Difference between revisions of "SimCity 4"
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|macos app notes = A patch to support Intel chips released in 2007, but due to [[#OS X and Intel CPU major flaws|major problems]] it is not recommended.<br>A 64-bit update was released in February 2020. | |macos app notes = A patch to support Intel chips released in 2007, but due to [[#OS X and Intel CPU major flaws|major problems]] it is not recommended.<br>A 64-bit update was released in February 2020. | ||
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Revision as of 08:31, 14 October 2021
Developers | |
---|---|
Maxis | |
macOS (OS X) | i5works[1][2] |
Publishers | |
Electronic Arts | |
OS X | Aspyr Media |
Release dates | |
Windows | January 14, 2003 |
macOS (OS X) | June 30, 2003 |
Reception | |
Metacritic | 84 |
Taxonomy | |
Monetization | Expansion pack |
Modes | Singleplayer |
Pacing | Real-time |
Perspectives | Bird's-eye view |
Controls | Point and select |
Genres | Building, Simulation |
Themes | Contemporary |
Series | SimCity |
SimCity | |
---|---|
Subseries of Sim | |
SimCity (1989) | 1989 |
SimCity 2000 | 1994 |
SimCity 2000 Network Edition | 1996 |
SimCopter | 1996 |
Streets of SimCity | 1997 |
SimCity 3000 | 1999 |
SimCity 4 | 2003 |
SimCity Societies | 2007 |
SimCity (2013) | 2013 |
Key points
- SC4Launcher by Keiron Morris and NAM: Network Addon Mod are both highly recommended.
- Enable most fixes by using the SC4Launcher/Combined launch options, and then enabling Borderless fullscreen windowed.
- Large modding community.
- Performance issues on more modern systems.
- The OS X port suffers many problems.
- The version offered on the Origin Store/EA Play is missing critical patches from shortly after the game's release, and because of its altered checksum, it is not possible to patch this version of the game.
General information
- sc4modds - full list of mods from /r/SimCity community.
- /r/simcity4
- SimCity 4 on the SimCity Wiki
- Simtropolis Forum
- SC4 Devotion Forum
- GOG.com Community Discussions for game series
- GOG.com Support Page
- Steam Community Discussions
Availability
Source | DRM | Notes | Keys | OS |
---|---|---|---|---|
Retail | SafeDisc DRM[Note 1]. Released on 2 CDs. | |||
Amazon.com | Deluxe Edition. Download (DRM-free) or retail (Disk key). | |||
GOG.com | Deluxe Edition. | |||
Green Man Gaming | Deluxe Edition. | |||
Mac App Store | Deluxe Edition. OS X-Only 2014 Re-Release with modifications to improve compatibility. | |||
Origin | Deluxe Edition. Included with EA Play. Locked to Version 1.1.610, cannot be patched. | |||
Steam | Deluxe Edition. Includes 2014 OS X re-release. Included with EA Play (Steam). |
- SafeDisc retail DRM does not work on Windows Vista and later (see above for affected versions).
- It is recommended to only use Deluxe version which includes the Rush Hour expansion pack, as this has the highest compatibility with mods and other fixes.[5]
- Retail keys can be redeemed on Origin.[6][7]
DLC and expansion packs
Name | Notes | |
---|---|---|
Rush Hour | Included in the Deluxe Edition. |
Essential improvements
Patches
- The latest official patches for the base game (v272) and Rush Hour (v638 and v640) are available on GameFront and simtropolis.com.
- Patch 641 is exclusive to the Steam and GOG versions of the Deluxe Edition.
Large Address Aware
Improves stability on systems with at least 3GB RAM by allowing the application to use more than 2GB RAM.
Skip intro videos
Target line to skip intro videos[citation needed] |
---|
If running retail or Origin version, set the 'Target' field of the shortcut or add to Steam launch options: |
Launching game on modern systems
SC4Launcher
- Launcher utility that can be installed.
- Combines autosaving (customisable intervals), renderer choice (DirectX, Software, OpenGL), CPU priority, single CPU affinity, widescreen resolution, windowed, borderless-windowed, skip intro videos, simple mod manager and an ATI/AMD graphics card fix into a single launcher program.
Combined launch options
- Single line of code to be added to 'Target' field of the shortcut or to Steam launch options.
- Combines widescreen resolution, windowed, single CPU affinity, skip intro videos.
Combined launch options reference[citation needed] |
---|
If running retail or Origin version, set the 'Target' field of the shortcut or add to Steam launch options:
Notes
|
NAM: Network Addon Mod
- Extensively reworks of the road system, improves traffic simulator, path-finding and performance.
- Not compatible with Origin Store version or EA Play, since Origin reverted their retail copies back to an unpatchable edition of Version 1.1.610. The NAM requires at least Version 1.1.638.[8]
SC4Fix: Third Party Patches
- A third party DLL that fixes hard-coded bugs and crashes like the infamous 'prop pox' bug[9] and crashes when hovering NAM puzzle pieces.
- Helps revive and repair cities affected by the 'prop pox' bug.
Game data
Configuration file(s) location
System | Location |
---|---|
Windows | %USERPROFILE%\Documents\SimCity 4\ |
macOS (OS X) | |
Steam Play (Linux) | <SteamLibrary-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/24780/pfx/[Note 2] |
Save game data location
System | Location |
---|---|
Windows | %USERPROFILE%\Documents\SimCity 4\Regions\ |
macOS (OS X) | ~/Documents/SimCity 4/Regions/ |
Steam Play (Linux) | <SteamLibrary-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/24780/pfx/[Note 2] |
- Beware of issues when using multiple duplicate cities.
Save game cloud syncing
System | Native | Notes |
---|---|---|
GOG Galaxy | ||
Origin | ||
OneDrive | Requires enabling backup of the Documents folder in OneDrive on all computers. | |
Steam Cloud |
Video
Graphics feature | State | WSGF | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
Widescreen resolution | See Widescreen resolution. | ||
Multi-monitor | See the WSGF entry. | ||
Ultra-widescreen | |||
4K Ultra HD | Game crashes on startup when running on a resolution higher than 1080p (hardware mode) | ||
Field of view (FOV) | Uses an Orthographic Projection camera, rendering FOV modification pointless. | ||
Windowed | See Windowed. | ||
Borderless fullscreen windowed | Working using ShiftWindow.[10] | ||
Anisotropic filtering (AF) | See the glossary page for potential workarounds. | ||
Anti-aliasing (AA) | See the glossary page for potential workarounds. | ||
Vertical sync (Vsync) | See the glossary page for potential workarounds. | ||
60 FPS and 120+ FPS |
Widescreen resolution
- The GOG.com version has this done automatically.
Target line to enable widescreen resolution[11] |
---|
If running retail or Origin version, set the 'Target' field of the shortcut, add (for 1920x1080) or add to Steam launch options: |
Using DxWrapper it's possible to play at resolutions beyond the 2048x1152 limit that DirectX 7 has.
Windowed
Target line to set windowed mode[citation needed] |
---|
If running retail or Origin version, set the 'Target' field of the shortcut or add to Steam launch options: To reverse back to fullscreen mode, it may be necessary to replace the launch options with: |
Input
Keyboard and mouse | State | Notes |
---|---|---|
Remapping | See Remapping. | |
Mouse acceleration | ||
Mouse sensitivity | ||
Mouse input in menus | ||
Mouse Y-axis inversion | ||
Controller | ||
Controller support |
Controller types |
---|
Remapping
Hotkeys and similar key bindings are stored in plaintext KEYCFG files in simcity_1.dat. A tool like Ilive Reader must be used to edit these.
Audio
Audio feature | State | Notes |
---|---|---|
Separate volume controls | Music and General Sound sliders | |
Surround sound | Up to 7.0 output.[12] | |
Subtitles | No speech. | |
Closed captions | ||
Mute on focus lost |
Localizations
- Language choice determines display language and which side of the road cars drive on.
- The language can be forced if needed but only if the release being used includes that language (see Change language).
Language | UI | Audio | Sub | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
English | Some releases also include UK English (cars drive on the left). | |||
Danish | ||||
Dutch | ||||
French | ||||
German | ||||
Italian | ||||
Spanish | ||||
Swedish | ||||
Finnish | European retail and GOG.com release. | |||
Norwegian | European retail and GOG.com release. | |||
Polish | European retail and GOG.com release. | |||
Portuguese | European retail and GOG.com release. | |||
Brazilian Portuguese | Local retail only. | |||
Traditional Chinese | Chinese retail only. | |||
Simplified Chinese | Chinese retail only. | |||
Korean | Korean retail only. | |||
Japanese | Japanese retail and Steam OS X versions only. | |||
Thai | Thai retail only. |
Issues unresolved
OS X and Intel CPU major flaws
- Major flaws when operating on computers by Apple using Intel processors.
- Aspyr released a beta of a patch to fix the problems in 2007, but the patch was never finalized and many bugs remain. Some have a serious impact on playability, including frequent crashes if a city exceeds 95,000 population, flawed display of the water surface, frequent blurring or replacement of objects with random other objects, and an inability to significantly accelerate the vehicle in driving mode that prevents many gameplay features from being unlocked. Another patch arrived in 2014, followed by a patch to that in 2015.
- OS X 10.9 (Mavericks) and later can render the game completely unplayable, even with the later patches. Running the Windows version in Wine or a Virtual Machine, or the original Mac release on a PowerPC Mac generally gives a more convenient and reliable result.
- It is unknown in the later patches from 2014, 2015 and 2020 (added 64-bit support) fixed the major bugs described here with this port.
Integer overflow
An integer overflow bug is also present in the game. Under certain conditions, the Junior Sports Program and Parks and Recreation expense items will be a negative value - thus adding to the end of month balance instead of reducing it.
Issues fixed
Crashes on multi-core systems
Single CPU affinity[13] |
---|
If running retail or Origin version, set the 'Target' field of the shortcut or add to Steam launch options: |
Menu option to enable software renderer[citation needed] |
---|
|
Target line to enable software renderer[citation needed] |
---|
If running retail or Origin version, set the 'Target' field of the shortcut or add to Steam launch options: |
Poor performance on modern systems
- Running SimCity 4 on modern systems may result in large performance problems.
Add GPU device ID to list of recognised cards[14][15] |
---|
This may fix your problems in-game. If not, try messing with some of the graphics options in-game. If none of these options work, you may have to resort to using Software rendering, in order to achieve a playable experience. If you are using an AMD Radeon HD 7000 Series graphics card, also implement Details disappear when scrolling. |
Industrial high-tech (I-H) missing jobs
- Every I-H lot in the game does not offer high wealth jobs even though it creates a demand for high wealth residents.
IH Missing Jobs Fix[16] |
---|
Download and install IH Missing Jobs Fix. |
Error message: "Could not initialize graphics card"
SimCity 4 may crash on startup while reporting an error that claims that SimCity 4 was unable to initialize the graphics card, this may occur when using a hardware-accelerated rendering mode and a non-standard resolution. Changing the rendering mode to "software" or changing the resolution to one of the supported resolutions (800x600, 1024x768, 1280x1024, 1600x1200) should resolve this issue.
Details disappear when scrolling
- On some AMD/ATI graphics cards users may find that scrolling the view will cause entities and details to temporarily disappear, including lots appearing completely empty until scrolling stops.
Repair Radeon 7000 Series detection[14][15] |
---|
This will stop your modern card from triggering a compatibility check designed for the original Radeon 7000 series, forcing settings that make the game perform badly. |
Alternatively, this can be resolved by installing the SC4Launcher Utility. Once installed, run the launcher and navigate to the 'Hardware & Audio' tab. Enable the option 'Force Draw on Scroll' by checking the tick box. This should resolve the issue completely and will remain fixed regardless of whether the game is started with this custom launcher or through running the normal SimCity 4 executable.
Other information
API
Technical specs | Supported | Notes |
---|---|---|
Direct3D | 7 | |
DirectDraw | 7 | |
Software renderer |
Executable | PPC | 32-bit | 64-bit | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
Windows | ||||
macOS (OS X) | A patch to support Intel chips released in 2007, but due to major problems it is not recommended. A 64-bit update was released in February 2020. |
Duplicate cities moved
- If two or more copies of the same city exist in the Region folder upon starting SimCity 4, the game uses only one version and the other city copies are either deleted or automatically moved to the Downloads folder.
- SimCity 4 determines which file to use by sorting the city file names alphabetically and taking the first entry.
- If you have copies of cities in your region folder, e.g. "City - TEST 1.sc4" "City - TEST 2.sc4", then only "City - TEST 1.sc4" will be kept, and "City - TEST 2.sc4"either get deleted or will be moved to the Downloads folder
Launch options
More parameters can be found via this link. Please be aware that if you use the -UserDir parameter, changes made in any ingame options may not be saved properly.
Change language
- Language choice determines display language and which side of the road cars drive on.
- Supported languages sets include:
- English and Spanish (North American version)
- UK English, French, German, Spanish, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Italian, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese and Swedish (European version)
- Traditional Chinese and Simplified Chinese (Chinese version)
- Korean (Korean version)
- Japanese (Japanese version)
- Thai (Thailand version)
The availability of these sets depends on where the game was purchased, or where the purchaser's billing address states in the case of Digital Distribution.
Change language through launch options[17] |
---|
If running retail or Origin version, set the 'Target' field of the shortcut or add to Steam launch options:
Notes
|
Change language through regedit[18] |
---|
A detailed guide can be found on the SimCity Devotion thread by RippleJet. |
- The game also recognises Czech, Hebrew, Greek and Russian, however no official translations were ever released and no community translations have been made, possibly due to lack of compatible font sets.
Mods
- Mods may require dependencies.
Mod resources
- Simtropolis - an extremely active modding community, hosts the ST/Exchange (SimTropolisEXchange).
- SC4 Devotion - a very active modding community, hosts the LEX (Lot Exchange).
- Thread listing all possible settings and customisations
Mod recommendations
- sc4modds - full list of mods from /r/SimCity community.
- Reddit thread - September 17, 2012
- Reddit thread - January 22, 2012
Colossus Addon Mod (CAM)
- A significant and popular mod developed by the community at SC4 Devotion.
- Rewrites and improves how cities and regions grow by including more 'lots' or building transition stages, and increases population density.
- Compatible with NAM: Network Addon Mod - when installing CAM, select 'no traffic simulator'.[19]
Tools
- SimCity 4 Auto Saver - autosave program for SimCity 4 that will automatically save your game while you play, superseded by the SC4Launcher.
- SC4Terraformer - this is a widely used tool that can render custom maps designed and built within the program.
- SC4DataNode - this is a tool that checks your plugins folder, analyzes it, and tells you if any mods are missing dependencies.
System requirements
Windows | ||
---|---|---|
Minimum | Recommended | |
Operating system (OS) | 98, ME, 2000, XP | |
Processor (CPU) | Intel Pentium III 500 MHz or equivalent | 1 GHz or faster |
System memory (RAM) | 128 MB 256 MB (XP) |
256 MB |
Hard disk drive (HDD) | 1 GB | |
Video card (GPU) | 32 MB of VRAM DirectX 7.0 compatible |
macOS (OS X) | ||
---|---|---|
Minimum[20] | ||
Operating system (OS) | 10.8.5 | |
Processor (CPU) | Intel Core 2 Duo 2.2 GHz | |
System memory (RAM) | 4 GB | |
Hard disk drive (HDD) | 2 GB | |
Video card (GPU) | Nvidia GeForce 8800 series ATI Radeon HD 3870 Intel HD Graphics 3000 256 MB of VRAM |
Notes
- ↑ SafeDisc retail DRM does not work on Windows 10[3] or Windows 11 and is disabled by default on Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8, and Windows 8.1 when the KB3086255 update is installed.[4]
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Notes regarding Steam Play (Linux) data:
- File/folder structure within this directory reflects the path(s) listed for Windows and/or Steam game data.
- Use Wine's registry editor to access any Windows registry paths.
- The app ID (24780) may differ in some cases.
- Treat backslashes as forward slashes.
- See the glossary page for details on Windows data paths.
References
- ↑ Aspyr: SimCity 4 now in duplication - Macworld - last accessed on 2016-7-23
- ↑ Inside Mac Games Review: SimCity 4 - last accessed on 2016-7-23
- ↑ Not Loading in Windows 10; this will break thousands of - Microsoft Community - last accessed on 2017-01-16
- ↑ Microsoft - MS15-097: Description of the security update for the graphics component in Windows: September 8, 2015 - last accessed on 2018-02-16
- ↑ http://community.simtropolis.com/topic/25419-faqs-and-download-links-for-nam-rhw-and-nwm/#entry685177
- ↑ http://answers.ea.com/t5/Miscellaneous-Issues/SimCity-4-Register-retail-copy-of-Sim-City-4-with-Origin/td-p/280612
- ↑ You can actually activate some Steam games on EA Origin - Steam Users' Forums
- ↑ PSA: SimCity 4 Deluxe is now safe to buy on Origin | SimTarkus - SimCity 4
- ↑ Prop Pox and Prop Theory
- ↑ Verified by User:Andytizer on March 12, 2013
- ↑ http://www.widescreengaming.net/wiki/SimCity_4
- ↑ PC Gaming Surround Sound Round-up
- ↑ this tutorial
- ↑ 14.0 14.1 http://community.simtropolis.com/topic/33931-how-to-configure-sc4-to-work-with-your-new-hardware/
- ↑ 15.0 15.1 http://community.simtropolis.com/topic/28564-software-or-hardware/
- ↑ http://www.simtropolis.com/forum/files/file/22771-ih-missing-jobs-fix-update/
- ↑ http://www.wiki.sc4devotion.com/index.php?title=Tutorial:Shortcut_Parameters
- ↑ http://sc4devotion.com/forums/index.php?topic=3961.0
- ↑ http://www.wiki.sc4devotion.com/index.php?title=Colossus_Addon_Mod#NAM_.2B_CAM
- ↑ SimCity™ 4: Deluxe Edition - Aspyr