More Prison Tycoon notes

Okay, I’ve figured out one or two more mechanisms for this game.


Staff building:
Land use office 1/2/3: When you create the level 1 land office, you get access to an adjacent lot for prison construction. Presumably levels 2 and 3 give you more land.
Clerical office 1/2/3: The level 1 clerical office reduces your maintenance costs by 50%. Since maintenance costs appear to be equal to the original cost of construction for each turn, this is a pretty hefty savings! Level 2 reduces costs by 66%, and level 3 by 75%. Supposedly an existing office is required to build the next level, but due to a programming bug you can delete the offices once they have been built and still keep the maintenance savings.
Small guardroom: This provides you with one guard who will patrol the prison. A guardroom is cheaper than a guard tower, but provides less surveillance (if there is such a thing).
Maintenance room: This provides you with one repair guy.
Visitor’s reception: Although you can build a reception area and even a visitor’s center, I don’t think there is any code in place for this to do anything. I’m sure the original design had some mechanism involving visitors, but the feature got cut.
Staff rooms: Another feature that seems to have been yanked, as none of the staff ever make use of the staff rooms (maintenance always stays at 100%).
Health services building:
Hospital: Each hospital provides you with a medic who will wander around the prison. Injured prisoners will sometimes use one of the beds, but this is rare.
Therapy rooms: Each therapy room provides you with a counselor who will wander around the prison. Prisoners will sometimes visit the therapists if they aren’t busy with other things.
Services building:
Library, classroom, laundry, theater: Prisoners will go there, but serves no clear purpose.
Chapel: Each chapel provides one chaplain who will wander around the prison.
So some of these areas provide units which wander around the prison yard. I think they are supposed to autonomously perform their duties as needed, but I’ve noticed a large disparity when there are, for example, two medics: one of them will be ranked with a number of “jobs”, but the other has done zero.
An amusing thing about these units is that their animated behaviors are rather strange if not deranged. I think they are canned animations used by the developers to test certain features, and were supposed to be replaced before the game’s release.
If you select one of the units, you can click the green “do your job” button.
Handyman: He fixes whatever needs maintenance.
Guard: The guard will approach a prisoner and proceed to clobber them with a nightstick, the prisoner will fall to the ground. The prisoner will then be “happy”, meaning the action has satisfied some character need.
Medic: The medic will approach a prisoner who will fall to the ground (and a medical beep will sound). The medic then hammers at the prisoner’s leg a few times. This somehow heals the prisoner, and they can leave “happy”. (It is far less sexual than this description may sound.)
Counselor: The counselor plays some sort of juvenile trickery, waving his hand and then slapping the prisoner. The counselor then sobs, and slaps the prisoner again. This leaves the prisoner “happy”.
Chaplain: It’s a Catholic prison, and the chaplain blesses the prisoners, making them “happy”.
Prisoner moods:
I found a list of moods in the language.xml data file. The order of moods, from good to bad, are:
VERY HAPPY
HAPPY
QUITE HAPPY
QUITE PASSIVE
PASSIVE
VERY PASSIVE
QUITE BORED
BORED
VERY BORED
QUITE ANGRY
ANGRY
VERY ANGRY
There are three special moods:
HUNGRY
INJURED
BADLY INJURED

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Comments

140 Responses to “More Prison Tycoon notes”
  1. Saphira says:

    Sorry about the triple post, but jrisdon@aol.net does not work. It is jsmith@aol.net.

  2. Cool Man says:

    Saphira, I love you!!! Will you marry me???

  3. Saphira says:

    In your dreams Cool Man (or should I say Lame Man?)

  4. YYop says:

    I love a boy named Clount.

  5. yyop says:

    I mean I love a boy named Cole.

  6. aaaaaaa says:

    i have pt1 how do i change sentences, and use the execution rooms?

  7. holdin_magroin says:

    any other prison guards here ?
    i can’t get this to load past the start up screen.
    it shuts down on me as well.
    BTW…i’m a C/O in NC

  8. michael says:

    how do you get the prisoners in to the prison?? i got all buildings and this stuff but they don’t come in!

  9. thomas says:

    i cant put any prisoner in my buildings either. I am having all the problems that everybody else is having. How do you update your video card

  10. Rick says:

    Read the Manual. Do this, and all will be clear.
    This game will automagically work if you don’t open it.
    This game is a piece of crap. I coded better in Grade Three, and that was when BASIC was revolutionary.

  11. glen says:

    how the hell do you get the guards to take contraband from the prisoners on prison tycoon 2 its pissing me off and while were talking about it how do you get them to work at the factory
    thanks

  12. Justin says:

    I want to execute an inmate how do you do that
    and holdin I’m a c/o in montana

  13. Another Tom says:

    Finally got to med security level. But I can’t build cells – help!
    (Don’t say RTFM as it didn’t come with one. The hard-to-find help file is one page long.)

  14. jason says:

    I just recently purchased pt2, and im having the same problem with the crashes to. every ten to twenty minutes, the game shuts down and goes back to the desk top, and every time i save the game crashes back to the desk top.
    Im not having any of the other problems that everyone else is as far as the prisoners coming to the jail or building racks. i am having alot of trouble with the prisoners getting sick. i build great hospitals with ample racks and they wont ever use them. I think one of the major problems is overcrowding in the dorms. im going to try to test this theory tomorrow.
    if you want a higher security level just add more towers. but be prepared to build better cells or the higher security prisoners will have no place to go and cause trouble.
    also, seperate your gang members, and keep your celebrities seperate. good input from your celebrities will help your prison rating, and cash flow.

  15. joeypeas says:

    I’m having the same problem as most, my game crashes whenever I try to build too many things too quick, or as simple as destroying a guard tower. the game will crash to desktop and it tells me in the error report that this file is crashing it: 12a7_appcompat.txt — I search for the file on my computer but it shows up nowhere. anyone else have the same deal?

  16. christina says:

    Please someone help me or e-mail me on how to get prisoners in my jail at first i build everything and even inside and fences and nothing to block the gates and still nothing…. do i have to pause and build everything before the bus comes? or it dotn matter? how long does it take for the stupid prisoners to get off the bus? and why does it alwasy seem to shut down every twenty or so minutes… thnk you for anyones concerns….truly christina..

  17. Chris says:

    How do I get the cheat codes to work in PT2?

  18. glenn says:

    This game is so stupid cause i cant get any prisoners

  19. glenn says:

    This game is so stupid cause i cant get any prisoners

  20. glenn says:

    This game is so stupid cause i cant get any prisoners

  21. glenn says:

    OMG this game sucks. It takes like hours for the prisoners to get off of the bus. And then on the screen words come up that says I have wasted all of my funds.

  22. garrett says:

    I just bought prison tycoon. Yes i have read your post, cant find what i need there. sooo, But, I still haveing a bit of a problem. First i cant read the manual it wont come up. Next i have a laptop, no mouse. The ctrl key with any other key does not change the vew 360 any other way? thks gmg

  23. james says:

    Ok now ive read most of the things here
    the game is easy to play the problem most ppl are facing is that they can’t get prisoners & running out of money
    u can save money by paying guards less and not building everything at once
    if u have 5 low security guards they get payed $25 thats thats $125 just for them 5 guards ppl build around 12 towers thats 12 guards thats $300
    as the guard levels go up the more they get payed
    so don’t get as many guards keep buildings to a minimum and don’t allow many prisoners in.
    If u play on PT2 to get prisoners simple open the main gate and fast forward time it only took me 10 mins to get 8 prisoners and Med level security.
    read the manual it explains most things and i was only playing the game for 60 mins trial

  24. holdin_magroin says:

    upgraded my PC and the game at least plays for me now.
    i love the idea and concept of the game……..
    so far it’s been truly
    frustrating to have doctors step over dying inmates
    then go bankrupt because of malpractice….grrrrr
    ps…hello justin

  25. flanders says:

    how the diddly do you execute peope????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

  26. flanders says:

    how the diddly do you execute peope????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

  27. flanders says:

    how the diddly do you execute peope????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

  28. ian says:

    How do you get prisoners?

  29. Will says:

    i just bought prison tycoon 2 maximum security and i cant get it to install properly…i install the game but when i click to play it it gives me an error message box and it says “Direct3D renderer creator cant be found” can ayone tell me how to fix this problem so i can actually play the game if so please email me at JersyCityBadGuy@aol.com

  30. vibe says:

    i don’t know how to get the prisoners inside, i’ve placed every bulding, maybe i don’t know how to hire staff or something pls help

  31. Chris says:

    Love this game! But it crashes ALOT! How I fix this prob? Thanks all!

  32. Pablo says:

    how do i get staff?this gameis stupid im never byin a valusoft game/im on free mode!!

  33. Brittney says:

    Everytime I go to play Prison Tycoon 2 there is a bug that keeps me from playing it. Does anyone know how to get rid of the bugs in this game so I can play?

  34. JAG says:

    Try uninstalling the Prison Tycoon game then reinstall it, see if that works.

  35. DAKOTA says:

    YOU PEOPLE ARE STUPID.IT TOOK ME 1O MINS TO FIGURE OUT THIS GAME AND DIRECTIONS AND IM ONLEY 12 AND IM HAVING NO TRUBLES.IDOTS IDOTS

  36. Tank says:

    It seems to me that Prison Tycoon is a lot easier to play (and less buggy) than Prison Tycoon 2.
    There is no easy way to play Prison Tycoon 2… It is fucked. Not only does it crash every 20mins… But the sick/injured inmates are too fuckin retarded to go to a doctor. Telling a doctor to do his job just makes him walk faster or some shit, he doesn’t even bother to cure the inmates.
    I edited the data.xml and made every building cost $1 but even then I couldnt keep the fuckers happy… I would like to punch the game maker in the nose.

  37. Dan says:

    How do you hire more guards?

  38. aaron says:

    After finally finding a balance and watching doctors run to the mess hall, as they are passing up dying inmates, i tied putting the inmate into the hospital…..and the game crashed. What a crappily made game. Battlefield 2 and Company of Heroes hasn’t ever crashed on my system. What a crap game with a great idea. And not being able to watch an execution??? Only managing a prison with no reward?? WTF ValuSoft ??

  39. aaron says:

    Again, just getting to medium security and BOOM—-Prison Tycoon 2 Has encountered an error…….WTF???????????????????

  40. Zach says:

    Well, here’s my comments on Prison Tycoon, the first one…
    An excellent game, but I still can’t figure out some stuff.
    Like, why, at every single morning when my prisoners get up, a huge ass fight/riot ALWAYS breaks out in the dormitories involving atleast twenty inmates in each one, and usually resulting in a troop of inmates heading to the health center…
    I also try to put injured inmates in the health center to get help but they just leave and go somewhere else. Same way with hungry inmates, I’ll put them in the mess hall and they’ll just walk out.
    And most of the time they wont even work in the factories I made.
    Now, about Prison Tycoon 2…
    I don’t know much about it, because I can’t play it…
    The game crashes like every time I try to play, and when it doesn’t, I end up running out of funds while waiting for some prisoners to arrive.