Keyboard Shortcuts

[dedgren]

Not so much a tutorial as simply a helpful all-in-one guide to the various available keyboard shortcuts.

Key/s	Function
General Game Functions
[ F1 ]	"Game" God Mode Menu
[ F2 ]	Mayor Mode Menu
[ F3 ]	My Sim Menu*
[ F4 ]	Open Options Panel
[ F5 ]	Day Only View
[ F6 ]	Night Only View
[ F7 ]	Normal Day/Night View
[ F8 ]	Exit to Region Menu
[ F9 ]	Graphics Options Menu
[ F10 ]	Audio Options Menu
[ F11 ]	Game Options Menu
[ F12 ]	Quit Game Menu
Saves
[Ctrl] and [ S ]	Save
[Ctrl] and [ Alt ] and [ S ]	Fast Save (No region thumbnail update)
Game View Level
[ 1 ]	Zoom to View Level 1
[ 2 ]	Zoom to View Level 2
[ 3 ]	Zoom to View Level 3
[ 4 ]	Zoom to View Level 4
[ 5 ]	Zoom to View Level 5
[ - ]	Zoom Out
[ + ]	Zoom In
Game Viewpoint
[ Page Up ]	Rotate View 90° Counterclockwise
[ Page Down ]	Rotate View 90° Clockwise
[ Down Arrow ]	Scroll Down
[ Up Arrow ]	Scroll Up
[ Right Arrow ]	Scroll Right
[ Left Arrow ]	Scroll Left
[ Spacebar ]	Center on cursor
Game Speed
[ Ctrl ] and [ ' ]	Pause Simulation
[ Ctrl ] and [ 1 ]	Turtle Speed
[ Ctrl ] and [ 2 ]	Rhino Speed
[ Ctrl ] and [ 3 ]	Cheetah Speed
Zoning
[ Q ]	Zone Light Density Residential
[ W ]	Zone Medium Density Residential
[ E ]	Zone High Density Residential
[ A ]	Zone Light Density Commercial
[ S ]	Zone Medium Density Commercial
[ D ]	Zone High Density Commercial
[ Z ]	Zone Agriculture
[ X ]	Zone Medium Density Industrial
[ C ]	Zone High Density Industrial
[ V ]	Remove Zoning
Grid
[ G ]	Toggle Grid
Transport
[ R ]	Road Tool
[ Alt ] and [ R ]	Street Tool
[ Ctrl ] and [ R ]	Avenue Tool
[ Shift ] and [ R ]	Elevated Highway Tool
[ Ctrl ] and [ Shift ] and [ R ]	Place Bus Stop
[ T ]	Rail Tool
[ Ctrl ] and [ Shift ] and [ T ]	Build Passenger Train Station
[ Shift ] and [ Alt ] and [ T ]	Build Freight Station
[ Shift ] and [ T ]	Subway Tool
[ Shift ] and [ Alt ] and [ T ]	Build Subway Station
[ Ctrl ] and [ T ]	Elevated Rail Tool
[ Alt ] and [ T ]	Build Elevated Rail Station
[ M ]	Build Vehicle Ferry Terminal
[ Ctrl ] and [ M ]	Build Passenger Ferry Terminal
Utilities
[ I ]	Pipe Tool
[ L ]	Power Line Tool
[ Y ]	Create Landfill
Civic Buildings
[ Ctrl ] and [ Shift ] and [ P ]	Build Police Kiosk
[ P ]	Build Small Police Station
[ Alt ] and [ P ]	Build Large Police Station
[ Shift ] and [ P ]	Build Jail
[ F ]	Build Small Fire Station
[ Alt ] and [ F ]	Build Large Fire Station
[ K ]	Build Elementary School
[ Alt ] and [ K ]	Build High School
[ Shift ] and [ K ]	Build City College
[ H ]	Build Clinic
[ Alt ] and [ H ]	Build Hospital
Civic Dspatch
[Ctrl ] and [ P ]	Dispatch Police
[Ctrl ] and [ F ]	Dispatch Fire
Positioning
[ Home ]	Rotate Building or Lable 90° Clockwise
[ End ]	Rotate Building or Lable 90° Counterclockwise
Bulldoze/Destroy
[ B ]	Demolish Tool
[ Ctrl ] and [ Shift ] and [ O ]	Obliterate Quad/City
Queries
[ / ]	Query Tool
[ Alt ] and [ / ]	Commute Query Tool
Pics
[ Ctrl ] and [ Shift ] and [ S ]	Snapshot Mode
[ Ctrl ] and [ Shift ] and [ A ]	Show Photo Album
Terraforming
[ Shift ] and [ # (1-9) ]	Control size of terraforming tooltip - 1=smallest to 9=largest
[ Shift ] and [ F# (1-9) ]	Control effect of terraforming tooltip - 1=weakest to 9=strongest
Misc and Cheats
[ Esc ]	Close or Release any Tool
[ Ctrl ] and [ Shift ] and [ C ]	Toggle Ingame Contour Line Display
[ Ctrl ] and [ X ]	Display Game Parameter Adjustment Box
[ Ctrl ] and [ Alt ] and [ Shift ]	True God Mode**
[ Ctrl ] and [ Alt ] and [ Shift ] and [ F ]	Refresh Screen***

^*   use of this key may cause computer to explode, hair to fall out and other adverse consequences
^**   all icon menus must be minimized in order for this combination to work
^***   maybe yes, maybe no.

Enjoy.

[M4346]

Although not a tutorial per se, it's still very helpful! Thank you! 

[wouanagaine]

lol, I love the F3 note, so true. But need to use it to toggle UDI off

[callagrafx]

You forgot one...[CTL] + [ALT] + [DEL] Quick Exit 

[M4346]

You forgot one...[CTL] + [ALT] + [DEL] Quick Exit 

Well I personally prefer [ALT] + [TAB] and then [CTRL] + [ALT] + [DEL] for my quick exits...

[Rayden]

My quick exits are with Alt+F4 

[dedgren]

I have updated the list of shortcuts [linkie] to include terraforming tooltip controllers.

Enjoy.


David

[ssc4k]

my extremely quick exits are with the power cord (not advisable)

[Pat]

david i have to ask did you find these or did you just start playing with it to find out the effects???
either way thank you - pat

[dioangel]

Thank you so much david!  This will be a lot easier for me. 

[dragonshardz]

He most likely found them by looking at the booklet that comes with the game, these shortcuts and more are listed on the back of it.

[dedgren]

Thanks to nerdly_dood, we now know that [Ctrl] and [Shift] and [P] give us the Police Kiosk.  I've once again updated the list of shortcuts [linkie] to include that.

Enjoy.


David

[dedgren]

On Screen - ST... sorry about that.

Oh, heck, Craig (abcvs)- no need to be sorry, we're just glad you drop by over here every so often.


David

[jondor]

I don't know if anyone knows about this, but I didn't see any posts about it when I searched, so I might as well show it off.  It may be useful to modders for debugging.  Not quite a keyboard shortcut, but this seemed like the best place to put it.

I came across this one accidentally, going after the God Mode cheat to fix a terraforming snafu.  If you have the query tool selected, hold down the [ctrl], [shift] and [alt] keys and hover over a building, you get a dialog with a bit of what looks like raw simulator data.

Pic:

[Swamper77]

I played around with your find a bit. It's not just simulator data, it's mostly a read-out from the Building Exemplar for the lot.

Some of the harder to read items that I have figured out:

The name at the top: The actual name of the building exemplar. Useful if you are trying to locate a specific building in the game's files.
Zoned: The more # signs you see, the higher the density.
Jobs: The numbers indicate the number of $, $$, & $$$ jobs for that particular work place. For your image, there are 96 low wealth jobs, 311 medium wealth jobs, and 72 high wealth jobs available for that workplace.
Alt: The altitude of the lot above sea level.

The rest are either easy to read or I can't figure out properly.

-Swamper

[Pat]

That indeed is a new Key Board short cut if I do say so...

[RippleJet]

jondor, that's a very good discovery!
I can think of several occasions when I can use that...

[Diggis]

Brilliant!

[daeley]

nice find! makes you wonder what else is in there! think I'm going to start pressing [Ctrl], [Alt] and [Shift] with every combination of buttons now

[dedgren]

That's a karma point at least, jondor!  I'm with everyone else- you struck some gold with this one.


David