FAQ
Mini Motorways is out now on Apple Arcade, Steam and Nintendo Switch.
If you believe you’ve come across a bug in our game you can get in touch with our lovely team using our Support Form. The more information you can provide us with the better so, where possible, please include a description of what you were doing in the lead-up to the bug, a screenshot of the bug and the platform and device model you were using at the time.
Mini Motorways does take up a lot of your device’s CPU and battery unfortunately. We’ve been wrangling it since launch but it’s still using more battery than we would like. Lowering the game’s CPU usage is something we’re working on as we improve the game.
We are always eager to hear suggestions for new maps, new gameplay features, and fun things to add to the game. You can email us at info@dinopoloclub.com or get in touch using our Support Form, or you’ll find that the players at http://www.reddit.com/r/MiniMotorways have built a bustling, collaborative community and love to discuss changes and improvements. While this is a fan-run community, we drop in and say hi frequently!
At the moment, we don’t have any plans for an Android release of Mini Motorways. Currently, we are exclusively available on Apple Arcade for mobile platforms; however, Mini Motorways is also available on Windows and Mac via Steam and on Nintendo Switch.
As we’re a fairly small team working on multiple projects, we have decided to keep Mini Motorways to a smaller number of storefronts for now, but we may also release on others in the future. We recommend keeping an eye on our [Twitter](https://twitter.com/dinopoloclub/) and [Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/dinopoloclub/) for the latest info on timelines for information about new platforms and new releases.
We often recruit beta testers to help test new updates to Mini Motorways both on Apple Arcade and Steam and to ensure new console releases such as Switch are functioning properly.
We announce calls for testers on our social media feeds including our Instagram, Twitter and Facebook. We also call for testers on the Steam Community hubs for our titles and on the subreddits for both Mini Metro and Mini Motorways. We vary the locations where we ask for testers to make sure we’re getting player testers from a variety of backgrounds on a variety of devices. If you’ve been keeping an eye out but haven’t seen a call for testers in some time, this is normal! We only recruit testers when we are in the testing phase of an update – so obviously this is far more frequent with Mini Motorways than Mini Metro at the moment. 🙂
There are a few reasons why this might be happening. In order for scores to sync properly, you’ll need to be connected to the internet when you achieved the score, as well as being logged into GameCenter for Arcade. Another reason might be that only your first attempt on a daily challenge will log a score in the leaderboards. If none of those are the issue, it’s possible that you’ve found a bug! In that case, please get in touch using our Support Form, with details of which device you’re using.
This can happen when there are sync issues between iCloud, Game Center, and the Mini Motorways app. Recent updates to Game Center have caused certain scores to display only in Game Center rather than on all the leaderboards, and obviously this isn’t ideal. We’re working on a fix for this at the moment.
Some antivirus software can be fairly aggressive when it decides what is and is not potentially a threat. If your game fails to launch because it cannot load a file, please check if the file has been quarantined by your antivirus program. If a file has been deleted, you can get the file back with Steam’s “Verify integrity of game files…” button. The button can be found by following these steps:
- In Steam, open the Mini Motorways properties window (right click the game in your Steam library)
- Click “Local Files…”
- Click “Verify integrity of game files…”
However, if your antivirus tool hasn’t removed the file from quarantine then it will likely remove the file when you start playing again and crash the game. The verify tool can continue to run, but the problem won’t be resolved until you have adjusted your antivirus settings to allow Mini Motorways to run or added it to your software’s safe list.
For anyone still experiencing crashes or black screens on windows or mac, if you can please get in touch using our Support Form, with your device info and OS, details of the crash and a log file (instructions at the end) that would be really appreciated! We want to get these fixed asap for everyone and the log files will be immensely useful as we track the problems down.
On Apple Arcade, you can find your screenshots and exported GIFs in your device’s Photo Library. On Steam, you can access your screenshots from your Steam screenshots library. If you want to access your screenshots from your hard drive, click “show on disk” and this will show you which directory your screenshots are saved in.
Apple Arcade isn’t currently in Hong Kong, but we hope that it will be in the future so players can enjoy Mini Motorways! As of right now, we’re not sure when Apple Arcade will come to Hong Kong.
We can’t promise any specific game modes for the future, but we know how much players want a Creative Mode so it’s definitely on our radar! Sign up for our newsletter or follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram for all announcements about new features and updates.
There is still plenty of room for improvement with our accessibility! If you are colourblind or colour-deficient and would like to participate in a beta group to help improve these features, we’d love to hear from you. Please email info@dinopoloclub.com so we can get you set up 🙂
The audio for Mini Motorways and Mini Metro is procedurally generated, meaning that there isn’t a soundtrack we can distribute! The sounds you’re hearing are created by various actions in the game such as houses spawning or cars collecting pins from destinations, meaning that with every new game there is new audio. In order to record the audio, one would have to record a session and turn that into a soundbite.
If you’re experiencing a crash or have an unusual bug, please send us your Player.log and your Player-prev.log!
To get your logs on Windows, open command line (this can be done by pressing the start button and then typing “cmd”) and enter:
robocopy “%USERPROFILE%\AppData\LocalLow\Dinosaur Polo Club\Mini Motorways\\” “%HOMEPATH%\Desktop” Player.log Player-prev.log
To get your logs on Mac, open the terminal and enter:
cp ~/Library/Logs/Dinosaur\ Polo\ Club/Mini\ Motorways/Player-prev.log ~/Library/Logs/Dinosaur\ Polo\ Club/Mini\ Motorways/Player.log ~/Desktop
This will copy these two logs to your Desktop, so you can easily find them.
At the moment there is no official Mini Motorways discord server. It’s on our list of community features to look at implementing, but the overwhelming response and early sales of the game mean that any new community features will have to be looked at and considered carefully. The game has proven to be so popular that if we opened a server without taking the time to set it up properly, it would likely balloon beyond a manageable size quite quickly. We wouldn’t want to open an official server unless it was fully staffed, set up properly, and moderated. We try to ensure that any official communities we open are maintained and active. Since we are in New Zealand time zone and most of our players are in North America and Europe, this means we’d have to ensure we launched a potential server with people who could help you out in your appropriate time zones, which will take a bit of setup. We will be revisiting the idea after the initial rush of launch has died down and the team has a bit less on their hands.
We’re always looking to add more features, game modes and maps to Mini Motorways. When Mini Metro first came out, there were far fewer game modes and maps then there are now, so rest assured we have plenty of exciting stuff in store for Mini Motorways, too! We can’t say exactly which certain features and modes will be released or when they will be released until we have firmed up our plans for the next year or two, but we’ll keep everyone as up-to-date as possible via our Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Mini Metro has continued to enjoy years of support after its initial release and we will be giving Mini Motorways the same love.
At the moment there are no plans to release on storefronts beside Steam. Since we’re a fairly small team working on multiple projects, we have decided to keep Mini Motorways to a smaller number of storefronts than Mini Metro for the time being to ensure we can keep up with communications, reviews, patching, etc. – with Mini Metro being available on so many storefronts, it has taken up a significant amount of dev time over the years every time we update the game. That being said, we are not contractually exclusive to Steam, so there is a chance we may release on other storefronts in the future if time and effort allow.
We recommend keeping an eye on our Twitter, Facebook and Instagram for the latest info on timelines for ports, patches, and new releases. If we do choose to release Mini Motorways on other storefronts in the future, we’ll announce it on our socials. 🙂
As of right now, we don’t have plans to release Mini Motorways on [GOG.com](http://gog.com/), however Mini Motorways is currently available on Apple Arcade, Steam and Nintendo Switch.
As we’re a fairly small team working on multiple projects, we have decided to keep Mini Motorways to a smaller number of storefronts for now but we may release on others in the future. We recommend keeping an eye on our [Twitter](https://twitter.com/dinopoloclub/) and [Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/dinopoloclub/) for the latest info on timelines for about new platforms and new releases.
If we do choose to release on [GOG.com](http://gog.com/) in the future, we’ll announce it on our socials and our newsletter 🙂
The sounds in Mini Motorways are all procedurally generated and unique to each gameplay session, so in a way there a distinct difference between the ‘music’ and ‘audio’.
In the audio settings, there are options to adjust Volume and Soundscape. Volume only controls how loud the audio is, with options including Off, Quieter, Quiet, and Full. Soundscape controls what kinds of audio is played while playing the game. The setting options are Full, which is everything, Minimal, which includes only important game feedback sounds, and Off, which is no audio at all.
While we are still trying to identify the cause of this crash, we’re pleased to say that we have a temporary workaround to avoid this problem. In order to resolve this, first head to your Steam Library, then open the Properties of the game, head to General, set the Launch Options to -force-glcore.
If you need assistance with this, head to the Steam support page for setting launch options.
While there may be a few different reasons for progress not saving, before reporting a bug it’s best to check some device settings. First, make sure that your Game Center and iCloud profiles are matching, and that you’re connected to the internet. If that’s still not working, try logging in and out of both Game Center and iCloud. Lastly, ensure that you have storage on your device and your iCloud, as the game will have a hard time saving properly if there’s no storage space on your device.
If none of these options work, please reach out to us!
The Steam Cloud syncing with your Nintendo Switch device is a one-way manual sync that brings over all of the achievements and unlocked maps from your Steam account over to your Nintendo Switch so you can pick up right where you left off. It is not a continuous live sync between the two copies of the game, and you cannot bring the progress from Nintendo Switch back over to Steam.
To enact the Steam Cloud sync with Nintendo Switch, head to your Nintendo Switch device and navigate to the Mini Motorways Options menu. From there, there is a new Cross-Save panel. You can import your score records and unlocked maps from your Steam account onto your Switch profile by following a few steps. First, you need to sign in to your Steam account through the Nintendo Switch web browser, and grant Mini Motorways access to your Steam Cloud data. This is all done through a secure process managed entirely by Valve, meaning that you never give us your Steam account password. Once authorised, the game will read your Steam Cloud data and merge it with your Nintendo Switch profile. Any maps you have unlocked on Steam will be unlocked on your Nintendo Switch profile; however, any in-progress games will not be imported, and any unlocks on your Nintendo Switch device won’t sync back to Steam.
Endless Mode is a game mode that allows players to work on their cities without the possibility of Game Over. In order to expand the city, players must reach milestones by achieving a certain level of efficiency. Endless Mode can be accessed in two different ways: players can begin a game in Classic or Expert mode and when met with the Game Over screen, select “Continue in Endless Mode” to switch modes, OR by entering into Endless Mode from the start by selecting Endless on the mode select tab on the map card.
Expert Mode is inspired by Mini Metro’s Extreme Mode, offering a more challenging way to play Mini Motorways. In Expert Mode, players will find new obstacles and challenges. Shortly after being placed, road tiles and upgrades will become permanent; the full library of upgrades will be offered for the first eight weeks, but the same upgrade cannot be selected two weeks in a row and after the first eight weeks, only road tiles will be offered. Expert Mode comes with its own leaderboard so players can see how they rank amongst the best of the best!
Mini Motorways only supports one save file, though if you are playing on Apple Arcade and have multiple Apple devices you may be able to resume the Endless game on a separate device before starting a new game on the original device. For example, if you leave your Endless game on your iPhone, and then resume the same game on your Mac before starting a new game on your iPhone, you will be able to save the original Endless game on your Mac. Otherwise, you can preserve your city forever using the photo mode or GIF creation tools located in the lower right corner of the pause menu before leaving your Endless game.
There is no limit, but cities will eventually reach a plateau in which efficiency cannot be improved enough to reach the next milestone.
No, Endless Mode will be immediately available on every map that a player has already unlocked.
Yes, in order to unlock Expert Mode, players must reach a high score of 1000+ on the map to unlock the City Challenges, and then score 600+ on a City Challenge to unlock Expert mode for the map.
There is no leaderboard for Endless Mode because this game mode is designed to be non-competitive. While there is a different set of challenges in this mode, such as milestones for a player to reach in order to see the city expand, there is no possibility of a Game Over and the game doesn’t keep a numerical score during play, which eliminates the purpose of a leaderboard.
Are you playing from a device with a touch screen? If so, check to see on the Options screen whether the option for “Touch Screen Auto-Zoom” is enabled. If auto-zoom still isn’t working for you with this tick box enabled, send us a bug report via the support form here: https://dinopoloclub.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/requests/new
If the problem you’re experiencing isn’t listed here, don’t panic! You can get in touch with us and we’ll help sort you out.
If you could get in touch using our Support Form, with a description of the problem and a screenshot, that would be very useful. In your description, please include what exactly the problem is, what platform and device you are playing on, what you were doing when the problem occurred, and (if it wasn’t a crash) what happened afterwards.