General information
- GOG.com Community Discussions for game series
- GOG.com Support Page
Availability
- SafeDisc retail DRM does not work on Windows Vista and later (see above for affected versions).
- Demo
Version differences
- In May 2000, the game was re-released under different names in different regions, such as SimCity 3000 Unlimited (in North America and Oceania), SimCity 3000 Deutschland (Germany), SimCity 3000 Korea (South Korea), SimCity 3000 UK Edition (UK and Ireland) and SimCity 3000 World Edition (other countries), among others. This added, among other things, East Asian and European building sets, additional terrain colors and vegetation types, a snapshot feature, additional music, an improved version of the Building Architect Tool (a pseudo-3D design tool based on cubes), four additional disasters (such as locusts and space junk), additional landmarks (like the Seoul Tower and Helsinki Cathedral), new reward buildings, thirteen scenarios (along with an editor based on Microsoft Access) and a new FMV intro.
Essential improvements
Patches
- The latest patch (v1.1) updates the base game and adds the Building Architect Tool. It is already implemented in Unlimited/World Edition.
- A hotfix for the French version of the World Edition is also available.
- The latest patch for the Linux version of Unlimited/World Edition is here.
Skip intro videos
Linux Python Installer
- Requires the CD of Loki Software's Linux port.
The following python script allows you to install the game into the modern Linux system much easier, which can be found here. Works only with Ubuntu and Debian or any distribution based on these two.
Compatibility fixes (retail version only)
Use the compatibility fixes to fix issues with interface frame rates on modern versions of Windows.
Alternatively, you can use dgVoodoo 2 and set its FPS limiter to 45 FPS.
Game data
Configuration file(s) location
- It's unknown whether this game follows the XDG Base Directory Specification on Linux. Please fill in this information.
Save game data location
- Cities (
*.sc3) can be saved anywhere; this is the default location.
Video
- The game must be running in 16-bit color mode (use the compatibility fixes to apply this).
- GOG had released a modified executable file on their support page to enable widescreen resolution. Only works on the Unlimited edition. See WSGF entry for original game fix.
Input
Audio
| Audio feature |
State |
Notes |
| Separate volume controls |
|
Music, Ambient Sound and Sound Effects. |
| Surround sound |
|
|
| Subtitles |
|
No speech |
| Closed captions |
|
|
| Mute on focus lost |
|
|
| EAX support |
|
DirectSound3D, EAX.[5] Possibly A3D.[6] |
| Royalty free audio |
|
|
Localizations
| Language |
UI |
Audio |
Sub |
Notes |
| English |
|
|
|
US and UK English variants exist. |
| Dutch |
|
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| French |
|
|
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| German |
|
|
|
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| Italian |
|
|
|
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| Japanese |
|
|
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Retail only. |
| Korean |
|
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|
Retail only. |
| Portuguese |
|
|
|
Retail only. |
| Brazilian Portuguese |
|
|
|
Retail - EA Brasil |
| Polish |
|
|
|
Retail only. Translation only for the original version of the game. |
| Russian |
|
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|
Retail only. Translation only for the original version of the game. |
| Russian |
|
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Unofficial translation for unlimited by «7 Wolf». |
| Spanish |
|
|
|
Retail only. Download. |
| Swedish |
|
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Issues fixed
Retail version of Unlimited edition won't start
|
This is caused by SafeDisc failing to run on modern versions of Windows. Unpacking the SC3U.exe executable with a SafeDisc (likely V1) unpacking tool will fix the issue.
|
- Installing a no-CD patch will also fix this issue
|
Missing music in Unlimited edition
The Unlimited edition is missing the track "SIM Broadway". Tracks "Concrete Jungle", "City of Dreams" and "SimCity 2000 Theme" are all disabled in AUDIO.ini file.
|
Get missing tracks[7]
|
- Obtain the installation CD for the original game, or download the demo.
- Go to
\Res\Sound\Music in the disc's content.
- Copy
3KG2.XA to <path-to-game>\Res\Sound\Music.
- Open
AUDIO.ini in <path-to-game>\Res\Sound with a text editor.
- Search for "SIM Broadway" and remove the
; at the beginning of the line.
- To enable "Concrete Jungle", remove
; at the beginning of the line.
- To enable "City of Dreams", change
0x01 to 0x14.
- To enable "SimCity 2000 Theme", change
0,0,0,1 to 0,1,0,1.
- Launch the game and head into the Preferences.
- Look for a track in the list and play one to see if it works.
|
Scrolling is too fast
|
Run the game at the desktop resolution with a high/widescreen resolution patch[8]
|
- Install a high/widescreen resolution patch
- In the game's video options, set the resolution to the desktop resolution.
- The GOG.com patch only works with the Unlimited edition of SimCity 3000. Use the WSGF entry's hex edit instructions for the retail release.
|
|
This may be caused by modern CPU speeds being much faster than the game expects[9]
|
- Use a utility to slow down either your CPU speed or to cap the game's frame rate
|
Other information
API
| Technical specs |
Supported |
Notes |
| DirectDraw |
|
|
| Executable | PPC | 16-bit |
32-bit |
64-bit |
Notes |
| Windows | | |
|
|
|
| Linux | | |
|
|
| Mac OS (Classic) | | | |
|
|
System requirements
| Windows | Mac OS (Classic) | Linux |
| Windows |
|
Minimum |
Recommended |
| Operating system (OS) |
95, 98 | |
| Processor (CPU) |
Intel Pentium 166 MHz
| Intel Pentium 233 MHz |
| System memory (RAM) |
32 MB | |
| Hard disk drive (HDD) |
230 MB | |
| Video card (GPU) |
DirectDraw compatible
2 MB of VRAM
| DirectDraw compatible
4 MB of VRAM |
Notes
- ↑ SafeDisc retail DRM does not work on Windows 10[1] 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.[2]
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 When running this game without elevated privileges (Run as administrator option), write operations against a location below
%PROGRAMFILES%, %PROGRAMDATA%, or %WINDIR% might be redirected to %LOCALAPPDATA%\VirtualStore on Windows Vista and later (more details).
References
