SimTower How To 2

This page contains instructions on how to build a tower similar to the PM_Grand. It is a happy, no-cheat tower.

Part 2 - Floors 15 to 29

Moving on to Three Stars

  1. Begin by putting an elevator centered between the 6th and 7th condos from the left side. (We'll call this 15 Left or elevator C.) (View a layout picture of all the elevators.) Temporarily, put it in on the main floor stretched up to the 15th floor. Put in a second car on the first floor. Choose the finger and touch every floor number from 2 to 14. Each number will disappear and the elevator will no longer stop on those floors. After the tower becomes three star, and you have express elevators in place, this elevator will start on the 15th floor (Instruction #17).
  2. Repeat all of Instruction #1 above on the other side of the tower with an elevator centered on the wall between 6th & 7th condo from the right. (We'll call this 15 Right or elevator R.)
  3. Pick the blank wall or FLR . If you can't find your FLR icon, click and hold your mouse on the Lobby icon. Additional icons will appear.
    Leave an empty space as wide as 1 condo on each side of the tower, put in 6 floors of blank wall from 15 to 20.
  4. Drag the 2 new 'inside' elevators up to the 20th floor. Put 2 cars each on 17, 18 and 19 in both shafts.
  5. On the 17th floor put in offices all the way across (Don't leave any spaces between the offices.). There should be 32 offices. DO NOT PUT SECURITY IN, even though you are told that the tower needs security!!
  6. On the 18th, 19th and 20th floor, put in the first 7 offices from each edge of the tower. Skip the next two offices and then continue with offices, lining them up with the offices on 17. Skip the two offices just to the right of Elevator 15 Right or elevator R.
  7. Office will only rent on weekday until 1 PM. Once the offices are occupied, you are almost ready to go to 3 Stars. You must have at least $7,000,000 before proceeding. (If you don't have that much money yet, just let your tower run for a few SimDays until you get enough rental income from your offices to continue.)
  8. Once you have $7,000,000, the best time to proceed is after 6 PM on WD2. On the 15th & 16th floor, put in blank wall at both edges of the tower. On the 17th floor just above the blank wall, at the very left edge beside the offices, put in a Security Office. You should go to 3-Stars immediately. You may also start getting "Demands" in the message window. Put in a second Security in the same place on the right side.
  9. One "Demand" is your tower needs a Recycling Center. On the left edge of the tower, put in 5 floors of blank wall on B-1 to B-5. (The wall can be very thin.) Put in a Recycling Center even with the left edge of the tower, on B6 (actually on B6 & B7 since it occupies 2 floors). Add a second Recycling Center to the right of the first one. (The manual is WRONG, when it tells you that you need Service Elevators.) The Recycling Centers are emptied every morning, unless they are too full. If they are too full, you get a Recycling Centers are full! Demand. This Demand only shows first thing in the morning. Usually all you have to do is add 1 or 2 more Recycling Centers and the full ones will empty.
  10. A party hall also takes up two floors. Put one on the very left edge of the tower on 15 (& 16), just under your Security. Repeat on the right side.
  11. Another "Demand" is Medical Center demanded near lobby. Put one on 15, right beside the Party Hall on the left side of the tower. Put a second Medical Center on B5 on the left edge of the tower. This one will not be used much, but the Condo people need to have one that is somewhere below them. If you have a Tower with Offices between 1 & 15, then you should have your "basement" Medical Center on B-1 where they can easily access it by escalator.
  12. The Office workers need Fast Food joints nearby to be happy, although they do not Demand them. The best time to put in Fast Food is after 9 PM and before 10 AM. Beside the Medical Center, put in 2 Fast Food. If everything is aligned properly, you should be able to put a 3rd Fast Food in that does not extend to the right of 15 Left or elevator C. (Don't put it in, if it shows to the right of 15 Left or elevator C. On 15 on the right side, put in only 2 Fast Foods. On 16, put in 11 Fast Food, 2 Restaurant and 4 Shops.
  13. Another "Demand" is Office workers demand Parking. You need to put in Parking Ramps first. In the very middle of the tower on B1 put in a Ramp. Then put in 4 more ramps right below the first one on B2, B3, B4 & B5. Then on B5 just to the left of the Ramp, start putting in Parking. Keep them close together & go all the way to the Medical Center. If you click the left mouse button to put in a Parking spot AND HOLD THE MOUSE DOWN, THEN DRAG TO THE LEFT, you should get multiple Parking put in
  14. Next we'll work on elevators. On the right side of the tower there are two elevators 1 Right or elevator Q & 15 Right or elevator R. Just to the right of 1 Right or elevator Q, centered on the next condo wall, put in an Express Elevator. (We'll call this 15 Express or elevator X.) Stretch this one down to B5 and up to 15. Add 3 more cars in the shaft on 1 and 4 more on 15.
  15. On the 15th floor, put in a SkyLobby stretching between elevators 15 Left or elevator C & 15 Express or elevator X. There must be no gaps in the SkyLobby.
  16. Escalators can't be put in where there are Offices, so you must delete the 2 Offices on 17 that are between 1 Left or elevator B and 15 Left or elevator C. Put in an escalator joining floors 15 & 16. Repeat for 16 & 17, 17 & 18, 18 & 19 and 19 & 20. Replace the 2 Offices that you just deleted on 17 & put in more Offices on 18 to 20. Repeat all this on the right side of the tower.
  17. The Sims on 16 to 20 can now use the Express Elevator & the Escalators. 15 Left or elevator C and 15 Right or elevator R are no longer needed. With the finger, push the bottom of both elevators up until the bottom car is on 15. Sims prefer escalators, so we'll now prevent 15 Left or elevator C and 15 Right or elevator R from stopping on 16 to 20. With the magnifying Glass, click on the mechanism on the top or bottom of 15 Left or elevator C. The Elevator Window appears. There is a column with floor numbers. Next to it are 8 car columns. Each column should have a heavy black line around one square. This shows where the car will park when not in use. If all 8 columns do not have a heavy black line around a square, then there is still room for more cars in this elevator. Close this window and put in more cars if necessary, then reopen this window. In all 8 columns, click on the 15th floor. This will park all the cars on 15. Next, click on the numbers, 16, 17, 18, 19 and 20. The numbers should now have a red X through them. This means that the elevator will not stop on those floors . . . Repeat on 15 Right or elevator R. You can also check 1 Left or elevator B and 1 Right or elevator Q to make sure they each have 8 cars. The cars should be on 1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12 and 14. You might as well check 15 Express or elevator X. It should have 4 cars on 1 and there should be black floor numbers on -5, -4, -3, -2 and -1. You'll have to scroll up to see the 4 cars on 15. Floors 2 to 14 have red X's because Express elevators don't stop there. SimTower SCREEN IMAGE
  18. Now back to building. On 21, on the left side, put in 3 Housekeeping Units. Starting on the right side, put in 7 Double Hotel rooms. Then put in 50 Single Rooms. Each housekeeping unit can clean 19 rooms per day and since you have 57 rooms it works out perfectly. Be sure to pull up both 15 Left or elevator C and 15 Right or elevator R as you build up to the 29th floor. With 3 Housekeeping Units, you should have one empty space left over on this floor. (I usually have the extra space between the Housekeeping Units & the Hotel Rooms.)
  19. 22nd floor is all Condos. As well as 24, 26 and 28.
  20. 23rd floor is all Offices. As well as 25 and 29.
  21. 27th floor is Hotel rooms again. This time use only 2 Housekeeping Units. Add 9 Suites and then finish with 28 Double rooms.

How to Part 1

How to Part 2

How to Part 3

How to Part 4

How to Part 5

SimTower Page

Hints & Tips

View a layout picture of all the elevators

Questions, Suggestions and comments are welcomed.

Download - a copy of the tower that I build while writing these instructions. (It is not exact, but it is close.)
MAC Download - a MAC Version of this tower built by Perry using these How_To Instructions.

Last real update 2004-08-19; minor changes 2007-10-18