small size, quality and free-ness add up to a six star score with me and my m130! I highly reccomend this, and will beam it to all my friends.

*** [Apr 26, 2004] by KP
OK. By its' concept is very complete compare with Sim City Classic, but its hard to scrool the city and it consume very much of PDA battery.

**** [Apr 26, 2004] by Doug
Good and fun game. Everything seems to work ok, although 2 or 3 times, the settings option caused a fatal exception. Also, once you build a city and connect power and water lines to everything, making money is a breeze. Also, lowering budgets doesn't seem to affect population happiness. And once you start the game, if you try and turn on automated disasters, it will stay off and you can only create your own disasters. And ONE BIG NEGATIVE IS this things absolutely KILLS battery power. I have an M130 and after about an hour, battery was 3/4 used. Good game, but can get boring after a while and replay factor is low. But what do you expect from freeware?

***** [Apr 26, 2004] by paoloff
Eccezzionale! un clone del famosissimo SIM di città! oltretutto freeweare, una cosa abbastanza singolare per un programma di successo. Ovvio, non c'è tutto, ma quel che c'è diverte! usatelo!

** [Apr 12, 2004] by David Nguyen
I have a Sony Clie SJ33, and it made my PDA froze. I didn't lose any of my data, still don't install it.

* [Jan 13, 2004] by Shawn
The only reason I give it a bad rating is because it doesn't work on my Zire 21. The up and down scroll work fine but the left and right don't work. The left button (calender button) doesn't scroll left, it brings up the calender. The right button (address button) doesn't scroll right, it scrolls left.

***** [Feb 7, 2003] by Adam Kruszewski
It is not only a good game (it works great with my palm V), but also a freeware application (which is not so common in palm's world :-/). If You have some spare kb in Your palm - try it :-)

***** [Dec 7, 2002] by bobthebuilder
It works great on my visor edge! (PalmOS 3.5)

**** [Nov 9, 2002] by vlak
Great game!!!! But it could be almost perfect if when the city gets very big it goes to the fatal error, I have a sony clie (wonderful!!) So I have not problem with the speed so I wish more variety of models for the residential, comer & industrial sector, is boring to have to see the same types over the entire city, and place the water ducts below the soil!!! And when do you think you will to give us a new upgrade? Please I love this game!!!!

**** [Oct 24, 2002] by Gee
Like everyone else said, it's a great game! Except, for the usual complaint...locks up when city gets big...very slow (Actually, slow to begin with on my Treo 90)...no help menu but still cool if you've played similar games like simcity. I can't wait for the new version, so hurry up will ya! Other than that this is a must have game. PS Please keep it free. :)

**** [Oct 4, 2002] by Tim
Very very good but if you have and M 105 or older don't even bother unless you have a whole lotta patients because it is very slow especially when you start getting a really really big city. I was able to see and understand everything okay even on my greyscale screen. Most people are having trouble grasping the whole power and plumbing thing but read the directoins a few times then you'll probibly understand it.

***** [Sep 29, 2002] by Tejas Shastry
I don't know what everyone is complaining about, this game works great for me. It counts my population fine (on my Visor Pro). I think the problem may be with the user. When I first played the original game (ahh..the good old days) I never had a population till I figured out there had to be power and water supplied to the zones. Also, there must be a road 3 blocks away for someone to move in. I think this game is great, though on the greyscale version, the contrast can tend to be a little bit too dark.

**** [Sep 23, 2002] by Norbert
I got the pocket city nearlylive version for Sony. Nice game, but unfortunatly it doesnt count population, although I created many cities with all features. Any hints ?

*** [Sep 7, 2002] by Nick
Seems like a good game on my IIIxe...but, the population stays at zero. The buildings seem to get built though I didn't see any cars moving on the roads. I (once) noticed there was a pictorial quick lookup on 'stuff to build', which was a nice touch, but I didn't know how to get it back. Documentation would be very helpful. In the next version the author should try to make the program completely bug free (just my opinion), but Please Keep it free.

*** [Aug 15, 2002] by doofer
A good start to a Sim City clone. It has nearly all the basic features, but a few things would be good to alter. The water and power lines cannot cross each other or be on the same square! This seems rediculous considering when the 'water' thing was introduced in Sim City 2000 it was an UNDERGROUND system and did not impede on any above ground structures. There were also water pipes under the roads (as there are in reality) so that wasn't a problem either. This makes it very difficult to get power and water to all zones, which I didn't think was a problem in the original game, so I think that should be reconsidered. (Underground transportation was a really cool new feature with Sim City 2000 too).

Some documentation on Pocket City's operation and its subtle differences to the Sim City games would be nice. I also would like to see a side panel with just the little icons like you have down in the bottom-right corner. After a while the user will get to know what they mean. The most common ones like road (oh yea, what about rail? :)), zoning, power, water etc. Would be useful to have them at a click instead of through a menu and then a list etc.

When the map is generated it'd be nice to have an overview of it and a chance to regenerate it easily instead of going to 'new' and having to key the name in again. Minor thing, but I always liked that so you could quickly get a map you felt happy with. Keep up the good work! I've read on the SF site about the suggestions for 'amenities' like a stadium, airport, harbor etc. .. all sounds like a good idea! A bank loan thing would be good too, if you go in to debt.

** [Jul 30, 2002] by Does Not Work
If it worked, the game would be cool. The population stays at zero so the whole thing is shot.

* [Jul 30, 2002] by ACME
My population stayed at zero so once I spent the cash I was given the game was over.

***** [Jul 23, 2002] by Pile of Crap
This is the crapiest piece of crap that's ever been craped out by a freeware author. Don't get me wrong... I LOVE IT!!! My population worked fine. I LOVE THE ADDED WATER PUMP AND PIPE AND ALSO THE DISASTER OPTIONS... BUT, I got my city to be very big... and once it reached a certain year and population it crashed. I lost everything! And not just the city! I lost everything on my palm!! I want this game! I need this game! (Addicted!!) But I'll wait for a better version... I must add that this version is MUCH better from the others... You have fixed almost every bug. Keep working on it... Please Keep it free!!!

*** [Jun 16, 2002] by Yuxi
For some reason, my population stays at zero even though I have a power plant, water pumps, pipes, power lines, RCI stuff, and roads.

**** [Jun 14, 2002] by haplo
Tried ur pocketsim... but how come there is nobody there? My population remains zero throughout the game...

*** [Jun 14, 2002] by Aaron Kelly
Plays well but after I built a large city...over 400K people and lots of cash the program locked up...after soft reset it fatal errored and forced me to do a hard reset - that killed the fun..fix this and you have a winner!

***** [Jun 5, 2002] by blue
Definitely 5 stars. In fact I've tried the original SimCity first and guess what. I like pocket city more. It is a little hard to deal with some of disasters (fire of course :)), but with practice I can handle it. Like others I'm willing to see some other buildings that matter, but that’s not so critical. Excellent work, thank you.

***** [May 28, 2002] by sonofbeastrulz
Awesome game. I havent had one reset error on my 505 the only problem is that you cant save a game, then start a new one then save it and go to the other one.

**** [Apr 27, 2002] by jen
I can tell this will be a great simcity clone. I'm running the latest version on a handspring visor deluxe, and it's working fine (although the map feature, as mentioned, is disabled). However, I can't seem to get the water pumps and such to work. I know the water pump needs to be near the water source, but for some reason, none of my zones can get access to the water (nor can the pump). Any insights?

**** [Apr 2, 2002] by Joe
Overall good game. The fires spread a little too quickly. It wasn't as hard as I thought to get the hang of it. It needs some more building options though. Like schools and libraries. I really like the game.

*** [Mar 28, 2002] by Stephen
Nice response Zakarun... you made a good effort And if you keep on tweekin it it'll be as good as sim... This Bitchin' as you call it is just us letting you know that we love haveing a simclone game... (I don't intend on paying $25 for the original! :-) Oh and the pocket c game - anytime you wanna take a look email me! Fix these probelms and this'll be a very cool freeware game to have on any respectable Palm OS!

***** [Mar 26, 2002] by Zakarun
(Of course I rate my own game "excellent") - Stephen: I'd like to see that Pocket C game ;) Anyway, the hardest part of game designing is actually balancing the game - how often disasters happen, how much damage they do ... not to mention the economics of the game. I enjoy reading the reviews here that say "how do I do this and that" and "the fire spread too quick" - every time I hear that, I go back to the source and try to adjust the balance or adds some lines to the (sparce) documentation in the downloaded package. But some times I can't help but think if people are just bitching because they cannot beat the game the first time? Anyway, as pointed out earlier by someone else, this program is still in development and therefore isn't quite compareable to the original sim city yet, even though I've stole the fundamental design from it and will try to add some personal touches to it. Again, thanks for the "bitching" :)

* [Mar 25, 2002] by Stephen
First of all to all the complainers out there-this is a freeware game so don't expect it to be like the real thing... If you need to make money build residentals and allow them to become those hotels (I think :-) you'll make alot of money!!! One reason I rated this unacceptible is because it claims to be a good clone of sim city but the truth is that I made a better useing pocket c myself... It is a good start but hopefully it'll get better than what it is.... I am very good at this game.... I make in excess of 1 million dollars...
I found TWO BIG PROBLEMS!!!

• The thing will not save the city exactly it revert back to the way it was the last time you turned it off to return to the APPS window I just saved it like that.
• When you get a large city it causes memory fatal exceptions. these need to be taken care of. (along with the fact the unless you have like a million firestations you city burns down with one fire...)

** [Mar 21, 2002] by skuzz
It looks good but even with firestations, a single fire or meteor will completely destroy an entire city, which is silly.

* [Mar 19, 2002] by David
Will not run on my Visor Deluxe. I always get a fatal error. Now I can't even delete the #@% thing.

***** [Mar 13, 2002] by Big Daddy
Enjoy the game alot...I get several Fatal Exceptions on my M505. Tried slowing down the 'developements' but it still happens.

**** [Mar 13, 2002] by Trevor Savage
Nice! Fun, especially when I finnaly got too lazy to check if that fire had started in the middle of the city and it burnt down except for the little square I had been looking at. :) The new version looks nice, but gets a Fatal Error on startup on a Visor Deluxe. :/

***** [Mar 11, 2002] by _ReD_OcToBeR_
I bought the official Simcity for palm and I must say that this is two times better and more fun to play. I like the new additions of the city defence tanks, police,and fire trucks. I have two cities, Athens and Moscow. Athens got burned down by a fire dragon. I wish there was a way to turn off disasters and add some sounds.(like the official simcity for palm) To the reviewer below; your city has to have 12 areas of each zone. Use coal power over nuclaer power. And don't build a lot of roads, just enough to circle the zones. Great game!! Thanks mr. developer.

*** [Mar 11, 2002] by Lefty
This version is a step back, definitely not a way to go. Why are "build" items not in pull down menu anymore? The controls became much more complicated. Hope it will get better.

*** [Mar 11, 2002] by Mister X
It's a good game and very funny but I've got problems with saved games, I can't start a game after another saved without deleting what I done in the first. I've got some screen problems with sometimes reset of my Palm m500.

**** [Mar 9, 2002] by moo moo
Well maybe it's just ME, but I can't get any money! I can't figure it out.

** [Feb 25, 2002] by pyrames
This is a great game, but it's just not challenging enough. There's not enough to make you keep trying, which really kills the repeat playability. It's just too easy to keep a successful town going. Also, after I installed Pocket City I couldn't delete or beam any apps without a system crash. That was pretty frustrating, to be sure! On a positive note, though, this game has some nice graphics and a lot of potential. I don't think it'd take THAT much tweaking to add some more challenge to this game. I expect the devloper's still working on it... I hope so...

***** [Feb 23, 2002] by Dan Robertson
Great game. Needs fire departments and ability to adjust budget.

**** [Feb 13, 2002] by Ahnyer Keester
There is a warning screen about running it on OS 3.1 but I'm doing it anyway. Using Handspring Visor Deluxe, no problem so far. Map doesn't work but I can still scroll around with the buttons. THIS IS STILL IN BETA!! Don't forget that. Something does need to be developed to fight fires. My entire city got wiped out by one. I rebuilt with space between different parts of the city and it didn't help, fire followed roads and power lines to other parts. Good game with a lot of potential. BE PATIENT EVERYONE!

***** [Feb 12, 2002] by Zakai Hamilton
This game is excellent! I am always checking for updates!
There are a few bugs though:
1. Dont make any big changes like build loads of land and connect it to a power source at once. the game has a problem with overloading. This can also happen if a fire happens exactly at a power main connect point.
2. Sometimes I get a bug when I build a nuclear power and connect it up to land.
Apart from that, its gorgeous!!! I am always checking for more bugs...

**** [Feb 12, 2002] by Trevor
Nice- Actually figured out how to gain money for the first time in any SimCity on my first game, having played numerous games of the origional for the Mac. Using a Visor Deluxe, and the only problem is as mentioned by the author the map dosen't show up- small loss for me since my cities are so small. And, I suppose in things I'd want- First would be the ability to trigger disasters :), then the additional buildings and features mentioned previously might be nice. This has secured a position on my palm for quite a while at least.

***** [Feb 12, 2002] by Kyle
This game is good but when I go to load a game it opens up a new game.

**** [Feb 7, 2002] by Brian
I have a Visor Deluxe too, and the "Map" menu item crashes mine too, but you use the up/down/address book/todo to move around. I think "map" is a random map generator. If you run OS 3.1, stay away from the map menu item, otherwise enjoy!

***** [Feb 7, 2002] by aneverydayjoe
Excellent game. Getting fatal error at $400,000 or population of 250,000+. To put out fires pause the game, buldoze everything around it a month the fire is out then rebuild.

**** [Feb 7, 2002] by Vicki Wellons
It neat to make your city, its like making up your school, you decide what to do, what to make, how much of everything you want.

*** [Feb 7, 2002] by Thom_D
I keep trying each new version of this game. I have a Visor Deluxe running Palm OS 3.1. This is the first version that didn't give me a fatal error on launch. But when I tried to open the map (I guess this is how you move around) I did get a fatal error and had to reset again. Hopefully this game will get better. Hope the updates come a little bit closer together though.

***** [Feb 7, 2002] by John
Great game. Tried version 0.5 and liked it, but it lacked some features to make it any good. Version 0.9 is excellent and an essential (FREE) download.

***** [Feb 7, 2002] by Al
Definitely download v0.9. I have found no bugs everything works (including save and load). It is a great game.

***** [Feb 4, 2002] by D. Swift
Works great on my Visor!

***** [Feb 4, 2002] by [osx]moogle
Works great on my palm v (palm os 3.53). wish the fires wouldn't burn so fast though :)

**** [Feb 4, 2002] by Ron
After a few minutes of play I was making big money and had a nice little town of over 20,000 residents. I have no idea what the Australian fire does though. No crash on my HandEra. Lacks documentation, so unless you've played the PC version, you might be lost. But hey, for free, what do you want?

*** [Feb 4, 2002] by Johnny
The game works great and is fun. But there's still a lot of work to do, for exemple there's fire destroying your city and you can't build a firestation...

***** [Feb 3, 2002] by Erich
Hey guys give it a try. It's already long times ago since some posted it crashed. With the new versions it runs very good on my Clie. Don't be too anxious, a softreset is nothing near the end of the world!!!

**** [Feb 3, 2002] by Ken
This release works perfectly on my m505... However, I do not know what release this is. It says v0.9 on this page (freewarepalm), but sf.net lists it as v0.8. Regardless, most of the complaints below are old both in time and in versions, and it now works.

**** [Feb 3, 2002] by Artur
Cool and FREE version of sim city. Fun to play, even tough it causes fatal errors by 2025... Still, a very good game.

*** [Jan 6, 2002] by Ben
Looks good but as 'Daune' says it wont run on the m505, I wont be trying.

* [Jan 1, 2002] by Zed
Well.. As i see so many other saying , NOT too try this.. I wont.. But it look damn good on the screenshot.

* [Nov 15, 2001] by John
I'm goin' with "Dan"

* [Oct 29, 2001] by D
DO NOT INSTALL THIS GAME.

* [Oct 6, 2001] by Dan
Just by reading the other users reviews. I have decided not to even try to load it to my PDA. Looks like it could be fun.

*** [Jul 27, 2001] by Colin
Tried version 0.05 on Palm Os 3.1 and it would not run as said it needed Palm Os 3.5. Pity it looks like it could be fun ...

***** [Jul 27, 2001] by snoopy
Good idea. Freeware - ok. And where is hospital, policestation, firestation, schools, train, funparks, subway, catastrophes, terrein editor, more plants, infrastructure, hydrostructure, cars, tunnels, highway, bridges, etc...

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